Chapter 3
Before Jane could speak, Matthew held up his hand. “First, apologies for cancelling our dinner at the beginning of the month. I had something pressing come up I’m still dealing with.”
He scowled, and Jane wanted to know what had happened.
For the longest time, she’d considered “FBI Ken,” as Jenn called him, a problem to overcome.
She’d done her best to ignore Matthew’s good looks and perfect reputation.
But now she didn’t mind her attraction, especially because it wouldn’t go anywhere.
Though technically it could since he was no longer her boss…
And that’s a ridiculous thing to think about right now.
She coughed. “No worries. You did let me know beforehand.”
“Yeah, but I was looking forward to talking to you.”
His regard made Jane’s cheeks heat.
She ignored the odd sensation. “You had questions for me, sir?”
“Just Matthew, please.” He grimaced and blew on his hot chai. He’d paid for their drinks as well as pastries Jane hadn’t asked for but dug into all the same.
She took a bite of a thin, flaky chocolate croissant and worked not to moan in appreciation. “Matthew.” She sipped her latte, feeling human again despite it being closer to lunch than breakfast. She really needed to stop skipping her morning meal. “What’s up?”
“First, thanks for talking to Grace Russo for me. She’s wonderful.”
Grace had been Jane’s mentor and senior agent when Jane had first started with the FBI.
Her time in the Poulsbo, Washington RA had taught her so much about investigations into national security and violent crime.
Agents in the smaller satellite offices handled everything, not able to specialize like their counterparts at headquarters units.
RAs had fewer agents to handle their areas of responsibility.
“I spoke with Grace and James, her boss. He seems like a good man.”
“He is.”
“I get the feeling he wants to step down soon, and he wants Grace to take his place.”
Jane didn’t comment.
“I’m not sure Grace wants that,” he said, watching her.
She shrugged. Grace didn’t know if she wanted the job either, though she could certainly handle the responsibility. They’d talked about it. Personally, Jane thought Grace was the best person for it.
“Grace spoke very highly of you.”
“I paid her to.”
He laughed, and his mirth made Jane feel warm inside.
When she’d first started working for Matthew, she hadn’t liked him.
He’d micromanaged everyone. At the time, she hadn’t realized he’d been scrutinizing the team so hard because he suspected one of them of being a mole for a criminal organization.
After catching the spy, he’d eased up. The squad once again functioned like a real team. And then he’d been promoted.
“What’s it like being the niece of the infamous Chris North?” he asked out of the blue, surprising her.
She immediately shot back, “What’s it like being an heir to the Raleway Tech fortune? Or having Senator Ronald Scott as your dad?”
Matthew grimaced. “Fine. I’ll go first. The fortune is on my mother’s side of the family.
My grandfather has no intention of dying, ever, so I never need to worry about that business.
Besides, I have nothing to do with it. When he dies, because despite what he thinks, he is only human, my grandfather will leave his fortune to my mother, who will then have to fight off her many siblings in order to keep it. ”
“Sounds like a mess.”
“Trust me. It is.” He took another swig of his spiced tea.
“Senator Ronald Scott is a powerhouse I respect, who also annoys the hell out of me. My dad has his ways of doing things, and I have mine.” His expression softened when he said, “My mother is a lovely woman who has always supported me while doing her best to back my father’s political ambitions. ”
She sensed he’d said all he would about his family, which was more than she deserved. “How do you know about my uncle?” Her relation to the leader of Team Ten remained a closely guarded secret, even in the FBI.
Matthew snorted. “Chris North? He’s a legend in many circles. A secret within a secret who can make things happen on a global scale. I’ve been read into a few operations that were successful because Team Ten got the job done.”
Team Ten—Jane’s family. A bunch of ragtag, psychotic mercenaries who’d helped raise her from the time she came to live with her Uncle Chris at the age of four. Black Ops specialists who often balanced worldly scales, they did their best work without anyone but a rare few knowing about it.
“I also had a meeting with Lionel Gambol back when we were dealing with the Mazzuca case. He mentioned your association.”
Lionel Gambol, another mystery man with big connections. She’d worked on one of his task forces not so long ago.
“Uncle Chris is Uncle Chris,” she said. “He’s unconventional but funny.” She smiled. “He can’t cook well at all. But he makes a mean mocktail, can run a seven-minute mile even in his fifties, and never loses at darts.” Or missed a target when throwing knives. A man of many talents.
Matthew grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
“More like chaotic, but I love him.”
“Yeah. My dad can be a headache at the best of times, but I feel the same.”
They smiled at each other, and Jane saw his expression shift into something more intimate.
“I really was looking forward to our dinner. I’d like to make it up to you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know. I want to.”
Jane didn’t like not feeling in control and blurted, “Is this a date?”
He smiled, and once again, she felt a flush of warmth steal through her. “Do you want it to be?”
“I, ah, I don’t know.”
The wattage of his smile turned brilliant. “Why don’t we have dinner as friends? No pressure to do anything but enjoy a meal together. We can talk about books or movies. Or coffee. I do know you like a good bean.”
She smiled at that. “I do. The cheap stuff gives me hives.”
“Literally?”
“No, I just say that so Jenn won’t try to slip me that nasty stuff she buys at the gas station.”
He laughed.
“Do you like your new job?” she asked.
“I do. You probably won’t believe it, but I’ve never been such an obnoxious leader as I was when I was your SSA. I never wanted to annoy the squad while we looked for our spy. And I never believed it could be you.”
That warmed her. “Good.”
“But you did think it might be me?”
“I did. There was something off about you.”
“Thanks,” he said drily.
She added, her voice low, “But now I know it’s because you were working with Haversham to figure out who our mole was.”
They both paused, no doubt pleased to know the ex-agent who’d gotten one of their own killed would be serving a life sentence for his part in so many crimes.
“So dinner?” They both asked at the same time.
Jane flushed.
Matthew grinned. “How about this Saturday night?”
Regretfully, she declined. “I have a family thing on Saturday.”
“Would Sunday be better? Say six o’clock?”
“Sure.”
“And if you wouldn’t mind, can we meet at my place? I grill a killer ribeye.”
Normally, Jane wouldn’t meet a man at his home, but she trusted Matthew. She’d also seen the inside of his place thanks to some secret, illegal surveillance he could never know about. And then there was the fact she could incapacitate him if even blinked at her the wrong way.
“I’d like that.”
“Good.” He looked more than satisfied before his expression sobered. “But there’s one more thing I need to talk to you about.”
“What?”
“A certain name has been mentioned in a circle that shouldn’t know he exists.”
“Who?”
“August Kaminski.”
She blinked. “The same August Kaminski we think responsible for getting a DEA agent killed? For manipulating the Mazzuca crime family and the Code Blue Killer? For organizing an organ theft ring in Las Vegas yet nothing sticks to the guy? That August Kaminski?
Matthew looked as if he’d bitten into a lemon. “One and the same.”