Swallowing, he forced himself to get his bodily reactions under control.
You shouldn’t be under control,his kangaroo argued, forcing its way back to the forefront of his consciousness.You should be going mad, you should be fighting, you should be trying to find her –
“So… this is serious, isn’t it?” Trent said, doing what he could to ignore its harangue. No matter how he felt, he couldn’t do anything until he found out more about what was actually going on here – why an agent who had seemed as competent, trustworthy and reliable as Zina had been burned by her agency.
Robb nodded. “About as serious as it gets.” He leaned back in his chair, eyes still trained on Trent’s face. “It’s a burn notice, which is bad enough. But I was able to ring around to a few contacts and find out some more information about why it was issued. It’s not just that this Zina Alden is considered unreliable – it’s that she’s gone rogue.”
Trent stared at him, hardly able to believe his ears. “Gone rogue?”
Robb nodded. “She disappeared from her assignment without any permission to do so. No one knows where she is, or why. All they know is that when she left, she took a briefcase full of classified documents with her. Not to mention the fact she’s got a head full of top-secret information she could sell off to the highest bidder –ifthat’s what she was inclined to do.”
Trent didn’t fail to notice the slight emphasis on the wordif. As if Robb wasn’tquiteconvinced by whatever information he’d managed to squeeze out of his mysterious sources.
“She wouldn’t.” The words were out of Trent’s mouth before he could stop them. He swallowed, gritting his teeth, wishing he could pull the words back out of the air, but it was too late now.
Robb raised an eyebrow. “You seem very certain about that. How could you possibly know?”
Because I know her,Trent thought.Because I know who she is, right down to her soul. Because she’s my –
“She just didn’t strike me as that type,” Trent said, shrugging.
“Did she strike you as the type to go rogue, then?” Robb asked, voice quiet.
Trent sucked in a quick, angry breath, before forcing himself to calm down. “No,” he admitted. “But are they completely sure that’s what’s happened?”
“Sure enough that they’re willing to issue one of these,” Robb said, gesturing down to the burn notice. He cocked his head. “And before you were acting like you barely knew her – I had to remind you of her name. You seemverysure you know who she is now.”
“I –” Trent began, before cutting himself off, taking a deep breath. “I remember her now,” he started again. “She seemed… reliable, when I met her. Dedicated to getting the job done. Pretty sure she would’ve cut me down if I’d gotten in her way.”
Robb was silent. He turned his head to look out the window again, at the sun glittering on the sea.
“I asked you in here because you’re the only person here who’s ever met her,” he said after a pause. “I just wanted to get your thoughts on the situation. And to ask you whether she might’ve let anything slip – anything you thought was strange or unusual at the time.”
“It was three years ago, boss,” Trent said. “And it wasn’t like we had much time for a friendly chat.”
I barely had enough time to figure out she was my mate,Trent thought, almost surprised at the sudden, searing pain that tore its way through his heart.That was three years ago, and then she disappeared off the face of the earth. This is the first time I’ve seen her since then.
After all this time, it seemed like the pain should have numbed a bit – but he should have known that you never got used to the pain of having found your mate, only to lose her again.
He stared down at the photo of Zina Alden on the burn notice. Robb had said her agency believed she’d gone rogue – that she’d disappeared with the intention of selling off her knowledge of intelligence and government secrets to the highest bidder.
I don’t believe it,he told himself firmly.I don’t think that’s what happened at all.
But it wouldn’t do any good tosaythat, Trent knew. Robb might’ve been willing to believe him, but Trent also knew that telling Robb that Zina Alden was his mate would put Robb in a very tricky position. If he was asked, he might feel duty-bound to tell his own higher-ups about it. And besides the fact Trent didn’t want to cause him the dilemma, he refused to let himself be used to potentially hurt Zina. No matter what.
Something’s wrong here. I know she’d never do what she’s being accused of doing. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know it’s not good.
He couldn’t believe it. He’d only known Zina for a short amount of time, but that was what being someone’s matewas.It was knowing who they were, no matter how short of a time you knew them for. It was knowing they weremeantfor you, just like you were meant for them.
Trent narrowed his eyes as he raised them to look at Robb from across the desk. “Is there any other reason I’m being asked all this stuff?”
“Not really,” Robb said blandly, returning Trent’s stare. “Like I said, you’re the only one here who’s ever actuallymetZina Alden – an agent who, according to you, is very competent and possibly dangerous –”
“I never said –” Trent said, feeling his ears heat up in anger.
“Saying an agent is competent is saying they’re dangerous,” Robb interrupted him icily. “She had access to who knows what secrets, and she has the means to create any false identity she wants.” Robb’s mouth tightened as he paused, eyes narrowing. “And the last our US friends were able to discern, she seemed to be heading here.”
Trent blinked. “Here?”
