Page 89 of Jael

“You did what?”Deborah shouted at Danny, who stood before her desk with his arms crossed.

“She was questioning my continued presence in her life.”

“And you decided to handle it by telling her the truth?”

“The assignment would have been over otherwise. There was no way she would let me near her, let alone have any influence over her engagement party.”

“You should have made something up. Telling her you work for the FBI was not the right move.”

“Why? Because of her mother?”

Deborah rested the arm of her glasses against her lip. “She told you about that?”

“She thought I already knew.”

“It was an accident.”

“That’s not what she thinks,” Danny said.

“She wasn’t there.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Was the FBI responsible or not?”

“Natalie was carrying drugs for a drop. We were surveilling, but we were made. Our team chased her. Over the course of the pursuit, she fell and died. From what I understand, Jael does not believe the fall was an accident.”

“But you’re saying it is.”

“We don’t kill people for the fun of it.”

“That’s not a no.”

“None of our guys laid a finger on her. The autopsy showed she had drugs in her system at the time, so that wouldn’t have helped.”

“But she was being pursued?”

“Should we not have chased a criminal because something bad might happen?”

“I’m just trying to get my head around it.”

“What you think doesn’t matter. Now that Jael knows you work for the FBI, that changes things.”

“No, it doesn’t. Whether I work for the FBI or not is irrelevant. The engagement is not going ahead, and that’s got nothing to do with me.”

Deborah lowered her voice. “Oh, it absolutely does. Now she knows who you work for, you can make her cooperate.”

“She’s not going to marry Christopher at the behest of the FBI.”

“She better, or we’ll find a dozen charges to bring against her.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will. Not only that, either you convince her to follow through for us, or I’m taking away everything I’ve given to you. Including Adisa’s freedom.”

Danny’s mouth hardened into a thin line. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to come back. You haven’t changed one bit.”

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