Page 43 of Code Name: Admiral

“My pleasure,boss.” Bryar winked.

The five ofus sat at the table and ate. There was little conversation, given we were all stuffing food into our mouths as fast as we could.

“How’d your conversation go with Doc and Merrigan?” Tank asked.

Merrigan.Where had I heard that name before?

“What I’m about to say goes no further,” Pershing said, looking directly at him.

“Roger that,” he responded.

“I was curious about why they agreed to two of their best operatives contracting with the bureau. Turns out the DOJ approached them about a possible mole too.”

Tank’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, about that, they didn’t exactly apologize for not reading us both in on that or the real reason you were contracted.” Pershing lowered his hand and gripped mine under the table.

I suddenly remembered where I’d heard the woman’s name before. “Is Merrigan the woman you were with in the press conference about the serial killer?”

His head cocked. “Uh, yeah. How?—”

“Mad hacker skills.”

Diesel chuckled. “I won’t dispute your mad skills, but the video’s online for all to see.”

“I may have watched it more than once,” I admitted, quietly enough I hoped only Pershing heard me.

He leaned closer. “Yeah? Well, I’ll confess I printed one of the photos from the surveillance stills and carry it in my wallet.”

My cheeks flushed, and I couldn’t contain my smile. “You did?”

He nodded.

“Anybody else feel like we should leave these two alone?” Diesel joked.

“They’ll have to leave. I’m still hungry,” said Tank, getting up to dish another helping.

I stood and joined him.

“How’re you holding up, Cheshire?” he asked.

“Good minutes, bad minutes, ya know?” I admitted.

“I’m proud of you, Alice. The way you’ve handled yourself through everything. You’re badass with a capital B.”

My cheeks flushed for the second time. “Thank you.” Outside of my immediate family and Tex, I couldn’t remember a singletime anyone had told me they were proud of me. Who else would’ve? I’d never let anyone get close enough to even know what I did.

A half hour later, Diesel and Bryar said they were heading out.

“Hey, wait. What’s your big news?” Pershing asked.

Bryar looked up at Diesel. “Go ahead,” she said, winking.

“Our little family is about to add another member,” he said, resting his hand on Bryar’s stomach. I couldn’t help but envy the love I witnessed between them. I’d never considered I’d meet someone I wanted to build a life with. Again, how could I since I rarely ventured out of my apartment?

It made me think about the dating app Sarah had insisted I join. What had that been about? From what I’d been able to find, it seemed that was how she either met Bobby Kane or communicated with him. Was it another breadcrumb she’d left for me?

Once everyone was gone, I’d take another look at it, and maybe something new would jump out at me. On the other hand, I was dead tired. While I’d slept last night and more this morning, I was running on days of insufficient rest. Plus, the carb-loaded big meal made me drowsy. So, where would I sleep? With Pershing again? The place was big enough to have more than one bedroom, maybe even several, judging by the size of it. He’d said there were bedrooms downstairs, but those were being used for storage. I hadn’t been upstairs yet, but there were probably more on that level.

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