Page 46 of State of Alert

“I really hope so. I suppose you could come up with another delay if needed.”

“Probably.” He linked their fingers. “We have to make a solemn vow, you and me.”

“I thought we already did.”

“Another one.”

“All right…”

“We can never, ever,evertell anyone that we knew about Juan being alive. We have to be as surprised as everyone else when the truth comes out.”

“I was planning to come clean with my team after the fact.”

“You can’t. If you do, it could take me down.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I need to be able to deny that I knew, and no one who knows us, even a little, would ever believe you’d keep something like this from me.”

“NCIS knows I know. Juan knows I know. Joe knows I know. That’s a lot of people to trust with a gigantic lie.”

He sighed. “Yeah, it is.”

“How about if I come clean with knowing, but say I didn’t tell you?”

“People who know us won’t believe that.”

“I could say I put national security interests ahead of my own marriage.”

“People won’t believe it, Sam. Even those who’ve never met us in person know how we are, thanks toSNLand all the mocking of our obviously close relationship.”

“So what do we do?”

“I need to think about it, but in the meantime, I’ll tell Juan’sfamily that later next week will be my first opportunity. I just hope by then they’ll know the truth.”

“Why do I feel like this is going to turn into a gigantic shit storm?”

“Because it probably will, with me at the center of it.”

“If I’d known exactly what I was going to have to keep from you before I went into that room and saw Juan, I would’ve said no way.”

“I keep going back to them specifically asking you to keep it from me and Joe’s theory that they were counting on you to tell me.”

“You think it was intentional?”

“I do.”

“Why don’t you call the NCIS director in to explain it to you?”

“Wouldn’t that give away the fact that you told me?”

“Or it could be something you picked up in the morning briefing that tipped you off to a bigger story.”

“That’s a possibility. I could hear about it from someone else. Let me see what I can do.”

“I hope we can find a way to manage this. I absolutely have to come clean with my colleagues after it’s over. There’s no way I can let them think I lied to them for no good reason.”

“Just when I think I’ve seen everything…”

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