I was breathing hard, somehow. Sweating, as if this had become a fight. Hennessey stared at me in the same way he had at Fuentes, like looking down at ants, like wondering at the strange behavior of lesser mortals. Suddenly this diner table was metal to match his eyes, the retro décor around us turned to concrete walls. The dim sound of voices evened out into the buzz of fluorescent lights, no other people here, no cameras, no witnesses.
He spoke in the same even voice he’d used in that room, low and seductive. “You want to know what information she has for us? Whether he liked to give it to her in the pussy or in the ass. How rough did his blowjobs get and does he pay extra if she bleeds.”
I stared at him, unblinking. I couldn’t believe he was talking to me like this, except I’d asked for it, hadn’t I? I’d pushed him, and now he was pushing back. His words felt like a threat, and I wore an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, headed for certain death. Trapped.
“That’s how women get treated by men like Laguardia. That’s the part they gloss over in the academy textbooks.”
That’s why we’re going to stop them, I willed him to say, desperate to redeem the man in front of me. We were on the same side, but in that moment, he felt like my enemy. In that moment, I saw my future. Even worse, I saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. The smug expression of an animal who’d spotted his prey—and knew he would catch her.
Then he sat back. The illusion lifted.
I heard the clatter of silverware clang in my ears, felt the lamp swing above our table, too bright. I took a breath and felt it spread through my lungs like acid. His expression had returned to its usual, half-sardonic, half-distracted. He looked endearingly rumpled and slightly apologetic.
God, I was crazy, imagining bad guys everywhere, all around.
“Sorry,” Hennessey said. “I’m going to have to pull rank on this one. If we were desperate for leads, maybe. What we really need is more time to go through all these records, to find where the deal is going down and start laying down surveillance.”
At least he seemed genuinely regretful, and it was a valid reason. The woman could be a wild goose chase, a waste of time like he thought. Then again, she might know the most important things of all. One thing Hennessey didn’t seem to realize was that it said a lot about a man whether he preferred to give it in the pussy or in the ass and how he liked his blowjobs. It exposed a man too, when he made a woman bleed.
CHAPTER FOUR
Hennessey hadn’t been kidding about the amount of work required to find the building. Even Lance got roped into the research.
“What’s field work like?” he asked me back in the office.
If I remembered the few moments in the interview room, field work was terrifying. It sat in a gray area, where right and wrong blended into one directive: results. But I tried not to remember the time in the interview room. Something about it twisted me inside, tied me in knots I could never untangle with Bureau rules and regulations.
“It’s a lot like this,” I answered him, referring to the stacks of architectural plans and permits covering every inch of the cherrywood conference table. “Not very glamorous.”
Which was the truth, at least. Making a blind man piss himself didn’t factor into any glossy movie screen version of detective work.
I expected Hennessey to leave the grunt work to us rookies, but he stayed with us, sleeves rolled up. He sat beside us from 6:00 a.m., when we stumbled in, groping for a mug of coffee, until 8:00 p.m., when we drained the last cold dregs of brownish liquid from the machine and dragged ourselves home. It may not have been glamorous work, sorting through paperwork, but it was a very real part of the job that would save lives. If we found the place in time. Our administrative treasure hunt had a ticking clock.
“You can go,” I offered him, when Lance had left the room to get us all coffee. “If you have something more important to be doing. Lance and I can handle this.”
Hennessey shook his head. “This. This is what an agent does, and he doesn’t take a break because it’s hard. We don’t stop until we catch the guy, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
A shiver climbed up my spine. I felt a ghost again, but this time it was Hennessey, mentoring me, preparing me for a time he wouldn’t be around to call the shots. What would finally kill him? A heart attack from greasy diner food? Or would it be Laguardia? Not if I could help it.
“Be careful, okay?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His expression softened, but I never heard what he was going to say. Some bit of male bravado, probably. They hadn’t gotten him for this long, so he clearly knew how to take care of himself. But then I remembered the burger and milkshake and thought maybe he really didn’t.
Like Peter Pan, he could fight and put on a good front, but he was just a boy at heart, never quite grown up. And who did that make me? Wendy Darling, thrust into a world she was unsuited for, in constant need of saving.