“Weprobably should go,” she says.
Inod. “Ijust need to comb my hair.”
“Doyou have a brushIcan borrow?”Shegrimaces as she attempts to run her fingers through her hair.Itworks pretty well until she hits the part that wasn’t covered by the helmet. “Theride from the safe house to here wasn’t too bad, but that high-speed chase might have spelled the end to my hair.I’lllikely have to shave it off.”
Irun my fingertips along the edge of one of her wavy strands. “Isay we give the brush a chance first.Ifthat fails,Ihave an attachment to my electric razor that might work.”
Shelaughs, andIlead her into my bathroom.Andthen, side by side, we both stand in front of my mirror, doing our hair.Likea married couple getting ready for work in the morning.Itshocks me how muchIdon’t hate that idea.
Ofcourse, if we were a married couple getting ready in the morning,Mackenzie’shair wouldn’t be the tangled mess that it is.Unlesswe’d had a very adventurous night under the covers.
Ohhhkay.Ineed to get my mind somewhere else pronto.AsIgrab my suit coat and put it on,Isay, “Howabout we drive my car to the briefing instead of my motorcycle?”Ibutton the front of my suit, tug on my left cuff to adjust it, and then tug the one on the right.
Iglance up to see thatMackenzieis watching my actions through the bathroom mirror, her mouth partly open, andIsmile.
Shesees my smile and seems to shake herself out of whatever she was thinking and says, “I’msorry, what did you say?Icouldn’t hear over the sound of you being the sexiest man alive.”
Ichuckle.Ithits me that no one at theCSAwould’ve judged me for coming in wearing the same clothes as last night or for going to a debriefing not wearing a suit.DidIcome back here to change becauseI’veseenMackenzie’sreaction to me in a suit and wanted her to have that reaction again?
Yeah, there’s a very good chance it was that.
Aswe are walking to my car,Mackenzieasks, “Sowhere is this briefing?”
“Atthe agency.Normally, we would meet somewhere neutral, but since you’ve already been to theCSA, we’ll have it there.Ithas the added advantage of bug-proof meeting rooms.”Iopen her door and she just nods as she gets in.I’vebeen trained in reading and deciphering body language, so it isn’t hard to tell that she’s nervous.
Oncewe are on the freeway, she says, “WhenIwas a kid andIsaw aTVshow or a movie where the character needed to be debriefed,Ialways wondered why the character wasn’t more terrified.”
Iglance over at her as she chuckles, butIhear the nerves behind the laugh.
“Maybeit’s becauseIthought it was some kind of brain extraction procedure.Ormaybe that it was more like when a bad guy captures a spy and interrogates them for information in ways that are outlawed by theGenevaConvention.Sowhen it was an agent going back to their agency,Icouldn’t understand why they would do that to their own people.Itseemed like a mean thing to do to someone on your side.”Sheglances over at me. “Theyshould rename it.Theword ‘debriefing’ doesn’t really sound like it means ‘talking.’”
Shelaughs again but runs the palms of her hands across her pants.Ireach over and give her hand a squeeze. “Itreally is just talking.Everythingis going to be fine.Thepolygraph guy is very nice.”
Ina high-pitched voice that rises even more at the end, she says, “There’sa polygraph?!”
Iwasn’t expecting that extreme of a reaction. “No, there’s no polygraph.”Ichuckle a bit, which seems to help lighten the mood. “Evenif there was— which there isn’t—Iget them all the time.Theyaren’t bad at all.Butthe only thing we’ll be doing is talking with my mom and my sister.”
Idon’t say “my handler” and “the director,” because back at the safe house,Mackenzieseemed to be more comfortable with the thought of talking to my mom than talking with a high-ranking government official.Mymom in either capacity can be very sweet and comforting or terrifyingly intimidating.
Atthe gate,Itap my badge on the scannerMossis holding, and thenIput my hand on it until the fingerprint scanner lights up green.Mosstips his head at me and thenMackenzieand says, “Goodevening,Mr.Lancaster,MissMacNeil.”ThenIdrive around the building to access the underground lot, park in my spot, and leadMackenzieto the elevator.Iscan my badge again, let the retinal scanner do its thing, and then breathe into theDNAdevice.Thedoors open and we step inside.
CHAPTER30
AWKWARD QUESTIONS AND SURPRISE EMOTIONS
JACE
Itis rare to step onto this elevator with someone not employed by theCSA.It’seven rarer— and by that,Imean unheard of— to be on this elevator with a civilianI’mfalling in love with.Iglance atMackenzieas the elevator nears my floor.It’seven more unheard of to be headed with her to a space that doesn’t look likeLancasterBusinessSolutions.Rightnow, it’s one hundred percentCSA.
Itake a deep breath as the doors open and then hold out my hand toward the field mission floor. “MackenzieMacNeil, welcome to theClandestineServicesAgency.”
Asshe steps off the elevator and into the place whereIspend a good portion of my waking hours,Ifeel likeIam welcoming her into what she would call my “spy life.”DoIreally want that for her?Iknow the gravity of what inviting her in means.YetIam so drawn to this woman thatIcan’t seem to do anything else.
Iwatch her closely as she notices all the differences between how this place looks now and how it did when she was last here and thought it was a business solutions company.Hereyes fall on the big things first, like theCSAname and logo in the space where she’d seenLancasterBusinessSolutionsbefore, the row of directors’ portraits along one wall that previously only showed my parents’ portraits, and the big screens at the front.
Thenher eyes go to the analysts and other intelligence officers.I’msure they’ve been briefed that a civilian is coming into the offices, but they are still glancing up like everything about this is so wrong.
AndIget it.I’mfeeling the same things that they are.Butit is also kind of amazing to haveMackenziehere, at my work, the place that is my whole life, knowing this time what it is.Itfeels almost as though if she accepts this place, she’s accepting me for whoIam.
