“I have nothing to hide,” her mom said. “I’m aprofessional, and Double Down is a professional company. We don’trun from trouble.”
Megan shut her eyes for a second, letting her mom’sstrength wash over her. Why couldn’t she be more like that?
**
Adrian stared at the doorway Megan had just walkedthrough, then he looked back at his boss. “I’m going to need moreinformation than I have, sir.”
Hank Cromwell, Special Agent in Charge and Adrian’sboss, nodded. His thoughts seemed to be full of Megan still.Whatever all that was about, Adrian needed to know. There was morethan a boss/employee relationship between Hank and Megan. The manseemed to have asserted himself into some kind of father figurerole. And he’d called her Meggie. Which Adrian would have found hilarious—atany other time.
Not right now.
“ElCuervo?”
Adrian nodded. “Can youhave support send me all the files? I’d like to look intoZimmerman’s relationship with him.”
Hank blew out a breath. “Can’t believe he’s had anagent on his payroll all this time. And we’re only finding outabout it because Zimmerman stole a sonic weapon.” He shook hishead. “If he hadn’t exposed his real intentions, would we ever haveknown? He’d have been the Venezuelan’s sleeper agent. And for howlong?”
Not to mention, the damage the man might’ve done inthe years since.
How much of that damage had affected Megan?
Adrian said, “What happened to her and this AgentTennyson person?”
Hank was back to staring at the door. “Megan wasundercover from early on in her career. Just had a way about her,it was noticed right away. Her being a legacy and all.”
Megan had a parent who was an agent? Adrian had triedto find out about her background a few times. He hadn’t managed toget any information past her job with Double Down, her currentaddress, and the fact her mother worked for the company asSteve’s assistant.
“Her father?”
“Perkins was killed in that Ceour d’Alene debacle.” Hank let out a breath and shook hishead. “Megan caught the bug. Decided she wanted to be an agent. Ididn’t want her undercover, but it was obvious that was what suitedher.”
Adrian nodded. He could see that from what he knew ofher, and how he’d seen her be the past few weeks. She’d gonethrough the deaths of two of Double Down’s team members, and whilehe knew for a fact she’d grieved, it was clear she had anincredible ability to compartmentalize. After all, she’d passed outin the bathroom at the hotel and rolled through the fact that he’dbandaged and dressed her in clean pants, only mildly thrown by thewhole thing. He figured most of the reaction she’d had was due tothe embarrassment of having passed out from blood loss in the firstplace.
She had strength. But he could also see that she’dsuffered something, and it had shaken her to the core.
“Tennyson was her partner. Will was bent like her,but with a whole lot more wild.” Hank shook his head again. “Ifanyone would’ve betrayed their oath, it was him. But psych evalsall came back clean. Solid to the core, just had that renegadeexterior. They figured it was a front. Like a part he played. Sothey stuck him undercover with Megan.”
Hank blew out a breath and continued, “Thick asthieves, they were. Unstoppable. Closed so many cases they gained areputation up and down the west coast. If they’d taken downEl Cuervo like they’dplanned, it would’ve gotten them both commendations, and they knewit.” He paused. “Think that made them cocky. Will maybe more thanMegan, at least. He probably pushed it, trying to get a resultbefore it was time.”
Undercover was a delicate balance of keeping thefocus on the job, playing the part, and not being “made” as a fed.Adrian had done some undercover work but was more suited to thenuts and bolts after the crime had been committed, figuring out whowas responsible and ensuring justice was brought.
If Megan had the skills for undercover, and it seemedthat she did, then she would be a serious asset to finding andbringing down Zimmerman. She knew how to think like a criminal. Howto talk like one. She likely had contacts in that world which wouldtake Adrian weeks to establish.
He needed her. Which meant he had to convince her toteam up with him.
First, though, he needed to know why she was soresistant to having a partner. And he figured it was wrapped up inthis Tennyson person’s story.
“What happened to her partner?” Adrian asked. Readyto get the answers he needed and get going after Megan. They wererunning out of time to find Zimmerman.
“El Cuervofound out who they were. Somehow. Had two of his guys pick up Willand Megan. Three days, no one knew where they were. Never foundWill’s body. Megan walked into the US embassy in Mexico City withtorn up clothes, covered in blood. Didn’t say a word until she gotback here.”
“Mexico City?”
Hank shrugged. “She only started talking when Ishowed up at the hospital in Bethesda and made her talk.” Hankswallowed. “She said they killed Will in front of her. Bunch oflower level guys. Who knows what they did to her. She’s never toldanyone about it.”
Adrian winced.
“Tossed her out of the van on the side of a highway.Took her a day to walk into Mexico City,” Hank said. “She wouldn’ttell me more than that.”
“You think it was ElCuervo?”
Hank nodded. “She figured he was sending a message.Proof he’s got someone on our payroll. She’s never figured out whoit is, and I know she’s still looking into it.”
“You think it’s Zimmerman?”Adrian asked. “That he’s the one who sold out her and her partnerto the Venezuelans and got an agent killed?”
“And changed another agent’s life irrevocably.”
Adrian squeezed his eyes shut for a second. Megan hadseemed like he didn’t want to hear about the connection betweenZimmerman and El Cuervo.Because she couldn’t handle the news and had to compartmentalize itfor later?
That was all the time Adrian gave himself to absorbeverything that had happened to Megan in her career as an FBIagent. No wonder she didn’t want to work with anyone else. She’dbeen there when her partner was killed. And even if there hadn’tbeen anything romantic between them—which there very well could’vebeen—there
