“We all fell into his trap,” I reminded her.
“I’m sorry we doubted Agent Ryan, but you can understand the IPB’s reasons.”
“I understand you liked how clean Blackmore Jr. made the case for you. We’re just lucky, I guess, that he was more interested in vengeance than covering his own ass.”
She continued, ignoring my comment. “And it helps now that Himeros is chatty. Braggy, even. Hopefully, if anyone else is involved, he’ll squeal about them too.”
“Yeah, seems the sort. He was eager to let us know how he managed to dupe us all with Spencer.”
“Put on quite a show.”
“Yes, it was.” However, I wasn’t referring to everything he’d managed as much as all we’d endured that night. I took a deep breath. “Just glad it’s over. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
“You have to get back to your man?” she asked. “McKinney, I’m not the bad guy here. We could be friends.”
“No, I don’t believe we can, Agent Renning. But thanks for the offer.”
“We’ll follow up with any other details we find,” she added. “Agent Place is outside. He wanted to speak to you too.”
What was Kyle doing there?
“Might as well, if he came all this way.”
She headed out, and Kyle entered. He appeared shaken up, not typical for him at all. Even if he was, he never showed it.
“What are you doing here? And why do you look like shit?” I asked, trying to at least crack a smile, which he returned.
“Can’t a guy be worried about his buddy? Whole team was rattled by this.”
“Yeah, Tara and Mick reached out to make sure we were okay. That’s kind of how friends work.”
“You thought I wouldn’t come?”
“It wouldn’t have surprised me if you didn’t.”
He walked around me to the chair beside mine and settled in it, obviously willing to make himself more at home than Renning, which given our history together, was more than warranted.
“I hear he’s doing fine.”
“He’s just here for observation.”
“The hospital’s or yours?” I sensed judgment in his expression, and I instinctively balled my hands into fists. “Hey, hey, man. I was just trying to ease the tension. Clearly that was an epic fail. Remember when we actually joked like that all the time? Come on.”
“Not a lot of jokes from you after I left,” I reminded him.
His gaze drifted. “As much as I love Tara and Mick, when you left the bureau, I felt like you were leaving me specifically. This is a lonely life, and it isn’t easy when you feel like the one person who was always there abandons you. And I know I shouldn’t see it that way, but it’s how I felt. And I’m sorry if I was a little hard on you because of that.”
“What about how you were with Ty?”
“Yeah, that…” He took a deep breath, interlocking his fingers. “Jealousy.”
“Jealousy? You need to confess something, Kyle?”
“Not like that. But this guy gets to spend all this time with you. Anyone who has ever had your attention for a moment knows what it’s like when it turns away. But hard as it is, I’m glad you’re moving on. Even more, I’m glad you’ve found someone you care about.”
I had to ask. “What brought this change of heart?”
He hesitated before saying, “I saw the video.”
