Page 74 of His Forbidden Alliance

She held up a hand. “Don’t say that to me.”

“Are you bound to report me or something?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“We’re going to get him. I’ve got a plan to find whoever else he planted.”

“And what makes you think there’s someone else?”

I took a sip of my beer before answering. “Because the scheme was going too well. The first guy did something wrong, but Ivanov is not going to give up on a fantastic blackmail plan.”

“Agreed. So what’s the new identity for?”

“I’m going in as an FBI auditor.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, fuck no. You can’t go in impersonating a federal officer.”

“I’m not impersonating. I am a federal officer.”

“Not the one you’re going to pretend to be. You can’t… they’re going to kill me. They’re going to fire me, and then they’re going to kill me.”

I tilted my head as if seriously considering that. “Killing off agents is more common in the CIA, but I suppose it’s possible.”

“Not helpful, Zach.”

“I’m not going to do a full audit or anything. I’ll just poke around in certain files. I don’t need to make anything authentic since Rafe’s in on it.”

She took a sip of whiskey. “And the other Theriots? When they get wind of it?”

“No one is going to get wind of it. I’m going to be willing and accommodating, keep things quiet. There will only be a reason to expose what’s happening if I find a crime in progress.”

“Which you won’t.” That statement seemed to require another sip, a bigger one this time.

“There’s not going to be anything of interest.”

“Fuck, Zach.” She laid her hand across her eyes. “Don’t tell me you think they’re the good guys now.”

“Compared to Ivanov⁠—”

“Compared to Ivanov, most people look good. Even some serial killers. But…”

“Rafe is… not like I expected.”

“Oh my God.” She stared at me, eyes wide. “You like him.”

“That’s what I’m saying. He’s not⁠—”

“No, no, no. You really like him.”

Was I that obvious? “I can’t. It’s… I just can’t.”

“But you do. This is compromising everything, you know that.”

“It’s not compromising me from bringing Ivanov down. That was the assignment. You told me the Theriots were off-limits. Why is it suddenly a problem that I don’t want to go after them?”

“It’s not a problem for this assignment, but it’s going to become a problem.”

I shrugged, hoping she didn’t know how I was spiraling inside. “We’ll handle that later.”