“Which also suits my purposes.”
“In my heart of hearts, I'm furious with Cedric.” She rubbed her forehead, then dropped her hands. “But Cedric is powerful. I have to be practical.” She was the oldest child in her family, followed by three rambunctious, daredevil brothers. Early on, she'd learned not only to fend for herself but also how to run defense between her brothers and their collective death wish. The sense of responsibility that had been sowed in her at a young age had served her well when her father had gone to prison, her mother's health had tanked, and she'd become her mother's caretaker, too. “It was practical to remain on good terms with Cedric.”
He held her gaze. “I get it.”
She had the strange sense that perhaps he did. Agent Camden was more FBI droid than human person, though, so she wasn't about to let herself soften because he'd shown one glimmer of empathy. “Are you proposing that you . . . become Chaz?”
“No. If this operation moves forward, I'd become your boyfriend using the name Jude McConnell, an alias prepared by the Bureau.”
“You'd keep your first name?”
“We often do when we go undercover. It's second nature to all of us to answer to our own names. Also, in the event that I cross paths with someone who knows me while working the op, and they call me Jude, my cover won't be blown.”
“And when Cedric researches Jude McConnell online? He'll find your photo and details about Jude McConnell's life and career in the perfume industry?”
“The short answer is yes. The Bureau’s excellent at backstopping an alias.”
She started pacing back and forth. “What would my role in all of this be?”
“You'd tell Cedric that your boyfriend has a buyer for the secrets. Then we'd set up a meeting where you'd introduce me to Cedric and endorse me.”
“And, during this meeting, I'd be playing the role of your girlfriend and you'd be playing the role of my boyfriend?”
“Yes, but in a . . . platonic way.” His lips thinned, the first sign of discomfort she'd seen in him. “And only when you and I are both in Cedric's company—which will hopefully only happen once.”
“Hopefully?”
“If Cedric wants to meet with both of us on more occasions and it would raise suspicion to refuse him, then we'll meet with him on more occasions.” He gave an elegant shrug. “It’s sometimes difficult to anticipate what the subject of an operation will require. We'll both need to be flexible and respond to situations as they develop.”
“And how much time outside the meeting with Cedric will be required of me?”
“Should you agree to cooperate on this, you and I will spend time preparing. We'll need to agree on the details of our relationship and learn all the information a boyfriend and girlfriend would know about one another so that we can fulfill our responsibilities believably.”
Fulfill our responsibilities believably. He was quite a formal person, wasn't he? She was thirty and pegged him as near her age . . . maybe a year or two older. He spoke and held himself, though, with the proficiency and composure of an older man. “Ballpark number of hours this will take?” she asked.
“Unsure. A handful of in-person planning meetings and quite a bit of email or phone correspondence.”
Gemma stopped pacing. “When would we begin?”
“We're prepared to go immediately on our end.”
“What am I supposed to do about my actual boyfriend?”
“You can continue with him as normal, so long as you keep his identity secret from your family and your involvement in this op secret from Chaz and everyone else. He'll have to stay away while you and I are interacting with Cedric. And it's imperative that he not share any information or photos pertaining to his relationship with you.”
“What happens if I do this,” she asked, “but you don’t end up arresting Cedric? Would Cedric still find out that I was working with the FBI?”
“Not if we can help it. If the op fails, it will likely be because Cedric backs out. In that case, you can tell him you broke up with Jude McConnell and go on as usual.”
“And if you succeed at arresting Cedric? What would be required of me then?”
“You'll officially be classified by us as a cooperating witness. Whether or not you'll need to testify in the future will depend on federal prosecutors.”
She chewed her lip, deliberating. “I need time to think.”
“Certainly. We can give you four days. This case is time sensitive because we don’t want Cedric selling his secrets elsewhere before our op is underway.”
He was socollected! If she were to start a fire right now, she suspected he'd give her a look of disdain and then snuff out the blaze without even rolling up his sleeves. Which, irrationally, made her want to start a fire. “I'll show you out.”
