Page 31 of Smoke and Shadows

“Are you sure, Ms. Cole? Maybe you should ask Yeager?”

“Oh, I certainly will,” Marissa retorted, pushing back and standing up.

“Our briefing isn’t over.” Viktor’s eyes sparked at her angrily.

“I’m wasting my time here. I’m heading back to Langley,” Marissa informed him.

“You have no transportation, and I’m not leaving to play chauffeur because I’m sure not pandering to your CIA ass.”

He did not just say that. Marissa fumed, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. Tim and Holly shuffled nervously, not knowing where to fix their gazes.

With as much dignity as she could muster, she leveled her frosty eyes against Viktor’s heated ones. “I’m sure you can spare a Guardian to take me to DC so I can retrieve my car.”

“Burns, Nolan, leave us,” Viktor said. “I’ll catch up with you two later. We’ve got a busy day ahead.”

When the two analysts left, Viktor stood up and faced her squarely.

“What the fuck was that all about?” he demanded.

“You’re withholding information.”

“I can’t tell you. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Viktor sighed. “I have no concrete proof. The whole scenario makes my head hurt as it is.”

“Try me.”

“I said no, Iz.”

“Will you let me help you today?”

“No.”

“Fine, I’m going to Langley.”

“You’re working too hard,” Viktor said softly, raising his fingers to brush her cheeks. “It’s Sunday, why don’t you go back to my house, unpack, and get settled in. Relax.”

“You know you’re sounding like a hypocrite, right?”

His blue eyes hardened. “Don’t fight me on this, kitten.”

“Oh, and just because you have a dick, you can work harder than I can?”

“Goddamn it, Marissa—”

“What does the AGS database have that the CIA doesn’t?”

“I will tell you when I’ve got something. Goddamn it! I’m just keeping you from wasting time. Save your energy for the fights you can win.”

Marissa’s eyes narrowed. “Either you know I’m onto something that you’d rather I wasn’t, or you know I’m totally off course. Which is it?’

Viktor’s mouth formed a thin line.

“I’m going back to CIA HQS,” Marissa repeated her earlier statement, seeing how unbending Viktor was and how she was going nowhere fast.

“Suit yourself,” he replied coolly. “I’ll have Agent Olsen take you to your car.”

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