Page 39 of Bonded in Death

“Do you? I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse. We’re hard cases, Dallas, you and me. Women who’ve worked their way up to boss because they’re smart, determined, they believe in what they do, and they’re damn good at it. And sometimes what they do has to come first.”

“Yeah. So?”

Nadine let out a breathless laugh. “And strangely a little better. Men like Roarke, like Jake, they’re damn good at what they do. And they’re no pushovers.”

“Who wants to get stuck with a pushover?”

“Exactly.” Still pacing, Nadine shot a finger at Eve. “We’d never respect that, and we want to respect the person we’re with. They’re both strong, smart, and, yeah, damn good at what they do. I don’t know half of what Roarke does.”

“Join the club. I’m president.”

“But he’s damn good at it. Jake is a freaking rock star. Literally a freaking rock star. He could have anyone. So could Roarke. They picked us.”

“What, like flowers?”

Nadine threw up her hands. “You’re right, wrong phrase. Shows my mind’s scrambled. They fell for us, like we fell for them. Because of all that. Who we are, who they are. Was it easy for you and Roarke? Did it just… slide into place and stick?”

“No. Nothing was easy, and I had a lot to do with that because he scared me. What I felt for him scared me, too.”

“Oh, thank God.” Nadine stopped pacing. “I needed to hear that. I reallyneeded to hear that. I know it’s not supposed to be easy. I know it takes work. I’m smart enough to understand that, and I love him enough to do the work. But I know I’m not easy, and I don’t want to screw it up.”

“You will. You’ll both screw up, then you’ll both deal with it, figure it out. You look good together. I don’t mean physically, though come on. I mean you look right together.”

“It feels right. That first night, that horrible night we met? Everything started changing, even in the middle of that.”

She let out another breath. “I know timing, and I know I went way over the two minutes. Thanks. Serious thanks. I’ll get out of your way.”

She walked to the door, then glanced back. “I know I compared him to Roarke, but the fact is, Jake is more like you.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. I don’t know what the hell that says about me.”

Since she didn’t, either, Eve just shook her head. Rather than coffee this round, she got a tube of water.

Sitting behind her desk, she wrote up the interview with the Rossis, copied Whitney. Because she felt she was dealing with a kind of madness—a sly, arrogant kind—she copied all the data to Mira.

She’d like the opinion of a shrink, a profiler, a woman whose opinion she respected. Given the time and the amount of data, she requested a consult the next day.

She’d already considered and rejected contacting Homeland regarding Rossi, and/or the security company. She had many reasons, and some very personal, for not trusting HSO.

She considered, then rejected contacting Agent Teasdale. She did trust the FBI agent—and former Homeland agent. But Eve decided to hold her in reserve.

She had another way. Taking that way bent the rules, but it wouldn’t be the first time. When dealing with covert, why not use the covert?

She got an incoming with a scheduled consult for oh-nine hundred, plugged it in, shot that to Peabody.

There was one more potential source, and though she tried to find a way around it, it only took a glance at her board. She didn’t look forward to this particular consult, but Summerset had served as a medic—and she suspected more—in Europe during the Urbans.

He could give her, if he didn’t blow her off, an in-person perspective.

He had a woman friend who’d done covert work. Possibly she could try to tap Ivanna Liski for information. Again, possibly, she would know if the security company Rossi worked for was indeed a front.

Something happened in the spring of 2026. Maybe one of them knew more about that.

A long shot, she thought, considering how many people lived through, fought through, worked through the Urbans. But if you didn’t take the shot, it couldn’t pay off.

“Might as well get it the hell over with.”

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