Authors: Allie K. Adams
At Any Cost (14 page)
"I thought Dan was the mole." She felt a pang of guilt. How could she suspect him of being the mole? All he ever did was help her out of whatever fiasco she'd gotten herself into. And more than once. "If I could get him to trust me, I'd be able to turn
Another long pause. When the voice spoke again, the words he said made JT's breath catch.
"Do you want a second chance at that, Agent Turner?"
"Yes," she breathed her heart forming a giant lump in her throat.
"Then I have a little job for you."
Dan wanted to take
This was ridiculously insane. Donovan knew Dan didn't have anything to do with
He glared at the man across the table. Some hotshot right out of dickhead training, someone Dan had never heard of. It wouldn't take much for Dan to take him out. Now, the two jumbo guards on the other side of the door may put up more of a fight. And breaking out of interrogation wouldn't help Dan's cause.
His thoughts drifted to JT. He knew she'd be holding her own with Donovan. Donovan's field skills were average, but his interrogation skills were legendary. And fruitful. He must have been a drill sergeant in his life before NASSD. He'd made it all the way up the ladder.
All for shooting nanobots into his leg. Imagine if the man actually followed orders. He'd still be in the field, and probably still average at it. Interesting how things work out.
Donovan had better not get JT too riled up. She had quite a temper and it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to take out the mirror. With his gimpy leg, she'd catch and drop him in a heartbeat. But then again it might do him some good to go up against someone like JT Turner.
It sure as hell did him some good. He hid his smile.
Dan kept his eyes on the man as he stood and moved away from the table. He paced back and forth, pausing ever so often to rest his beady little eyes on Dan.
"Let me ask one more time, Agent Weber. Where is
Dan clenched his teeth and glared up at him, and said nothing. There were only a handful of people Dan trusted, and this guy wasn't one of them.
"Look, we know you still have it. Special Agent Donovan said you gave the female agent a bogus disc."
"It wasn't bogus."
The man's eyes widened. "It wasn't?"
"It was my favorite Eagles CD," Dan commented dryly. The man seemed unimpressed. Dan didn't give a shit. This whole interrogation was bullshit.
"You may think this situation is quite amusing, Agent Weber. But let me tell you something, things have changed since you were in the agency. No more good-ol-boy mentality. That kind of crap won't work with me."
The man's over-inflated ego started to grate on Dan's nerves. He growled and closed his eyes. "I'm not interested in what works with you." He opened his eyes and rested them on the man. "This whole thing is a goddamn joke. You know I'm not going to talk, so unless you pull a deck of cards out of your ass and show me some tricks, I'd say we're done."
"I'll say when we're done."
"Who the hell are you?"
"The name's Special Agent Walker."
"Texas Ranger?" Dan mused.
"No. Myron."
"Myron Walker? Never heard of you."
"Well I've heard plenty about you." The man curled his lip, causing Dan to lift a brow. Did he think that made him look intimidating? It made him look like he just realized he stepped in something. "You're a loose cannon. That's what they say. Did you know that?"
"I'd heard it a few times."
Only about a million.
"They say you're out for revenge, for blood."
"That's right." Dan didn't feel the need to lie.
"If given the choice to go after Jason Peck or save a fellow agent, what would you do?"
Dan contemplated his answer. He didn't want to lie, but he honestly didn't know. And he knew that wasn't the kind of answer that would get him back in NASSD.
He knew he'd made one of the biggest fucking mistakes of his life going after Peck on that op. He lived with the thought of the tangos damn near taking out the entire unit because of his screw up. Luckily, the rest of his team were all top shots and took out the tangos before they could line any of them in the crosshairs. But that didn't mean he felt any better about it. They'd saved his ass, and he knew it.
He'd drawn his knife, went for the throat. Some of his own men tackled him down before he could finish the job. Peck got off lucky.
Dan cursed. Of course he'd go after Peck. It's the first thing he thought about when he woke up in the morning, and the last thing he thought about when he went to sleep at night. He'd never get back into NASSD.
He stopped. Did he want back in? Did he want to go back to miserable conditions, lack of sleep, staying deep undercover for weeks at a time? All to remove some threat against the world?
You bet your sweet ass.
He missed taking out the enemy, missed the all night surveillance ops, missed sneaking in to compounds in the middle of the night. He missed it all.
Myron Walker grew antsy waiting for Dan's answer. Apparently he didn't like the fact he was alone in a room with an agent who couldn't answer that question. It was on the application into NASSD for Christ's sake. It should have been an automatic answer.
Dan thought about his little chance meeting with Peck at JT's rendezvous. He could have taken him out right there, but instead chose to save JT's ass. Interesting twist, and one he'd never realized until this very moment.
He was back. With conviction, he met Walker's eyes. "I'd save the agent, of course."
Walker didn't look convinced. "What about Peck? You've already proven you'd turn on your own to go after him."
"That was a long time ago."
"History has a way of repeating itself."
Damn. Did they have to keep throwing it back in his face? He saw red when he spotted Peck in that small café across from the surveillance van. Every thought disappeared except the one driving him to jump across that crowded street and grab Peck by the throat. He had his buck knife out and held it against the son-of-a-bitch's neck before Peck's next sip of cappuccino. He just wanted one question answered before Dan finished the job.
Why did he do it?
He didn't get the chance to hear the answer. The other NASSD agents on the op had Dan down and disarmed within seconds, but not before Dan lunged and gave Peck a facelift.
And then all hell broke loose. Shots came from everywhere. Dan's little display had given up their location. A few good men were hit, but none fatally. Thank God.
"Then I guess we have a problem."
"P-Problem?" Walker stepped back, visibly paled. "What problem?" He attempted a smile, but it looked more like a nervous twitch.
"NASSD obviously still thinks I'm too unpredictable."
"I'm not going to lie. We don't know if we can trust you."
"How do I know I can trust
you
?"
Walker cleared his throat, pushed out his pointy chin. "Because I'm HQ."
"How do I know you aren't feeding information to Peck?"
"Because I—I'm not—I'm HQ!"
Dan smiled, clearly making the little piss ant agent nervous as hell.
"It isn't me!" Walker insisted. "It has to be somebody else."
Dan spiked his brow to prove his point.
"Regardless," Walker started, attempting to regain some of his composure. "We are concerned, if given the chance, you'll make the same mistake."
The look he gave Walker must have conveyed how dangerously close he was to pushing Dan over the edge. NASSD still didn't trust him, which meant they would never trust him out on an op. So much for getting back in. "If that's the case, then what the hell are we doing here?"
Walker darted his eyes around the room. Leaning closer, too close for Dan's comfort, he whispered, "I know you're the one."
Dan riveted his eyes to Walker. "The one
what
?"
Walker gave him a knowing look, and Dan wanted to wipe it right from the weasel's little face. "I can't say I blame you for wanting to take down the agency, but you know NASSD doesn't negotiate with terrorists."
Dan knew where the dumbass was going. Could he really be this much of an idiot? Trying to sympathize with the cause wasn't going to make Dan warm to him, or tell him a damn thing. For shits and giggles, Dan decided to play along. Hell, Walker needed to keep Dan in the room to stall for God knows how long why they tried to break JT. Might as well have a little fun.
"Because that's exactly what you are now," Walker continued. Dan remained silent to allow Walker his chance to play the part. "You are a terrorist for stealing
"Is that what I'm doing?"
"That's right. You have your reasons for revenge. Hell, if my partner was killed protecting my ass, Lord knows I'd have a few sleepless nights. So the agency wouldn't allow you to go after Peck. That's no reason to start a war over it."
Dan clenched his teeth. "I guess I have issues."
"You were offered counseling. You refused."
"So some shrink can tell me my issues all stem from my relationship with my mother? No thank you."
He studied Dan, giving him the chance to do the same. Myron Walker had to be a recent addition to HQ. He didn't look old enough to shine Dan's shoes, let alone outrank him. Dan would wager him to be around five foot nine, maybe ten. Thin. Wearing a tie, although by the way he constantly fidgeted with it, he wasn't used to it.
This guy was a classic textbook interrogator. Must be green. Why would NASSD send him in with Dan on his first time out? Was he, like JT, plucked right out of the academy?
Why was NASSD suddenly pulling agents out without completing their training? That only increased them as a liability. And they were worried about Dan?
"I want to be your friend here, Agent Weber. I really do."
Yep. Definitely a rookie. No one wanted to be Dan's friend, not anymore. Not after what happened to his last one.
Time to turn up the charm. "You do? Boy, that sure makes a difference."
Walker's beady little eyes lit up. "It does?" He cleared his throat. "I mean, of course it does. No one wants to go at this alone. Let me help you."
"Wow. Do you really mean it?" Dan couldn't bring himself to raise his voice over anything more than the monotone he'd been using for the past four hours.
Walker took a seat across from Dan, his lips curled into a wide grin. The poor guy actually thought he'd had a breakthrough. Dan kept his comments to himself and turned up his charm another notch. "Because, you know, keeping all of this bottled up has been really tough."
Walker's grin widened even more, taking up the entire lower half of his face. Poor sod. "Please tell me about it."
"What do you want to know?"
He leaned forward. "Let's start with
Dan leaned in, keeping his voice low so that Walker would have to do the same in order to hear him. "You want to know about
"Yes," Walker whispered, not doing a very good job at containing himself. He looked ready to wet his pants.
"You really want to know?" Dan leaned closer.
"Yes."
"Okay," Dan started, barely audible. He shifted his eyes back and forth, giving off the appearance he was about to let Walker in on a huge secret and wanted to make sure no one else had their ears too close. He motioned him closer. "Can I trust you?"
"Absolutely."
"Do you know..." Dan paused, taking a perverse pleasure in watching this guy squirm as he waited for Dan to finish.
"Go on." Walker's breath grew light and short. If he continued breathing like that, he'd pass out. Dan decided to put him out of his misery.
"The Muffin Man?"
Walker lost his smile. "The Muffin Man?"
"The Muffin Man. The one who lives on Blueberry Lane."
That disgusted curl was back on Walker's face as he sat back. "Very funny, Agent Weber."
Dan leaned back in his chair. "I thought so."
"Are you going to yank my chain all day?"
"I'd rather get out of here. You aren't going to be able to hang this on me. Donovan called me back in.
"Well, what about—"
"Come on,
Texas Ranger
. Do you really need to stall for more time?"
