“And what does this have to do with me?”
Neena waved for Garcia to tell her. The head of the Feiru Liaison office didn’t look pleased at the gesture, but he looked at Sabrina and said, “We had originally slotted you to be relocated, to protect both you and our office. However, thanks to Ms. Chatterjee here, you have a second option.”
Anything that involved working with Neena would be a headache, but it could give her a chance at freedom and finding out if Jorge was still alive. “What does it require me to do?”
Garcia looked to Neena, but she didn’t say anything, so he continued. “You will be our trial go-between. You’ll spend most of your time working with DEFEND—that will make it easier to hide your identity—but you will periodically report to Marquez, as well as take requests from him to pass on to Ms. Chatterjee and others inside DEFEND. Technically, you will still be working for me, but Ms. Chatterjee has the final say in what you can do and with whom you can interact with.”
Neena Chatterjee in charge of her life. Fantastic. “And what happens if the temporary trial period doesn’t go well? What happens to me then?”
Garcia spoke up. “You’ll have the option to resign from our employ and work for DEFEND permanently, provided you sign a nondisclosure agreement and take a new identity. Or, you can be relocated with other outed agents. However, if you choose to stay with DEFEND, we will no longer be able to protect you. If DEFEND does something illegal, you’ll be as liable as every other person involved.”
Sabrina looked to Neena. The woman was folding some kind of origami figure. “Neena, before I agree to anything, what happened to Jorge?”
Neena finished her paper crane with a flourish and smiled. “Say yes, and I’ll take you to him.”
Marquez said, “We haven’t processed the necessary paperwork and—”
Neena interrupted him. “You and your paperwork. Sabrina has been doing a bang-up job at keeping it together. Let her see her fellow and make sure he’s okay.”
Sabrina’s two superiors gave her looks, but she kept her shoulders straight and expression calm. They wouldn’t shame her for falling for a Feiru. “Before I sign anything, I have a few suggestions I want you to implement, but I’m in.” She looked to Neena. “Now, take me to see Jorge.”
Jorge tried to concentrate on the movie on the TV in his room, but the distraction wasn’t working—he kept thinking about Sabrina.
Santos and the others watching over him refused to let him out of this room. They kept saying stuff like, “We need to monitor your vitals” or “We need to keep running blood tests.” Yet when he asked them about Sabrina, they would suddenly shut up and mutter something about Neena would tell him about her when she was ready.
A small part of him was afraid that now the danger and heat of the moment had cooled down, Sabrina didn’t want to see him. But remembering the feel of her in his arms, kissing him, or how he’d heard of her sacrifice to turn Watkins over to the authorities instead of running away with him for a chance at freedom, he knew that no matter what she felt for him, she would confront him if given the chance.
He still couldn’t believe she risked giving up her future so that Santos and the other could whisk him away to safety. He owed her his life.
Hell, she’d saved his life before that when she’d given him a reason to live. Because of Sabrina, he’d been able to rescue Luciana. Who knew how many other people he could help simply because one woman had found a way into his heart.
He turned off the TV. All of this thinking and wondering was making him soft, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
Someone approached the glass window next to his door. Then Santos—who he’d learned had been a nurse before joining DEFEND—entered his room and looked at the machines hooked up to him. “Everything looks good. I think we’ve flushed the chemical cocktail that was causing your uncontrollable shifting out of your system. Just in time for your visitors, too.”
He’d only been half-listening up to that point, but at the word “visitors” he looked to Santos. He was careful not to let his hope show on his face. “Who?”
“Neena and her friend.”
And his hope died. If Sabrina had accompanied Neena, not even Santos was cruel enough to keep that from him. “The last time I saw Neena, she drugged me. I don’t trust her. Do I have the option of getting security in here to watch over me?”
Santos rolled her eyes. “Somehow I don’t think you’ll want security in here with you.”
He was about to ask her to clarify when Neena walked into the room. Alone.
Jorge decided bluntness was his best strategy. “If you’re here to talk me into working for your organization, the answer will be ‘no’ until you let me see Sabrina.”
Neena waited for Santos to leave before she said, “Are you certain she wants to see you?”
For a second, he doubted himself, but then he pushed it away. “Of course she does. Now, stop with your games and get to why you’re here. Then we can talk about letting me out of this damn room.”
Neena clicked her tongue as she placed her hands on the chair next to his bed and leaned forward. “I think Sabrina’s first assignment is to condition you to some manners. I’m sure she can think of some creative ways to get you to say please.”
He blinked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Neena smiled. “Your new partner, of course.”
“My new partner?”