Page 29 of Play the Game

“Not a doctor,” I said. “A cop. And before that, a principle on a private security team.”

“And before that, military,” Li said. “Which they have in common, unlike all those other docs she dated.”

“So, do we approve of... What’s his full name?” Hart asked.

“Evan Prescott,” Kessler said. “And we do. He helped Bond save my life a few months ago when we got ambushed on a mission.”

“So, he knows about HEAT.” Hart stared down into her port. “And you two are dating the Wilder brothers.” She glanced at Kessler. “Derek, the ex-agent.” She looked at Li. “And Chase, who is also aware of the agency and has helped out on a few operations.”

“You know Chase?” I leaned forward and propped my forearms on the table. Chase had stepped into the crosshairs of one of HEAT’s earlier tangles with the Carbonados, but I’d missed the part where he’d worked with the agency before that. “He was on previous HEAT missions?”

“Sort of,” Hart answered.

“It was in Geneva, and Hart needed a rich date to escort her to a ball,” Li said. “They were supposed to make a big deal of him squiring her around town for the weekend. Then his back went out.” She glanced at Kat. “He finally had surgery on it back in March, by the way.”

“Thank God,” Hart said. “We had to call an audible on that one. We holed up in a swanky hotel suite instead, where I fed him painkillers, ordered a lot of room service, and made ridiculous sex noises every time the staff arrived outside our door to deliver it.”

“Chase remembers laughing hysterically each time, then needing more painkillers because of it,” Li finished.

“I’d forgotten that part!” Hart laughed. “Oh, he’s a good guy, Li. I’m glad you’re both happy. And what about you and Jensen, Sparks?”

“What?” Panic clawed at my throat, but I took long, steady breaths. Kessler, the human emotion detector, had her eyes on me, so I had to stay calm.

“You had to play fake lovers the other night,” Hart said, and my heart rate dropped back down to a reasonable pace. “Did you have fun embarrassing the staff? Or cause other guests to call down to the front desk? That happened twice with Chase and me.”

“Uh...I don’t think so.” I actually had no idea. We hadn’t been quiet, but we also hadn’t been faking it. I made the mistake of glancing at Kessler. Her eyes were wide and focused as she stared at me. I looked away. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Kat, are you heading back to Europe after this mission?”

She shook her head. “Undecided. X is thinking of setting up my home base in New York City. A year ago, I would have fought her on it. Now, I think I’m ready to come home.”

That was big news since Hart was HEAT’s best asset on foreign soil, and being stationed in Europe allowed her to fly in and out of a lot of hot spots at a moment’s notice. Bringing up her plans worked as a diversion, and we spent a long time talking about the possible changes for Hart and the rest of HEAT. It was impossible to avoid speculation about the future of the agency, but we managed to keep the conversation upbeat. Between my meditative interlude and time spent with friends, old and new, it was the best evening I’d had in a long time, if I didn’t count Tuesday night with Jason. And last Friday night, before he’d gotten us arrested. And the week before that...

I leaned back in my chair and tossed back the remainder of my port. He was an integral part of all my best memories of the past year, and some of them from the years before that, since the time we’d started working together.

The energy of the night seemed spent as we all fell silent at once. Hart was the first to stand and say goodnight. Li walked into the house behind her. Through the side screen, I stared at the dark barn. I knew there was a light on inside because Jason was still there. I’d been positioned to see him if he’d returned to the house. He hadn’t.

Kessler touched my arm. “You should go.”

She startled me out of my thoughts. “What?”

She nodded in the direction of the barn. “Go talk to Jensen. Whatever is going on between you two is your business. But take it from someone who crossed a lot of lines—in fact, every single line that could be drawn—with a teammate; you need to deal with your shit. If you two don’t figure it all, you’ll put the mission at risk.”

“We’re just friends,” I insisted.

She looked unconvinced. “I saw the kiss at the competition. I know you called an audible, as Hart would say. We all do it. That’s part of fieldwork. No one can stick to the plan one-hundred percent of the time.”

“Iwantto stick to the plan one-hundred percent of the time.”

“I know.” She blew out a long breath. “Time for me to show you some tough love. What Jensen does, running off the rails whenever the mood strikes him, is not something X wants or will accept from anyone else. Thank God, or we’d all be dead. But making adjustments to plans along the way is part of being in leadership. You’ve watched Penn. You’ve apprenticed long enough. And now you have your shot. The only one standing in your way is you. And if Jensen causes problems, you have to rein him in like Penn does. Like all of us do. Like you did Tuesday night.”

“If you saw the kiss, I’m sure you’re aware...” I didn’t finish the thought.

“I’m aware of what I observed from a distance. I can’t read everyone all the time. It looked like part of your cover story to me.” She was lying about what she had and hadn’t seen as a kindness to Jason and me.

“Good, because for both of us to stay at HEAT, we can only ever be friends. Isn’t that the lesson learned from you and Derek?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “We were hot and heavy from the moment we met. We didn’t learn to have each other’s backs as friends before we went all in on being HEAT partners and secret lovers at the same time.”

“You think a different approach might work without someone having to leave the agency?”

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