Page 22 of Covert Affairs

“How?” Cal asked.

Vivi stood and smiled. It felt good to be helping someone again. “I’ll see both of you in my office at nine tomorrow morning.”

Beatrice rose too. “With Sloane?”

“No. We start with the two of you. Neither of you sought counseling afterwards, did you?”

The couple shared a contrite glance before returning their attention to her.

“I didn’t think so. You can’t help Sloane work through the subconscious anxiety about what happened until you work through your own.” She tipped her chin to the others. “Thank you for your help.”

Feeling energized, she laid out a treatment plan in her head for the entire family as she made her way to her office.I’m back, baby.

Not that she had any intention of becoming a full-blown psychologist again, but helping the girl gave her purpose.

For now.

She hummed as she let herself into her office, and came to an abrupt stop when she saw who sat in her chair.

Ian, ankles crossed on top of her desk, looked her over from head to toe. “We need to talk.”

Ten

Vivi wore a slight smile that disappeared the moment she saw him. She froze, then proceeded to close the door quietly. “You’re in my seat.”

“You don’t have any visitor chairs, or a sofa like you did in your previous office.” He motioned around the room. She had no doubt done it intentionally, so people didn’t sit and stay. “It’s pretty stark, even for you.”

Her steps were clipped as she came around to his side of the desk, knocking his feet off and grabbing him by the shirt. She jerked him out of her seat and when he planted his boots and remained rooted in her way, she glared at him. “You’re right. We do need to talk. Maybe you should go get a chair. Unless you wish to sit on the playmat.”

Suggesting that he was a child? It wouldn’t be the first time. It had always been a good natured poke, though, and he wondered if a bit of the old Vivi was surfacing. He guessed the only reason she was agreeing to the talk was to trick him into getting said chair, just so he would vacate her space. “Only if you come with me.”

She set her notebook on the desk and leaned a hip against it. “I need to know why you were in Berlin.”

Going right for the main event. Typical. He probably would need that chair, because it was not a short story, but then again, the fact she was willing to discuss it was progress.

If he left to get a seat, he might miss his opportunity. He leaned against the edge of the desk, mirroring her stance. “My team was there to capture a terrorist. You probably guessed that.”

She tapped the closed laptop. “I’ve gleaned a few details from the files Rory shared, although not the name of that terrorist. That might help me remember why I was there.”

He’d considered the same thing. Was it possible she’d learned something about their target in Berlin from another operative she counseled? Perhaps even from a staff member who came to see her for therapy? It might explain everything. “Cesar Alon. Ring any bells?”

Her brows knit. “The Filipino drug lord?”

He nodded. “Counterintelligence escalated his network, which included Jim Lawrence, to an APT.” An advanced persistent threat, as classified by the CIA and Homeland, didn’t typically call for Ian’s team, yet one of the powers that be had decided to chase Alon. “We were to apprehend him the night you walked into that party and blew our mission.”

“You were on the inside of Lawrence’s network. How?”

Interesting story, that. “While doing surveillance on Alon, I was approached by a man who thought I was someone else—one of Lawrence’s insiders. Goes by the name Jack Spear. Spear is a…what’s the term?” He snapped his fingers. He was a SEAL, not a spy. “A guy who sells fake information for political gain or money. You know, he spreads propaganda for the drug lords and cartel leaders.”

“A fabricator?”

“That’s it. Spear is a fabricator for Lawrence. He was supposedly out of town and not attending that party, which was a cover for a meeting with several other crime bosses, like Alon. We had planned to secretly infiltrate the house, kidnap the Filipino, and be gone without anyone noticing his disappearance. When the man accosted me and acted like I was Spear, saying he thought I was out of town, we figured it was a good way for me to pinpoint our target and get him out with less risk. So we worked on a plan, and I managed to score an invite to the party. And then you showed up.”

She twisted her lips to one side, thinking, analyzing. He could see the gears turning in her head, going over those names, trying to access her memories of that night. She gently pushed him out of the way and sat. “Why did you have the drugs to knock me out? Were they for Alon?”

“Didn’t expect him to come along peacefully. I was to go in, get him alone, inject him, and haul his ass out of the compound with the help of my team.”

“They were watching the guests I assume, and spotted me. They alerted their superiors, who alerted NSA.”

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