Page 40 of Live a Little!

“All right.” She didn’t really want talk, not when she was feeling like this, but she could see he wanted to tell her something, and since he wasn’t normally a big communicator, she decided she’d betterlisten.

“One of our agents was killed,” he said at last, his words dousing her heat like a jug of icewater.

“Killed?”

“He’d crewed on to a fishing boat we suspected was smuggling cocaine.” Jake drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, while she stared at him. “Hank and I started out together at Quantico. He was a goodguy.”

“Whathappened?”

He jerked to his feet and stalked across the room. “They found him tangled in a fishing net, drowned. Looked like anaccident.”

Anger and disbelief were written all over his face. “You don’t think it was anaccident.”

“He wasn’t that stupid or that careless. He wasmurdered.”

A chill skittered across her chest. “What’s Oceanic got to do with yourfriend?”

“Maybe nothing.” He shrugged. “Accidents happen, even to guys in my line of work. But when I checked his apartment, I knew it was noaccident.”

“The place had been trashed?” She pictured how it would look: clothes strewn, belongings broken, the dead man’s homedesecrated.

“No. It wasneat.”

“Neat?” Oh, God. He really was a lunatic. Her love life was going to land her on one of those talk shows.Women who lust after psychos.That, or the comedynetwork.

He walked across the room and straightened the Picasso print she’d hung on the claret-colored walls. She loved the vibrant drama of the skewed lines and the woman’s lopsided features, but she didn’t think Jake even noticed what was in the frame he’d mechanically straightened. “Too neat. Hank was a slob. But his place was clean. So clean the back of my neckprickled.”

She was experiencing the same feeling on her own neck. “Maybe he had a neatnikgirlfriend?”

Jake nudged the right side of the print slightly. “I double-checked. He was single. No girlfriends, no cleaningservice.”

“I still don’t seehow—”

“I went back through his things one more time. That’s when I found the Oceanic businesscard.”

This whole clandestine operation was being waged over a lone business card? “I have a purse full of Oceanic business cards. Sowhat?”

He abandoned the picture and resumed pacing. “You work there. But why would Hank have one? I found it in the lining of his duffel bag. And the bag was all neat and tidy, too.” He shot that statement at her as though she’d argued with him. “Socks rolled, everything in his wallet in perfect order. I’m telling you, somebody went through his stuff. But they missed the card because they didn’t want to arouse suspicion by tearing the duffel bag to bits like Idid.”

Her stomach felt strange, as if she’d eaten a carton of jumping beans. “Was anything written on thecard?”

He shook his head. “He was a professional—he wouldn’t carry anything that couldn’t be explained away if he was caught. There could be a million reasons he’d have that card in his bag. Most of theminnocent.”

“But you don’t think it wasinnocent?”

“I don’t know.” And she heard how much he hated the not knowing. “That business card is the only clue we’ve got. Officially, Hank’s death is being treated as an accident. We had some leads into a drug operation, but they’ve all dried up. My boss agrees with you that one business card isn’t grounds for an investigation into Oceanic.” Jake turned to her, his face grim. “Officially, I don’t have any support onthis.”

“Andunofficially?”

He gave a wry grin. “We all want these guys, Cyn. If I can find hard evidence, Oceanic won’t know what hitthem.”

“That’s where I come in.” She felt in her bones that he was telling the truth; hewasan agent, and there was a possibility she was the key to unlocking the entire drug-ring conspiracy. One man had already been killed. This wasn’t a game. It was dangerous work. Incredibly dangerous. And Jake had chosen her to help him. Even though it was the middle of the night, she’d never felt more awake. Or morealive.

“Look, I think we should talk about that.” He turned to gaze at her, two lines of worry etched between hisbrows.

She jumped up, knowing now that he was all alone in this investigation. He might not want to admit it, but he needed her. “Don’t fire me, Jake. I’m the only team you’ve got—and I’m on your side.” She was, too. They were a great team, both professionally and personally; he just hadn’t figured it outyet.

He rubbed a hand over his face, and the pain he tried to hide almost broke her heart. “I was the one who recruited Hank for this job. I got him killed. I don’t want the same thing to happen toyou.”

---