The Agent's Surrender

by Kimberly Van Meter

  “That’s rough.”

  He shrugged. “Everyone’s got a sob story, right?”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  “How about yours? I can only go from what I know firsthand, but your dad seems like a piece of work. Couldn’t have been easy growing up with The Major.”

  “Oh, is this sharing time?” She lifted her brow. When he hiked his shoulder, she shook her head, not ready to reciprocate. “Let’s just focus on the task at hand, all right?”

  “I’m curious.... How happy was your dad when you broke things off with me? He probably threw a ticker-tape parade.”

  “My dad doesn’t like showy extravagances,” she answered, flashing her light along the ceiling, looking anywhere but at Holden. “And he’d never do anything that gave anyone the impression you mattered in the overall scheme of things.”

  “What was his problem? As far as I know, I never pissed in his cornflakes.”

  “Are we doing this now?” she asked, annoyed. “It’s in the past and we’re here to do a job. Story hour will have to wait.”

  “Suit yourself.” He shrugged and continued to slowly pan the floor. Why was he looking for answers to a mystery that didn’t need solving? Who cares if some self-important asshole didn’t think he was good enough for his daughter? “But here’s the thing, you dropped me like a bad habit all because Daddy said so. Frankly, Fallon, I thought you had bigger balls than that.”

  She stopped and met his gaze. “My balls, or lack thereof, are none of your business. Can we please stick to the task at hand, or would you rather pull up a chair and start a counseling session? I should warn you, I’m all out of tissues.”

  “You’re a piece of work. You did me a favor,” he muttered, unable to believe he’d opened his mouth in the first place. “Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Already have.”

  Damn, he was stupid ten times over for bringing up ancient history at the worst possible time. But sometimes his mouth just took over and he had to run to catch up. Sort of like the day he’d taken it upon himself to have a talk with The Major. Yeah, that’d ended in all sorts of bad. He supposed good intentions didn’t mean crap in the Fallon household. Holden’s first real, solid relationship had gone down in flames all because some crotchety five-starred major general had really messed up ideals and expectations for his only daughter.

  Holden looked at Jane. “You know, I feel sorry for you.” Jane regarded him with a wary expression, but he continued. “Yeah, I do, because you’re constantly looking for Daddy’s approval and you’ve obviously never seen the movie before. Well, I have, and I can tell you—it never ends the way you want it to. Your dad is an overbearing prick and he’ll never give you what you’re looking—no, begging—for, yet you’ll sacrifice everything in your life for that one tiny nugget of approval from a man who ought to just love you for who you are. And it’s sad, Fallon. Really sad.”

  She swallowed audibly and he knew he’d hit a nerve, but in true Fallon style, she didn’t bend or show weakness. “Are you finished?” she asked in a husky tone that immediately made him feel like a toad. What the hell was wrong with him? He should’ve just left it alone. What did it matter what her issues with her dad were? They didn’t affect him any longer. Jane was free to live under her father’s thumb if she chose.

  He waved her off. “Forget it. I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m sorry...that was out of line. I guess I’m just on edge.”

  “Sure.” She accepted his apology with a stiff nod and walked away as they both continued to search the office.

  After ten minutes, Holden rose with a muttered expletive. “You’re right, nothing’s here.”

  “I’ll meet you downstairs,” Jane said, heading for the door. Although she had a reputation for being a hard-nosed investigator, she was plainly happy to get out of the room. Seemed Jane wasn’t immune to the heebie-jeebies.

  Holden took one final look at his brother’s office, trying not to picture him sprawled across his desk with the back of his head shot off. Nathan had said in his statement that moments prior to Miko eating that bullet, he had told Nathan to dig deeper into Tessara Pharm. Nathan Isaacs, one of Miko’s best friends and fellow snipers formerly employed by the now-defunct I.D., had managed to peel back a layer of corruption within the covert government agency, but he’d nearly died in the process.

  Holden caught up with Jane on the stairs. “I didn’t see any mention of Tessara Pharm in your report aside from the brief notation about Winslow. Didn’t you ask any questions regarding Miko’s involvement with the pharm company?”

  “What involvement? Winslow was the only connection to Tessara Pharm, and she’s dead, which I noted in my report.”

  “The last thing my brother said to Nathan Isaacs was for him to look deeper into Tessara. Don’t you think that warrants a look?”

  “He said that before Isaacs took down Winslow. Trust me, that was the only connection. You don’t get government contracts without being thoroughly vetted. Tessara is clean.”

  He didn’t believe it. Miko wouldn’t have said that if that were the case. “I’d like to poke around Tessara, but first I want to talk to Nathan again and see if he left anything out of his statement.”

  “Such as?” Jane asked, frowning. “Are you saying that Isaacs could’ve withheld evidence?”

  “No. But maybe he forgot some details. It’s not as if Nathan didn’t get caught up in some hairy shit, too. Winslow almost won that fight. Nathan was in ICU for weeks recovering from a bullet wound to the gut, and that’s no cakewalk.”

  “I read the file. Even bleeding out, he managed to take a beating from Winslow before killing her. Impressive,” she admitted. “Nathan Isaacs is a bit of a badass.”

  Yeah, it was true. He wouldn’t steal Nathan’s thunder just because the sudden admirable light in Jane’s eyes caused a spurt of jealousy from out of nowhere. So instead, he said, “He’s a good man. One of the best.”

  Jane nodded, and it was apparent he’d caused the wheels to start moving, which was a good thing. He’d rather have her working with him than against. “Fine, we can talk to Isaacs, but everything is going on the record. I don’t want anyone using the excuse they won’t talk unless they have anonymity.”

  “Sometimes you have to bend the rules, Fallon,” he told her, giving her no such promise. When lives were at stake, sometimes regs went out the window. He’d do whatever it took to get the real answers, and that included twisting the rules into a pretzel.

  “You’re impossible to work with,” she groused under her breath as they walked into the main room. The bar was off to the right, and a pool table stood, dejected and forgotten, on the left. Jane noticed the table and said, “I’m surprised they didn’t immediately sell that at auction.”

  “Me, too,” he said, frowning. Everything of value had been stripped from the bar, including Miko’s collectible tap handles he’d purchased for a steal on eBay. Holden strode to the pool table and ran his palm over the familiar green felt. He and Miko had played many games on this table and wagered more money than they should’ve because they were both so damn competitive. A smile tugged at his mouth at the memory. “Miko was a terrible pool player but a great cheater. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d found a way to slant the table to his advantage. He didn’t even deny the fact he didn’t play fair. The sucker was always taking me for a couple hundred every time we played.”

  “So much for that honor you were talking about,” she quipped drily, and Holden shook his head.

  “No, it wasn’t like that. He considered any competition fair game. Second place is first loser. C’mon, Fallon, you can’t tell me you don’t feel the same.”

  “True,” she agreed grudgingly. “But I don’t condone cheating of any kind. If you can’t win on your own merits, you don’t deserve to win.”

  He grunted a concession and bent down to inspect the ball return. “Maybe it’s broken and they figured whoever bought the place could either throw it away or have it
repaired.” He felt along the track. The balls gleamed in the dim light, a reminder of better times. He pulled three quarters from his pocket and slid them into the coin return, pushing it in, but the coins slid back out, answering that question. “Yeah, it’s broken,” he said, reaching underneath to feel along the underside. The pads of his fingers found a tiny button and he stopped, motioning for Jane to bring the light. “I feel something...a button of some sort. I don’t know much about pool tables, but I can’t imagine why there’d be a button underneath the table.” Jane came closer and bent to peer beneath the table with the light. “You see anything?”

  “That’s odd,” she agreed. “Press it and see what happens.”

  “Famous last words,” Holden quipped with a grin and she grimaced at his humor. But soon neither were laughing because suddenly a hidden door released and a taped manila envelope dropped to the floor. “What the... Miko, you crafty son of a bitch...”

  “What the hell is that?” Jane asked, the cold forgotten and her eyes trained on the envelope. “Why would your brother hide something in the pool table?”

  “Because no one would think to look there,” he answered with pride for his brother’s smarts. “Good one, bro.”

  “That’s evidence,” she said, moving to stop him before he ripped open the package. “We should give it to the forensics team and let them determine what’s inside.”

  “Screw that. My brother put it there. I’m sure of it.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because of the way it’s taped. Miko always wrapped envelopes with three strips of tape with a crisscross at the back so he’d know if anyone else tried to read his mail and then reseal it.”

  “Weird...but okay. We should still give it to forensics.”

  “Whatever is in this envelope is not leaving my hot little hands.” He tucked the envelope into the interior pocket of his jacket, and after one final sweep of the bar, he headed for the door, satisfied they’d found all that would be of use to them there. “Let’s go before we turn into popsicles.”

  “You’re seriously not going to turn that envelope over to the proper authorities?”

  “Nope. As far as I’m concerned, the proper authorities haven’t done a good enough job to earn my trust with this case. And that definitely includes you.”

  She glared, but he didn’t care. “You make it really hard to like you,” she finally said.

  He grinned. “That’s okay, honey. I ain’t looking for a dinner date. C’mon, let’s go someplace secure and see what my brother kept squirreled away.”

  His hands were frozen, but his heart was lighter than it’d been in months. Finally, a break. Thank God for Miko’s penchant for hiding things. It was oddly comforting to know that even though Miko had changed, some things had remained the same.

  Chapter 6

  Jane remained silent once they’d climbed into the car. She’d been absolutely certain she’d missed nothing in her investigation, but the second Holden had discovered that hidden manila envelope, everything she’d thought she’d known came into question. Was there more to this case than she’d originally thought? And if so, what did that mean? Who was involved? It hurt her head to think the corruption centered at I.D. was bigger than they could imagine. “How had you known to keep looking?” she asked, breaking the silence. “As far as I could tell, we were staring at an empty building. But you sensed there was something hidden. How?”

  Holden shrugged, as if he really didn’t know and his inability to put it into words made him uncomfortable. “I guess it’s the twin thing. Miko and I shared a bond. And I just knew I was missing something. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch, except that it’s at the back of your mind, nagging, whining in your ear.” He stopped as if he hadn’t liked the way his explanation had come out and finished with another shrug, saying, “I don’t know. I just knew.”

  “Why would Miko hide something in the pool table?” she asked, mostly to herself. “I have to be honest, the discovery of that envelope opens up a whole other realm of questions that I’m not entirely comfortable with.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Oh? Can you?” She didn’t try to hide the bitterness in her voice. Her father was not going to be happy about this newest development. “Obviously he didn’t want anyone to find it. And if he didn’t tell you about it, something in that envelope must be important.”

  “My thoughts, too. Which is why we’re not taking it back to the office,” he said, surprising her. He cut her a short look just as she started to protest. “Listen, I don’t know how far or how deep the corruption went with I.D., but I do know that my brother got caught up in something bad. So forgive me if I’m not too trusting right now.”

  “Even with your own team?”

  “It’s nothing personal, but I can’t afford mistakes. My brother died. Yes, he may have pulled the trigger, but someone else was pulling the strings. You know what I mean?”

  “That’s one theory,” she reminded him, not quite on board yet that Miko hadn’t been pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, including his brother’s. “The other theory is that Miko had plenty to hide because he was doing things he knew were wrong.”

  “Miko was the soldier, more so than I ever was. He believed in doing the right thing and standing up for the little guy who couldn’t stand up for himself. He had integrity, grit, a singular sense of justice,” Holden said, holding his ground, obviously determined to defend his brother to anyone and everyone. “And I refuse to believe that in one year’s time he became the polar opposite of everything he ever held true.”

  “People change,” she said, trying to soften the harsh truth. “And sometimes we don’t even know what happened.”

  “I’m going to find who’s pulling the strings. I don’t care how long it takes or what it costs me. And when I find him or her...I want to put that person into the ground.”

  She suppressed a shudder at the menace in Holden’s voice. A part of her wanted to remind him this was the reason he hadn’t been allowed to investigate the case in the first place. Emotional attachments muddied a person’s ability to think rationally. But there was another part of her, the part that admired his loyalty and tenacity, that couldn’t deny the sharp pull of attraction. He was damn sexy when he was going all Rambo and Rebel Without a Cause, even if it was the most reckless attitude she’d ever witnessed. She swallowed and cleared her voice, not liking the way her thoughts were tumbling through her head. “And just where do you plan to take this evidence?”

  “Back to my place.”

  “It’s evidence and needs to be logged properly,” she maintained stubbornly. “You’re dangerously close to going rogue. Don’t screw your career trying to avenge your brother.”

  “I’m not killing my career. I’m chasing leads. You already had a chance to dig deep into this case. You were content to look at the surface, and that’s just not the case with me. When I’m done learning whatever I can from the contents of the envelope, I will log it properly. Until then, it’s not leaving my side.”

  She could tell it was no use arguing with him on this point. She’d been around enough stubborn men to know when the smartest course of action was to back down and try a different tact. Motto for the day: Fight smart. “Fine. But I’m coming with you. I need to make sure the integrity of the case remains unsullied, even if you are using unorthodox methods. And that point is nonnegotiable.”

  Holden probably didn’t like her terms, but he didn’t shoot them down, either. Holden was a lot of things—stupid wasn’t one of them. At least they had that in their favor.

  Soon enough, they arrived at Holden’s apartment, and Jane had to tamp down the mild flutters erupting in her belly at the memories surfacing. She could chastise herself all day for allowing her thoughts to wander, but she enjoyed the seductive allure that came with lingering over that brief time in her life. She couldn’t lie—they’d enjoyed some good times. “Did it ever occur to you when you were apartment shopp
ing to consider a place that didn’t look like a prison from the outside?” she asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm, and he responded with a grunt. Such a Chatty Cathy, she wanted to grumble. Would it kill him to engage just a little? She followed him through the gated entrance and then up the long flight of stairs to his door. From the outside, the nondescript gray building was nothing to look at, and since everything was covered in snow, not a hint of foliage was visible, either. “Not much for ambiance,” she said under her breath, to which Holden just kept walking.

  “I’m not interested in making the place look inviting. The less traffic, the better.”

  “Such the people person,” she said, walking into his spacious apartment. The first time she’d seen his place, her jaw had dropped to the floor. Never in a million years would she have imagined such an awesome bachelor pad tucked in this building. It was like something featured in Architectural Digest, with its high ceilings and polished bamboo flooring, and the decor was tastefully masculine without appearing to lack a woman’s touch. Holden had knocked down the walls connected to three more apartments, which heightened the chic appearance and immediately told people that this wasn’t your average apartment. And seeing it again, not just through the sliver of an open door like the other night when she’d visited him, was enough to fill her with awe all over again. “God, I’d forgotten how much I covet your apartment,” she blurted.

  The tiniest quirk of a smile was his only response as he tossed his keys into a small ceramic bowl by the door. He went straight to the gleaming kitchen and grabbed a bottled water from the stainless steel refrigerator and tossed another to her. “Sorry, but it’s a package deal. Can’t have the apartment without me,” he said with a shrug. “And you’ve already kicked me to the curb.”

  Why’d he have to constantly bring up their past? It was getting old. She turned to face him. “Can you stop being a whiny baby for two minutes? I can’t believe how petulant you sound.”