Page 17 of Covert Affairs

The rigid shoulders softened. “I know.”

“I’ll need to see the personnel files of all those who have regular contact with Sloane. Bring her by first thing tomorrow. In the afternoon, we’re having a group meeting in your office. You, Cal, and anyone else who is close to Sloane.”

“I’ll rearrange schedules and make sure everybody attends. As long as we are addressing uncomfortable subjects, you need to see Cassandra Donovan, my chief operating officer. She’ll have paperwork for you to sign. Nothing like what you did with NSA, but a few legal documents. The standard.”

The thought made Vivi itch. She glanced out the window, grateful that it was coated with a reflective film that kept anyone from seeing her. She craved light, yet felt too exposed to go outside. “Is there a reason I don’t have a pointman?”

Another inquiry Beatrice was not expecting. “If you have questions, you know you can come to me.”

She pivoted slowly and sat on the dusty window ledge. “I have a lot of damn questions, and unfortunately, neither you, nor anyone else here, has the answers. You can tell me this, why did you recruit Lt. Commander Kincaid?”

“Why are you using his former rank to refer to him?”

A question for a question. Fair enough. “Addressing him as ‘Mr. Kincaid’ seems wrong.”

Beatrice seem to smother an eye roll. “I didn’t recruit him. He came to us after you were declared dead. Whoever sent him to drug you and sneak you out of Lawrence’s camp didn’t tell him you survived. They let him think he’d killed you. I suspect they didn’t want him tracking you to that black site and busting you out.”

“They tried to use that as leverage, in fact, to get me to talk. The agony of knowing a SEAL like him believes he killed you when you’re actually still alive is pretty damn good torture. Unfortunately, I literally could not tell them what they wanted to know, and the truth is, they would’ve killed me anyway, if I had. Butyouknew I was alive.”

“He didn’t take it well that I didn’t tell him before sending him in.”

Ian had always been cold steel under those intense green eyes and fiery Irish spirit. “You believe letting him rescue me will bring him some kind of peace? I’ve got news for you, I’m pretty sure he hates me right now, because he still assumes I’m a traitor.”

Beatrice appeared mildly amused. “I sent him on this assignment because he had the skills. He refused bodyguard work and I didn’t want his first job for us to be in the field on an undercover mission, since his last went sideways with you. Eventually, he might be a good operative again, but if he chooses not to test those waters, there are other positions available. Your exfiltration was a straightforward in-and-out. I knew he could handle it.”

“Pretty words, and I don’t doubt that your strategic mind did, indeed, decide that was the best option, but I don’t believe you. You’re playing psychologist, thinking that breaking me out will fix the trauma he went through believing he killed me.”

“Not to mention the fact that he married you, and he’s been beating himself up for not keeping you safe in the first place.”

Vivi went very still. They’d kept their marriage a secret, planning to reveal it when they felt safe. Had Ranger spilled the beans after she called him husband the night of the rescue? “Why would you think we’re married?”

“Dr. Montgomery,” Beatrice emphasized the moniker, “I know everything about you, except the reason you went to Berlin six months ago. It makes no difference to me, but you must’ve been trying to contact Ian. For you to take that risk, and possibly blow his cover, is completely unlike you, so I assume it was a life and death matter. Only you know the truth. I’m no matchmaker, but the way that man looks at you? He’s still very much in love.”

The hits just kept coming. She wanted to cover her belly with her hands, but she forced them to stay by her side. Never show weakness, it was something she learned in prison. “You are one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.” Vivi moved away from the window. SFI was probably more secure than NSA headquarters, but she suddenly felt vulnerable. Exposed. “But let’s get something straight. Nobody outside of this room can ever know that about him and me. Mick Ranger already does and that’s not good. The marriage was a mistake. I want your word, Beatrice. Absolutely no one. It could put him at risk.”

“How do you know?”

She didn’t, but everything felt dangerous right now. “Deductive reasoning. Like you said, I would never have gone to Lawrence and risked exposing Ian if it hadn’t been a life and death situation. I just don’t remember the specifics.”

Beatrice headed for the exit. “I won’t say anything, but you need to talk to Ian. He might have the key to unlock the memory.”

The clamp around her lungs was back.That’s what I’m afraid of.

But fear had no place in her life anymore. Gritting her teeth, she straightened her spine and went to confront him.

Eight

Ian sat on his bed trying to match his clean socks. Like the images and thoughts in his head, nothing seemed to line up.

A knock sounded on his door, and he didn’t look up, determined to find the missing black calf sock he needed in the pile of other black socks. “Yeah,” he grumbled.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened, and then the door swung open slowly and a shadow fell across the floor. He rifled through the pile andbingo. The little bastard had been hiding. “There you are.”

“I’m not a traitor.”

At the sound of her voice, he jerked, coming to his feet as if his CO had walked in. The unruly socks fell to the floor.

Vivi stood there, backlit from the hall’s illumination, hands balled into fists. “I still haven’t remembered why I went to Berlin and willingly walked into Lawrence’s compound, but it wasn’t to betray my country.Ourcountry.”

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