“Jesus.” Hennessey rubbed my hands between his in the dark. “Samantha. I’m sorry.”
Stop being a rookie, I told myself derisively. But I was a rookie. I was a kid, almost. A little girl, deep inside.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“I couldn’t.” His voice roughened with guilt. “He’s not telling us something. It might be important. I had to see if he’d give us a clue.”
I stared at him in shock. “What?” I asked stupidly.
He grimaced, as if he didn’t want to explain. “Your position on the case, as one of the leads. It had to seem strange to you. Unexpected.”
“Yes.” Unusual. That was the word Hennessey had used in Brody’s office.
“I don’t know why he assigned you to the case, but I don’t like it.”
I stiffened. “Yeah, I got that much, thanks.”
“No. Not because I don’t want you for a partner. You’re…also unexpected. More than I expected. But if something else is going on here, we need to know about it. I had to spring it on you so you’d be surprised too.”
Jesus. It had been a ruse to get information, like the threats he made to Fuentes. To me. If I believed him. And I wanted to believe him. In the aftermath, those threats made sense. Lying to an inmate was a tried and true interrogation technique. But in the moment they’d felt so damn real. As was the relief I felt now. Had I cared that much what Hennessey thought of me? I’d only known him a week, which was nothing. I didn’t care.
A lie.
So I had a little a crush on my partner. No big deal. It didn’t mean anything. Just pheromones and adrenalin. A chemical reaction. It didn’t have to mean anything.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Are you sure?” His eyes scanned mine. “You looked ready to bite my head off out there.”
My breath left in a long, stabilizing rush. “It took me by surprise. I wish you’d have warned me.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t sure if you’d give us away.”
“I wouldn’t have. We’re partners.” I raised my eyebrows. “You have to trust me, or I’ll be the one putting in a request for a new partner.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
“Well, did he give us a clue? My head was busy exploding, so I didn’t hear.”
His lips twisted—derisive, but more at himself. “I’m not sure. He’ll take an interest, I said, and it didn’t sound like Brody was surprised by that. It didn’t sound like he’d mind.”
“What does it mean?” I hated that I didn’t already know.
“It means he’s running his own op. One we don’t know about.”
“That’s bullshit,” I said, and I meant it. Even a rookie knew that was dangerous. Not for Laguardia, necessarily. Dangerous to us, the agents on the case.
Hennessey nodded grimly. “Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon. Everything’s need-to-know.”
An image flickered through my mind: Hennessey, stumbling through the dark. Caught and tortured. “Well, tell him we fucking need to know.”
The corner of his lip tilted up. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you swear, rookie.”
Every time he said the word rookie it got a little softer. A little sweeter. I told myself I was imagining it…but I wasn’t. Was the chemical reaction happening on both sides? It didn’t have to mean anything. His eyes were warmer than I’d ever seen them, a deep gray, like liquid mercury in the shadows of the dimly-lit room. He felt it too.
“What happens now?” I asked, almost daring him to comment on this growing attraction between us. With the case, I amended silently. But even I didn’t believe that.
Girlish crushes were swift attacking and venomous, wrapping their muscled bodies around me and squeezing tight. It happened from time to time. My film teacher in the senior year of high school. My lab instructor in Chem 201. The head of admissions at Quantico. Always an older handsome man in a position of authority.
Daddy issues. That was what the psychology textbook never said.
“We’re close,” he said. “Three places that match Fuentes’s description, a secluded location, and easy access to the water. Once we get more intel about the ownership, we’ll narrow it down even further. Then the real fun begins.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And then we catch a criminal.”
“Then we stop a massive shipment of drugs before they hit the streets. As for catching Laguardia, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but even I probably won’t close a case this big in three weeks.” He paused. “But you should know this. I don’t intend to catch him. I intend to kill him.”
My eyes widened. Most people would agree with such a statement, in their hearts if not out loud. It violated both law and ethics, and yet I couldn’t deny that the world would be a safer place without Carlos in it. Executed. Without due process.
It would be murder.