Page 21 of Fire for Effect

Please be a flavor of the week.

“She’s not… my girlfriend,” I finally bit out. “You shouldn’t look into him.”

I said the words slowly, willing myself to believe them.

“That’s not what your paperwork says…” Sierra snorted. “Hell, if I’d just read your Will, I’d put my money on you two being common-law married, at least. So why haven’t you?”

“Why haven’t I… what?” I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Sierra was an annoying menace that had no sense of boundaries, but other than Guerro, she was the closest thing I had to a friend.

“Put a ring on it,” she said, blowing into her hands, rubbing them together for warmth.

“I have an ex-wife and a work wife. What more do I need?” I blinked at her. “Also, why the fuck you reading my personal shit for?”

“I’m a spy! You can’t expect me not to snoop when the only thing you ask for in your contract is a few minutes to call some random.”

“She’s not some random!” Irritation prickled down my skin. “She’s the closest thing I have to family, so lay off.”

“Ouch!” She placed her hand over her heart, and feigned hurt. “And I thought I was your family.”

“Fuck you.” Everyone knew my issues with my father. Being a Griffith was both an asset and a liability, and my team had to know who they were dealing with.

Sierra chuckled, again, taking the car out of park, and popping on the headlights.

“Is Cerberus really over?” Sierra asked, peering into the rain. “I mean, we’re just… done?”

“It’s not over. Just a pause,” I corrected her. “We can’t conduct operations against American citizens, especially on US Soil. We must hand it over to America’s finest. Hopefully they’ll plug the leak.”

Sierra let out another snort. She had no faith in the state department, or law enforcement. She’d been recruited into Cerberus while in prison. But we didn’t talk about that.

“Now what do we do?” She asked, leaning back in the seat as the vehicle idled.

“We go home and get some rest,” I shrugged.

I hadn’t been home in a very, very long time.

“It’s such bullshit,” she grumbled.

It was her strange pet peeve - handing the end of missions off to someone else. She was a woman who believed in closure. Usually the kind that came in the form of a bullet to the head.

That and she didn’t like to go too long without killing someone.

“We know there’s an attack, and they won’t let us investigate.” She shook her head.

“Nothing stops us from investigating,” I said, with a shrug. “We just can’t do anything about it.”

Halting operations for a leak would have devastated me a year ago. But now, I was ready for a vacation. Especially after that phone call.

Stupid Riley. Taz’s new relationship was going to send me into an early grave with all the stress.

“You know what, Sierra?” I said, giving in to the jealousy that was making me see red. “Look into that Riley guy. He probably lives in Mourningkill or Middlebrook. Let me know if you find anything derogatory, but nothing else.”

Yeah. She’d only tell me about him if he was bad. That meant I wasn’t violating Guerro’s privacy. Sierra was… a loophole! I wasn’t above a loophole if it meant easing my worries in regards to her safety.

My father had warned me about this before I got into the spy business, even though I chose not to follow him into the CIA. He warned me that it was hard to have morals with other people’s information. The need to know what she did every single day, and who she talked to, and who she was with? It was all consuming, because I had the information staring me in the face.

We were just friends on the best of days. Worst enemies when I was in the middle of a jealous rage.

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