Page 57 of Saving Serena

“He told me you deserved the best after yesterday,” she whispered.

Suddenly, the day looked brighter. I nodded. “I’ll call and thank him for thinking of me.”

“He might growl at you, but ignore that. He’ll appreciate the gesture. Somewhere under that tough hide, he’s human.”

“He’s sort of bossy,” I observed as we inched toward the metal detectors.

She shrugged. “It’s the type, an overachieving SEAL. Be the mirror.”

I followed her forward. “I don’t understand.”

“When he gets out of hand, let it bounce off you and send it right back to him. Don’t be a wimp.”

Don’t be wimpy,I repeated silently to myself. I had to remember that. I’d been wimpy this morning in the kitchen and probably gotten the wrong impression from Duke. Only a conversation would clear that up, and I desperately hoped for the right answer.

“Remember, you don’t know me,” Constance murmured as we moved forward.

A few seconds later, she was next for the metal detector.

I laid my purse on the conveyor for the X-ray machine. She didn’t. Instead, she showed the gun in her holster and flashed credentials.

“What’s the Secret Service doing here?” the marshal asked.

“Classified,” she said sternly.

He got the message and ushered her through, no purse search, ignoring the beeps. “LEO,” he told the marshal behind him.

I’d watched enoughNCISepisodes to know LEO was their lingo for law enforcement officer. I showed my ID and walked beep-free through the arch. “What’s with the Secret Service?” I asked.

The marshal shook his head. “Who knows? They don’t tell us crap.”

Constance chose the left-most elevator, and I took the one on the right.

When I reached my floor, Constance was nowhere to be seen. I marched on to my cubicle, taking the route away from Powell’s office, just in case he still had a bad attitude from yesterday.

Even before I went for my first cup of coffee, I settled into my chair, opened my cell, and dialed Duke. I had to talk to the man, even if the conversation was monitored by Jordy.

He didn’t answer, and after a few seconds, I got a text that he was busy and would talk to me later. My heart sank.

“Meeting in the big conference room, everybody.” Powell’s voice boomed over the space. Yes, the tyrant of our time had struck again.

I got to the room in time to choose a chair far away from the one at the head of the table, otherwise known as Powell’s throne. Distance was my friend. The rest of the department filed in, buzzing with questions. “What’s the meeting about?” Everyone wondered, but nobody had an answer.

Powell walked in, followed by Constance and Isaac Tramell, the local special agent in charge of our criminal investigative division.

Powell sat. “Get the door, please.”

Nick walked over to close it.

Tramell and Constance stayed standing.

“We have a guest who’ll be joining us for a while,” Powell announced. “Agent Evers is with CID.”

Constance raised her hand in a wave. “First, you can call me Constance, and I’ll make my best effort to be unobtrusive.”

Murmurs rose in the group. CID was the arm of the agency that took down bad guys, the polluters we filed criminal charges against.

“Who are we after?” Remy asked.

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