Page 31 of A Moment Never Forgotten
After getting the go-ahead from his secretary, Berit entered his large office. “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Let’s sit over at the table,” Hennel suggested. “What do you have for me?”
When she worked for him, she made a point to never mince words. “I don’t believe any of them are spies.”
“Neither do I.” His response was the opposite of what she’d expected.
“Then why the hell did both you and Director Lambert want me to infiltrate their tight little circle of friends?” She didn’t withhold the anger from her voice.
He leaned forward with flat palms on the table. “Lambert asked you to spy on them?”
“Yes. I was called to his office—” She stopped midsentence. “When I got to his office, I knocked and swore he saidcome in. But when I stepped inside, he was talking to someone in Arabic on a satellite phone. It’s been a long time, so I’m not as familiar with the language as I used to be. I only caught words here and there, just enough to recognize it was Arabic.” She mentally ran through the files she’d just reviewed. She didn’t remember seeing Arabic listed under his languages. And maybe it wasn’t even Arabic. There were languages in northern Africa that sounded quite similar.
“And he asked you to spy on them?” Hennel prompted.
“Yes. He was thrilled that I already made inroads into a relationship with Teagan and now one with Micah.” At the sound of his name, Berit wondered if she was getting too soft for fieldwork, or was it that she was attracted to Micah? She truly didn’t want to spy on them. She wanted to get to know them all, make friends. She didn’t want to turn them into assets.
“Are you seeing the captain socially?” His question gave her pause.
“If you can call giving him a woman’s opinion on a home…socially, then yes.” She wasn’t going to tell him about their role-playing in front of the real estate agent, but she was thrilled to death to have the opportunity to walk through another house with him in an hour.
“What if they’re just a tightknit former team trying to solve the murders of their friends?” She knew she was pleading their case.
Hennel stared off in the distance. “I don’t know what they are other than the key to unlocking the cage to the moles inside this agency.” He turned to face her. “Stick with them. There’s something there, I know it.”
“Yes, sir.” She stood, and so did he.
“Berit, I want you to be extremely careful. I don’t trust your boss, especially after what you just told me. I had to work with Joseph while I was on SOG. He may come across as this grandfatherly curmudgeon, but take my word for it, he doesn’t let anything, or anyone, get in his way. He doesn’t hesitate to write off collateral damage.” Hennel stared in her eyes. “He has no respect for women or human life at all. Until this is over, stay as far away from him as you can.”
She raised one eyebrow. “That may be more than a little difficult. He is my boss.”
Noah Hennel put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her beseechingly. “Berit, we’ve worked together for a long time. I don’t want you to…get hurt.”
She noticed that he didn’t saydead.
“I’ll be careful,” she promised.
Two hours later, Berit sat across from Micah at one of the best Turkish restaurants in Crystal City. Best, by her standards, dealt with the quality of the food, not linen tablecloths.
“That place is just perfect for you.” She bit into a lamb kebab.
“I like the layout much better than the one we saw yesterday,” Micah agreed.
“The fireplace in the living room was perfect.” She dabbed the corner of her mouth with the colorful cloth napkin. “Those logs looked real, but one click of a button and you have a fire.”
“Are you fishing for an invitation to come over and curl up in front of my fireplace?” He poured more tea into their small cups.
She smiled back at him. “I wish my home had a fireplace. I love curling up in a big chair and listening to the fire crackle while I read a book.”
“Tablet or paperback?” Micah challenged.
She held up her hands. “Carpal tunnel. Although I love the texture of holding the paper in my hands, I had to switch to digital books about ten years ago.” She pulled out her tablet. “I probably have two hundred books on this little baby. Every chance I can steal, I’m reading.”
“Fiction or non-fiction?” He took a bite of his spicy rice mixed with vegetables.
“Fiction. I need an escape from reality,” she confessed.
“Don’t tell me you’re addicted to science fiction?” His teasing grin tickled her senses. “If you’re into aliens attacking the world, life on Mars, intergalactic wars, we’re just going to have to stop right now.”
