Page 12 of Code Name: Harbor

“You shouldn’t have been there at all but you’re alive. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that if you ever do something like that again, I will fire you on the spot. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

Malik arches an eyebrow.

“I mean… yes, Malik. I’m clear.”

“Good. I want you to give a full debrief to Cole sometime today. I want all the details you conveniently left out.”

My mouth sags slightly but he doesn’t see it, instead turning back to his screen. I’m going to have to give up Finn’s name and I know Cole… he’ll nitpick all the details out of me as he’s been trained to do.

Malik starts typing on his laptop and I think for a half second I’m dismissed. I open my mouth to start laying out what I want to put into BOB next—the new data points, the timing patterns.

“I’m pulling you off the case.” I close my mouth. “I have another job for you. Pittsburgh kicked us a counterintel engagement for a tech client. There are suspected employee leaks. It’s a low priority but highly billable and you can run it from your desk. I want you on it for the next two weeks minimum.”

“But the Voronin case. I have more information to work through and—”

“I wouldn’t push it right now, McAdams. I’m still angry with you.”

I grit my teeth and remain silent.

He does not look up from his screen. “You’re dismissed.”

I stand and move to the door.

“Josie,” Malik says, his voice soft with gratitude.

I turn back to him.

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Me too,” I murmur with a small smile. And I owe all of that to one devastatingly gorgeous—yes, I noticed despite my hypothermia—suspected smuggler.

I’m lost in thought as I make my way back to my desk, and by the time I sit down, I’ve already laid out the framework for working the Voronin case on the side. I’ll work late hours, not a problem. And while I’m technically on another case, I’m still the lead intelligence analyst and have a certain amount of discretion on how I spend my off-hours.

I think about those women being loaded into the van, looking utterly defeated and resigned to their new lives of slavery, and I know I can’t let this go. While I might not be going on stakeouts anymore, I can still run the data. I can still put BOB to work in the background and I can still contribute to saving the next boatload of women who are smuggled in from Canada.

I have one piece of intelligence the official team does not have, which is a fishing boat captain who knew who those Russians were.

I’m going to find Finn Marlowe and I’m going to get more information from him. Yeah… that sounds right.

“You look like shit,” Cole says as he plops down in the chair by my desk, and I’m startled out of my thoughts.

“Late night,” I mutter.

Cole is one of my closest friends here at Jameson. His background is in Special Forces and smoke jumping. He’s wearing jeans and a forest green T-shirt, revealing a tattoo of wildfire flames peeking out at his biceps.

“Just so you know,” I say, rubbing at my temples. “Malik is going to have me debrief you on a situation I got myself into last night.”

Cole’s eyebrows shoot up. “What kind of situation?”

“The type I almost died.”

That causes him to physically jolt but before he can press me, another agent walks up. “Cole… Malik wants to see you.”

I nod toward the boss man’s office. “There you go. He’ll fill you in and then you’ll come and interrogate me.”

Cole rises slowly from the chair. “Can’t… wait…,” he says slowly, utter confusion in his tone. He blinks again. “By the way, Tessa wants you to come over this weekend for dinner. That work?”