Page 12 of Hidden

Peter had to fight to keep a straight face. The Doll House Cabaret was a high-end strip club. He’d once had a submissive who worked there. Did this woman work for a gossip magazine? That would explain the eye shadow. It didn’t explain why she had a press pass for an event at CIA Headquarters. You didn’t give a press pass to just anyone for this kind of event.

“Step back behind the press rope,” Peter barked.

“Director Upwood, does your wife know you visit strip clubs?”

Bold question. Though in Peter’s experience there were plenty of wives who didn’t care if their husbands went to strip clubs. Then again, Mrs. Upwood probably wasn’t one of those wives.

Peter motioned for Savko and Lubert to move the nosy reporter back behind the line as he shuffled the director further down the hallway away from the lobby. He turned to the third agent from the follow car. “I’m afraid I didn’t get your name. Take Director Upwood directly to the luncheon.”

“Name’s Daniel Ellerman, Sir.”

Ellerman turned to Upwood. “Let’s go Director.”

Peter hung back long enough for Savko and Lubert to get through the door.

“Those people are fiends,” Savko grumbled.

“Tell me about it. Keep them back until we get the director settled, then let them in. I’m sure they have a designated area for the press inside.”

While the director spoke at his luncheon, Peter stood outside the door and made small talk with Upwood’s assistant.

“Why so much press here today?” he asked.

“It was supposed to be a bunch of photo ops of all the agency heads eating together and agreeing to work closer. FBI, CIA, NSA, basically the whole alphabet soup is in that room. So we gave press passes to every news agency in the country for maximum exposure. I don’t think this many people would have shown up if not for the bomb.”

She was probably right. Journalists loved bombs, mass shootings, and a politician who couldn’t keep his foot out of his mouth or his dick in his pants.

“And why does your boss think he doesn’t need a protection detail? Why does everyone in this town think they are bullet proof? I swear someone could be holding a gun to their head and half of the people in that dining room would insist they didn’t need me.”

The pretty assistant shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I would love to have a protection detail. I get just as much hate mail as the director. Not to mention having a hot guy in a suit to stare at all day wouldn’t be so bad. You won’t see me complaining that you fellas are hanging around.” She winked at Peter.

The suithadhelped him get a phone number or two, he thought with a smirk.

Agent Savko’s voice sounded in his earpiece.

“Sir. We caught someone wandering the halls. Seemed like she was snooping and claims to be a reporter but she’s wearing glitter eye shadow so I’m not sure how serious of a journalist she is.”

Peter’s eyebrow quirked upward as he pictured the blond who had broken free from the rest of the reporters earlier.

“Detain her. I’ll find you an empty room here in the building to hold her until we decide what to do with her.”

There was silence for a moment before Savko said, “You want me to detain a reporter?”

“You heard me Agent Savko. Arrest her.”

3

“YOU’VE got to be fucking kidding me. I wander onto the wrong floor and you’rearrestingme? I’m a member of the press with a valid pass. I have a right to be here.”

Carrie glared up at the agent who had just placed handcuffs on her and was leading her down a hallway to an elevator.

“You have a right to be in designated press areas. Since you violated those boundaries, we’re detaining you until we’ve determined you’re not a threat.”

Carrie jerked away from the agent, but his grip on her arm tightened. This was absurd. Sure, wandering onto the wrong floor wasn’t technically an accident, but she never expected them to detain her if she got caught. At most, she figured her press pass would get revoked, which she could live with. But getting arrested was the exact opposite of not making waves. Tom would kill her if they made this official.

When they reached the third floor, the secret service agent tugged her out of the elevator toward another man standing outside an open door.

“Boss wants us to keep her in here until they figure out what she was doing trying to access the director’s private floor.”

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