“This is all over the place,” he said. “It isn’t methodical. Not in the way that organisations like this usually run. As if you and I are pawns on a chessboard that some person is toying with.”
Tess frowned. “I’ve been thinking along the same lines,” she replied. “Almost as if it is personal. But that makes no sense, either. Why would the person who runs this want to toy with us, changing his mind about what he wants to do with us?”
“Well, it is Vilgath,” he said. And in one way that should have been the answer he was seeking. Yes, the demons could be capricious and enjoyed causing havoc for the sake of it. He had seen it before, many times. But a deep instinct told him that wasn’t the whole reason. Or not the only reason here.
And they were probably being watched now.
“What time is your meeting this afternoon?” he asked.
“Three o’clock,” she said. “In the city. It was the only time Paul Hopkins could fit me into his busy schedule.” She laughed, a little bitterly. “They sure have dropped me like a hot potato. Grunt work accomplished, and they don’t want me involved anymore. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
He stared at her. “Bureaucracies, Tess. They follow a chain of command, and you are on the lowest rung, don’t forget.”
She nodded, then straightened, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, well, it’s still disappointing.” She glanced up at him, her gaze softening. “But there have been compensations. Like saving you and meeting your wolf companion.”
“Anything else?” He smiled at her, feeling the air snap between them.
Her eyes widened. The moment stretched on. Tess reddened slightly, then turned away.
“I need a shower,” she said, abruptly. “I have sand in some very intimate places. Will you be okay making yourself another coffee while you wait?”
Shay nodded. She walked off. He stared after her, slightly puzzled. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was ambivalent about what had happened between them.
She wasn’t regretting it, was she? Shay frowned at the thought. He could still feel her beneath him on the sand, and his hands itched to touch her again. He could hardly bear the thought that she didn’t feel the same way, and that it might never happen again. It was like being given the key to paradise only to have it snatched from his grasp once more.
***
Tess ran across the busy city street, dodging cars and push bikes. It was almost three o’clock and she didn’t want to keep Paul Hopkins waiting. Especially since he had been so reluctant to meet with her in the first place.
She glanced quickly behind her. Yes, there was Shay, loitering near a newsstand. She hoped to hell that the FBI weren’t on to him. She had tried to talk him out of accompanying her here, telling him that he needed to keep a low profile, but he refused to be swayed.
“Wherever you go, I go,” he had said. She had noticed his set jaw, and the determination in his eyes. There was no way that she could dissuade him. But she had insisted that he keep his distance.
“Don’t blow it,” she had hissed at him. “If they even get an inkling that you are around watching, it will ruin everything. They will think I have been compromised by you, and there is no way on earth they will even consider what I am saying.”
He had promised to keep well back, and in the end, she had to accept that he knew what he was doing. He was a trained agent like her, after all, even if they worked in wildly differing ways, and for vastly different reasons. And she knew how skilled and intelligent he was.
She walked into the café, ordering a coffee, then sat down. Paul Hopkins wasn’t here yet. She frowned. He had been insistent that she not be late, saying that he was squeezing her in, and now it looked like she would be waiting for him. He obviously didn’t think that anything she was going to say would be useful.
Tess gritted her teeth. Well, she would just have to persuade him otherwise.
She looked up, just as he walked through the door. His smile was guarded as he sat down across from her. The waitress came over and he ordered a coffee, as well. Then he turned to her.
“So,” he said, slowly. “What’s been happening?”
Tess took a deep breath. She dived right in. “Paul, I have reason to believe that the information that I gave you on that flash drive isn’t correct. Or not all of it, at any rate.”
He stared at her. “What the hell are you talking about? You told us that you copied it straight from the middleman’s laptop.”
“I did,” she said slowly. “But I think I was set up.”
His eyes widened. “In what way?”
“It was too easy,” she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “And that laptop had no security. An organisation like that wouldn’t let their vital information be unprotected. It didn’t even ask for a password.” She took a deep breath. “It troubled me at the time, but I was too caught up in getting it done before Mr. Gee came back to think it through. But now I have.”
He frowned. “Yes, I can see your point.” The waitress brought his coffee, and he sipped it. “And you should always trust your instincts. You are saying that the organisation knew you would access that computer and copy the files? And that they deliberately planted false information on there?”
She nodded, her eyes gleaming. “Exactly. The laptop was deliberately left there for me to do it. Even in a pink fit there is no way that Mr. Gee would normally leave it behind. It was set up, even down to when he returned, which was almost immediately after I had completed the job.”
“They were watching you?” His eyes were unreadable.
She nodded again. “They knew exactly when I’d finished.”
“Interesting.” He took another sip of his coffee. “You can’t prove it, though. The only way to do that would be to access another of their computers. Or should I say, Shay Sullivan’s computers.”
Tess felt herself growing pale. “But that’s just it, Paul. I don’t think Shay Sullivan is the leader of this at all. I think he has been set up just like I was.”
He leaned back in his chair, studying her closely. “Regardless, Shay Sullivan is now a person of interest in this case. We will investigate him thoroughly, as procedure dictates.”
Tess strangled down a twinge of frustration. “There’s something else,” she said. “I witnessed something last night, back in my home town.”
He stared at her. “And what was that?”
“An assault on Shay Sullivan,” she said evenly. “Mr. Gee and another man were waiting for him on the pier, and I witnessed a third man hit Shay Sullivan over the head with a bat. I intervened, and the three men all jumped into a speedboat and got away.”
“What?” He looked at her as if she had gone mad. “You are telling me that you just stumbled on this scene, after what you had told us that day? And that Shay Sullivan was injured by his own men?”
Tess gritted her teeth. “That’s just it, sir,” she said. “I don’t think they are his men. Why would they try to ambush him and kill him? It doesn’t make any sense. That’s the second reason I think he was set up.”
“Where is he now?” Paul Hopkins stared at her, hard. “You said you intervened, and that the other three men got away. What happened to Shay Sullivan?”
Tess hesitated. It went against all her ethics to lie—especially to her superior—but what choice did she have? If she told him that she had taken Shay back to her own home, he would assume she was compromised. There was no way on earth he would entertain the notion that Shay had been set up. He was barely acknowledging the possibility as it was.
“I don’t know,” she said, slowly, staring him straight in the eye. “He didn’t go with the others, but he ran away when I tried to administer first aid.”
“He ran away.” Paul drummed his fingers on the table. “You are telling me that an injured man, who had just been clubbed over the head with a bat, was strong enough to escape from you? A trained agent?”
She nodded, swallowing a lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She could feel
sweat dripping down her neck. She didn’t want to lie, damnit! But how could she tell him the truth?
“Okay.” He stared at her. “You have to admit this is strange, Tess. Very strange. I will report back on what you have told me to Frank Walker, and we will take it into account in our investigation, but I can’t promise you much more than that.”
An impotent rage suddenly tore through her. She was being dismissed. He didn’t believe a word of what she had told him. It had panned out exactly as Shay had said it would. She might as well have saved herself the time and bother.
“Don’t you think it’s odd that he took me off my undercover work?” she said, now, trying to swallow down her anger. “We all thought that the flash drive was a breakthrough but taking me off the case has to look suspicious to them, surely you can see that? If the information on it is all true and they had no idea that I accessed it, what will they think when I suddenly don’t show up for work tomorrow?”
His lips thinned. “Mr. Walker thought you were at risk. That was why he decided to stand you down.”
She shook her head. “It was a poor decision. It will send them underground, and you know it.”
His eyes flashed with anger. “I know better than to question the decisions of my superiors, Tess,” he said slowly. “Frank Walker has over thirty years of experience at the Bureau. And how much experience do you have? A month?” He stood up. “You are off this case. Do you understand me? That means that you do not contact me again about it. I’m not interested in hearing half-baked conspiracy theories about a criminal who you know is involved being set up.”
Tess flushed, gripping her coffee tightly. “I’m sorry, sir, that you think it is half baked. I’ve just told you what my instinct is on the case, and an incident that casts doubt on the information on that flash drive. That’s what I’ve been trained for.”
His eyes softened, slightly. “You are young, Tess,” he said. “And passionate. Headstrong. All qualities of a good agent. But you must follow protocol. Go home. You live by the sea, don’t you? Take a few long walks on the beach and clear your head. Put it all out of your mind. It’s over for you, now. You did an excellent job, but more experienced people have taken over.”
Tess stared him, not blinking.
“It’s part of the job,” he said, tossing a ten dollar note on the table. “You live and breathe a case, but you also have to learn when to let it go. That takes time, and you’ll get there. Trust me.”
She nodded. “Well, thanks for meeting me at least, Paul.”
“Of course.” He smiled slightly. “I’ve humoured you this one time, but now you have to walk out of this café and forget all about it. We’ve got this.”
He walked out the door and into the busy street. She watched him for a minute before he was swallowed up by the crowd.
Paul Hopkins was wrong. Frank Walker was wrong. They were all wrong. Why couldn’t they see it?
But she knew why. She had no real evidence that what she had given them on that flash drive was fake. They had worked for a long time on this case and hadn’t cracked it. This was their significant breakthrough, and they weren’t about to give it up lightly.
Tess sighed. She had to find the evidence herself. That was the only way that they would even consider what she was saying.
She took a deep breath. So be it. She was going rogue.
Chapter Sixteen
Tess stared at Shay across the table at the small diner. It was dim and dark in here, so much so that she could barely see his features. But it was also very secure; located in a hidden alleyway, with no signs or fanfare indicating what it was. They could sit back and relax in here without feeling as if they might be observed. Well, as much as they could in the present circumstances anyway.
Shay picked up his coffee and grimaced. “They aren’t known for their great coffee,” he said, grinning as he placed the mug back on the table. “But they are known for their discretion. It’s a safe place for the Wild Keepers. We often come here if we need to talk to someone about a case.”
Tess nodded, gazing around. “I can see why.” She sighed. “Shay, Paul Hopkins wasn’t interested in what I had to tell him. I’m afraid you are still a significant person of interest in the case.”
Shay shrugged. “I didn’t expect anything else, Tess. Believe me, I know how these things work. But at least you went in to bat for me, and for that I’m grateful.”
She sighed, again, gripping her napkin tightly. “I am just so frustrated,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It was like he had already made up his mind to dismiss anything that I was going to say. Like as soon as I opened my mouth he was ready with the line that I am officially off the case. Does he think that my brain just suddenly switched off?”
Shay reached over and took her hand. “Tess, I know it’s frustrating, but there isn’t much else you can do about it. You told him all your concerns and gave him more information. The rest is up to him and the others. You never know, they might decide to look into it further.”
Tess’s eyes glittered. “Hell will freeze over before that happens.” She stared at him. “No, it’s up to us, now. They are going down the wrong path, and we will have to prove your innocence and find out who the real leader of this organisation is.”
Shay’s eyes were hard. “Tess, you have to bow out of this now. If you work this case behind their back, they won’t be happy. Even if you prove them wrong. Actually, especially if you prove them wrong.”
Tess’s jaw tightened. “You’re telling me they won’t be grateful to find the real culprit and sew this case up once and for all?”
Shay shook his head. “No, they won’t. Oh, they might act grateful to start with, but they will get rid of you. Don’t doubt it. They can’t afford to have agents turning rogue and going by their own rules.” His gaze hardened further. “You know all this, Tess. You are risking your career.”
She picked up her coffee, sipping it. “And what if I don’t care?”
His eyes widened. “That’s not true and you know it. You’ve worked hard on this case, and you wanted to join the feds. Don’t tell me that you could toss all that aside.”
Tess took another sip of her coffee, thinking deeply. Yes, she had worked hard to get here. She had dreamed of joining the Bureau, and her career had seemed to be moving quicker than she had anticipated. What were the chances of being plucked out of training to work a case like this, to prove herself to her superiors? She was risking it all if she went behind their backs. She knew Shay was right.
But her sense of justice was stronger. She didn’t care about protocol and rules if an innocent man was being framed like this. And she knew that Shay was innocent. She just had to prove it to them.
Tess sipped her coffee again. She had made her decision, for better or worse.
“I don’t care,” she said, staring at him. “The truth is way more important to me. That’s the reason I joined the police and then the Bureau. I didn’t join to compromise.” She took a deep breath, leaning forward over the table towards him. “If they accept that you are the leader of all this and don’t even consider what I told them, then I don’t want to be a part of them anyway. Because it shows that they just want to get a conviction over the truth.”
Shay stared at her. “Tess, it’s the way the world works.”
She glared at him. “So, is that the way your pack works?”
“What do you mean?”
She leaned back in the booth. “The Wild Keepers. You told me that you are a pack of shifters fighting demons. Working cases just as I am. Would you and your brothers compromise just to get a swift resolution to a case?”
Shay frowned. “Of course not. We all swore an oath to protect this city from the demons, and we work our cases until we find the truth.”
She smiled, triumphantly. “Well, that’s exactly what I am doing as well, Shay. The fact that my pack isn’t interested in the truth is beside the point. I have sworn an oath as well—to myself as much as to them.”<
br />
His eyes shone, staring at her. “You are one incredible, crazy woman, Tess Nolan.”
Tess felt a lump forming in her throat at his words. It meant a lot to her to hear him say that. And suddenly she was super conscious of his hand still resting gently on hers in the middle of the table. She had been so caught up in her anger and frustration about what was happening that she had barely registered it to start with. But now she felt it. Her hand tingled beneath his, re-establishing the connection that they had consummated in the early hours of this morning.
She had not let herself examine it too closely. As soon as they had left the beach after they had made love, she had shut her mind down. It had been easy, in one way. She had simply switched gears, gone into work mode. Forced herself to focus on the danger that pressed against them from all sides. She hadn’t wanted to explore if there was something deeper between them. They simply didn’t have the time, even though it had been beyond amazing.
Tess shuddered slightly at the memory of it. Amazing, but something else. She had felt such a deep sense of belonging with him. Like it was meant to be and had been waiting to spring to life between them.
She gazed at him. He was still staring at her, his eyes shining. What could it mean? Her feelings towards him had transformed so completely since she had met him again she could hardly keep up with it. Shay Sullivan. The boy who she had been angry with for so long. And then, the man who she believed was a criminal. And now…what was he to her? How did she feel about him?
She knew that she desperately needed to prove his innocence. That the need to do it was burning inside her, so brightly that she was willing to risk her career for it. But was there something else, as well? Beyond the physical attraction?
“Tess,” he whispered, gripping her hand tighter. She stared at him. His gaze was so intense she was almost burnt by it. “There’s something else…”
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