“I don’t want you on my team.” Anger shone in his eyes, but he managed to keep his tone level.
“I don’t want to be on your team,” she agreed. “So you should request a transfer. You know as well as I do that my father won’t help if I ask to be moved.”
Vaughn sighed. “I guess he knows you better than I did. You don’t belong in this agency.”
Maybe not. Sometimes she doubted she did. She crossed her legs, reminded instantly of a slight bite mark on her thigh from Angus. He’d marked her. She felt all warm and mushy for the slightest of moments.
“Come on, Nari. You’re only here to prove something to your absentee father. Why don’t you quit and open a practice and make tons of money?” he asked.
The words were a direct hit—the truth usually was. She banished thoughts of Angus and what might’ve been. It was over, and now she had to deal with real life. How had she found herself involved with this jerk again? She had belonged with Angus Force’s team and she had made a difference there. She was good at her job. “What’s the case you’re working on, Vaughn?” They were getting nowhere with this conversation.
He opened a desk drawer and retrieved a deep-blue file folder to slide across the desk. “We’re investigating a fairly new transnational gang that originated in El Salvador and has set up here in DC. They’re primarily into drug running right now.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “They’re in competition with MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang?”
“They’re trying to be.”
She reached for the file folder. “They haven’t been taken out by either gang yet?”
“No. They’re surprisingly well funded and trained. I’m trying to avoid a drug war in the middle of the Capitol. In the file you’ll find all the research so far. I need you to develop profiles on the top gang members, and then I’d like you to meet the team. No doubt you’ll want to set up weekly meetings with everyone, as per new regulations. Except for me because we were in a relationship.”
“I’ll get started, then.” She stood, wanting to get out of there. Now.
“I won’t make this assignment easy on you, Nari. If I were you, I’d try to get transferred as soon as possible,” he said.
She shut the door on the last of his words.
Chapter Ten
After an extra-long shower and a search for clean clothes in his apartment, Angus had finally packed up his meager belongings. He still smelled Nari on him. The spicy scent of her shampoo somehow clung to his skin, even after his shower. What was that smell? It was light and female, but with a bite. Maybe a combination of cinnamon and chai. He’d had a chai latte once, and that intoxicating smell reminded him of Nari.
He drove for over an hour, retracing his steps, going in odd directions, making sure he lost any tail that might be on him. Nobody caught his eye. The rain had finally let up, leaving the world barren and waiting with silent breath for the first storm of winter.
Finally he reached a diner in Virginia in the middle of nowhere that only had two battered trucks by the entrance. He drove to the far end of the lot near a forested area, where Agent Millie Frost waited in her light green VW Bug. He pulled in next to her.
His former employee, one he’d known only a short while, got out of her car. Today the streaks in her hair were gone, and the blond tresses on her shoulders made her look more like the girl next door. She reached into the back seat for a duffel bag and set it on the hood.
“Hi.” He let Roscoe out, and the dog bounded over to the woman for some love.
Millie dropped to her haunches, not having far to go. She snuggled up to Roscoe and scratched his fur. “Howdy, buddy.” Then she stood, wiping her hands down dark jeans that matched a T-shirt with theFireflycast on it. “This is weird.”
“I’m okay with that. Did you bring it?” Angus asked.
“Yep.” She drew the sweeper out of the duffel and came toward his truck, running the box down the first tire. “Did you already conduct a visual search for a passive tracker?”
He signaled for Roscoe to sit. “Yes. There’s no passive tracker, and I doubt there’s an active one, but I wanted to make sure.”
She continued toward the front of his truck. “I thought you said goodbye to everybody last night. Heard you boys got a little drunk.”
“Yeah, we did. I just want to check the vehicle before I head back home.” He leaned against her car, watching her work. The woman was meticulous; in fact, the only time he’d seen her truly serious was when she was dealing with gadgets. “Thanks for skipping work today. Where did you get reassigned anyway?”
She reached the other side, ducking down and disappearing from sight. “I didn’t. I quit.”
He launched himself around his truck, his ears ringing. “What do you mean, you quit? You can’t just quit.”
“You did.” She didn’t look up from the blinking lights on the scanner.
He crossed his arms. While she’d only been on the team a few months, he was responsible for her. Besides, with her blond hair free of the colorful streaks, she looked a little bit like his sister. Was a smart-ass like her, too. “I didn’t quit. I was fired, and that doesn’t reflect on you.”
