Page 34 of Code Name: Admiral

“So, fate?”

“Or Sarah.”

I smiled like he had. “Probably Sarah.”

“Anyway, I want you to know that if I have to walk away from the FBI, I will.”

I was stunned speechless.

He continued. “I can’t say that I suspected a mole, but the more I think about it, the more my gut is telling me something’s very wrong inside the bureau.”

“What do you mean?”

“Until the case into your sister’s death opened, I wasn’t officially assigned to investigate the Castellanos, but to me, itseems as though, with everything they have their fingers in, the FBI should’ve been able to get them onsomething. Tex’s intel turns a niggling doubt into full-blow suspicion that there is a mole.”

I thought about the patterns I’d noticed in my own investigations that would support the theory. However, I wasn’t quite ready to share that yet.

“When he arrives, I’m going to tell Grit we’re taking this investigation off the books, so to speak.”

“Could he be the mole?”

Admiral didn’t answer immediately. “Maybe,” he finally said. “If he is, either Diesel, one of the other K19 guys, or I will pick up on it.”

“Sounds like they’re who you should be working with anyway.”

He nodded. “Probably, except…”

“Come on, finish the sentence.”

“I’d want my own unit.”

My eyes flared. “Is that an option?”

“Possibly.”

There was something in his tone that led me to think he already had a plan, and I said so.

He chuckled. “You read me so well.”

“Well, what is it?”

He glanced over his shoulder as if he was checking to see if anyone was within earshot. I wanted to tell him that, if there were, they’d already heard a great deal we wouldn’t want a mole to know.

“Cyber.”

“Interesting…” I said when I realized where he was going with this.

He raised a brow when I didn’t continue.

I took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to ask you.”

“You never need to hesitate, Alice. If there’s anything you want to know, tell me.”

“Can you read minds?”

He laughed out loud. “What makes you think I can?”

“Right before you brought me out here, I was wondering how this would work. Meaning, my methods aren’t exactly law-enforcement friendly.”

---