Page 68 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“It doesn’t matter.” Cobble captured her hand and kissed her palm, then reached down to adjust his…

Damn.Andy glanced at the front of his jeans and blinked. Cobble wasn’t just yanking her chain. Hewaspacking again.

Which meant he’dcertainly be yanking something else after she left.

That obvious display made it difficult to get her head back to business, but…

“You know I’ll probably be late getting back,” she warned as she grabbed her purse, then her gun, making sure it was locked and loaded. “Once the rogue faction’s head or heads explode finding out that I’m not only back in the game, but that I’ve actually been in it all along keeping you hidden, they’re going to be pissed and most likely follow me. I’ll have to be super careful and lead them astray so they can’t track me back here to you.”

Cobble growled, clearly unhappy he wasn’t able to go with her to keep her safe. “Okay. But call me when you’re on your way home and we’ll talk during your whole trip back. I want to make sure they don’t run you off the road or anything.”

Andy laughed. “You know I’ve been taking care of myself for years, right?” she asked, turning to him at the door.

“I know, but I can’t help—”

She cut off his words with a deep, soul-smoldering kiss before raising her head and licking her lips.

“Mmm. Best kiss, ever,” she teased, using his longstanding line. “And it’s okay, Cobble. I kind of like that you want to protect me. It makes me feel…girly. Which if you tell anybody, I’ll—”

“—have to kill me.” It was Cobble’s turn to cut her off.

Andy simply grinned.

Damn, she loved this man.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mizzay walked into the meeting room at FBI headquarters at exactly 2PM. She’d wanted to make sure all the players were already seated when she made her big appearance.

Of course, that meant not having seen the five suspected agents’ reactions to the SOS team walking in, but some sacrifices were worth making.

“Good morning,” she said briskly to the room at large as she slipped into a chair next to Del.

Special Agent Beranger’s eyebrows raised so high they looked like they were in danger of escaping his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too, Beranger,” Mizzay relayed haughtily as she settled in.

A few others were giving her confused eyeballs, but nobody looked as downright hostile as her old DOJ associate, whom she did nothing to appease. Instead, she baited him.

“Howz about I let Director Baskin fill you in on my presence.”

The agent looked like he was about to jump up from his seat and go after her, but the two biggest guys in the room, Billboard and Prez, shuffled their chairs back as if to say, “go ahead, buddy. Try it”.

Beranger gave them a look, but judiciously settled back down, calming his features. At least for appearance’s sake.

“Well, now that all the hellos have been said,” Baskins cleared his throat with annoyed purpose, “let’s get down to it. Deputy Cavateral, would you like to take the helm on this, or should I?”

Cavateral sent him an acquiescent nod. “Since this is your home turf, why don’t you do the honors.”

“Thank you,” Baskins replied genially, then sat back, steepling his fingers. “As you can all see, we’ve included a few additional people in our briefing today.”

The FBI in Boston had used Del’s firm as an asset before, so nobody from that office looked shaken by the addition. But the DOJ operatives looked fit to be tied.

“Please welcome the team from SOS,” Baskins concluded.

Baskins went on to name each of the eight additional operatives in the room, even though most of the agents present—from the FBI—knew them from previous missions. Missy could tell that Baskins was going slowly, getting a read on everyone in the room.

Greetings were subsequently made; some more reluctantly than others.

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