Page 26 of The Liar

“Hello?” I answered, raising it to my ear.

“Conti, what the hell is so urgent that you were blowing up my phone all night? I was overseeing an op, damn it.”

I grimaced. “Adam.”

My handler was good at his job but shit with people. I supposed that was why he usually had a supervisory role rather than being hands-on, trying to build relationships in the field.

“Joanna knows the truth.”

He fell silent. “How much of it?”

His tone had taken on a dangerous edge.

“Enough to be furious. She knows my real name. She knows about our undercover operation—at least in part. I don’t know whether she has specific details, but I doubt it.”

He groaned. “For God’s sake, Conti. I ordered you not totell her anything. I know you think she’s beyond reproach, but it’s too high of a risk to read her in.”

“I… didn’t.”

I winced as Adam released a string of curses.

“Then how does she know?” he demanded. “The last time I saw her, she was completely smitten with you. She’d have believed anything you said.”

I felt a pang of guilt at his words. I hated that he viewed her the way everyone else on the team did: as a tool to use rather than the woman I loved. Joanna may have been smitten with me when Adam last saw her, but I was equally smitten. It was a shame she’d never believe me now that she’d discovered my true identity.

“She saw me with Portia at the coffee shop near Sasha Sloane’s apartment building. I didn’t realize they’d be the ones called to the scene. Neal almost always takes the cases in that area, but he called in sick.”

Adam muttered under his breath. “So, what? She saw you with Portia and immediately went, ‘This man is clearly an undercover agent using me to infiltrate the Chicago PD and rid it of any cops who accept mob payouts’?”

I strode to the window and mopped my hair off my sweaty forehead. “No, but it made her suspicious. I was supposed to be at work. My best guess is that she used one of her contacts at King’s Security to dig into my background. They employ several former hackers who could have found my real employment records.”

“Fuck. It gets worse.” Adam was beginning to sound pissed. “We have no idea how many people know about the op now. We can assume at least two. Joanna and whomever she spoke to at King’s Security. It’s possible there were more, if her contact pawned the job off onto someone else or needed help getting past our firewalls.”

I didn’t add the fact that I had no doubt Joanna hadconfessed everything to Hallie. Joanna would have asked her to keep her mouth shut, and she’d do it. That is if Hallie wasn’t the one who’d gotten the intel in the first place.

“Okay.” Adam exhaled roughly. “Damage control. First, we need to find out exactly who she talked to about your real identity. Then, we need to track them down and make sure they don’t talk to anyone else. We can’t have wagging tongues or else months of work will go up in flames.”

“I’ll make a few calls.” First, I’d try Joanna, and then Hallie, but there was every chance that both women would ignore me as they had last night. If that failed, I’d have to cast a wider net and hope I didn’t add more complications rather than resolving existing ones.

“Do that as soon as you get off this call. I want answers by noon. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” Prick. He was acting like I’d done this intentionally.

Adam was quiet for so long, I began to wonder if he’d hung up, but then he asked, “Just how angry do you think she is? You know what they say about a woman scorned. Do I need to pull you off this operation?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “No. There’s no need for that. I doubt she’ll blow my cover. Her sense of justice outweighs everything else. She’ll see that it’s for the greater good to go along with us.”

But fuck, I hated relying on that. She shouldn’t have to face me when she was obviously hurting. She should be allowed to do what it took to protect herself, and the thought that being forced to deal with me might cause her pain made me want to stab something.

Still, a selfish part of me was grateful for it too. Because of her over-inflated sense of right and wrong, she’d be stuck with me for long enough that, perhaps, I’d be able to persuade her to give me a second chance.

“It’s a good thing we’re certain she’s clean,” Adam mused. “Do you think she still cares for you now that she knows you’ve been using her?”

I flinched. I wanted to protest his phrasing, but I couldn’t. I had been using her, even if it was for a worthwhile cause.

Is anything worth bruising her sensitive heart?

“I hope so.” I didn’t deserve it, but I wanted her forgiveness so badly.

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