Page 103 of Bishop's Queen

The agent’s passive face didn’t flinch. “Can you please check your calendar against these dates? Then let me know where you were?”

“They wouldn’t let me bring my phone upstairs, but sure, I can get that to you.” He offered his trademark pearly-white smile. It had helped him time and time again, whether he and Ella were on the beach and needed to get in good with the locals, or they needed to sweet-talk the secretary of a corporate CEO.

Agent Byrd didn’t notice. Jay tilted his head and deepened the smile. Still no reaction from the agent. He leaned back, assessing his opponent. She didn’t retreat.

“Just in case, I had it brought up.” She gestured at the mirror, and the door swung open.

An older man walked in with Jay’s phone outstretched, and a trickle of concern ran along the back of his neck as he snagged the device. “Fine.”

Scrolling through his apps until he found the calendar, Jay pulled up the details. They were perfectly scheduled for this exact situation. By his estimation, it would take approximately an easy two minutes to fill anybody in. “Ready?”

“By all means.”

He spoke, but she didn’t write anything down. The pen remained by the notebook. Jay’s calendar items were pinpoint precise, and what did she do?Nothing!

“All right. Thank you for your time. That will be all.”

He seethed. “That’s it? That’s all you have to ask?” He bunched his fists, standing, and ground them into the cold table. “That could’ve been handled on the phone or in an email. You didn’t write anything down.”

The agent showed a flicker of emotion for the first time. She looked triumphant. “No. It couldn’t. Do you have anything else you want to add, Mr. Graff?”

Had he been set up? Was this hunter better than he realized? Jay pulled himself back; the realization of what had just happened slapped him across the face. “No.”

She smiled. “Good day.”

The woman in the ugly boots and ugly suit, with no makeup and bad hair, who didn’t succumb to any of his charm and didn’t flinch or flirt with a smile, pushed out of her chair, letting it scrape, then turned on her flat heels. She left him with his mouth agape.

Jay fell back in his chair, shocked. This was all wrong. He was the master of situations, certainly the master of Ella, like a fisherman who’d thrown his net and was pulling his girl back.

All of these things—the FBI, Titan,Bishop—they had all messed up his plan. His lungs hurt as he held his breath. Nothing seriously wrong had just happened. Simple damage control might be needed, but nothing major.

The phone-bearing agent reappeared, and after a few short words that Jay didn’t process, Jay warily followed. He got his wallet back from security—where his phone had been—and pushed out the heavy doors, passing the security guards who had searched and scanned him.

The sun hit his face, and Jay jogged toward the parking garage. The building loomed next to him as if it might reach down and pull him back inside. His jog became a run, until he was at the garage, taking two steps at a time in the stairwell. Jay sprinted to his car.

Once in the safety of his Prius, he pulled Ella’s name up and hit the button. It rang once, twice.

“Hello?” Her sweet answer soothed his soul.

Gasping, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Hey, Ella, what are you up to?”

“The same old. You?” She sounded distracted.

“Actually…” He fumbled blindly for the start button, needing the AC to cool him down. “I just spent time with your FBI agents.” The air hit him, and he opened his eyes. “You have a good team. Whatever’s going on, they’re going to fix this. Don’t stress about it.”

“I’m not stressed.”

“You’re notstressed? Everyone’s running around, dealing with it, and you’renot stressed?”

“I—”

“You should be.”

“Jeez, Jay. I’m trying to live my life. I have Bishop and Locke to run around anddeal with it. Okay? I’m glad you talked with them and all, but—”

“Bishop and Locke are assholes.” He slammed a fist onto the center console. “That Titan Group stands for everything that we don’t. You and me, Ella.We’rethe team. We have our beliefs. They are a blip in time.”

“Titan allows for whatever you believe in. That’s a simple fact.”

---