Her gaze swung in Ryker’s direction next, but he simply shrugged as if to say he wasn’t surprised in the least.
God, save me from Alpha-brained men.
“You do realize, Liam could go to prison for what he did.” Natalia shot Jagger an arched brow. “And you would be in the cell right next to his.”
“Yeah, that probably would happen.” Jagger appeared to muse. “If someone decided to tattle. Of course, that would bring more attention to this little investigation of yours. Could raise questions about former teammates and their connection to gun smugglers…and you. So I’m guessin’ you’re going to choose to let this one slide.”
“You mean you’rehopingI let it slide.”
Jagger shrugged. “Potato, potah?—”
“Don’t!” Natalia lifted a palm in the space between them. “Just…don’t.”
“Take the personal out of it, Natalia.” The rumbled order came from Ryker. “Try to see the situation from his team’s point of view.”
“Their point of view?” Her gaze narrowed. “How about they take into account the past two years that I’ve been their freaking handler? Or the times I had their sixes in the damn field?” To Jagger, she asked, “How did you even find out about Sinclair in the first place?Ididn’t even know he was one of the men at the port until I got here and was given the file.”
She was still trying to come to grips with the emotions that had taken over the moment she’d opened that file and read Keith’s name. When she’d seen his picture, and…she knew.
“The team trusts you, Talia.” Jagger’s dark stare drew her in. “But you know better than most that trust only goes so far.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Oh, come on, Talia,” Ryker chimed back in. “You were CIA. You know exactly what it means.”
“I had to be sure,” Jagger rumbled next. “For the sake of my team.”
She bore her gaze deep into his with a demanding, “And are you?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. That was something, at least.
Anger aside, Natalia kept her emotions in check. She refused to let him see the pain his doubt had caused. Because it hurt.
It hurts a lot, dammit.
More than she’d ever admit.
“Question my integrity again and we’re done.” To Ryker, she added, “That goes for you, too.”
“Hold up, now.” Jagger immediately jumped to the other man’s defense. “Ryker’s done nothin’ but sing your praises since I got here. This isn’t on him.”
“So it’s just you.” Did he honestly think that made it better? “Good to know.”
“Talia—”
“No, really. I always like to know where I stand with the people I work with.” She swallowed the giant knot in her throat. “And now, I do. If you’ll excuse me, I have nine more criminals to question. Unless, of course, you’d like to observe those, too.”
With no intentions of waiting for either man to respond, Natalia spun on her heels and stormed out of the room. Despite how hurt she felt, it was still surprisingly hard to ignore Jagger’s calls for her to stop as the door slammed shut behind her.
10
“Talk to me, brother,”Jagger answered Liam’s call from inside the dark interior of his car.
“You alone?”
Unfortunately.“I am.”
