Sawyer smiled at her. “Thanks.”
Val rolled her eyes. “Fuck off.”
Sawyer continued, “Maddox kept Grove in the dark about the Vegas case for the most part, but when the cases began to intertwine, Grove became interested…and so did Tarou. Benny is smoothing things over with Tarou, and with these guys, money can turn enemies into friends. The fights are big money. Benny wants a champion, and Travis is a sure thing.”
Val sat back in the chair. “We can control what Grove learns at the Bureau, but if Benny or Tarou mention Travis Maddox to Grove, it’s all over. He’ll make the connection.”
I sighed. “Travis’s deal, even Abby’s access…”
Thomas nodded. “The case. All of it. We’ll have to turn in what we’ve got and wrap it up without Travis or Abby.”
“And Travis will no longer be an asset to the Bureau. He’ll go to prison.”
The weight of my words seemed to bear down on Thomas, and he used the bookshelf for support.
I looked at the file lying askew halfway between Val and me. “The Inspector General just blew us out of the water.”
Sawyer shook his head. “Grove doesn’t know yet. We need to get on the phone, delay his arrest, and drag this out just a little longer.”
“You should have told us your contact was Liis,” Val scolded. “We could have avoided this.”
Thomas glared at her, but she didn’t yield.
“How?” he asked. “Telling you that Liis was keeping tabs on Grove was going to keep the IG’s office from writing that report? Are you fucking joking?”
“Knowing we could use Liis to check Grove’s transcriptions would have been helpful,” Sawyer said.
“I was having Liis check them, Sawyer,” Thomas said, annoyed. “You think she’s been listening to Taylor Swift on her headphones in here?”
I shook my head. “Why the secrecy?”
Thomas held out his hands and let them fall to his sides. “It’s Spy one-oh-one, kids. The fewer people you tell, the less risk you take. I didn’t want Grove to know I had another Japanese translator in the unit. He needed to keep tabs on all the interviews for Tarou, and another Japanese-speaking agent could have gotten in the way. She might have ended up a target just to keep Grove in charge of the Yakuza interrogations.”
“Oh,” Val said. “You needed to protect her.”
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “That’s absurd. He didn’t even know her to want to protect her.” It took him a moment, but when Sawyer recognized the shame in my eyes, his mouth fell open. His index finger waggled between Thomas and me. “You two were…”
I shook my head. “It was before. He didn’t know I was here to work at the Bureau.”
“Discussing line of work comes right after name-swapping.” Sawyer cackled. “You one-nighted the new hire, Maddox? No wonder you jumped on her ass at her first meeting. You don’t like surprises. This is all beginning to make sense.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Thomas sneered.
Sawyer stopped laughing. “Is that why you gave her the promotion?”
The small smile on Val’s lips vanished. “Oh, shit.”
Thomas lunged for Sawyer, and Val and I stood between them, bouncing like pinballs as we pushed them apart.
“All right! I’m sorry!” Sawyer said.
“A little fucking decorum, please!” I yelled. “We’re grown adults! At work!”
Thomas stepped back, and Sawyer smoothed his tie and then sat down.
“Grow up!” I snarled at Thomas.
Thomas touched his fingers to his mouth while he calmed down. “My apologies,” he said through his teeth. “I’ll call Polanski. We need to get that report buried and intercept the warrant for Grove’s arrest—at least for now.”
Val straightened her clothes. “You call the S.A.C. I’ll call the IG’s office.”
“I’ll tail Grove. See if he suspects anything,” Sawyer said.
Thomas’s expression turned severe. “We have to keep a tight lid on this.”
“Understood,” Sawyer and Val said.
They left Thomas and me alone in my office, and we stared at one another.
“You left out your key agents to protect me?” I asked.
“Marks knew.”
I tilted my head. “Marks isn’t even on this case.”
Thomas shrugged. “I can trust him.”
“You can trust Val, too.”
“Val talks too much.”
“We can still trust her.”
Thomas gritted his teeth. “I shouldn’t have to explain myself. It’s dangerous, Liis. These people we’re dealing with, if they get a hold of your name—”
“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I snapped.
Thomas blinked, surprised at my reaction.
“I can shoot a target at eighty-five yards with a twenty-two pistol, I can take down an assailant twice my size, and I deal with your arrogant ass at least twice a day. I can handle Benny, the Yakuza, and Grove. I’m not Camille. I am an agent of the FBI, same as you, and you will respect me as such. Do you understand me?”
Thomas swallowed, carefully thinking about his next answer. “I don’t think you’re weak, Liis.”
“Then, why?”
“Something happened to me when I met you.”
“We had great sex. You’re attracted to me. That doesn’t mean you shut out your best agents. That’s another reason it’s a bad idea for us to explore whatever this is,” I said, gesturing in the air between us.
“No, it’s more than that. From the very beginning…I knew.”
“You knew what?” I snapped.
“That I would have to be careful. I lost someone I loved before, and it changed me. I gave up someone I loved before, and it crushed me. I know that when you leave, Liis, however it goes down…it will end me.”
I closed my open mouth and stuttered out the next words, “What makes you think I’m going anywhere?”
“Isn’t that what you do? Run? Isn’t that your whole goal in life? To move on?”
“That’s not fair.”
“I’m not just talking about promotions, Liis. We are poking not one but two deadly mafia rings. They don’t know we’re onto Grove. If Grove finds out that you speak the language and can out him, they will see you as a problem. You know how these people are. They’re really good at erasing problems.”
“But Grove doesn’t know, and Val or Sawyer wouldn’t have told him.”
“I wasn’t going to chance it,” he said, sitting in the chair Val had previously occupied.
“So, now, we have two problems. He’s going to notice when your brother starts working for the FBI. If you want this to work with Travis, we have to get rid of Grove.”
“And we can’t get rid of Grove without Tarou knowing we’re onto him and Benny. The case will implode.”
I stood there, at a complete loss. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to stall. The timing has to be perfect.”
“So, we don’t just have to pull off one miracle but two.”
“You have to be careful, Liis.”