Page 2 of Escalating Alpha

And working with me to learn the craft. The sole reason he’d picked Chicago even knowing there was shit going on here was he hoped to get to work with me and learn from me on how to be an undercover agent. So he wanted this chance to prove his acting skills and that I should give him a chance.

Something rubbed me wrong about him. I had no reason to feel that way besides my gut, and his file was clean. I appreciated him even jumping in on something that was going to leave him beaten and bloody, but… Something was off with him. I had to get to the bottom of that before I could ever really work with him that closely more than just as his big boss.

The vampire holding Cindy pulled off the hood and plopped her onto a chair near Corbin, restraining her to it. She immediately took in her surroundings and what was going on, swallowing loudly when she saw what she thought was a dead agent. One she knew.

One she’d gone through Quantico with. Yeah, that was intentional.

A vampire backhanded Roach. “We know you’re lying. We want our accessback, asshole. We know it’s not all done through DC.”

“Maybe that was true before, but they had a DC crew come install it all,” Roach told him. “I don’t know. We’re—you know asking the lowest on the totem pole won’t give you answers.”

“This is about access to the FBI building?” Cindy asked, glancing between everyone. “So your genius plan is to just grab a bunch of low-ranked agents with absolutely no seniority and power?”

Yeah, that got her a punch to the stomach and Corbin a hit across the face when he lost his shit seeing that.

“He’s a good guy and doesn’t like seeing a woman hit,” Brian defended. “Even before I had real feelings for you, I almost lost my mind when you came back with a split lip and black eye that one time.”

“I know, but you still had to send me back in, and Corbin needs to understand it’s going to happen and he can’t stop it,” I muttered as I kept my focus on the cameras. “You just bandaged me up, celebrated the win, and told me that I wasn’t as alone as Ifelt flying out there without a safety net. It’s what made you such a good boss. He needs to learn the same.”

“This is different than the normal script and situation,” Jerome Curtis—one of the trainers from Quantico—said for about the twentieth time.

“Yes, andagain, that will keep her from figuring it out like I did,” I grumbled.

It went on another fifteen minutes with them asking everything from codes to the parking garage to any passphrases to tell security that agents gave if they forgot their ID. They even gave the old one for the ploy that they’d had access to before.

I’d done away with that old stupid system. No fucking code words in the FBI to ditch security for the day. Don’t forget your ID and badge or go home and fucking get it and admit to your boss you were an idiot.

Hopefully, it would be theonlytime you forgot it then.

“Our boss wants the information!” one of the vamps bellowed in Corbin’s face.

“Yeah, and I want my gun right now,” Corbin chuckled darkly, truly pissed and upset. He probably understood he wasn’t handling this as well as he thought he’d do. “But you’re fucked. You abductedfourFBI agents and killed one. How do you think this ends?

“Even if we did know—which we don’t—you’ll kill us. Four dead agents and they’ll change everything anyway. You’re going to be looking over your shoulder the rest of your lives for killing one of us. This is all pointless, and you have no idea how big of an enemy you made with our boss who—”

The vamp punched him maybe a bit too hard and pulled out his gun.

“Wait,wait!” Cindy yelled. “We really don’t know what you want, but I have something better. Something your boss can use or sell. You want to sell information right? I have somethingeveryonewould want—huge money. You can sell it and bail quick. Leave the country before anyone realizes we’re gone.”

“Thatta girl,” I chuckled, glad she was using her brain. “Buy time. Separate them. Anything you can.”

The guy turned and pointed the gun at her. “Talk, or this bullet is for you. I’m done with this shit, and clearly killing one of you wasn’t enough.” He moved closer and smiled in her face and at how upset Corbin was. “Or maybe I get a good taste of you? They seem to care a lot about the women in their office. How about if they see more of you?”

“That wasn’t the plan,” the guy from DC’s IA seethed.

“Yeah, well, your plan is too by the books and of no help,” I defended as I moved to block him from the door to stop this. “If you don’t think I’ve almost been raped while undercover—I have. I’ve been sexually assaulted. Touched more times than I could count. She needs to understand that itwill happen. It will. Every female undercover agent I know has experienced it.”

“You touch her and I’ll fucking kill you,” Corbin raged… No longer acting. He was really upset.

It killed me to hurt him, but he needed to know. He needed to understand.

It would help him in the long run.

But I still hated it. I wouldloveto live in a world where none of us suffered like this—that there was no reason for any of us to have to go through any of this.

That just wasn’t the real world.

The real world was dark and messy.

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