Secret Agent Under Fire

by Geri Krotow

  Three women, all young and attractive, were jammed into a small, wood-paneled room. Their focus was clearly on the fire chief. Keith sat at his desk and appeared decidedly uncomfortable with the attention. Not like the playboy persona he’d initially projected when she’d met him that first day at the farmhouse arson.

  Stop thinking you’re changing him. That would only lead to heartbreak.

  “You have to stop bringing me doughnuts, Angie. And Vicki, I’m going to have to freeze your peanut butter cookies and share them with the department later.”

  “That’s why I brought you the fruit plate, Keith.” The woman on the right spoke up.

  Abi allowed herself the privilege of rolling her eyes before she rapped on the threshold. Three sets of eyes were on her, and she didn’t think she’d felt more scrutinized when she’d gone through the obstacle course at Quantico.

  “I’m here for my appointment with Chief Paruso.”

  Keith’s gaze found hers and he quickly stood. His smile reflected interest and relief. “Abi! Come on in.”

  Abi gave him the same smirk Tiger had flashed at her only moments before. “Take your time. I can wait in the hall.”

  “Thank you, ladies, for the treats. The department and I appreciate them. I need to get back to business now.”

  Taking Keith’s cue, the women filed out of Keith’s office. “Bye, Chief.”

  “See you next week.”

  “Let me know if you’d rather have my brownies next time.”

  “Bye, ladies.” Keith scratched his head and gave Abi a devastating smile. A smile that said he was glad to see her. “Come on in.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t have any baked goods for you. I had no idea you had such a sweet tooth.”

  He lowered himself into an old, squeaky chair and motioned at the overstuffed chair in front of his desk. Abi sat.

  “I got a reputation for eating up all of the sweets in the station kitchen when I was a young firefighter. I had the metabolism and the time for daily double workouts to burn it all off. Now, I watch the refined stuff. I still love a good doughnut, but lately I’ve developed a taste for spicier fare.” He leveled his gaze on her, raising his brow. Damn it but she wanted to believe he only flirted with her. It was too easy to believe it, when he’d been so aboveboard with the women who’d just left.

  “You look ridiculous. I’m sure your tactics work for the other ladies, but you forget, I’ve worked with mostly men for all of my career.”

  He had the humility to appear embarrassed. Slightly. “That’s okay, Abi. You’re helping me up my game.”

  “Give me a break, Chief.”

  “As for the women? They’re all either married to, engaged to or dating my firefighters. They like to have a little friendly banter about baking me treats. But really, the sweets go out in the kitchen for everyone and they know that.”

  “Methinks the man doth protest too much. How about the tour you promised?”

  Chapter 10

  Keith kept any response to Abi’s Shakespeare reference he’d thought of to himself. Let her think he was a simple man whose daily highlight was flirting with the significant others of his firefighters. Keith loved it when an opponent underestimated him.

  And he liked showing his department to her, more than he’d expected. It was a kick how Abi’s eyes lit up at the more minute details of the station’s history. “That’s the original fire pole?” She pointed at the brass fixture in the center of the garage, and as she did a woman slid down it with practiced ease.

  “Hey, Johnson, I told you not to do that unless you absolutely had to.”

  The woman landed softly and turned to face Keith and Abi. “Sorry, Chief, I couldn’t resist it.”

  “Abi, this is Colleen, our toughest and most adroit firefighter. She was an award-winning gymnast in college, in case you couldn’t tell.”

  “Hi.” Colleen held out her hand and Abi took it.

  “Nice to meet you. How many women are in the department?”

  “Two.” Keith and Colleen answered in unison.

  “Is that typical?” When her father fought fires there hadn’t been any women.

  “It’s average.” Colleen spoke up. “About the same percentage as when I went through school. I’m told it varies.”

  “Colleen’s correct. We have more female firefighters each year but proportionally the numbers have remained the same in our department for the last five years or so.”

  “Thanks.” Abi nodded at the other woman and Keith couldn’t help comparing her to Colleen Johnson. Women in male-dominated fields always seemed to have a shared sense of struggle and accomplishment.

  “You two are a lot alike, having to prove yourselves in a tough field.”

  “Passing firefighting and FBI obstacle courses are hard, no matter who you are, right, Colleen?” The young woman smiled at Abi and Keith hid a grin.

  “And, yes, to answer your question.” He slapped the gleaming pole. “This, along with the garage and the part of the building where my office is, are all original to the Silver Valley’s first fire department. Upstairs is the bunkhouse where the folks on watch sleep, and out back, where we’re going now, is the newer part of the building.”

  “Enjoy your tour, Abi.” Colleen nodded and headed toward the door.

  “Follow me.” He turned when he really wanted to grab Abi’s hand and lead her around the station. It was odd, this feeling of possessiveness. Had to be something primal, as he’d not experienced it in a very long time. Keith was more of a one-date-per-woman man and he made sure that he hooked up with women who had the same expectations. It was less messy that way.

  He heard her intake of breath when they entered the new part of the building.

  “It’s like Back to the Future.” She looked at the top-shelf technology at the main desk, where an operator sat monitoring the feeds from the county Emergency Management Services.

  “Hey, Lisa, this is Abi. She’s working with SVPD as an arson investigator. You’ll be seeing her around more.”

  “Hi, Abi.” The young woman was as friendly as Colleen had been, and Keith saw the way Abi visibly relaxed.

  “Hey.”

  “Let’s head into the engine bay.” They took the back way into the garage, whose modernity was mammoth when compared to the antiquity of the original building. “As you can see, we have two engines, and there’s also an SUV that I use. It’s set up for comms and coordination.”

  He called to the guys washing down the engine they’d pulled out onto the driveway and introduced Abi.

  “You’ll see her at future calls, so heads up. Give her right of way and any equipment she might need.” He looked at Abi. Were her brown eyes ever not looking right through him?

  “Have you gone through firefighting training?”

  Abi nodded. “Not as much as you, of course, not at all. Enough to know what different blazes feel like and what you’re up against with them.”

  “Do you know how to use a respirator?”

  “I was trained to use one, yes. If I had to I could, but I’d be better off if someone walked me through it again.”

  He appreciated her frankness. “If it’s up to me, you won’t need one while you’re here. It’s our job to put the fires out—you get the information after it’s safe. But just in case, I’ll walk you through our equipment before we leave today.”

  “You don’t have to, Keith. I wanted to see the department and meet your team. Your time is better spent doing your work here. I don’t want to interfere with that.”

  “Trust me, I’ll tell you when you’re interfering.” He nodded toward the break room. “Let’s go get a morning snack.”

  * * *

  “Do you usually have this whole kitchen to yourself?” Abi bit into one of the specia
l muffins one of the spouses had baked and any remaining snark she had about grown women fawning over Keith evaporated. “Oh. My. Gosh. This is the most amazing lemon poppy seed muffin I’ve ever had.”

  Keith stretched his legs out from the head seat of the huge commercial cafeteria table, so that they were next to Abi as she sat on one side. She ignored the blatantly possessive move. And was happy to have her hands full of a muffin so that if she were tempted to reach over and touch his thigh, which she wasn’t, she couldn’t.

  “Told you. Those must be Melody’s. She’s dating one of the guys.” He chugged water from a glass bottle with “Chief” emblazoned on its silicone holder. Abi acted like she was focused on her muffin, but really, would any breathing woman ignore the way his Adam’s apple moved up and down his chiseled throat?

  Keith lowered the bottle and his gaze held hers. “I think I’ve caught you this time, Abi.”

  No words were needed. He was referring to when she’d called him on checking out her ass.

  “Not going to defend yourself?” He looked so damn smug.

  “Nothing to explain. You run an equal-opportunity operation here. What’s good for the gander is just as enjoyable for the goose.”

  “Too hot under your collar to quote Shakespeare this time?”

  “Very good, Chief. I was afraid your reading was limited to the Sunday comics.”

  “Ah, no. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  She looked at him. Was he perturbed? “What made you want to do this?”

  “Be a firefighter?” Keith ran his finger along the side of his water bottle. It had started to sweat and the moisture gathered on his fingertip. He wiped his hands on his pants. If he was her significant other, she might think of more unconventional ways to take the moisture off his finger.

  She licked her lips. “Yes. Why not move like you were used to, or go into a business that involved overseas travel?”

  “I still love to travel but Silver Valley is my home. I’ve been here long enough to know it’s the best place for me. Firefighting is something I’ve wanted since I was a tot living in Europe with my folks. Most kids outgrow the need to be in charge of a huge engine and run a hose. I never did.” She watched him closely and expected him to make a sexual innuendo out of the hose comment. But his face was somber, his eyes clear and on her. “I’m where I belong, Abi. Have you ever felt a sense of belonging?”

  “I’ve felt that I was in the right place for now, but no, I’ve never felt ‘this is it,’ as in ‘I’m not going to do anything else.’”

  “You’re in the midst of changing careers now, aren’t you?”

  “Pretty much, yes.”

  Keith rapped his knuckles on the table. “Let’s finish this up. You’ve got to interview the dude from the business card, don’t you? Mr. Taylor?”

  Again, he caught her with her guard down. She’d learned her lesson: Keith Paruso’s mind was as tight and as sharp as his way with women was smooth and practiced. Abi realized she’d been wrong. The man wasn’t a bull—he was a shark.

  * * *

  “How long have you worked for the Department of Defense, Mr. Taylor?” Abi smiled what she hoped was congenially at the man who sat across from her and Rio in the US Army War College’s student library. The base was only fifteen minutes from Silver Valley and Abi wanted to keep appearances of the interview being perfunctory, merely routine.

  “Sixteen years.” Dennis Taylor didn’t smile. He seemed to be distracted, as if he had somewhere else to be.

  That was about the right time frame. To be considered for attendance as a student to the War College as a US government employee, he would need to be at least at the civilian equivalent of a midrange military officer. The officers at the Army War College were mostly O-5s, which were commanders or colonels, depending upon the service. The civilian equal was a GS-14 and it normally took the better part of two decades to attain it. “How have you liked being an Army War College student so far?”

  “It’s fine. Pardon me... Ms. Redland, did you say?” He looked at Rio as he spoke, showing complete disrespect for Abi. She watched him closely as he acted like an ass. She’d interviewed suspects like this before, and even if Dennis didn’t end up being involved in the elementary school fire she’d bet her bottom dollar all was not aboveboard with him. “I have a class in ten minutes. What is the real purpose of this meeting?”

  “As Ms. Redland told you, we’re here to close the loop on an incident at your child’s elementary school. Have you heard about it?”

  “Is this about the fire in the art room? Yes, my wife said something about it.” He casually smoothed his suit jacket sleeves.

  “How many of your children are enrolled in Silver Valley Elementary School?” Abi kept at it, enjoying how she and Rio worked to basically tag-team their suspect. Without the constant tension she struggled against as she worked alongside Keith. The constant awareness. She needed all of her energy on the suspect, not a hot fire chief. Of course Dennis wasn’t an official suspect. Yet.

  “Two. Our daughter is in fourth grade and our son is in kindergarten.” His affectation of boredom was getting on Abi’s nerves.

  “And are they happy there?”

  He shrugged. “Sure. As happy as any kids that age are to go to school.”

  “You told us you live in Silver Valley, yet most of the students here at the War College live in Carlisle or on base. Why did you pick Silver Valley?” Rio took over the questioning and Abi was relieved. The guy didn’t respect women, that much was clear. She’d rather observe Rio work the interview than deal with such a turd.

  “My wife is a full-time mother and we thought the community in Silver Valley was better suited to our views on how to raise a family.”

  “What kind of views would that be? You see, I’m looking to find a place to buy a house for my girlfriend and me, so I’m genuinely curious as to why you picked Silver Valley instead of Carlisle.” Rio was smooth. Abi wanted to high-five him for his superior performance as the “good cop.”

  Dennis leaned in, both elbows on his thighs as he spoke to Rio. Abi used the time to study him. If the bastard didn’t want to look at her or acknowledge her, fine. It gave her carte blanche to analyze him, his body language. “Silver Valley has a more traditional feel. A friend of ours told me about it, that I should check it out, before we made our move from the DC area.”

  “DC? I just moved here from there myself. Whereabouts did you live?” Abi couldn’t resist.

  “Fairfax County.” He gave her the quickest of glances before pointedly turning his attention back to Rio.

  “Your wife was okay with the move for such a short course? You’re only here ten months, barely a school year, right?” Ooh, Rio was going in for the kill. Abi loved it. The master’s degree Dennis was taking was an intense ten-month course, designed for mid-to-senior-level military officers and government employees. Many students who lived two hours or more away opted to live in apartments that surrounded the base and commute home on the weekends. It provided minimal disruption to their families.

  Dennis blinked. Once. “My wife does what’s best for our family.”

  “And who was the friend who recommended Silver Valley?” Rio wrote in his notepad, apparently asking the question in the most casual manner. Abi knew differently.

  “I don’t remember, actually. We had a lot of friends in our church community in northern Virginia.”

  Abi wished she could meet Dennis’s wife and see what her thoughts were. But since they’d only found a business card, they’d be out of bounds questioning his wife unless he proved to be a valid suspect.

  “Do you have any more questions, Abi?” Rio deferred to her, much to the jerk’s consternation.

  “No, not at the moment. Thank you for your time, Mr. Taylor.”

  “Have a good day.” He stood and
walked away without shaking either of their hands.

  Abi waited until they were in the police vehicle driving off base to voice her opinion on their suspect.

  “He was an odd duck.”

  “Creep is more like it.” Rio eased the sedan into traffic on the main pike. “I know what you’re thinking, Abi, and I agree.”

  “That we may have just met the newest member of the True Believers?”

  Rio laughed. “You got it. Did you hear him use the word ‘community’ more than once?”

  “And he made it clear he runs the show, not his wife. And since when does Silver Valley have more community-minded people than Carlisle? Both places are great to raise kids.” She’d only been here a few months but that was clear enough to her.

  “We’ll keep an eye on him if we need to. This is getting us to the point where we need eyes in the cult.”

  “You mean like Nika did at Christmastime?” Police Officer Nika Pasczenko had managed to get inside a True Believer cult meeting, and identified several members. It was a stroke of luck that had yielded a few leads but so far no arrests.

  Rio nodded. “Yes. But it needs to be someone the cult isn’t familiar with—”

  Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by his phone, which was on speaker, hands-free.

  “Rio.” Rio looked at Abi and smiled. “Hey, Colt...Yes, we did. Abi’s with me now...He wasn’t budging. Was a complete jerk, actually, which affirms for me that he might have ties with the cult.”

  Rio motioned at the dashboard, silently asking if Abi wanted to talk to Colt. She shook her head. She’d fill Colt in later, after she wrote her report.

  “What’s that?” Chief Todd’s voice was breaking up. Rio looked at her, his expression grim.

  “There’s a fire. Keith’s already on the scene.” Abi understood that much of Colt’s words.

  “Where?” Rio accelerated in the direction of Silver Valley.

  “It’s the warehouse district. You and Abi take it easy when you get there.” The thread of trepidation in Colt’s voice was unusual and Abi’s gut twisted.