by Misty Evans
He emphasized Special Agent a little too hard, making it sound sarcastic—force of habit. Still, when Donaldson’s watery eyes met his in challenge, Mitch didn’t look away.
Donaldson held out the second set of papers in his hand. “Shut up before you make me change my mind and tear these up, you SOB.”
Mitch hesitated. There was something in the way Donaldson held the folded papers out to him that made his hackles rise. Was this a warrant for his arrest? “I told you I’m turning myself in.” He glanced at Caroline, and she smiled a sad, but proud smile at him. “I’m done running. I’ll take whatever consequences are coming my way.”
His old boss rolled his eyes. “Will you take the goddamned papers?”
For a half a second, Mitch’s pulse skipped a weird tempo. If it was an arrest warrant, Donaldson would be handcuffing him and leading him away, not holding the damn thing out to him like an olive branch.
Against his better judgment, he accepted the papers, unfolded them and started reading.
The moment his good eye skimmed across the words, “…all charges dismissed…” his knees went weak. He glanced up. “I don’t understand.”
“What’s there to understand?” Donaldson turned and motioned for Caroline to follow him. “I’m not going so far as to offer you your old job back, but I’m dropping the charges against you.”
He turned and looked at Mitch over his shoulder. “And I don’t ever want to see you in my office for any reason. Clear?”
Mitch stood completely stunned, watching as Donaldson walked past the nurse’s station and nearly ran over an orderly. Caroline was on her phone texting. Her phone beeped and she raised her head. “Grey’s on his way down. He’ll drive you.” She rushed back and kissed Mitch on the lips. “Isn’t this righteous? We’re taking down the Deputy Attorney General! We’re getting justice for Tommy.”
Justice for Tommy. All he’d wanted. Well, that and Caroline. His face hurt when he smiled, but he smiled anyway. He was a free man. Straling was going to face the music. Caroline loved him.
“Righteous,” he echoed.
Across from the nurse’s station, a TV in the waiting area showed a replay of the president on a news channel denying any knowledge of Operation Bulletproof.
Caroline followed Mitch’s gaze. She made a derisive noise in the back of her throat. “He didn’t waste any time distancing himself from all of this.”
“Don’t worry.” Grey was suddenly beside them, looking sharp as ever in a fresh suit. “He’s not above the law. One of these days, he’ll get what’s coming to him.”
Caroline eyed Grey suspiciously. “In what manner?”
Grey patted Mitch on the back and smiled at Caroline “Let’s just say, karma’s a bitch.”
As Grey led the way out of the emergency room doors, Mitch followed, ignoring Caroline’s questioning looks. He paused for a moment in the sun, taking a deep breath, even though it caused him pain. I’m free.
Caroline blew Mitch a kiss before jogging off after Donaldson. “I’ll call you later.”
Grey’s Challenger pulled up alongside the curb. Mitch eased himself into the passenger seat.
“Quite a girl you’ve got there, Roe.”
“She’s the best,” he said. “I don’t deserve her.”
“No, you don’t, but then, you always were a lucky bastard.”
“Lucky?” He snorted at the irony. “I lost my career, the girl, and my friends. I was on the run for months and accused of murder, and you think I’m lucky?”
Grey shrugged. “You have me.”
Even though it cost him, Mitch reached over and punched Grey’s arm. Not hard, just a friendly guy punch. Sort of like a hug, but not. “Damn right I do.”
Grey grinned and Mitch grinned back. “Shall we?”
Mitch held up his get-out-of-jail-free papers. “I’m a free man. How about we get a beer?”
Grey put the car in gear. “A beer? Hell, after all of this, I’m buying you a whole damn pitcher.”
Lucky. Mitch stared out the window as Grey pulled away, tasting the warm, familiar bite of homesickness inside him.
But now, he welcomed it. This was his new life. With Caroline. With Grey. With a world of possibilities stretching out in front of him.
“I am lucky,” he muttered, and held out a fist to Grey. “All for one, and one for all?”
Grey looked a little confused, but fist-bumped him anyway. “You’re coming to work for me officially now, right?”
“Only if you’re paying me. This volunteering shit is over. And none of that stupid election fraud case.”
“Even if the fraud goes as high as the president?”
Mitch hiked a thumb back toward the hospital. “Is that what you were talking about back there?”
“Karma’s a bitch, or in this case, the Justice Team is.”
Mitch laughed. The president might be able to distance himself from the blowback over Operation Bulletproof and his Deputy Attorney General, but in the end, he would get what was coming to him. “I’m in.”
“The Justice Team rides again,” Grey said.
“Really? A western theme?”
“You just quoted The Three Musketeers.”
“You’re right. The Three Musketeers are so yesterday.” And the past needed to stay in the past. “How about The Avengers? Brice would like that.”
“Brice? Is he joining our team too?”
Mitch thought about it. “Might not be a bad idea. We have to break him out of jail first.”
Grey sighed. “Of course we do.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Two days later, Caroline sat on a counter stool in Grey’s kitchen staring at the stainless steel double oven while this puzzle of a man—who knew he had such fancy taste in appliances—poured her a club soda. He wore track pants, a plain grey T-shirt and his hair was damp from an obviously recent shower.
Having never seen him in casual clothes, Caroline wondered if he wore his suits like she wore hers. The armor that kept them focused on the work and only the work. Protection from emotional entanglements.
She glanced down at her jeans. No armor tonight. For once, it might be a good thing. “Sorry to interrupt your evening.”
He slid the club soda in front of her and propped his hands on the granite countertop. “You didn’t interrupt. What’s up? Everything okay? Monroe driving you batshit?”
She laughed at that. On any given day it could be true. Just not today. “As crazy as it is to believe, no.”
Then again she hadn’t spoken to him today. As of last night, he planned on apartment hunting all day. Mitch Monroe, back on the grid. Maybe now they’d actually manage a normal relationship. Not that either one of them knew what the heck normal would be.
A drip of moisture rolled down the side of her glass and she ran her finger over it. Stalling. Really? When had she become such a wussy-girl? She slugged half the club soda.
“You sure you don’t need a scotch?” Grey cracked.
Not a bad idea. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure. Let’s hear it.”
As if changing the course of her life were that simple. Sharp tingles zipped down her arms and she threaded her hands together. “Well, uh, okay, but feel free to say you can’t do it. It’s fine.”
“Caroline?”
“Yes?”
“You’re pissing me off. Spit it out.”
The tension wracking her body vanished. Just poof. Gone. She snorted. No wonder he and Mitch got along. “I feel better now. Thank you.”
“Whatever it is, let’s talk about it. If I can’t do it, I’ll say it.”
She believed him. One thing about Mitch, his ability to read people was spot-on. If he trusted Grey, it meant something. That’s all she needed. “I talked to Donaldson this morning.”
Grey tapped his fingers on the counter. “My favorite person.”
“I know. Which is why I’m here. He said I’m not fired.”
Grey boosted hims
elf to a sitting position on the opposite counter, settling in for a chat. “That’s good, right?”
A few days ago—heck, yesterday—she’d have thought so. Now? After all they’d discovered, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was she wanted to do good, to serve the people of her country and, as cliché as it was, put the bad guys in jail.
Somehow, the circumstances surrounding Tommy’s death didn’t give her hope that her role with the FBI would achieve those goals.
She shook her head. “I should have been thrilled and I wasn’t. It’s been a long few days. I’ve learned more than I wanted to and the lessons weren’t necessarily good.”
“I get it,” Grey said. “I was there myself not too long ago.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” A thunk sounded from the fridge. Ice cubes dropping into the tray. Something she’d heard thousands of times in her apartment, surrounded by the quiet of her No-Mitch life.
She slugged another gulp of her club soda and set down the glass. “I’d like a job. On your team. As crazy as the New Mexico trip was, I came alive while we were there. I liked playing outside the lines. Mitch is a rebel. Always will be. He’s used to being a pain in the ass. I’m always the obedient one. At least until New Mexico. We may have broken the rules, but it was for the greater good. That’s what I want. And I think your team does that.”
“What team?”
Okay, so he was going to play hardball. Make her work for it, even though he knew she was aware of his current assignment for the Bureau. “The Justice Team. I know what you do and why. I know you and your team are ghosts and that’s the way you want it because that’s how you get things done. But you stand for something that’s very real. Justice. I want real.”
Grey scratched the back of his head and stared out at the darkening sky beyond the wall of windows and glass doors lining the kitchen. “It is what we do. I’d love to have someone like you on my team.”
“But?”
He shrugged. “You need to be comfortable doing the work and getting none of the credit. Being a ghost isn’t easy or fun. It’s messy and dangerous.”
That she knew. She’d heard the rumors about the team, but no proof could be found. Anywhere. They kept big secrets, worked under the radar, and covered their tracks. “I’d be okay with that.”
“What about S.W.A.T.?”
For a second, she held her breath. You didn’t consider that. If she went to work for Grey, she’d have to give up S.W.A.T. All her training and hard work—not to mention the respect—would be sacrificed.
“Caroline, you’d have to walk away. Think of this as WITSEC. No one can know. You can’t talk about it to anyone outside of team members.”
The FBI had their own version of the Federal Witness Protection Program, and suddenly she wanted to give up everything for it. “I know and I’m ready for that. After I got done with Donaldson, I stopped at my desk for a few minutes. Nothing about it felt right anymore. Knowing what I know now, about Tommy and the politics and how he died, I’m questioning everything. And I can’t work like that. I need to trust the people around me.”
“What’d you tell Donaldson?”
“I thanked him and went back to my desk. What could I say? Go screw yourself? I couldn’t do that after he’d helped us find Zachariah.”
Grey rolled his eyes. “Don’t kid yourself, he was saving his own ass. He knew you and Mitch were on to something. As Tommy’s boss, he had to approve the taskforce assignment. And that’s a potential landmine for him. But bottom line, my feelings about him don’t matter. In fact, I wouldn’t mind putting the screws to him by stealing one of his best agents. Don’t take this the wrong way, but a woman with your looks and skills? I can use that. In a lot of ways.”
Yes. Caroline bobbed her head like a five-year-old waiting for her ice cream. “I’d like that. As corny as it sounds, it would give me something to believe in.”
“It’s not corny. That, I actually understand.”
“So, what do you think? Can you make room for me on your team?”
He hopped off the counter, wandered over to her and stuck out his hand. “Welcome to the Justice Team.”
She shook his hand, staring at him the whole time, because it couldn’t be that easy. Could it? “That’s it? You don’t have to clear me with your boss?”
“I have a couple of calls to make, but no, I don’t have to ask. If this is what you want, my boss won’t give me a hard time about it.”
A beep sounded, then the front door slammed. “Honey!” A woman’s voice. “I’m home!”
Immediately, Grey’s face lit up, all serious G-man reserve vanishing behind a grin. “Kitchen!” Ten seconds later a tall brunette, completely stunning in heels, a tight pencil skirt, and a clingy sweater strutted in. This had to be Sydney, Grey’s girlfriend.
Her laser sharp eyes landed on Caroline. “Hello.” She set the grocery bags she carried on the counter and turned to Grey. “Why is there an attractive female in your kitchen?”
He laughed and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “This is Caroline.”
“The Caroline?”
What did that mean?
“I only know one Caroline, so it must be.”
Sydney reached across the counter and shook Caroline’s hand. “Mitch talks about you. A lot.”
The sting of jealousy, that ugly blast of heat suddenly prowling inside her, hit Caroline full force, reminding her of all the nights she sat on her sofa, alone and heartbroken, texting Mitch, checking on him, wanting to know if he was safe and where he was.
And never receiving an answer.
Sydney was the lucky one. Caroline straightened her shoulders. This is silly. Childish even. Mitch was allowed to have friends. Only problem was, Caroline wanted to be the one talking to Mitch.
Sydney went back to unloading groceries. “You’re staying for dinner, yes?”
A banging noise on the glass behind Caroline drew everyone’s attention. She swiveled her chair and found Mitch and one of his cocky grins standing on the other side of the glass door leading to Grey’s deck.
“Come on!” Grey hollered. “Seriously!”
“He does it to annoy you,” Sydney said, eyeballing the steaks she’d set on the counter.
Grey stalked to the door, threw it open and sent it careening off the door stop. “Quit fucking breaching my security.”
Mitch shrugged. “Not my fault you can’t figure out how I do it.”
These two. Such infants.
Sydney rolled her eyes. “I go through this every time. Grey is easy bait.”
Then those dark eyes drifted to her and the heat from her little jealous snit converted to a whole different kind of warmth.
“Look who’s here.” Mitch marched over and kissed her. Long and slow. Right in the middle of Grey’s kitchen. With an audience.
She loved it.
Yes, things had definitely changed.
Backing away from the kiss, he nipped at her bottom lip. “Hey, Caroline.”
How she loved when he said that. “Hey, Mitch.”
“You okay?”
She met his gaze and his mundane question took on its true meaning. What he really wanted to know was if she was okay after eliminating her target. They’d yet to discuss it, and if she had her way, they wouldn’t. He of all people knew the emotional fallout she suffered after an incident. This time though, pulling the trigger meant saving Mitch’s life.
End of it. “I’m great.”
“What’re you doing here?”
Unsure of how much to say, Caroline made eye contact with Grey.
“I just gave her a job,” he said. “On our team. You two will be working together. Any issues with that?”
“No shit?”
“No shit.”
“Um,” Sydney said, “who is staying for dinner?”
“Both of them.” Grey jerked his head sideways. “I need to talk to you a second.”
“Oh, Fed Boy, I love when you want to be alone wit
h me.”
Mitch gagged. “Beat it already.”
Once Sydney and Grey were gone, Caroline spun to Mitch and set her hands on either side of his face. The ugly cut above his eye had started to heal, or maybe she’d simply gotten used to the ugly black stitches and the bruising across his jaw and cheek. “Mitch, you look like a tractor plowed you.”
“I feel like a tractor plowed me.” He wedged himself next to the empty stool beside Caroline. “You’re leaving Donaldson? Grey told you about his rules, right? Top secret and all that crap.”
“He did. I’m ready.”
He tugged on her ponytail. “Ha. You liked going rogue. I knew it.”
“I did, actually. It was for the right reasons. That’s what I like about Grey’s team.” She gripped his T-shirt and squeezed. “And I’d get to see you every day.”
Slowly, he inched forward, his gaze on her, all that amused mischief softening. “I love you, Caroline.”
Years she’d waited for him. Maybe she hadn’t pathetically pined for him, but down deep, after comparing every man in her life to him, she’d hoped he’d come back. “I love you, Mitch.”
Voices drifted from the hallway. Grey and Sydney coming back. Sydney entered the room first, clipping her long hair back. “One of you boys go light that grill. I bought Grey’s favorite rib eyes. I’d planned on freezing the extra ones, but we’ll just cook them all.”
Mitch backed away—darn that—and leaned on the counter, resting on his elbows. “So, Syd. Are you officially moved in here yet?”
“Yes,” Grey said.
“No,” Sydney said.
Okay then. Communication barrier?
Grey grabbed a lighter from a drawer and waved it. “Your stuff is all here. Just say you’ve moved in and be done with it.”
“Not all my stuff. I still have my furniture at my place.”
“Which is stupid. You’re paying rent on a place you’re not living in.”
Oh, Caroline saw where this was going. Leave it to Mitch. He never did anything without a reason. The reason might be half-assed, but he had a reason.
Sydney—Syd—cocked her head, gave him a syrupy smile. “There’s a little thing called a lease. And mine is not up for two months.”