“That’s what he said, but he was pretty out of it, and there’s no way I trust him to tell us the truth. We should know more once they wake him up. He also mentioned he wasn’t the only one who had the intel.”
Tierney frowned when they all stared at her. “Grieves didn’t tell me anything. Which I think was the point. He wanted me to suspect everyone. Keep me isolated.”
“And that’s why I have trust issues.” Avery groaned when a voice rose beyond the door. Clipped. Obviously agitated.
Buck motioned to the hall. “Call me crazy, but that sounds official to me.”
Avery speared her fingers through her hair. “That’s Judson Ferris. CIA liaison out of D.C. He flew in an hour ago.”
Nick coughed. “Ferris? As in one of our prime contenders on who sold out Tierney’s team? That Ferris?”
“In the flesh. He’s demanding Grieves be released into his custody. Claims it’s for the sake of ‘national security’.” Avery made air quotes as she rolled her eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that before.”
Footsteps sounded outside, then Judson Ferris opened the door, peered inside. He swept the room, pausing on Nick, then Tierney before locking gazes on Avery. “Kaine. What the hell’s the holdup?”
Avery squared her shoulders, and Tierney had to admit, when Avery shifted into federal agent mode, the woman looked terrifyingly lethal. “Three words, Ferris. Federal judicial approval. Until you’ve got that, Grieves is mine. Period.”
“So much for interagency cooperation.”
“There’s cooperation, then there’s you trying to railroad my investigation.”
Ferris scowled, his gaze flying to Tierney. “We need to talk, Officer O’Rourke. Explain why I signed your death certificate over a year ago when you’re obviously not as dead as we thought.”
Avery shifted over, blocked Ferris’ sightline. “You can question Ms. O’Rourke as soon as you explain how classified intel got sold to a mercenary that the CIA had an entire file on. Why you denied the other members of the JSOC team to continue the search for their missing teammates, and why DNA wasn’t used to identify that Tierney wasn’t killed in that ravine.”
Ferris glared at Avery. “Careful, Kaine. This is above your pay grade.”
“And you’re seriously pissing me off.” She crossed her arms, waiting until Ferris turned away and closed the door behind him. “I don’t trust that guy. I’d say he just jumped to the top of our list of assholes.”
Nick sighed. “Remind me not to get on your bad side… Well, anymore. And I’ll have Sloane start another deep dive. See why he’s really here.”
“While she’s at that, she should have another look at Isolde Moreau from Interpol. She quietly locked down the trafficking side of the file a few hours ago. Notified my office that she’ll be here in the morning. Wants Grieves extradited for trafficking crimes related to the Gauntlet he was running with Pike. The entire situation’s a shitshow.” She huffed, fluttering the stray wisps of hair around her face. “All we need now is Malcolm Whitmore showing up, and we’ll have a full set.
Bodie coughed. “Right, so about that… Whitmore actually called my secure line an hour ago. Said he’d heard the chatter that Tierney had come back from the dead. Wanted to send thoughts and prayers. That he was glad she’d survived.”
Tierney frowned. “Isn’t he retired?”
“Heads up a private security firm. And yeah, I have Sloane looking into that, too. Looks like all three are still on the board.”
“That settles it.” Tierney removed her heart monitor and pinched off the IV. “I’m officially out of here.”
Buck placed his hand over hers. “Can we at least wait until after the doctor does the evening rounds?”
“I’m fine.” She groaned. “Okay, I’m not fine, but I’m good enough to go home. Where it’s a thousand times safer than a hospital bed with an internationally wanted human trafficker and mercenaries a couple floors beneath me.”
Buck glanced at his buddies, then back to her. “I see your point. Thankfully, Dalton brought my motorhome, so we can start there… see where we think is safest once we’re back in Raven’s Cliff.”
“Deal.”
Dalton ambled over, held out his hand. “No way you two are going alone. I can either drive or sit with Tierney. Your choice, buddy.”
Buck glanced at her, seemed to drink her in, before reaching into his pocket and tossing Dalton a set of keys. “You can drive. Do me a favor and pull her around front.”
“I’ll see you both down there.”
Tierney grabbed Buck’s wrist with her good hand. In all the time she’d known him, he’d never once asked anyone else to drive. One of his few triggers since the bombing. “You just gave Dalton your keys.”
Buck nodded. “He can’t really drive without them.”
