She sighed and recited what she'd committed to memory, trying to figure out why she never did see it as a set up. "There's something on the bunk in my barracks. It's a picture of an old restaurant that's down the road a few miles. I figure it's another test being thrown at me and so I grab my gear for a hike."
"When I arrive, this guy was waiting for me."
"Who?"
Who? Dan knew who. And the eagerness in this guy's voice definitely didn't sound like Dan. Even though it was digitalized, she would recognize his voice. A deep apprehension started to grow. Who was behind that mirror, asking her confidential information? Maybe it was that Donovan guy. He clearly didn't trust her.
So where was Dan Weber? Back behind the magic mirror with Donovan? Or did HQ have him in another interrogation room? "It was Jason Peck."
"How do you know it was him?"
"Because I recognized his voice when I met him at the rendezvous."
"You recognized his voice after only speaking with him once?"
"I've got this thing with voices. Once I hear it, I don't usually forget it." Her instant recall on voices gave her quite the advantage during training ops when the instructors doubled as tangos.
Of course, a fog had settled in her brain, causing her thoughts to scramble. Maybe she had heard this voice before. Hell, she didn't even know what day it was.
There was a pause, giving JT the chance to try and sort through her thoughts. Was it only yesterday morning she had retrieved the disc from that group downtown? What day was it anyway? Tuesday. It was Tuesday. Her mind started to clear. It was the day after. An appropriate name for the day they stripped her of her NASSD merits.
"Tell us what you know about Dan Weber."
The order broke JT's thoughts. If he wanted to know about Dan, that meant he wasn't anywhere behind that mirror. If Dan wasn't back there with them, that meant they didn't trust him, either.
JT's heart skipped at the mention of his name, and she didn't like it. He tried to kill her, damn it. She shouldn't give a rip about the man.
Yet, she did. And now she felt the urgent need to cover for him. Not that he did anything wrong. Nor did he deserve it. Regardless, she kept her answers short and elusive. "What can I say? He's Dan. The Dan Weber, Superspy Extraordinaire."
"Let me put this is terms you won't try and dance around. Do you trust him?"
"Yes," she didn't hesitate to answer, though she couldn't begin to explain why. Up until this guy mentioned Dan's name, she believed he had something to do with why she now sat in front of a gigantic mirror, answering arbitrary questions about an assignment she wished never happened.
"With your life?"
"Absolutely. With my life."
"Even knowing his history?"
JT's resolve wavered, yet she forced a smile. "History?"
"Agent Weber blew off an op for a chance to go after Peck. He endangered the lives of every agent assigned under him. That didn't slow him down any. We have concerns over his loyalty."
JT felt the color wash from her face. Along with any warmth. She felt cool, even cold. Dan Weber, the Dan Weber, blew an op? That little tidbit wasn't in his file and they certainly didn't share that part of his career with the recruits back at Gahanna. She felt the pedestal she'd placed Dan on start to crumble.
"Was that why he left NASSD?"
"We sent him on an extended vacation. He was too close to the situation. He chose to make the vacation permanent."
A vacation like they sent Uncle Charlie on? JT knew about NASSD's vacations. They were one-way tickets out. Once an agent went on vacation, they never returned. Yet Dan had.
"Why did he come back?"
"We needed him."
Her temper hit the roof. "So it's okay when you need him, but when he needs you, you just throw him out? It's your loyalty that should be in question, not his."
"Agent Turner," the voice stated evenly, obviously not moved by her little speech. "You are walking a very thin line. It isn't in your best interest to push me."
Jesus. What was she doing? She knew better. Disrespecting a superior officer, especially HQ, meant the nastiest, shittiest assignments for the next ten years. If she got any assignments at all.
"You've got a real problem with authority."
"Yes," she said, not bothering to deny it. "I do."
"Your father never showed such blatant disrespect."
"You've never met my mother."
Another long pause. Turner, you aren't winning any points with this guy. She chewed on the inside of her lip.
"Let's talk about LEON ."
LEON . JT still felt sick at the thought of giving LEON to the enemy. She gave Peck the ability to hold the world ransom when she gave him that disc. If she didn't get thrown in prison, she'd go after him, regardless whether she still had a job with NASSD or not. It was her problem. One she had every intention of fixing.
"Did Agent Weber mention to you he switched the discs?"
JT perked up at the news. "You mean I didn't give LEON to Peck?"
"You will answer my questions and stop asking your own or you will be placed in solitary until you've had enough time to reconsider your position."
Jeez. As much as she wanted to know more about LEON and how Dan switched the disc, her want to stay out of solitary kept her tongue still.
They put her in solitary once back in Gahanna. After seven hours of total, silent darkness—no food, no water—she understood the luxury of freedom. She'd hated the silence ever since.
It had to be over a hundred degrees in that tiny wooden coffin. She'd never been claustrophobic, but being stuck in a six by six box would push anyone's limit. All for calling her commanding officer a penis with a little hat.
"Why did you go after LEON ?"
"Peck told me I'd be saving the world. He told me I didn't have any other choice," she answered miserably and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back looked like hell. Her hair had partially fallen out of her bun. Her eyes were sunken in, her skin gray and ashy. She looked as bad as she felt. And, at that moment, her shoulder decided to start throbbing.
"Obviously that was an error in judgment."
She glared into the mirror. "Peck told me a disc had been stolen from NASSD's labs and it was my mission to retrieve it, bring it back to HQ. He said to go deep under, to not talk to anyone else in NASSD."
"Why?"
"He said there was a leak in NASSD. A mole. This mission was supposed to be top secret."
"Why didn't you inform your commanding officer before you left Gahanna? Why sneak out? It doesn't make you look too good."
"My commanding officer hated me. Besides, I was under a gag order, remember?"
"And you agreed to that?" The owner of the voice didn't sound happy. JT nodded. "When did you partner up with Dan Weber? And why?"
"I wouldn't really consider it a partnership," she explained. JT didn't want to answer any more questions. She wanted to know what they did with Dan. Her heart lightened. Dan didn't lure her into a trap after all. That didn't explain why he held her in a chokehold until she passed out. And what about this fake disc? Those questions she planned to have him answer the next time she saw him.
If she ever saw him again. The thought made her shudder.
Now that she went back through her mission, it did sound insane. And now here she was. Defending the actions she thought would get her the Nobel Peace Prize. Oh, Turner. You really screwed the pooch on this one.
"What would you consider your relationship with Dan Weber to be?"
"I thought Dan was the mole." She felt a pang of guilt. How could she suspect him of being the mole? All he ever did was help her out of whatever fiasco she'd gotten herself into. And more than once. "If I could get him to trust me, I'd be able to turn LEON and the mole over to HQ all in the same meeting. I thought I'd be some sort of hero."
Another long pause. When the voice spoke again, the words he said made JT's breath catch.
"Do you
want a second chance at that, Agent Turner?"
"Yes," she breathed her heart forming a giant lump in her throat.
"Then I have a little job for you."
* * * *
Dan wanted to take LEON and shove it so far up this guy's ass he'd have to sneeze to get it out. What had started out as a routine catch and release with JT Turner into HQ's custody, quickly turned into Dan defending himself to some guy claiming to be on the same side.
This was ridiculously insane. Donovan knew Dan didn't have anything to do with LEON being stolen. He hated Peck. Despised the asshole. So why in the hell would HQ even entertain the thought Dan had some part in all this? Did JT tell them that?
He glared at the man across the table. Some hotshot right out of dickhead training, someone Dan had never heard of. It wouldn't take much for Dan to take him out. Now, the two jumbo guards on the other side of the door may put up more of a fight. And breaking out of interrogation wouldn't help Dan's cause.
His thoughts drifted to JT. He knew she'd be holding her own with Donovan. Donovan's field skills were average, but his interrogation skills were legendary. And fruitful. He must have been a drill sergeant in his life before NASSD. He'd made it all the way up the ladder.
All for shooting nanobots into his leg. Imagine if the man actually followed orders. He'd still be in the field, and probably still average at it. Interesting how things work out.
Donovan had better not get JT too riled up. She had quite a temper and it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to take out the mirror. With his gimpy leg, she'd catch and drop him in a heartbeat. But then again it might do him some good to go up against someone like JT Turner.
It sure as hell did him some good. He hid his smile.
Dan kept his eyes on the man as he stood and moved away from the table. He paced back and forth, pausing ever so often to rest his beady little eyes on Dan.
"Let me ask one more time, Agent Weber. Where is LEON ?" The man leaned forward on the table toward Dan. He narrowed his eyes. "What did you do with the disc?"
Dan clenched his teeth and glared up at him, and said nothing. There were only a handful of people Dan trusted, and this guy wasn't one of them. LEON was in a safe place, and until he could sort out the good guys from the bay guys, LEON would stay there.
"Look, we know you still have it. Special Agent Donovan said you gave the female agent a bogus disc."
"It wasn't bogus."
The man's eyes widened. "It wasn't?"
"It was my favorite Eagles CD," Dan commented dryly. The man seemed unimpressed. Dan didn't give a shit. This whole interrogation was bullshit.
"You may think this situation is quite amusing, Agent Weber. But let me tell you something, things have changed since you were in the agency. No more good-ol-boy mentality. That kind of crap won't work with me."
The man's over-inflated ego started to grate on Dan's nerves. He growled and closed his eyes. "I'm not interested in what works with you." He opened his eyes and rested them on the man. "This whole thing is a goddamn joke. You know I'm not going to talk, so unless you pull a deck of cards out of your ass and show me some tricks, I'd say we're done."
"I'll say when we're done."
"Who the hell are you?"
"The name's Special Agent Walker."
"Texas Ranger?" Dan mused.
"No. Myron."
"Myron Walker? Never heard of you."
"Well I've heard plenty about you." The man curled his lip, causing Dan to lift a brow. Did he think that made him look intimidating? It made him look like he just realized he stepped in something. "You're a loose cannon. That's what they say. Did you know that?"
"I'd heard it a few times." Only about a million.
"They say you're out for revenge, for blood."
"That's right." Dan didn't feel the need to lie.
"If given the choice to go after Jason Peck or save a fellow agent, what would you do?"
Dan contemplated his answer. He didn't want to lie, but he honestly didn't know. And he knew that wasn't the kind of answer that would get him back in NASSD.
He knew he'd made one of the biggest fucking mistakes of his life going after Peck on that op. He lived with the thought of the tangos damn near taking out the entire unit because of his screw up. Luckily, the rest of his team were all top shots and took out the tangos before they could line any of them in the crosshairs. But that didn't mean he felt any better about it. They'd saved his ass, and he knew it.
He'd drawn his knife, went for the throat. Some of his own men tackled him down before he could finish the job. Peck got off lucky.
Dan cursed. Of course he'd go after Peck. It's the first thing he thought about when he woke up in the morning, and the last thing he thought about when he went to sleep at night. He'd never get back into NASSD.
He stopped. Did he want back in? Did he want to go back to miserable conditions, lack of sleep, staying deep undercover for weeks at a time? All to remove some threat against the world?
You bet your sweet ass. He missed taking out the enemy, missed the all night surveillance ops, missed sneaking in to compounds in the middle of the night. He missed it all.
Myron Walker grew antsy waiting for Dan's answer. Apparently he didn't like the fact he was alone in a room with an agent who couldn't answer that question. It was on the application into NASSD for Christ's sake. It should have been an automatic answer.
Dan thought about his little chance meeting with Peck at JT's rendezvous. He could have taken him out right there, but instead chose to save JT's ass. Interesting twist, and one he'd never realized until this very moment.
He was back. With conviction, he met Walker's eyes. "I'd save the agent, of course."
Walker didn't look convinced. "What about Peck? You've already proven you'd turn on your own to go after him."
"That was a long time ago."
"History has a way of repeating itself."
Damn. Did they have to keep throwing it back in his face? He saw red when he spotted Peck in that small café across from the surveillance van. Every thought disappeared except the one driving him to jump across that crowded street and grab Peck by the throat. He had his buck knife out and held it against the son-of-a-bitch's neck before Peck's next sip of cappuccino. He just wanted one question answered before Dan finished the job.
Why did he do it?
He didn't get the chance to hear the answer. The other NASSD agents on the op had Dan down and disarmed within seconds, but not before Dan lunged and gave Peck a facelift.
And then all hell broke loose. Shots came from everywhere. Dan's little display had given up their location. A few good men were hit, but none fatally. Thank God.
"Then I guess we have a problem."
"P-Problem?" Walker stepped back, visibly paled. "What problem?" He attempted a smile, but it looked more like a nervous twitch.
"NASSD obviously still thinks I'm too unpredictable."
"I'm not going to lie. We don't know if we can trust you."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
Walker cleared his throat, pushed out his pointy chin. "Because I'm HQ."
"How do I know you aren't feeding information to Peck?"
"Because I—I'm not—I'm HQ!"
Dan smiled, clearly making the little piss ant agent nervous as hell.
"It isn't me!" Walker insisted. "It has to be somebody else."
Dan spiked his brow to prove his point.
"Regardless," Walker started, attempting to regain some of his composure. "We are concerned, if given the chance, you'll make the same mistake."
The look he gave Walker must have conveyed how dangerously close he was to pushing Dan over the edge. NASSD still didn't trust him, which meant they would never trust him out on an op. So much for getting back in. "If that's the case, then what the hell are we doing here?"
Walker darted his eyes around the room. Leaning closer, too close for Dan's comfort, he whispered, "I know you're the one."
&nb
sp; Dan riveted his eyes to Walker. "The one what?"
Walker gave him a knowing look, and Dan wanted to wipe it right from the weasel's little face. "I can't say I blame you for wanting to take down the agency, but you know NASSD doesn't negotiate with terrorists."
Dan knew where the dumbass was going. Could he really be this much of an idiot? Trying to sympathize with the cause wasn't going to make Dan warm to him, or tell him a damn thing. For shits and giggles, Dan decided to play along. Hell, Walker needed to keep Dan in the room to stall for God knows how long why they tried to break JT. Might as well have a little fun.
"Because that's exactly what you are now," Walker continued. Dan remained silent to allow Walker his chance to play the part. "You are a terrorist for stealing LEON and using it against NASSD."
"Is that what I'm doing?"
"That's right. You have your reasons for revenge. Hell, if my partner was killed protecting my ass, Lord knows I'd have a few sleepless nights. So the agency wouldn't allow you to go after Peck. That's no reason to start a war over it."
Dan clenched his teeth. "I guess I have issues."
"You were offered counseling. You refused."
"So some shrink can tell me my issues all stem from my relationship with my mother? No thank you."
He studied Dan, giving him the chance to do the same. Myron Walker had to be a recent addition to HQ. He didn't look old enough to shine Dan's shoes, let alone outrank him. Dan would wager him to be around five foot nine, maybe ten. Thin. Wearing a tie, although by the way he constantly fidgeted with it, he wasn't used to it.
This guy was a classic textbook interrogator. Must be green. Why would NASSD send him in with Dan on his first time out? Was he, like JT, plucked right out of the academy?
Why was NASSD suddenly pulling agents out without completing their training? That only increased them as a liability. And they were worried about Dan?
"I want to be your friend here, Agent Weber. I really do."
Yep. Definitely a rookie. No one wanted to be Dan's friend, not anymore. Not after what happened to his last one.
Time to turn up the charm. "You do? Boy, that sure makes a difference."
At Any Cost Page 12
