Page 74 of Off the Grid
Nate waited a moment to speak. “You want a new partner?”
“No!” Leo quickly interjected. “Hell no, Parker. You’re stuck with me.”
“It’s okay, Leo. I get it. Just because I want to take a little break doesn’t mean you do too. I understand.”
“No, that’s not— I didn’t mean—” He sighed. “I was thinking a little downtime might come in handy. I— I—”Just spit it out.“I was thinking I’d maybe go talk to that counselor, the one the boss made you go see after everything in the Bahamas.”
“Oh,” Nate chirped, taken aback. “Yeah? I think that’s a great idea.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
It was the closest they’d ever come to talking about Leo’s night terrors, and it hardly counted as a conversation. But he knew his partner. They didn’t need to say a lot to mean a lot—sometimes it was all about what went unsaid—and he’d be forever grateful for the acceptance and understanding in Nate’s tone.
“You want me to make a referral for when you’re back in DC?”
“I’d appreciate it. I’ll be back next week.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks, Parker.”
“No problem.” His partner coughed, clearing his throat. “Call me if that name comes up with a hit, okay? And don’t tell Jo I said that.”
Leo shook his head. “Bye, Parker.”
They hung up and his gaze immediately dropped to the name he’d scrawled across a piece of paper. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d typed it into the federal database and run a search. Using Jo’s information wasn’t technically legal, per se, but he found when it came to McKenzie’s safety, he was willing to blur the lines.
Okay, Henry Waineright. Who the hell are you?
- 26 -
McKenzie
McKenzie stared at the business card burning a hole through her coffee table and read the words again.U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Emilio T. Alvarez. Special Agent. Cell—
She cut off there, same as always.
If she didn’t read the number, she wouldn’t know the number. If she didn’t know the number, she couldn’t call the number. If she couldn’t call the number, she wouldn’t make a total ass out of herself calling a guy who’d probably only given her his number out of professional courtesy. He’d said,in case of emergency.
Well, no.
His exact words had been,Here’s my number, in case of emergency. Or anything really. I’ll be in New York for another week or so before I head back to DC. So, yeah…here.
But still, she doubted the fact that she couldn’t for the life of her stop thinking about him would be considered an emergency. A pain in the ass, sure. An emergency? Not likely.
Gah!
McKenzie dropped a magazine over the damn thing, but it was like a sixth sense she couldn’t shake. The back of her neck tingled with the knowledge of that stupid business card and all the possibilities it entailed.
What would I even say? Oh, hi, Leo. How are you? Yeah, I’m good. No one tried to kidnap me today, so, you know…McKenzie dropped her head against the back of the couch, cringing.Just shoot me now.
What she really wanted to say—what she was terrified she would say if she actually spoke to him—was,Hey, Leo. I know you’re going back to DC in a week, and we’ll probably never see each other again after that, but, well, the sex was good. The sex was great. And I just thought, while you’re in town, it’d be a damn shame to let so much chemistry go to waste. I have a shower in my apartment that’s never been christened, so…
She winced and sat up.No. Clean break. We had a clean break. Don’t muddy the waters any more than they already are. We said goodbye. He’s leaving. I should flush that stupid card down the toilet.
But she didn’t.
