Page 12 of Out of Control

Then I knocked on her window before she could shift the vehicle into drive.

She jumped, a hand going to her chest. I gestured for her to roll down her window. Thankfully she complied.

I leaned forward, resting my arm along the window frame as I smiled in at her. “Nice car. Is it yours?”

I could see the debate in her eyes before she reluctantly nodded.

My phone dinged with a text. I opened it up to see a Washington state driver’s license photo of my mystery woman, the blonde curls from yesterday in the picture rather than the straight brunette from today. The name ATHENA KANE was already helpfully highlighted for me.

“Nice to meet you Athena,” I said, holding my hand out to her. I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t take it. “Goddess of War. Suits you.”

“Athena may have been a warrior, but she was the goddess of wisdom and strategy. She could take her enemies out by being one step ahead, not just by beating the crap out of them.”

Now who was being arrogant? “And you think you can stay one step ahead of me?”

“Let the record show thatyoubranded me an enemy first, not the other way around.”

“I didn’t mean it that way and you know it.”

“I know nothing, Jon Snow.”

I was getting whiplash here.

“Now that I know who you are, is there anything you want to tell me before I figure it out myself?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to run a background check? What purpose does that serve? I’m not under suspicion of any wrongdoing.”

“You’re under suspicion of being suspicious. You’re a victim of a crime and refuse to come down to the station to give your statement. You know crazy martial arts techniques. You refused to reveal your identity. You dyed your hair out of nowhere—”

“Since when is that a crime?”

“It’s the sudden timing that is suspicious. Why do the Morellis want you dead?”

“I already told you: the Morellis weren’t involved. That thing at the airport was just a fluke.” She waved her hand, dismissing the actual attempt on her life like it was no big deal.

I was trying not to jump to conclusions, but there was a very small subsect of people who thought of their life in such a cavalier manner.

“Fluke or not, you gotta get the hell out of here before someone sees you.” Before either Morelli saw her talking to me, a federal agent. Shit, I was doing everything wrong again. If she wasn’t so stubborn, we wouldn’t have been in this predicament in the first place.

“What do you think I was trying to do before you approached me? Now if you would please back off, I could drive away.”

I thought about it for half a second, then straightened up out of the window. But instead of stepping back I opened the passenger side door, climbing into the seat next to her and buckling my seat belt.

Her mouth was set in a grim line, but her eyes blazed, showing just how much my audacity angered her.Good.An angry person had trouble keeping their secrets in check.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here.”

“Are you locally based?” she asked, turning away to check her mirrors before putting the car in drive. I didn’t care where we were going, so I kept my attention on her instead of the road ahead of her. “Like, do you have an office in a real FBI building here in the city or do you just wander around investigating dead ends?”

This wasn’t a dead end. I was drawn to Athena for a reason. She had to know something. But I still fought to keep my eye from twitching at her irksome words.

“I have an office…” I trailed off, wondering where she was going with that train of thought.

“Good. Then you have a supervisor I can complain to about your harassment.”

I tried not to let it show how much the thought bothered me. I had a legitimate reason for riling her up, but I didn’t have evidence to back up my instincts. I needed an exemplary record to secure the opening in the CACHTU. Working in the Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking unit was my goal since the day I applied to the FBI.

I was trying to keep my record clean by closing this case, but not at the risk of becoming a PR nightmare in a high-profile unit. I couldn’t risk being seen as going over the top withAthena. I needed to tone it down.

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