Page 37 of Resolution

“He isn’t a spy anymore,” Perez replied.

“You guys know Damon Thorne,” I said. “That’s interesting because he’s been very helpful to Miguel and I.”

They all nodded. “We’ve been thoroughly briefed by Mac McCallahan.”

“Oh, you know Mac,” I said, feeling like an idiot for not thinking about it before now. “I always forget Lincoln is your boss which means McCallahan is one of your colleagues.”

“We’re all team members, actually,” Kindness said. “Lincoln set up a team which includes four former Marines.” She held up her hand and then pointed to herself and Perez. “We’re two of the Marines. My specialty was whatever my CO needed it to be but I’m a crack shot and can take on and beat most people at hand to hand.”

“Hand to hand combat?” I asked, feeling surprised. She couldn’t weigh more than ninety-five pounds dripping wet.

Beth pointed to her. “Small but mighty, killer in the boxing ring, and never ever challenge her to a mixed-martial arts match. I’ve seen her bring a gorilla of a man to his knees and make him cry. Remember that time you took down that suspect with a sheet of single-ply toilet paper and a Tic Tac?”

I laughed. “Oh, I’m really going to like you guys.” I glanced at Beth. “I hope the questions aren’t prying.”

“It’s okay. We all have specialties, like Kindness says. I was assigned to the Crimes Against Children division before joining Lincoln’s team. I make sure our victims are treated well—in the hospital if necessary—and then placed somewhere safe. Whether that be with the U.S. Marshals and WITSEC or sent home to recover with good counseling from whatever ordeal they’ve suffered.” She spread her hands. “Kindness and I will be staying with you and your—”

“Better half,” I finished for her.

She nodded. “Better half.” She smiled before looking at Perez. “Carter is just here to meet you and make sure we got settled in.”

Carter reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card, holding it out to me. “Snow wanted me to give you that. It has all our numbers on it. Put them on both of your phones. That way we’ll always be on speed dial.”

“Thank you so much.” I read the names and numbers. “Dr. Leo Reeves?”

“Leo is our profiler,” Kindness offered. “And his husband, Max Prince, is one of the other Marines we talked about. He came from the Marshals office which makes him a fantastic tracker…kind of like you, I’d guess.”

I shrugged. “It’s the business. What can I say?” I looked back down at the card. “Noah Burgess,” I read out loud.

“Computer whiz kid. Also, a former Marine,” Kindness said. “He works out of our office in the West L.A. Federal Building.”

I nodded. “Miguel and I have one of those too…computer whiz, I mean.”

“Judy Mendez, yeah, we read about her in the file,” Beth said.

I nodded. “So, you’ve all been briefed about the rogue CIA douches and the incident with the cartel hit.”

“Yes,” Kindness said. “Cassidy Ryan and Mike Williams briefed the team when Mr. Huerta was in the hospital.”

Perez stood up just as Miguel walked into the room as if on cue. He looked beat up and bed tossed with a line down his face. He’d been sleeping on his stomach again which I supposed was a good thing since it meant he actuallyhadgotten some rest. He looked around the room, but his gaze slid to Perez, stopping there, clearly measuring him to be the biggest threat. I suspected if anyone was the threat in the room, Kindness Rayburn was probably the more likely.

“Hey,” I said, standing up and walking over to him. He must be feeling battered and sore, judging by how slowly he’d walked into the room, and probably needed another pain pill. “Come and meet the FBI agents Lincoln Snow sent over.”

“Sure,” he said, his shoulders dropping as it probably dawned on him that someone was going to be protecting us until we were no longer a threat to the Sanchez Cartel and the CIA shitheads. I knew the pain pills were making him loopy.

I made introductions as Rayburn and Michaels also stood. “Perez is only here as an escort,” I said, explaining why three agents had turned up.

“I see,” Miguel replied. “Please, have a seat.”

“I really gotta get to the office,” Perez said. “I just wanted to give you guys direct contact numbers for everyone on our team.” He pointed to the card I was still holding. “Mr. Mathis has all our cell numbers. If anything should happen, call anyone on that list immediately. Our office is in West L.A. but we’ll be available if for some reason Kindness or Beth aren’t.”

He didn’t say it out loud, but I heard the message clearly. If Rayburn or Michaels went down in the line of fire while protecting us, other FBI agents would come to our rescue. I hated the very idea of being lumped into the category of a helpless, protected witness, but I knew Cassidy and Mike had been right. The FBI was going to insist on keeping us protected until the cartel was out of our lives, and the rogue CIA cell was no longer a threat.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Special Agent Perez,” Miguel said, shaking the man’s hand.

“You too, Mr. Huerta. Take care.” A smile played around his lips. “It was nice meeting you, Raven.” He reached out and I shook his warm hand. He had beautiful, kind eyes. I really liked Lincoln’s people. I walked him to the door as Miguel took a seat on the same chair as before, so that he could talk to Beth and Kindness. I knew he was going to grill them about their backgrounds, but I wasn’t worried. Both women seemed like capable professionals, and since the four of us would be living in close quarters for the foreseeable future, I wanted him to get to know and accept them.

After seeing Perez out, I left Miguel with the agents and headed for the kitchen to put on some more coffee. I pulled out an iced bundt coffee cake Dolly had made earlier in the week and cut some slices, piling everything onto a big tray with cups and returned to the living room.

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