Tuesday Afternoon, Day 27
My first day back to FBI HQ is fucking chaos. It’s been all hands on deck for federal and presidential security detail protocols. Malin’s cause of death was ruled as natural causes, but President Troy has been frenzied in the four days since he died. It’s clear Victor Malin was the only federal employee he trusted to keep him safe and now he’s lashing out. He’s been requesting different teams each day, fighting with our director, demanding private firms over federally vetted ones—a shitshow if I’ve ever seen one.
My unit has been tasked with assessing additional risks from organized crime groups that would want the president harmed during this time of perceived weakness. We’ve brought in agents from other offices and I’m just too tired for this shit.
I rested at Enzo’s for three days before returning to work. He and Eva wanted me there longer, but I was getting restless. Luna could only cover for me for so long. She used my phone themorning after the shooting to text the director I had a stomach bug. I was able to keep the façade up once I woke and it bought me a few days off. Lucky for me, it aligns with the fact that I still feel like shit.
Enzo was angry I was returning to the office so soon, but Doc said I was fine. I needed to get back so I could talk to Luna. Jules left a few hours after I woke up, once it was clear I was going to be just fine. And we haven’t seen any of our vigilantes since.
Three days of barely answered texts from me to Pippa. Three days of convincing Enzo to text or call her—with no damned luck. Luna seems to have been nominated as the go-between; she and Eva have been keeping all parties updated on the other. Jules, Luna, and Pippa knew I was healing well. And we knew they were “busy.” They fed us excuse after excuse that everyone was caught up in the aftermath of the Malin and McCarter deaths hitting Washington.
All cover for avoidance. Our fledgling alliance seems to have evaporated into thin air before it really even started. My injury became the perfect excuse for everyone to return to business as usual.
I fucking hate it. I’ve let Enzo know as much.
Which means between my crankiness at the separation, his annoying stubbornness, and my healing…we’ve shared no more than a kiss here and there.
I’m hoping I can talk to Luna today. I know she, Eva, and I are aligned on working together on the next mark. I’m just unsure how Jules feels and I can’t overcome the obstinate personalities of Enzo and Pippa on my fucking own.
Jesus Christ, those two.
I was pulled into the director’s office as soon as I arrived and Luna’s been behind closed doors with Novak and his team for a few hours now. I’m keeping an eye on the door to their conference room, hoping to catch her when they break for lunch.
“Hey, Boss,” Alex Rios greets me as he approaches my desk. He’s a junior analyst in my unit.
“What’s up, Rios?”
“You feeling better?”
“Yeah, stomach bugs are the worst.”
“Totally.”
“Glad to be back.”
“Awesome. Well, I had a hit on something I wanted to run by you.”
“Shoot.” I adjust my position in my chair with a grimace.
“Have you seen the headlines about TruthDrop?”
“Of course,” I answer. Not a case that’s landed on the desk of organized crime, but I was familiar with it before I learned who was behind it.
“Well, there is no proof that a group is out there doing vigilante expose work, but the media has been speculating about who could be behind the media drops on all these men, right?”
“Yeah. From what I understand, no one has been able to track where the files have come from, right?”
“Exactly. Which has led people to believe it has to be some highly skilled hackers.”
“That’s what I heard, too,” I respond. “What does this have to do with organized crime, Rios?”Hurry it along, man.
“While you were out, I caught some chatter that maybe the group could be tied to the mafia. The assumption with this theory is the criminal organizations that have been protecting these men could be the same people now exposing them. Blackmail gone wrong—or something like that.”
“Interesting theory. Could have some legs, I suppose.”
“I thought the same thing. So, I kept an eye on the chatter to see if any other links came out of it. Pretty quickly, the forums dismissed it, saying they really think the group is composed ofwomen. That only women would go after these powerful men like this.”
I chuckle.Christ, if only he knew.
