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Carrie put one hand on her hip. “Let me guess, they want you to bench me and stop me from running anything on sex trafficking.”

Tom’s eyebrows rose. “Exactly. How’d you know?”

“They called me first. It seemed fishy to me, though.”

“I don’t know Carrie. They were citing national security. That’s not something we want to mess with.”

“Oh, come on Tom. I submitted an FOIA request to the CIA for declassified intelligence. You really think that’s vital to national security? This doesn’t scream cover-up to you? Because it sure as hell screams cover-up to me.”

Tom leaned back in his chair. “I just think we should back off. This isn’t time sensitive.”

“Not time sensitive? Women’s lives are at stake, Tom.”

“So, turn over what you have to the FBI, but I think as a paper we should walk away from this.”

“Tom, this isn’t like you. What’s up? You’re not one to back off a story just because it’s going to ruffle feathers.”

“Maybe we’re ruffling the wrong feathers this time. I want you to back off this. There are half a dozen other things you could work on.”

Carrie paced in front of her boss’s desk. This wasn’t right. “Is that an order or a request? I’m begging you to let me stay on this until we get something official from the government. I got the number they called from, and I’m telling you it wasn’t an official justice department phone call. If it was, they’ll send the letter. If it wasn’t, they were just trying to scare me, and that means I’m on the right track.”

Tom put his head in his hands. “You’re going to make me go bald, Carrie. Fine. But the second you get any kind of official letter, you’re dropping this. End of story. Run everything by me first.”

“Sure Tom. You have my word.”

“And for God’s sake, don’t go back to that strip club.”

“Done.” Carrie hoped her tone was convincing.

Tom dismissed her with an exasperated wave, and she walked back to her cubicle where she sent a text to Peter. If Tom was going to pull her off this, she would need him. Overprotective or not.

Things have been interesting here. We have a lot to talk about tonight. Got a threatening phone call supposedly from the Justice Department.

She tried to distract herself with other posts for the UNN blog.

“Are you ever going to decide about the EP job?”

Carrie jolted and turned to find Gina Whitman leaning against the entry to her cubical.

“Scare me half to death why don’t you? I’m thinking about it, but it doesn’t feel like a good choice. You know how much I like to travel. I’ve never spent this much time in the building before, and I feel like I’m going insane.”

“So come on board temporarily. We both know Tom isn’t going to send you back overseas for a little while. Jack is leaving at the end of next week, and I really want you in there. At least until we find someone else. I get that you won’t stay forever.”

Carrie sighed. It wasn’t fair to keep them waiting. “I’ll do it on a week to week contract.”

Gina grinned. “Excellent. There’s just one thing.” She dropped her head and twisted her hands together.

“That can’t be good. What is it?”

“Tom says before you start, you have to talk to the company shrink.” Gina winced when Carrie slammed a palm on her desk.

“Fine. I’ll fucking talk to her tomorrow.”

Gina’s face relaxed, and she stepped further into the cubicle, opening her arms for a hug. Carrie made a face but gave her a one-armed hug.

“This is great. We can get together in a few days and come up with a strategy. I’m excited.”

As Gina walked away, her phone vibrated on her desk. She picked it up and smiled. “Hey beautiful. What’s going on?”

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