Her heart sank. “Well, good morning to you, too.”
Troy lost his patience. “Will you get dressed?”
Lucy grabbed a quick shower and scrubbed her teeth, ignoring Troy’s periodic predictions that she’d make them late. She was too busy worrying that Troll might be right, because if the Agency was behind these deaths, none of them were safe.
By 0600 she was walking to the elevators, late, and feeling unprepared to stand before the head of the Agency. For all she knew, Barrett knew she’d bugged her office and security guards were waiting to bring her to be canceled.
On a good day, Barrett scared her to death. Today was not a good day.
Chapter Four
Troy loathed Constance Barrett’s office. It looked like an eighteenth-century aristocrat’s library, dark green walls lined with books, earth-toned rugs framed by dark wood wainscoting and decorated with haunting ancestral portraiture. It was a caricature of old-money decor, and musty, never failing to irritate his nose.
He sat in one of the two leather-upholstered chairs in front of her desk, wondering where Lucy had planted the bug. He’d used an old-school listening device, analog, so the security sweep would miss it. He wanted it in place for at least twenty-four hours before he had Lucy retrieve it. If Barrett had secrets, he’d know by tomorrow. She’d been increasingly slim with her intel since her meeting with the Powers That Be last month. The greatest change was the Agency’s tightened financial belt. A crew leader could no longer take for granted the approval of requisition orders for ops, and it was creating delays. Barrett screened every major request and refused to delegate the task.
He suspected she was ferreting out intel, and had Troy on her list of suspects. He found that entirely unacceptable. He was loyal to the Agency. Sure, he would put a bullet between Barrett’s brows in a heartbeat, but he had his integrity. The Agency’s agenda came first.
Lucy stood at attention before Barrett’s massive walnut desk, breathtakingly beautiful as usual, wearing black on black, a tight skirt and sweater, funky shoes. Today the shoes were four-inch scarlet satin heels. Troy had no idea how she walked in those things, but he appreciated the effort. They made her legs look miles long.
Barrett smiled at him. “Have you informed Lucy of your new supervisory role on her crew?” She glanced at Lucy.
Troy thought Barrett still beautiful at sixty-three. She’d kept her figure, and though slight of frame, looked fit. Today’s perfectly tailored suit clashed with her silver hair, giving her chignon a brassy note.
“She was told,” he said. Lucy remained poised and watchful.
“Your crew is the most successful one we have, yesterday’s debacle notwithstanding. We need—” she glanced at Troy“—to understand what went wrong. If you can’t protect your agents, you’re useless as a crew leader.” She smiled beatifically. “But you already know that.”
Troy watched Lucy. She remained poised, but there was no hiding the dark circles under her eyes. Yesterday had taken its toll.
Barrett rested her elbows on the desk. “I know things have been crazy what with, well, what happened to Raven.” She stood and walked to the front of her desk, leaning on it, indicating Lucy should sit on the chair in front of her. Lucy sat next to him.
“Poor girl,” Barrett said, assessing both Lucy’s and Troy’s expressions. “You’ve had a rough time of it lately.”
“Ma’am.” Lucy nodded.
“I’ve read the reports,” Barrett said. “All that violence. I don’t know how you agents handle it. Trying to accomplish anything under all that stress must be overwhelming, and then to have a crew member die—” She was the image of sympathy. “It must have been horrible.”
Troy waited, watching Lucy’s reaction to Barrett’s caring-matriarch persona. It irritated the hell out of him. The woman was a virago and as mercurial as a sociopath, yet acted as though she knit sweaters and baked cookies for a living. This line of questioning was Barrett’s version of burning ants by focusing the sun through a magnifying glass. To Barrett, Lucy was an ant, one of countless, disposable.
“I need you to go over the op for me, in detail.” Barrett gave Lucy a coaxing nod.
“Of course.” Lucy told Barrett how Troy had assigned her the op, justified every decision made in its creation and told her story, through to the gory details of the shooter’s death, being choppered to the pickup site and then being driven to the facility while Raven bled out.
“There’s a problem with that version of events. You see, there is no evidence on our satellite feed that there was a shooter,” Barrett said. “We see you, by yourself, separated from your crew. When you got back to base, your uniform was covered with unknown DNA—”
“Blood,” Lucy said.
“—and you described killing a shooter, but there is no evidence other than your account. Even your crew can’t vouch for you.”
“They were with Raven, trying to resuscitate.”
“You can see how this has created a problem for me. Can you explain why the shooter doesn’t show up on the satellite feed?”
Lucy looked worried, and Troy didn’t blame her. The shooter was a problem he’d been trying to figure out since yesterday. All signs pointed to Lucy lying through her pretty little teeth.
“Have you seen the feed?” Lucy looked between Barrett and Troy. He could see panic eating at the edges of her calm.
“With my own eyes,” Barrett said. “You didn’t answer me. Can you explain it?”
“No. He nearly killed me. Did kill Raven. It happened. His blood was all over me.”
“Someone’s blood mixed with Raven’s. No one is questioning that,” she said.
“But you think I made the shooter up. So who killed Raven if not the shooter?” She looked between Barrett and himself. “My crew can corroborate I was with them when the shot hit her.”
Barrett smiled at Lucy. “I see you finally understand my problem. I’ve been asking myself the same thing since all of this was brought to my attention. If not the shooter, who? And why would you claim a shooter existed if that weren’t true? You had to know the satellite feed would contradict your statements.”
“I’m telling the truth,” Lucy said.
Troy didn’t like how Barrett was enjoying Lucy’s fear. She knew they needed Lucy alive, but Barrett was acting as if she was building a case to cancel her.
“Could it be a glitch in the system?” he asked.
Barrett nodded. “We’re having a full diagnostic test done as we speak. If someone tampered with our equipment, I need to know about it. But it begs a question, doesn’t it.”
Lucy didn’t move, didn’t say a word. Troy tried to anticipate Barrett’s line of inquiry.
“If the equipment isn’t faulty, how did radar miss another body on the op site?” Barrett shrugged, pursing her lips. Lucy wisely remained silent, giving away nothing. “If you had brought the shooter’s body back, all of this inquiry would be unnecessary, but you didn’t follow protocol, Lucy. It’s there for a reason,” Barrett said. “You say you were trying to save Raven, but you had to know she was beyond help. So why did you do it?”
“I had to try.” If this was a performance, Troy would give her a standing ovation. He was beginning to believe Lucy was broken up with sadness, but Barrett was a harder sell.
Barrett’s smile was angelic. “Very commendable, but not protocol.”
Lucy stiffened with indignation. “We had no idea if the shooter was alone. After completing the op, my prime directive was to get my crew to safety. Raven was bleeding out.”
Barrett lifted her hand, stemming Lucy’s inclination to argue. “Raven’s usefulness had expired, whereas the shooter would have been a wealth of information. Your choice was flawed.” Barrett allowed a frown to crease her brow. “Smart money says you’re keeping secrets.”
“I could have claimed the shooter got away and then there would be no hue and cry for his body. Instead, I told the truth.”
Point to Barrett.
He knew it was too late to deflect. He sat back and waited, hoping the mop-up wasn’t extensive. He watched his boss’s eyes light up as if she were delighted.
“That approach would require your crew to lie for you. If there was a shooter, and the blood on your uniform wasn’t planted, and you had your crew lie for you, that would indicate your crew has a higher allegiance to you than to the Agency. I don’t see how this helps your case. It does make me want to watch you closely. Did you kill Raven?”
Lucy flinched. “You’ve seen my crew’s reports. There’s no way I could have killed Raven.”
“Yes, your crew, who I’m supposed to believe won’t lie for you.”
Lucy’s lips pinched. “We have no higher allegiance than the Agency. Our lives depend on it. You’ve accused me and my crew of suppressing information. I’m telling you there are ample ways to suppress it, but we haven’t. I protected my crew, tried to save Raven, which is protocol. The op was successfully completed, the shooter neutralized. I turned in the DNA evidence I acquired. Raven died despite my efforts.”
Troy thought Lucy was keeping it together well, considering, and Barrett looked as if she agreed with him.
“You trained her well, Troy.”
He didn’t want to feed into the situation, but couldn’t help looking at Lucy. Not surprisingly, she looked pissed.
“In the interest of crew safety, ma’am, I have to ask you to reconsider Troy tagging along on my ops—”
He didn’t roll his eyes, but he did tune Lucy’s complaints out, instead using the time to analyze yesterday in the elevator. After careful consideration, he’d decided sex had been a bad idea. His reasons for avoiding entanglements with Lucy were still valid. He couldn’t risk his feelings for her coming back. It was a conflict of interest, and the Agency had to come first.
Lucy was glaring at him, concluding her argument, so he tuned back in. “—so you see, ma’am, having Troy on my team would upset the delicate balance we’ve achieved over the last few years. Adding an unknown to the mix might cause deaths that you’re seeking to prevent.”
“And what did losing Raven do to your delicate balance?” Barrett’s laugh was deep, a contralto explosion of sound. “Excuse me, but sometimes, Lucy, you remind me of the young recruit you used to be, before Troy hardened you and you grew up.”
He had to give Lucy credit—Barrett’s derision didn’t stop her. “I’m your longest-surviving crew leader,” she said, “and I ask that you, in your capacity of administrator, give me the benefit of the doubt when I say Troy’s presence on my ops will disrupt them and threaten all of our survival.”
Troy watched Barrett affect a confused expression, not even trying to sell it. “You assume I care if your ops are successful or if you live or die. You confuse your needs with the needs of the Agency. If you fail, others will take up the slack. That’s how things work around here. I want things, and they further the objectives of the Agency. That’s all you need to know. Troy is going with you. Nice skirt, by the way.” She stood with a wink and stepped back behind her desk, indicating the meeting was over. She pushed her intercom button.
“Janice? Coffee.”
Troy wanted to smile but restrained himself until Lucy stormed out of the room. Barrett was watching him, noting his amusement.
“Do you want coffee, Troy?”
He shook his head. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. “When will we find out if the satellite feed had a glitch? And why haven’t I seen the feed yet? Who has it?”
Barrett looked up when her secretary stepped through the door and placed a delicate Royal Albert china cup and saucer on the desk. Next to it she placed a tiny plate with three shortbread cookies.
“Thank you, Janice.” Barrett sipped the coffee, keeping an eye on her secretary until she quietly closed the door behind her. “Don’t badger me, Troy. Charlie has the feed. The shooter is not on it. All we can see is Lucy running amok after Raven is down. Look, I know she’s your pet project, but I can’t ignore this.”
“There has to be an explanation. How does Lucy benefit by claiming to kill Raven’s shooter? I’m not asking you to ignore anything, just consider her value. You know how important Lucy is to the Agency.”
“I need to weigh the advantages over the risks. Agents are dying and your girl is smack in the middle of it.”
“Let me see the satellite feed first before you give any orders. Give me that, at least.”
“I’ll do you one better,” she said. “She’s hiding something. Find out what and if I know you, you’ll be the one recommending cancellation.” She seemed so confident that Troy began to wonder what she knew that he didn’t. He would have Lucy retrieve the bug late tonight, after Barrett and Janice were gone for the day. Things were happening too fast to wait.
“If there’s something to find, I’ll find it,” he said. And he would. He just wasn’t confident that it was Lucy keeping dangerous secrets. His bet was on Barrett.
Her smile lacked amusement. “Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor. It’s what you’re paid for. You’re my muscle, the person who is supposed to deflect staff animosity away from me. Try to remember that in the future when you go all cheerleader on me in a debrief with an agent. You’re on Team Barrett, unless you have something you want to tell me.”
He stood. “Team Barrett all the way.”
She dismissed him with a nod and picked up a cookie. “Send Janice back in, please.”
Troy left, angry and filled with questions. When he stepped into the secretary’s office, he saw Lucy leaning against the wall, waiting for him. She looked furious.
“Janice, Barrett is asking for you.” He walked past as the secretary grabbed her iPad and hurried to comply. Lucy pushed off the wall and got in his face.
“Your obsession with me is going to get me killed.” Her tone was barely above a whisper, but what it lacked in volume she made up for in facial expression.
“Where is this coming from?” Honestly, he thought, keeping up with Lucy was exhausting. “Why am I obsessed?”
“The number-two guy in the Agency is now my supervisor on ops. That’s a little beneath your pay grade, don’t you think? You’re micromanaging and I don’t like it.”
“I’m not surprised Barrett thinks you need a babysitter, and you shouldn’t be, either. You’re lucky you’re alive. She’s going against protocol and inclination to give you this reprieve.” He studied Lucy’s expression, suspecting Barrett wasn’t the only one hiding things. The evidence pointed to Lucy lying and working against the Agency. She certainly had the skill set and motive. At her level, she’d be invaluable to a rival agency. He needed to see those satellite feeds and put his suspicions to rest, or at the very least, formulate an alternative scenario. He couldn’t think about canceling Lucy.
She folded her arms under her breasts and scowled at him. “She’s doing this because she hates me. She knows the last person I’d want to work with is you. That woman gets off on torturing me.”
“Not everything is about you,” he said.
Lucy waved that off. “I’m not stupid. She’s gunning for me. You have to know why.”
Troy remained silent and his attitude fed her anger. When she narrowed her eyes, he couldn’t help but smile. She really was stunning when she was mad.
She tapped a scarlet-clad foot. “Are you free? Now?”
From anyone else, he’d suspect she wanted a coffee and the chance to pick his brain. With Lucy, it could be anything. “What do you need?”
“I need you to stop thinking about me, stop analyzing me, stop involving me in your crap.” She scowled at him, perusing his body from boot to brow. “But I won’t be greedy. Just stop wanting me, and we’ll call it even.”
He did laugh then.
“Why would I even want to?” She didn’t have to know about his decision to do just that, stop wanting her. His pride hated how she made it sound so one-sided.
“Because you’re on my crew now. Our history, the sex yesterd
ay, it’s all a distraction, and I refuse to put my people in danger because of this twisted attraction we have.”
“It hasn’t caused a problem for us in past operations.”
“In the past, you weren’t lifting my skirt in the elevator.”
“You liked it.” He smiled. “I liked it. What’s the problem?” He knew the problem, but he wanted to know her thoughts.
“I can’t think when you’re around. Don’t you get it?” She stomped her delicate foot. “I admit it, I’m not a robot like you. I can’t have sex with you one minute and then ignore you afterward. I wish to the high heavens I had knocked you out cold on that elevator floor, because then I’d know my own mind.”
He recognized her frustration. It mirrored his own. “You’re making more of this than there is.”
“I know myself. I don’t require you to agree with me. This whole thing is a mistake. You supervising, hovering, making me crazy. It will get someone killed.”
“I don’t agree.” He wouldn’t allow it. He needed her near. He needed her skills and he needed to make sure she didn’t suffer any preemptory “accidents” until this whole mess got resolved.
Lucy growled with frustration. “It doesn’t matter what you think! You can’t change the fact that there are targets on our backs. Five agents down, Troy. It’s even more important now that my focus is on the safety of my crew. When you’re around I can’t focus on anything else. Saying it isn’t so doesn’t make it true!”
All he heard was she couldn’t focus on anything else when he was around. He smiled at her and knew he shouldn’t. “I’m coming on your ops. That’s not negotiable.”
Lucy’s body seemed to deflate. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Her tone suggested she’d thrown all her arsenal at him and now had to use the expensive silverware as ammunition. He braced himself.
“We need to burn this out,” she said. “Make it a nonissue.”
She might as well have been speaking gibberish. “Explain yourself.”
“I want you out of my life.”
“Old news.”
The Seduction of Lucy Page 5