Page 55 of Shadow of the Moon

Cocking her head, Amberly thought about her recent dealings with Frank. He had bitched a lot, mostly about their new boss. Had her own perception of Brown been swayed by Frank’s constant noise about him? Perhaps.

“So, with that being said,” Devlin murmured, drawing the attention back to him, “maybe you should check your own house for his little presents.”

Brown and Amberly turned to look at Devlin, then each other. Immediately, Brown reached for his phone, tapping in a number. Amberly realized he was talking to the director, getting permission to lock the complex down as they did a thorough search with the explosives crew.

Apparently, he got permission, because as soon as he hung up, the buildings went into lockdown. People were concerned, but not overly alarmed. They’d been through this drill many times because they realized they were one of the highest priority targets in the country.

It took them seven hours to find all of the Semtex charges Frank had planted, not just in their own buildings, but in the others in the complex as well. It took the crew two hours to go through her own building. So, they sat in the parking lot in an incident tent with reams of data going through intel until they were given the all clear.

It was a ridiculous scene.

Devlin stayed at her side for all of it, clarifying information as needed. They were both debriefed individually, which took hours, but it needed to be done.

The night was gone again and morning was creeping over the horizon again by the time Brown told them they had a handle on things and to get out of there. “Temple, you have a significant amount of vacation time accumulated. Why don’t you use some of it?”

Grinning, she nodded. “Will do. See you next week, boss.”

“Kreed said he needs to get home,” he continued, “so the plane is at your disposal. I got the Director’s approval for that.”

Amberly smiled, though her heart hurt at the reminder that they didn’t live together anymore. “Thank you, Sir.”

She started to turn away but Brown called her name and motioned her to the side. She was more than surprised when he stopped in front of her and leaned toward her a little. “I just want to thank you. My niece goes to Riverside. I made sure my brother took her out of school for a few days. They’re running down the coast to see my parents for a while, just in case we missed something.”

Amberly nodded. “Good. Probably smart, sir.”

“You won’t be recognized publically for this, you know that, but the Agency knows exactly what you did for this country. And I’ll be putting a personal letter in your file.”

Emotion tightened her throat. “Thank you, Sir. Will it get me out of the cold case room and off your shit list?”

Brown looked at her, startled. “You were never on my shit list. I put you in there because I know the kind of person you are, and I knew you would find what others could not.” He gave her a smile. “Have a good trip, Temple.”

“Yes, sir,” she said weakly.

They were driven back to the airport, their bedraggled bags over their shoulders. Requiem rested on the seat across from them.

Anxiety churned in her stomach, because they hadn’t really talked about what was going to happen next. “Do you mind if I tag along with you? To check out your place?”

Devlin glanced at her in surprise. “I thought that was a given?”

She shifted and waffled a hand. “Not really. I mean, I don’t want to impose. And you didn’t really invite me.”

Devlin snorted, catching her hand. “Amberly Temple, would you come home with me to Tennessee? I would love to have you.”

Grinning, she leaned in for a kiss. “Yes, I will. Thank you for asking,” she laughed.

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