Chapter 6 #4
“If it’s The Huntsman, he won’t kill the sources right away. He’ll keep them hidden somewhere for whoever hired him,” Kyle said a moment later after some of the tension in the room had eased up.
“They have valuable information. Access to money, technology, and intelligence.” Halle nodded in agreement.
“Whoever is after our sources may first extract them for information, then offer them to whoever would be most interested. SVR, China, the Albanians, or Hamas. If they find out their spies turned on them and worked for the FBI, they’ll want them back. ”
“For a price,” Griff added, eyes moving around the table again, still suspecting that someone at the table may be a traitor.
This entire situation wasn’t going to end well.
There was too much on the line.
Too much her ex-husband clearly already knew.
And she needed to get Porter on the phone ASAP.
“There’s been a development. The team has a lead on who may have gotten to Katya and possibly the others. It’s all one big mess over here. We need to talk. Please call me as soon as you get this.” Ana’s voicemail to Porter was brief, not wanting to leave too many details over his work phone.
The meeting with her team had lasted another hour before Ana could escape and make the urgent call.
The task force had pored over case files, including digging up everything they knew about the Volkovs since Kyle firmly believed it was no coincidence a Volkov source had been targeted amongst the others.
He’d even suggested the disappearances of their missing sources in California and Massachusetts were just to confuse the FBI and hide the fact that the true target was Katya, Ana’s source.
“You okay?”
Ana flinched at the sound of Kyle’s voice and slowly whirled around, lowering her phone to her side. “Trying to get a hold of our section chief.”
“Porter hasn’t checked in yet. Is that surprising?” He positioned a palm flat against the wall, effectively trapping her in the hallway. Her only other choice was to scurry into the bathroom.
“Last I heard from him, he was in the field with a special agent, but when he got in last night, Porter warned me the area doesn’t have the best cell service,” she lied, and how could she not? She had her orders.
“You and Porter sound close.”
Was Kyle jealous? Of her boss? She couldn’t deal with this right now. “Porter helped get me this new promotion. He’s really taken me under his wing.” Porter changed my life, but how can I explain?
“We should do dinner. Tonight.”
“Huh?” she blurted, surprised by his question given what was going on. And he wasn’t going to give up on regaining a footing back in her life, was he?
“We can make it a work meal. Discuss the missing sources. We used to be a great team,” he added.
Maybe dinner wouldn’t be so bad. She could peel back more layers about his work in Hungary with the Volkovs. It might help her shed some light on everything since he clearly knew a lot. Plus, she wanted to know exactly how he’d stumbled upon chatter about the hit against Katya.
“Dinner. Seven o’clock. My place, though,” she agreed.
“I’ll bring takeout.” He smiled, lowering his hand from the wall, a look of victory in his eyes and in the crook of his lips. “Unless you learned to cook since we were married?”
“No, I’m still a lousy chef.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she’d almost swear he was going to lean in and lay one on her cheek.
“Can I ask you something?” She couldn’t help herself. “Why didn’t you tell me your move to Budapest was temporary?”
He inched back a step, releasing his hold of her. “Would it have made a difference? Would you have come with me? Or tried long-distance while I was there?”
“I don’t think so,” she admitted. “Our marriage was over before the move.” A bit of honesty could go a long way.
He didn’t say anything, so she shifted the weight of her stance from right to left, left to right.
There’d never been any heat between them. No passion. Not on her side, at least. A cold fish for a fiery redhead, Kyle had said one night. His op had failed, and he’d returned home drunk, wanting sex, and she hadn’t been in the mood.
But if she were truly a cold fish, dead on the inside, bland and boring, lacking sexuality, then why’d she slip her hand beneath the covers to get herself off after meeting A.J. back in Charlotte? Why’d she pretend that hand belonged to the sexy Southerner?
And why had she replayed his drunk voicemail over and over again since Saturday night? Why was she so afraid that if Adriana told A.J. Ana was in town, and they became friends, she’d—
“Ana?” Kyle sought her attention. She was trapped between a wish of what might be and the reality of what was.
“Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?” She dragged her focus up Kyle’s lean torso and to his eyes.
An awkward throat clear from behind Kyle had her peeking around his large frame to spot Halle, who was probably attempting to get to the bathroom.
“Excuse me,” Halle said, and Kyle brought his back flat to the wall to allow Halle access to the ladies’ room.
“I have to go. Talk tonight.” Ana followed Halle into the bathroom before Kyle was able to object.
“Wow.” Halle folded her arms and leaned against the vanity in the restroom.
Ana unleashed a deep breath and looked in the mirror alongside Halle and played with her bun, ensuring no strands managed to escape.
“You feel like talking about it?”
“No.” Maybe that was rude? “Sorry, I just—”
Halle held a palm up. “No worries. I get it. I made the mistake of falling for someone at the Bureau, and I walk on eggshells every time we’re in the same room together.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not the kind of person to ask who at the department you fell for.” Of course, Ana already guessed with whom she’d been involved. She was trained to read people. Situations. And she’d felt the breakup between Griff and Halle vibrate through the building after it had happened.
“And that’s what I like about you.” Halle spun around to peer in the mirror as well. She fixed her short hair, teasing up the ends a bit.
“I’m thinking he may want to get back together.” Why did I just admit that? She was normally a steel trap. Nothing in. Nothing out. And honestly, she was worried about a lot more than her ex right now, but she couldn’t talk about it.
Maybe she was only doing her job, but keeping secrets from the team made her feel dirty. Like she was the one betraying them. And after what they found out in the SCIF today, Ana knew all fingers would soon point to her. Thank God she had Porter on her side.
“And I’m guessing you don’t?” Halle set her palms to the counter.
She shook her head no.
“Is this gonna be weird working with him?”
“It’ll be fine.” As long as Kyle didn’t try and stand in her way of completing her mission it would be.
That’d been another obstacle in their marriage.
He knew firsthand the dangers of their job, and he’d made her well-being and safety his business, taking every opportunity to keep her out of the line of fire—pushing her superiors to put her on a desk.
His lack of trust in her competence, as well as his blatant disrespect for her wishes, had been infuriating.
Regardless, Ana was determined to unravel the truth and leave her past behind for good. And once she’d completed that mission, she could truly move on from the day her life changed forever. The day her parents died at the hands of the FBI.