Joey closed his eyes for a moment, guilt washing over him. It did that sometimes. It would pass in a minute.
Stefanie’s mouth dropped open. “Oh no. Please tell me you haven’t lost someone in some kind of terrible accident related to the CIA.”
“The woman who was killed by Dmitri.” Joey rubbed his neck. “She was my girlfriend.”
Stefanie stopped dead in her tracks. “And they let you come help me? No way. Aren’t you too close to the case or something? Also, are you okay? That would be awful. I can’t imagine.”
Joey winced in the face of her questions. She wasn’t kidding. Stefanie Ryland did not have a filter. Despite the somewhat jarring lack of social niceties, there was something refreshing about not playing games. So, he answered her questions honestly. “It wasn’t the best time of my life. And I’m not okay with anyone getting hurt on my team. They let me be a part of this operation on the condition I keep personal feelings out of it. I’ll do my best on that front and if I can’t, I’ll tap out. I wouldn’t have come if I thought that would be an issue, and I think this will help me find closure.”
“I mean, what if you don’t catch him?” Stefanie put a hand on her hip. “Will you still have closure?”
Joey felt the question in his stomach. He straightened a little. “Then I’ll have to figure it out. But at least I’ll know I tried. That’s what I owe to Rory and that’s what I promise to my team: to have their backs.”
Stefanie looked at him like he was holding a puppy. “You know, you look a little scary, and you fight like a pro, but underneath it all, you are actually really sweet. Hm, interesting. Quinn was right again.”
“Thank you. I think.” Joey laughed and took another drink of his tea. It wasn’t half bad, even cold. “How do you know Quinn so well?”
Stefanie began rummaging in drawers. “Oh, you know. Book club.”
Joey almost did a spit take. “We’re going to have to work on your lying if we’re going to pull this off.”
“I’ve done very well so far, thank you very much. My coworkers believe I’m bringing you into my lab under a grant. It allows you to have a few weeks to intern anywhere you like. You’ll be working on assembling equipment. I hope you’re comfortable with that. If not, I can teach you.” She poured more hot water into a mug, then refilled Joey’s. “Do super spies like Earl Grey or were you just being polite?”
Joey smiled. “I usually stick to coffee, but Earl Grey is great. And I don’t feel sick, so I assume you didn’t poison it. Thank you for that. As far as turning wrenches in your lab, my work in the Army was pretty mechanical and I volunteer with the local fire station. Give me some instructions and tools and I can handle it.”
“My work is a little more delicate than using an axe to take down a door.” Stefanie eyed him skeptically. “Think about carefully assembling something more like a pocket watch. You’ll get instructions though.”
Joey nodded. “No problem. Anyone else in the lab?”
Stefanie ran her fingers through her hair. She’d let it down and changed into athletic clothes since he’d seen her at karate. “A number of folks will be in and out of the lab, but I have one employee who works pretty closely with me. His name is Nash and he’s been supportive. Inquisitive and interested in the details. He’s young but has talent to spare. You’ll want to be careful what you say around him – he doesn’t miss much. My boss is Cole Davidson and he is the VP of Research and Development. He stops by when he’s in the office but he travels a lot, so it’s not as disruptive as you might think. I let him know you were coming.”
“Good.” Joey cocked his head. “Tell me more about how Ree got mixed up in all of this.”
Stefanie turned away from the guy who didn’t look completely unlike the guy with big muscles on her floor cleaner. Suffice to say, while she’d checked her front window more than once at home, she hadn’t expected the CIA to send someone to her karate class. Despite their rough start, though, she was starting to form a clearer picture of the operations officer. Like her, Joey liked to be in charge. After recovering from her initial suspicions, she understood his caution. She might have done the same. However, she’d been working with the CIA all of five minutes and she already had to decide how much she wanted to tell the guy about her sister. He looked intimidating, sure, but his eyes were warm. And he’d owned it when he realized he’d made a mistake. That was a big one in her book. Still, telling a relative stranger about her sister felt like jumping out of an airplane with a parachute. It should be fine, but it was anything but comfortable. Realizing that several seconds had passed, Stefanie took a big drink of her tea. She was cool, calm, and collected. She could do this. She turned around to face him. “Didn’t Cam and Quinn give you background information?”
“Yeah. I have a stack of reports to get through, but my number one concern was your security. The book stuff will have to wait.” Joey shrugged nonchalantly.
It took a few seconds for it to click, but in that moment, she pinpointed his act. His shtick was that he was just a regular guy who didn’t pay attention. But she’d already seen his eyes skimming the
