“He’s not threatening me,” Brigid said, moving forward and taking Raider’s arm. “Well, that’s not true. They threaten me all the time. I’ve been working with HDD for five years.” Her voice lowered to soft and oddly sad.
Raider partially turned toward her, forgetting about the agents. “What about when I picked you up from prison two months ago and brokered such a good deal for you?”
She winced. “Staged. Orange jumpsuit and all.” Her eyes glowed a dark green. “I mean, I did get in trouble hacking five years ago, and those records are accurate. But instead of going to prison, I made a deal with the HDD that I’d work for them instead. I was undercover for another case in the prison when Force found out about me and made the request for me to join the Deep Ops team.”
She was a spy? A damn spy?
Agent Fields sighed. “Nobody trusts Force, and even though we have Nari on the team, we figured having one more mole wouldn’t hurt. Brigid’s job is to report back on everyone, especially Force. You know he’s nuts, right?”
Raider took a step back from her, and her hand dropped to her side. Red hazed his vision, and he cleared it without changing his expression. “Why not just tell us the truth?”
Rutherford snorted. “Seriously? You’re the crappiest band of misfits ever seen, and as soon as Force figures out his ghost isn’t real, you’re being disbanded. The only reason you’re in place, Agent Tanaka, is because Force wanted you there. The juice you think you have at HDD isn’t there any longer.”
Raider swallowed. His ego was taking such a beating from every direction, he might have to rethink his vow to the damn agency.
Fields nodded. “Sleeping with the wrong woman can have worse consequences than you think. You have some seriously high-up enemies, my friend.”
“We’re supposed to fail,” Raider said slowly, losing any illusion of elite status. He was just another agent, a cog in the wheel. Oh, he might be good at his job, but apparently that didn’t mean shit. “Force is being appeased until we fail bad enough that even he won’t have enough friends to keep the Deep Ops unit open.”
“Yep,” Rutherford said cheerfully. “It was a shock when the unit actually prevented the bombings weeks ago. Who knew? But you’re one mission away from failure.”
Fields sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Agent Tanaka. But you have to see how desperate Force is to find a dead guy, how lost Malcolm West is after leaving the police force, how irritated Nari is at being in the unit, and how shit-assed crazy Clarence Wolfe is. How could you think this was anything other than temporary?” His voice held so much sympathy, Raider wanted to puke.
It hit him then. While the leaders in the HDD wanted them to fail, they didn’t have the power to make them stop. “Ah, hell. Lassiter really is alive.” Force was correct, or no way would the HDD be allowing such a group to exist. “You’re afraid Force will go public with that news, and that maybe, just maybe, people will believe him.” It was a risk, either way. But putting Force in place with a bungling group that was bound to fail made for a better government plan. Maybe Miss A had been wrong. Perhaps he should’ve gone the other route.
No. Miss A was never wrong.
Brigid faltered next to his side. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth.”
“How long?” Raider asked quietly, his chest aching more than the other injuries.
She blinked. “How long, what?”
It wasn’t any of his business, but he wanted the full story. “How long do you have to continue your work for the HDD as your plea deal?”
She blinked and looked at Fields. “There wasn’t a time limit.”
So this had been hanging over her head for five years? The woman was too smart for that. “Your lawyer really sucked,” Raider muttered. “The deal I thought I brokered for you was much better.”
Her expression cleared. “I didn’t get a lawyer. Federal law, treason, etc. They gave me two choices—prison or the HDD.” She glared at Rutherford. “Let’s just say they were very convincing.”
Rutherford smiled, showing perfectly even white teeth. “We do our best.”
Raider’s fingers curled into a fist. One punch, and those teeth would fly across the room. All of them.
Rutherford’s eyes gleamed a deep blue. “This is confidential, Agent Tanaka. I hope you understand that, if you want to keep your job.”
Apparently his job wasn’t worth what he’d thought it was. “If I’ve finally read this all right, I’m on my way out, anyway.” He slid his phone from his back pocket and hit speed dial.
“Force,” Force answered, his voice distracted.
“No.” Brigid moved toward Raider, reaching for his arm.
He smiled. “Hey, Force, it’s Raider. Apparently Brigid is under servitude to the HDD, we’ve been set up, and everyone wants us to fail. How about we meet for a drink tomorrow after I survive infiltrating Eddie’s organization? I can happily explain everything to you, and by the way, I’m pretty sure your dead serial killer is actually alive.” He clicked off before Force could answer. Then he turned and looked directly at Brigid. “Like I said. There has to be somebody you can be totally honest with in this business.”
She swallowed, her skin so pale her lips looked white. “I didn’t have a choice.”
There was always a choice. He’d been her handler for two months, making a complete ass of himself as he tried to help her find the right path. She could’ve confided in him at any point. They were a team, a complete unit, and they were supposed to be working together. And, even more important, they’d slept together. That meant something to him, if not to her. “Well, this does make the mission easier,” he murmured.
