Danica exchanged looks with her partner.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Clayne asked.
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I think they’d work great together. I’ll call John and he’ll make it happen.”
Braden opened his mouth to ask them what the hell they were talking about when Danica stabbed him with a look.
“Here’s the deal,” she said. “You agree to help keep an eye on Dreya, and we’ll pull you into this operation. Most of what’s going on is classified, so access to certain parts will be purely on a need-to-know basis. There will be some things we won’t be able to tell you until we feel you’re ready to handle it, but if you play the game like we ask, you can keep your eye on Dreya.”
Braden should have told them to pound sand. He had no desire to be part of any federal operation, be it FBI, DHS, CIA, DIA, NSA—you name it—especially since they weren’t going to tell him what was really going on. But then he got a grip. This deal gave him the ability to keep an eye on Dreya—whether to drag her to jail or save her life. What the hell else could he ask for at this point?
Then he decided that there was one thing.
“Before I agree, you have to tell me one detail.”
Danica’s brow rose. “What’s that?”
“What federal charges are you bringing against Dreya?”
Danica smiled. “We aren’t charging Dreya with anything. We recruited her to work for us.”
Before Braden could say anything, she turned and walked around to the passenger side of the car, then looked at him over the top.
“Don’t worry, Clayne will drive a little slower this time,” she said. “There’ll be a guarded gate a few miles up the road with a visitor parking lot. Hang tight for a bit while we get some paperwork filled out.”
Braden frowned, feeling like he’d lost the thread of the conversation somewhere along the way. “Wait a second. I have another question. Which agency is recruiting Dreya?”
Danica smiled. “That’s one of those need-to-know parts I mentioned. Right now, you don’t need to know.”
Braden was still standing there as Clayne started the car and pulled onto the road. In the backseat, Dreya gazed over her shoulder at him, and she didn’t look happy at all.
Chapter 4
“The kitchen’s stocked with the basics, there’s soda and beer in the fridge and some extra towels in the linen closet, so you two should be set for the night,” Danica said.
Dreya looked around the dorm room. In addition to the small eat-in kitchen, there was a living room with a big TV and video game console as well as two bedrooms and a jack-and-jill bathroom. As a temporary place to crash, it wasn’t too bad—if it weren’t for the company.
She glanced at Braden where he stood a few feet away. Instead of a weekender like her, all he had was a plastic bag from the shoppette they’d stopped at after getting their security badges. It was kind of unfair how little a guy could get away with needing when you thought about it.
She still couldn’t believe Danica and Clayne had invited him to come along on this five-day, fun-filled vacation slash recruitment pitch. If she didn’t know better, she’d think they didn’t trust her.
“We’ll be back around eight in the morning,” Clayne added.
“What are we going to be doing tomorrow?” Braden asked.
No doubt that was his way of trying to figure out what the hell was going on. They had yet to see a single sign with the letters DCO on them, so Braden didn’t know who was trying to recruit her, and it was obviously driving him nuts. For some reason, that made her happier than it should have.
“Not much,” Danica said. “We’ll issue you some gear and introduce you to a few people, maybe do a little basic assessment testing, see what kind of things Dreya is comfortable doing.”
Dreya already knew what kind of things she was comfortable doing. Making jewelry, climbing ridiculously tall buildings, stealing stuff…and irritating Braden. She couldn’t imagine the DCO paying her for those skills. Well, maybe stealing stuff. She could see how that might be a valuable talent for the government.
The two feds turned and walked out into the hallway that led to the stairs and another set of dorm rooms at the other end of the third floor.
Before he closed the door, Clayne poked his head in. “Training goes on here 24/7, but it can get pretty intense at night. You’re probably going to hear shooting and some explosions. Since you haven’t had a chance to get a feel for the lay of the land yet, I’d suggest you don’t go out tonight. I’d hate for you to wander into a training area and get shot by accident.”
Then the big fanged freak was gone, leaving her and Braden looking at each other.
“Did he just threaten us?” Braden asked.
