“Like you said, I have you confused with someone else.”
“Is that what you’re going to tell Mr. Carlotti?” Shelby’s desperation was starting to bleed into her voice.
Cain stroked the hand on her arm and smiled. “As a matter of fact, yes, I am.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re wasting time again, Agent. I’m going to tell him that, and since we all know it ain’t so, you’re going to enjoy the rest of your career as fish food. Vincent won’t remember you by the time this thing hits the tarmac in New Orleans, and I’ll just chalk it up as a waste.”
Cain gave her credit for a viselike grip for such a petite woman. Fear was almost as strong a stimulant as adrenaline. “Because I guarantee you this baby’s taking the long way back over the Atlantic.” She waved her hand to the plane around her so Shelby would know what she was talking about.
“What are my choices here?”
“Very limited indeed.”
Shelby tightened her grip on Cain’s arm, trying to fight back the hysteria that was trying to force its way out and make her beg for her life. “I saw you with him tonight. He’ll listen to you.”
“Like a wise man said, Shelby, the truth will set you free, baby.”
“I’m new to the area so I don’t know a whole lot of information about the agency, if that’s what you’re after.”
“I’m not after information, Shelby. Believe me, I just want to see you live out the night. You’re a beautiful young lady who deserves a second chance.”
“What will it cost me?” Her last two years of training and any hopes of an FBI career were quickly disappearing, but it wasn’t worth her life to give in to her more noble side now.
“Very little, really, but that depends on how honorable you are. Because we can do it the hard way, or we can act civilly and live to fight another day.”
“What’s the hard way?”
“You promise me the moon until you feel you’re safe. Then you run to whoever your supervisor is and start clearing your conscience about how close you came to making a pact with the devil. It will most probably land you a commendation or two and a big promotion.”
“What makes you think I won’t do just that?”
Cain started unbuttoning her coat and chose to sit next to Shelby this time. “You have guts, Shelby. That’ll get you commendations enough. To answer your question, though, you could do that, which will get us to retaliate in some way, even if it’s from a jail cell. Something like dropping by on Mr. Daniels and seeing how he and your mom are enjoying retirement. I mean, what’s one more indictment in the realm of all things?”
“You’re a monster.”
“Maybe so, but like I said, little girl, know the game, its rules, but most importantly, the penalties that come from playing with the big dogs.”
“What do you want?”
“Goodwill toward men.”
Shelby looked at the serious face and tried not to laugh. Considering her situation, humor should have been the last thing she felt. The woman trying to make her feel better had, after all, just threatened her parents. But when Cain winked, the stress broke something inside her and she started laughing, though it quickly turned to tears.
“Shelby, I don’t want to hurt you, and I’d like to leave your old man to build more of his model boats. This isn’t why we’re here. I want you, as a favor to me, to go home and forget about tonight. If you have to give a location, say it was Biloxi for a card game. Unless you’re good and were able to send up smoke signals before you left town, no one with your team even knows you’re gone.”
“You don’t have any respect for authority, do you?”
“Give yourself time, and with time comes skill. When you get to that level and you start to worry me, that I’ll respect. As for the people you work with, none whatsoever.”
“My career’s over, so it doesn’t matter, does it? I didn’t do all this to become a mole or a puppet right out of the gate.”
“Darlin’, you need to work on those cliches, and why don’t you listen to the rest of what I’ve got to say before you go hanging up your spurs.”
She laughed again and started to protest the blatant use of cliches.
Cain grinned. “I couldn’t resist.”
“I forget about tonight, and what else?”
“Somewhere down the line you’ll get a phone call, and the caller will bring to light a different avenue to investigate. All I’m asking is that you do your job and look into what you’ll be told.”
“Trying to put some of your competition out of work?”
“It’s not what you think, so no info on any less-than-reputable citizens, I promise.
She was skeptical. The job and her scruples were important to her. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Cain held out her hand. “Shake and you’ve got a binding contract and also a promise you’ll get home safe to Coots tonight.”
“You know my cat’s name?” Shelby was thinking the government would do well to fire Barry and hire Cain to teach a few classes.
