Page 21 of Code Name: Harbor

“You’re installing a camera system and alarm in a politician’s house,” I point out with a grin.

Carolina pounds on her chest. “That hurts, Josie. Really hurts.”

“What hurts?” Reid asks as he walks in, making a beeline for the cookies. He grabs four of them and then hops up on the counter with his legs swinging.

“My ego,” Caroline mutters.

Reid takes a bite of the first cookie and looks at me like he’s just experienced nirvana.

“Good, right?”

“To die for,” he agrees around a mouthful of oats and chocolate. He swallows and says, “Heard you took on the Russians single-handedly night before last.”

Caroline’s head turns slowly toward me. “You did what?”

“Oops,” Reid says with a duck of his head. “I thought it was common knowledge.”

“It’s fine,” I assure him. Gossip travels fast in this building.

“Russians?” Caroline prods.

“Russians,” I affirm.

“Like the Russian Russians.”

“Those are the ones.”

“And you took them on single-handedly?”

“I went to scope a landing site BOB had flagged. Things went sideways and I ended up in the water. A guy in a fishing boat pulled me out. End of story.”

“A guy in a fishing boat.”

“Yes.”

“Just a guy.”

“Just a guy.”

But that’s not true. Finn Marlowe is so much more than “just a guy.”

Caroline takes a slow sip of her coffee. “And the Russians?”

“Working a trafficking pipeline out of the Salish Sea.”

“Women?” she guesses.

“Yeah,” I reply glumly, the memory of what I witnessed haunting me.

Caroline sets her coffee down. “Jesus, Josie. Those fuckers are the type who will kill you just for looking at them sideways.”

“I know. They almost did kill me.”

“Josie,” she drawls in a low, disbelieving tone.

“I know, I know. It was stupid and it won’t happen again. Lesson learned and all that.”

She looks at me for a long moment. Then she picks up her coffee and takes another sip and does not say what she clearly wants to say.