Chapter 10
“Talk to me, brother,” Jagger answered Liam’s call from inside the dark interior of his car.
“You alone?”
Unfortunately. “I am.”
Jagger shifted his lower half against the smooth leather of his seat as he sat behind the wheel of the borrowed SUV. As a perk of the job—Jagger had contacts in just about every major city in the country. One such contact was here in the city.
The owner of a fleet of unmarked, bullet-resistant vehicles typically reserved for members of the United States government and their guests.
Now, Jagger was no politician, of course.
Nor did he carry a foreign national title.
He had helped a lot of people over the years, however.
Important people who carried with them a treasure trove of chits.
Jagger made the call to cash one of those in the second he knew he was coming to D.C.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Liam’s comment gave him pause. “Why is that?”
“Because I did as you asked and looked into the woman who picked up Talia from the airport.”
“Find anything interesting?”
“Possibly. But it was more what I didn’t find that caught my attention.”
His focus remained on the townhome down the street from where he was parked. “Okay, well…let’s start with what you found.”
“The woman’s name is Dr. Scarlett O’Neill.”
“Doctor?” For some reason, that took him by surprise. “What kind?”
“Criminal psychologist. And according to this, our resident redhead is also a bona fide genius with an off-the-charts IQ and a photographic memory.”
“That’s actually a thing?”
“Oh, yeah. Although, technically, I think it’s referred to as an eidetic memory. Either way, it seems the woman has mad recollection skills.”
“Okay, so she has a better than average memory,” Jagger locked that fact away for later. “What else?”
“Let’s see…” Liam paused. “She’s thirty-eight. Single. No kids, from what I was able to find, and it looks as though she’s never been married.”
“She have a practice here in D.C., I’m assuming?”
“Actually, no. She works free-lance. Makes her living serving as an expert witness, consulting with various law enforcement departments across the country on some of their tougher cases…” The other man’s voice trailed.
“Says here, she’s even listed as an official criminal consultant for the FBI.
Heck, earlier today, Dr. O’Neill testified for the prosecution in a case against some hotshot legacy lawyer named Walter Atkins. ”
The name sounded vaguely familiar, but unlike Talia’s friend, Jagger’s memory wasn’t flawless. “Isn’t he the guy accused of taking out his entire family?”
“One in the same,” Liam confirmed. “According to the news, and of course, social media, the prick killed his two kids and then turned the gun on his wife.”
“Damn.” Jagger blew out a breath.
“My thoughts, exactly. But hey, we’re getting off-track, so…back to the intriguing woman and her connection to your girl.”
“Talia’s not my girl.”
Wouldn’t mind it if she was, though.
“Is that why you’re stalking her place at ten-thirty at night?”
Jagger resisted the attempt to look around to see if Liam was nearby. “I’m not stalking. I’m observing. And how the hell do you know where I am?”
“Call it what you want, brother. Either way, Talia’s gonna be pissed if she catches you skulking around outside her home like some creeper.”
“You never answered my last question.”
Liam snorted. “Because I’m pretending you weren’t actually dumb enough to ask it.”
Jagger’s lips responded to the banter between friends by curving upward into a wide, toothy grin. Liam always had his back.
“O’Neill’s profession could easily explain how she and Talia became acquainted,” he mused. “You should cross-reference any of the doc’s cases with Homeland’s to see if anything hits.”
“Already two steps ahead of you. As usual, you’re correct. Dr. O’Neill is listed as a psychology consultant for the first case Talia worked after moving to D.C.”
So the two women met under a professional situation, and now they were…friends? It was possible the redhead was just doing a simple favor by giving Talia a ride. But a strange nagging in Jagger’s gut said the choice to call that woman specifically had been made through purposeful calculations.
Why her?
“You said there was something you didn’t find on the O’Neill woman that sparked your interest,” Jagger circled back to Liam’s previous comment. “What did you mean?”
“It could be nothing, and I’ll keep looking into it to be sure, but it’s the woman’s background that’s throwing me off.”
“How so?”
“On the surface, she appears to be fully on the up-and-up. Anyone looking into her, even a few layers deep, will find exactly the same intel I did. Scarlett O’Neill is a single, professional woman who makes a damn good living helping the good guys I.D., locate, and put away the bad ones.”
Jagger paused. “So what’s the issue? She got some well-hidden criminal record herself or something?”
“The exact opposite, actually. The woman’s clean. As in squeaky. And the more I dig, the weirder it gets.”
“Weird, how?”
“I’ll keep doing my thing, of course, but as the way things sit, it’s almost like…”
When Liam’s voice fell away, Jagger looked at his phone’s screen to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. “Like what?” he asked, bringing the device back to his ear.
A few seconds passed before his teammate said, “Like up until about twelve years ago, Scarlett O’Neill didn’t exist.”
He took a moment to process the thought but quickly brushed it aside. “Talia was CIA. It’s possible the doc was, too.” Or still is. “Her background could have been scrubbed to keep her safe from the enemy.”
“Fair point.” Liam sort of agreed. But then, “See? That’s the problem with spooks. You never can tell who to trust.” He sighed. “Anyway, I’ll keep digging into that. Unless, of course, you’d prefer I drop it here.”
“No,” Jagger blurted his answer a little too quickly. “I mean…keep going.”
“Copy that. And hey, before I forget to ask, how’d the rest of today go?”
Jagger took a few minutes to give Liam the abridged version of his eventful afternoon. He hit all the bullet points, starting with Talia’s interaction with her disgruntled former teammate.
He shared his thoughts on Keith Sinclair—namely that he believed the guy was full of shit. Jagger also told his friend about Ryker’s unwavering faith in Talia, and how she’d blown her top upon learning the truth about her flight’s fictitious cancellation.
“You told her about that?” Liam’s voice rose to a much higher pitch. “Dude! What the hell?”
Jagger kept his cool while his gaze remained locked on Talia’s narrow, three-story home. “Dude,” he mimicked. “Relax. It’s not like she’s going to do anything about it.”
“Oh, and you know this for sure.”
“Pretty sure.” He smirked. When Liam started to get antsy again, he added a more serious, “Ryker was there, too. He knows all about it and even stood up for us with Talia when she started to get pissed.”
“She’s good now, though…right?”
Jagger thought back to the moment she stormed out of the room. “Uh…good is really more of a relative term.” He paused. “But if you’re asking whether I think she’s going to send us both to prison for tricking her into letting me fly her home, we’re good.”
A mumbled curse reached his ear, making him smile once again. When Liam rejoined the conversation, there was only one more thing he needed to hear.
“I know there’s still a lot to figure out as far as Sinclair’s level of involvement in Sanchez’s smuggling operation. Like if he even was involved. But Homeland will take care of all that. What’s important to me is knowing we can trust our handler.”
“We can trust her.” Jagger made sure to leave no doubt where she was concerned.
“That your gut talking, or another part of that fine physique of yours?”
His dick twitched behind his zipper as if it had heard Liam calling it out.
“She’s not dirty.” He used Ryker’s words from earlier, needing his teammate to really pay attention to this part. “I was there. I looked her square in the eyes, and I saw she was telling the truth.”
Truth. Anger. Betrayal. Pain.
Jagger had caught sight of every emotion rolling through her. And that’s when he knew.
She’s not a traitor.
“Then why are you sitting outside her house?”
Why, indeed? Hmm…how to explain.
You could just go with the truth.
“I’d considered going up and knocking on her door.”
“And then what?”
“Then…” Jagger blew out a breath. “I was thinking I should apologize.”
“For the canceled flight bit?”
“For not trusting her when I should have.”
He should have known from the start Talia would never betray her country.
“Not for nothing, but I’m not sure knocking on her door at ten-thirty at night’s gonna get you the forgiveness you’re looking for. Especially after the day she’s had.”.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Which sucked. “I’ll touch base with her in the morning.”
Jagger sat up straighter in his seat and reached over his shoulder for the seatbelt.
“Smart man,” Liam shared his opinion on the matter. “After the last few days, we could all use a decent night’s sleep.”
“Thanks for the assist today. Give me a holler tomorrow if you find out anything more.”
“Will do. And hey, maybe try to not piss off our handler any more than she already is, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best, but I make no promises.” He secured the seatbelt’s buckle.
Liam’s chuckle filled the phone’s tiny speaker. “All right, man. Talk soon.”
“Later,” Jagger responded half-a-beat before ending the call.
He reached a hand toward the button to start the vehicle’s engine. The tip of his index finger had barely made contact when movement caught his attention from Talia’s front door.
It’s her.
It was Talia, except…it wasn’t. Well, it was, but she looked totally different. Not better, really. Just different. The unexpected change in appearance made Jagger feel like the woman walking to her car wasn’t Talia but rather her identical twin.