Ugh.
Hennessey stayed true to his attitude of inclusion by having me tag along to the briefing with Brody. I followed him in silence and made myself unobtrusive while Hennessey filled him in. I had no wish to steal any of the glory, however small it may be at this point. We had narrowed down the pool to three possible locations. Once we received more information about the ownership, we would narrow it down and initiate surveillance on the possible buildings. All this, Hennessey said in clear, concise language that would easily translate into a report Brody would write for the upper levels.
Brody grunted his approval as he jotted notes. He turned a piercing gaze on me. “How are you finding the work?”
At turns exhilarating and boring, meaningful and empty. “It’s going very well, sir. I’m coming up to speed quickly.”
He nodded, though his eyes remained considering.
Hennessey cleared his throat. “I’d like to take this opportunity to request a change in assignment. I think a different partner would be better suited to this case, one with more experience.”
All the breath left me. Completely silent, I fell apart in that office chair. He wanted to get rid of me? I hadn’t been impressive, okay. But to request reassignment after five days of working together? God. And he hadn’t even given me a heads up before we came in here.
Brody glanced at me idly, seeming to find amusement in my shock. Bastard.
He turned to Hennessey. “You know you’re going to have to provide a better reason than that if you want management to sign off on this.”
“You have final say,” Hennessey said.
Brody nodded, conceding. “Fine. You’ll have to do better if you want me to sign off on it.”
“She attracted the attention of Fuentes. He’ll get word back to Carlos that there’s a rookie on his case. It’s unusual for such a high profile fugitive. He’ll take an interest.”
“And that would be bad,” Brody said. A statement, not a question.
“Yes, that would be bad,” Hennessey repeated, a touch of mockery in his tone. “We want him thinking he has this wrapped up. We don’t want him changing the schedule around or doubling up on security.”
Brody shrugged. “If he finds out we have a rookie working his case, he isn’t likely to beef up security, is he?”
Hennessey’s expression was bored. “He’ll know something is up. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating him this close to the finish line.”
New shock flooded my veins. Was he trying to get himself on Brody’s shit list? First he’d sprung this on me, now he was reprimanding Brody? Brody may not have the power to fire him, but he wasn’t a fun guy to piss off.
Brody’s eyebrows lowered. “It’s my call who’s on the case, and I say it’s Holmes. You got a problem with that, you come back with something substantial.”
Hennessey nodded, seeming unsurprised. “Understood.”
“Dismissed, gentlemen.” Brody paused. “And lady.”
I managed not to roll my eyes. Law enforcement officers were the least politically correct people you’d ever meet, but I was too pissed off to find the dichotomy amusing. I pushed through the door and let it swing back in Hennessey’s face. Fuck him. Just fuck him and his request for a new partner.
“Rookie,” he called, and that made me angrier.
Fuck the fake endearment too.
I sped up. The thin office carpeting blurred beneath my feet, as if I were watching a runway before takeoff. I wished I could really fly away and never have to face the man coming after me. He didn’t want me? Fine. But I hated that he’d hurt me. When had I given another person that power? Never. Not ever. Not even my father had hurt me. It hadn’t hurt, not even when he…
“Holmes. Agent Holmes,” Hennessey spoke lower, having caught up to me now, but fuck his bogus respect, the sudden desire for privacy. Where was his conspiratorial murmur before that meeting? Blindsided. I’d been blindsided. Now I was shaking and cold and hating that he could affect me.
What do you remember?
No one had ever hurt me.
“Samantha,” he said, out of breath. “Sam!” Frustration roughened his voice. It would have pleased me, if it hadn’t also been laced with regret. Fine. If we were going to do this, we’d do it in private. We’d have to work together, at least until he found something more “substantial” with which to get rid of me. And I’d learned years ago to face my problems head on.
I turned to him, and the expression on his face sliced through me like a gust of cold wind. I couldn’t even place what I saw there. Guilt? Concern? I had to scroll through B-movie reels and strange flickering dreams, because for sure no man had ever looked at me that way, not in real life.
He led me into a supply closet, and I let him. I felt numb. Cold. Are you afraid? No. I couldn’t feel a thing.