She rolls her eyes. "I need access to Tentrite's office and see for myself what she's hiding. Besides, I wouldn't let you do this alone. I hate that I roped you into all of this, but here we are. We're a team. For better or for worse."
For better or for worse. I hope it doesn't come to that. Still, the scent of her fear plays on my ingrained need to protect her. Shelter her.
"It's going to be near impossible." I have a plan that will get us in under the radar, but still...
"I love a challenge." Her voice is steady, her gaze resolute. She may be scared, but there's no way I'm talking her out of this.
The defiant gleam in her eyes combined with the heady anticipation of danger makes my cock strain its confines. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can have her spread out under me.
"Get ready." I shift the car gears and pull onto the main road. "We're gonna break into the CIA."
Annabel
CHARLIE DUNE IS A MADMAN. That's all I can conclude. Who breaks into the CIA? Holy shit, I'm about to break into the freaking CIA!
When we realized Agent Tentrite wiped my dad's file, I was ready to call the trail a dead end.
"Not so fast," Charlie said. "There are two reasons Tentrite would meddle. The first is if she was involved in your dad's career."
"That wouldn't make sense, she wasn't around at the time of his service."
"So, it's the second reason. Someone ordered her to do it."
"Who?"
"That's what we have to find out." A search through Tentrite's file didn't reveal any connection to my dad at all.
"That's the first reason ruled out completely," Charlie muttered. "Now we work on the second."
Which brought us to the present moment.
"So, what are we going to do?" I ask, trying not to squirm in my seat of the rental car. We're waiting in a parking lot of a shopping mall.
"Break into your boss's office. Look for evidence of who ordered her to terminate your dad's file."
"I know that." The thought of committing an act of espionage against my own employer has been the only thing on my mind since Charlie first suggested it. "I meant how are we going to do it?"
"Trust me." Charlie gets out of the car as a nondescript van pulls up next to us. An older man in a navy jumpsuit exits the driver seat.
"Hey, Charlie." The man's face breaks into a grin.
"Otis." Charlie pumps the man's hand. "Good to see you."
"Where you been?"
"Here and there. You know how it is."
"I do, I do. Hello, there," Otis greets me as I approach.
Charlie puts his arm around my shoulders. "This is my friend. Her father used to work in the service."
"Pleasure, pleasure." Otis bobs his head. I note that Charlie doesn't use my name.
"Did you get my message?" Charlie asks.
"I did. I think it'll work. I usually have a crew working that floor tonight, anyway."
"What?" I gasp. How often had this guy broken in?
They chuckle at my shocked expression. "Otis works there," Charlie says as Otis opens the side of the van door and pulls out matching overalls.
"Today," Otis says, "you do too."
"THIS FEELS LIKE A LONG GAME," I whisper to Charlie as we walk down a corridor. We're in the basement of the CIA, having infiltrated as janitors. Not the scale-and-rappel Mission Impossible kind of action I was expecting-kinda anti-climactic, really-but certainly effective.
"It pays to be nice to people," he whispers back and holds a door open for me. I push a janitor's cart. We pass a guy in a suit, headed home after a long night. His eyes skim past our uniforms and cleaning supplies like we're invisible.
I wait until we're in the elevator to turn to him. "Seriously, did you know you'd be doing this someday?"
He shrugs. "It seemed like a possibility."
I bug my eyes out at him.
"Otis is a friend," he explains. "He owes me a few favors."
"And he just happens to work at the CIA?"
"Used to be in the field. He got injured and didn't want to sit and collect disability checks."
Come to think of it, I noticed Otis walked with a slight limp. "So, he became a janitor?"
"He likes to keep an eye on things. Make sure the higher-ups are doing the right thing by their spies. Sometimes, the desk jockeys aren't as loyal to us in the field as they should be. Otis watches the watchers." Charlie holds a finger to his lips. "Don't tell my handler."
I stare at him a moment, trying to figure out what else I don't know about Dune the soldier-spy. What other interesting friends he has.
"What?" he murmurs.
"You're different than I thought." He stiffens slightly, so I add, "Not in a bad way. I just remember when I first met you, I thought you were an arrogant hot-shot. I never guessed you'd be willing to help me this far. Or have a backdoor into the CIA."
"I have a little depth." He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "And I'm discerning about where my loyalties should lie." His gaze heats the space between us, and I nod, swallowing. In this close space, there's suddenly not a lot of air.
The elevator opens on the floor of Tentrite's office, and Charlie takes over, pushing the cart down the hallway. He goes right up to Tentrite's door and opens it with Otis' key.
"Anything out of place?" Charlie asks.
I look around, pulse jumping. I've been in here before for routine meetings, but this is totally illicit. We've been threatened, chased, shot at. If I get caught in here, there's a good chance the government will make me disappear-permanently. No, maybe I'm over-analyzing.
"What's the penalty for this, do you think?"
"I think we better get through our search and leave before someone catches us and we find out." He gives me a gentle push.
Yeah, I wasn't overanalyzing.