Page 19 of No Reason to Trust

Livvy stepped out of her bedroom, and they walked into the living room. After double-checking that the front door was double locked, Jake went to his desk and pulled out the small device he’d used earlier. He flipped a switch and the display turned green.

Touching his finger to his mouth, signaling silence, he walked through his apartment, passing the wand over every frame on the wall, every piece of furniture, every lamp. It took him a while to complete the exhaustive search, but finally he clicked off the device. “We’re clear,” he said.

“I started doing that when I got back from Helena,” he said. “Your story was extremely disturbing, and I no longer trust anyone at the FBI besides Diana. I want to make sure no one’s bugged my place. Since it’s been a while since you worked for the FBI, I don’t think anyone will have connected us, but I’m not taking any chances. I do it every time I come home.”

“I never thought I’d be telling an FBI agent that it was smart to check for bugs every time he came home,” Livvy, said, slumping in her chair. “But it damn well is.” She drew in a deep breath and looked around Jake’s place. “You’ve got a great apartment, but I can’t wait to get out of here and over to Sheepshead Bay. A haven of serenity compared to D.C.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Looking forward to hearing what the NSA comes up with. Although I’m guessing that Nelson and whoever he’s working with at the Bureau are smart enough to use burner phones.”

“I’m sure they are,” Livvy said. “Just as I’m equally sure NSA’ll be able to work around the burners.” She grinned. “Theyarethe NSA, after all.”

“Thank God. We need some help at the FBI, and they’re just the group to do it.” He sighed. “The sooner we get out of here and go to Sheepshead Bay, the happier I’ll be.” He rolled his eyes. “And I never thought that working with a Bratva group who’s primed to kill me would beat working out of FBI headquarters. At least we know the Bratva guys in Sheepshead Bay are our enemies.”

Livvy’s mouth lifted in a grin. “You live an exciting life, Dunbar,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just not the kind of excitement I was expecting when I signed up with the FBI.”

He glanced at Livvy, who had huge dark circles under her eyes. “I’m gonna go to bed. You must be exhausted after the long flight and then the meeting with Diana,” he said. “But if you want to stay up and unwind, that’s fine with me. I want to be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.”

Livvy nodded slowly, as if it took all her strength to keep her head steady on her neck. “Yeah, me too. I’m beat. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.

“I’m gonna be out of here early, so don’t worry about getting up before I leave. I’ll be home by midday, I think.”

Livvy rolled her eyes. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” she muttered.

“Yeah.” Jake waved as he walked toward his bedroom. “See you tomorrow, Livvy.”

“Yeah. Be careful at headquarters tomorrow.”

“Careful’s my middle name,” he said.

* * *

Jake got to his office early enough the next day that there were very few agents in the building yet -- which suited him just fine. He went into his office and rummaged through all his drawers, all his files, looking for anything sensitive. He didn’t want to leave anything that could serve as a weapon or be handed over to the Sheepshead Bay Bratva to be used as a tool against him.

After he jammed all the paperwork he wanted to remove into his briefcase, he sat down and opened his computer. When he first suspected that Kingsley wasn’t the only Russian asset at the Bureau, he’d put a keylogger on his computer to track anyone who logged in. To see what they were looking for and what they’d found.

He'd checked it every day and found nothing. But this morning, he had a hit. Someone had used his ID and password to log in.

His stomach tightening with anxiety, he carefully logged out and shut the computer down. He wished he’d installed a camera in his office so he could see who was snooping around, but it wasn’t too late to do it now.

He wanted to run out and buy one immediately but knew that wouldn’t be smart. He needed to wait. Go out to lunch and get a camera then. Stay late tonight, or maybe come back after everyone was gone. Install the camera then, and make sure it was well-hidden.

He’d bring Livvy back with him. She could keep a lookout while he installed the camera. And she’d probably have other good suggestions, too.

He was shocked at how natural it felt to go to Livvy for help. Despite their rocky first encounter at The Trailhead, when she’d wanted to take off his head, they’d developed a good working relationship.

But before he told Livvy what was going on, he had to talk to Nelson. Tell him he was leaving for Sheepshead Bay to do surveillance on the area and the building he’d be walking into.

Before the meeting, he and Livvy would check out the meeting room during the night. Look for hiding places for Livvy. Easy escape routes. Potential traps. Everything a good agent did before an undercover job.

So he drew in a deep breath, stood up, and left a few tells behind -- a hair he’d pulled from his head, dropped onto his keyboard. He tilted the keyboard to the right, leaving it slightly askew. Then he walked down the hall to Nelson’s office. But he locked his own office door first. Not something he’d ever done at the Bureau during the day unless he was going on an assignment. But now? Until they’d found all the other Russian assets at the Bureau, it was SOP -- standard operating procedure.

Chapter 8

When he got to Nelson’s door, it was closed. He could hear Nelson talking, so instead of knocking, he edged closer, trying to make out who he was talking to, and what they were saying.

Nelson was talking to another man, but they spoke so softly that their conversation was almost impossible to decipher. He stood close to the door anyway, trying to at least hear a few words.

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