Page 44 of Lethal Justice

When she fished out her phone, berating herself for being so stupid, Malco stopped her.

“Hey, easy. This isn’t on you. None of us suspected Rina. You can blame me for not seeing it sooner.”

“You don’t understand, she had access to everything back at the office, and even here at the Agency. No wonder I had so much trouble finding proof or documentation against Kasten. I had someone on the inside, blocking my every move!”

Unable to believe what was happening, Frida covered her face with her hands until Malco gently pried them away, forcing her to face him.

“On a mission, we have to trust the people around us. And because of you, we now know Ward was set up, and we can shift our focus to her.”

Frida nodded and inhaled deeply and slowly, forcing her brain back on the case and not on her own failings. Her first instinct was to go to Rina and punch the bitch, but as she calmed down, another idea emerged.

“What about we act like nothing has changed? Rina is our link to bring Pool and Kasten down in one fell swoop. They’re convinced Rina is part of the team and feeds them valuable information, so let’s use that. Between that and JaKheel’s testimony, we might be able to put the last nail in their coffin for good.”

The full-blown smile that appeared on his face threw her off balance. “What? Did I say something funny?”

“I’m admiring my girlfriend about to kick some ass, and it’s sexy as hell.”

After an intense kiss that left her head spinning, Frida smiled back. “And now I’ll admire my boyfriend’s perfect ass while he informs his boss of this latest development and gets the plan on the road.”

And she did exactly that when he chuckled on his way out.