Page 65 of No Reason to Trust

Livvy already knew him too well, because she pointed at him. “Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t think so.” She gripped his hand tightly. “Even if you wanted to do that, you can’t leave D.C. for a long time. Who knows how long this search for Russian moles is gonna last? It could take months. Years, even.”

Jake sighed. “You’re right, and I need to be there for it.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not exactly right. Someone else could cover it. But Diana wants me there, and more important, Iwant to be there. I want to follow the clues and figure out who else at headquarters is working for the Russians. Who else is corrupt?” He shook his head. “It all started when I heard your story about being set up. When I tied that into Nelson acting odd, I suspected he was part of it. Now I want to dig deep. Put the pieces together and arrest the rest of the bastards.”

“I get it, Jake,” Livvy said, gripping his hand. “If I’m honest? I want to be there, too. I want to root out anyone who’s working for the Russians. But I’d have a lot of catching up to do, and you need to focus on your search and not babysitting me.”

“I don’t think it’ll take that long,” Jake said. “Diana’s got her foot on Nelson’s and Windsor’s necks. Once they’ve been rotting in prison for a few more weeks or months, they’ll be begging to talk. Begging to spill their guts.” He smiled. “Diana’s playing them off each other. Windsor already spilled his guts, and it probably won’t take long for Nelson to fold. Nelson will break, probably sooner rather than later.

“Oh, and by the way, Windsor finally told Diana why you and I were targeted. Apparently we both saw Nelson talking to someone from the Russian embassy. I don’t remember that – hell, I’m not sure I’d even recognize someone from the Russian embassy. But Nelson was paranoid, and he over-reacted. Decided we both had to die. And he enlisted his Bratva buddies to take care of the problem.”

Livvy frowned. “Really? That seems like a stretch. I wouldn’t recognize anyone from the Russian embassy.”

“Neither would I. But Nelson thought we were threats.”

“Nelson probably thought a lot of people were threats. But since we reported to him, we were the only two he could get rid of easily,” Livvy said.

“Yeah.” Jake shook his head. “But now? He has a lot to lose if hedoesn’tcooperate. They want protection in prison, and the only way Nelson and Windsor get that is by ratting out whoever they were working with. And they know it.” He smiled at Livvy. “Diana is one tough woman,” he said. “She’ll make it crystal clear to Nelson and Windsor that if they want protection in prison, if they want a few privileges, it comes with a price. And the price is the names of Russian moles at headquarters.”

Livvy nodded and tried to swallow the knot in her throat. “So -- bottom line? You can’t leave D.C. for a long time.”

“No. As arrogant as it sounds, Diana trusts me, and I don’t want to let her down.”

“I don’t, either. Which means you’re here in D.C. for the foreseeable future.” She reached across the table for his hand. “If I’m honest? I want to be there, too. I want to root out anyone who’s working for the Russians.”

“You know more about this case than anyone besides me. And maybe Diana.” He frowned. “Do you think Mel and Dev would loan you to the FBI for a while? To work this case with me?”

Livvy frowned. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never heard of them doing anything like that before.”

“Yeah, it would be a new thing for Blackhawk Security. I have no idea how Mel and Dev would handle a request like that.”

“I don’t, either,” Livvy said. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Jake. “If Mel and Dev don’t go for that, I had another thought about how we could be together and both still be employed,”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Jake asked.

She reached for his hand and wrapped her fingers around his. Jake wanted to reach across the table every night and every morning to hold Livvy’s hand. But with their jobs three thousand miles apart, that dream was unlikely to come true.

“Blackhawk Security has two agents permanently stationed in Seattle, and two in Chicago, because they get a lot of business in both of those cities,” Livvy began. “And it works out well because the agents are familiar with the cities before they start guarding people.” She drew a deep breath and tightened her fingers around Jake’s. “I was thinking that maybe I could propose that Mel and Dev station me permanently in Washington. If we got a few jobs here, and did well with them, we’d have a higher profile in the district. Could get more jobs. And if they agreed to that, you could stay here, working for the FBI, and I could live here, too.” She grinned at him. “And maybe the FBI would throw a few jobs my way. Maybe it wouldn’t take so long to get a reputation as a go-to security operation.”

“I like the way you think, Liv,” Jake said with a smile. “If Mel and Dev agreed to that, it would be the perfect solution.”

“Yeah. But Blackhawk Security doesn’t have a high profile here. We did in both Chicago and Seattle because we’d handled a few big cases in both of those cities. We don’t have that here, so I’m pretty sure Mel’s answer will be no.”

“I could ask Diana,” Jake said after a long moment. “Find out how the FBI handles cases where an individual needs a bodyguard. Do they assign an agent to the job? Hire someone else?”

Livvy tightened her grip on Jake’s hand. “Yes!” she said. “Talk to Diana. Explain the situation. And tell her although I was sincere about asking if I could have my old job back, what I really want to do is open a branch of Blackhawk Security in D.C. I’m wondering how much business I’d get. Are there bodyguard companies here already? How much work do they get? Would it be worth my while to move here?”

Jake nodded slowly. “That might work. But it’d be you making all the sacrifices. I’d still be here, doing my job. You’d have to leave Montana and all your friends to move here. And there might not be a lot of jobs for you, at least at first.”

“Yeah, all that is true,” Livvy said. “But it would be a way to stay together.” She tightened her grip on his hand. “I really, really don’t want a commuter relationship,” she said. “Especially one that’s six or more hours away by plane. The reality is, with our jobs, we wouldn’t see each other very often. And that’s not what I want.”

“Not what I want, either,” Jake admitted.

“You could join Blackhawk Security, but I don’t think that’s a solution. You love your job with the FBI. And as long as you love what you’re doing, why would you want to change that?”

“I’d change that for you,” he said. “I’d do anything to build a life with you instead of having a commuter relationship.”

“Same here,” she said. “I’m willing to give up my job with Blackhawk Security to have a life with you. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if it was the only way.”

Jake slid his fingers between hers. “I’ll talk to Diana tomorrow. I’ll tell her you were serious about asking for your job back, but it wouldn’t be your first choice. You want to stay with Blackhawk Security, but unless you were posted in D.C., we’d be apart more than we’d be together.”

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