“I want you and McKenzie back undercover,” Ritter, my boss d
emands in anger as he strides into my office without knocking.
I rub at my temples willing my head to clear so I can think about this case without the image of Joshua and I the last time we went undercover. We both crossed a line, and it should never have happened. All my life I’ve been professional in my work, until Joshua McKenzie walked into my office. I’d actually blushed. I never blush. The man could talk the venom from a rattlesnake with his charm and good looks. I don’t think he realizes, which makes it all the sweeter.
“Jenkins! Are you listening to me?” Ritter tosses a file onto my desk when I lift my face to acknowledge him. “You’re not well?” He says softly.
“Migraine,” I mumble. “Give me an hour for the meds to start working and I’ll read through this file.”
“I guess that will have to do.” He relaxes back into the chair opposite my desk. “This bastard needs stopping, Mallory,” he adds, thoughtful. “I know it’s awkward for two agents to act as a couple.”
I stare at him wondering where exactly he’s going with this, when he continues, “Especially a rookie and his boss, but I’m sure you’ll both manage.” He smiles and I’m incredulous at the casual way in which he’s putting this to me.
An unfamiliar foreboding settles into my belly, and I ask, “What haven’t you said?”
“There is a couples retreat in the mountains of Vermont.” He smiles. “My secretary has booked you and McKenzie on it. So Jason Mack and Marie Jennings are going to be checking in two days from now.”
“Are you forgetting that McKenzie is currently on medical leave? I can’t ask him to come back without authorization from his doctor.”
Ritter shakes his head. “He won’t be in the office.”
“But, he’ll be in the field with his life on the line, along with mine.”
“Are you worried about him being able to back you up?”
Was she?
“No. He’s supposed to be resting and doing physical therapy so he can get back on active duty again. We can’t—”
“We can, and you will. Call him and tell him the hunter has struck again. He’ll be asking to come back considering he thinks the bastard is the one that shot him.”
Knowing that I’m not going to get out of this, I sigh and acknowledge defeat. “Good,” Ritter says. “I knew you’d see it my way.”
It irritates me that my boss doesn’t think I want to catch this guy as much as him. I personally believe the asshole should be strung up to the ceiling by his balls, but unfortunately that won’t happen.
“How long is the retreat? And please tell me we don’t have to ‘find ourselves’ or some other spiritual thing while we’re there.”
Ritter laughs. “Not that I’m aware of. It’s in the middle of the mountains in a nice secluded spot. The team thinks it would be the ideal place for him to go and find new prey because it’s owned by the same man who runs the club.” He pauses. “It’s all in the file. You both won’t be alone there. We have two other undercover couples booked in and their details are also in the file. Everything you need to know. Reservation number, two credit cards for different banks. One in your name, and one in McKenzie’s. They work and are to be used for expenses incurred during the operation.” He stands. “Read the file when your headache passes, and then call McKenzie. My guess is that the hunter has already seen you both together, so make sure you don’t go anywhere alone and stay vigilant.”
“What about additional backup?”
“You’ll be issued with a satellite phone as there is no cell reception up there. And I mean none. Not even one bar. The team from this office will be twenty minutes away in town, appearing as friends on vacation.” Reaching my door, he turns his head. “Call me once you’ve spoken to McKenzie.” He slams the door, the glass shaking. He’s the only person to do that.
Taking five minutes, I rest my head in my arms on my desk and close my eyes. After a few seconds the sledgehammer stops and I sigh in relief. It won’t take long before the meds kick in and I can fully focus on the case. I need to focus on the case instead of the man with whom I’m going to be spending a week in close quarters. I’ve tried to shut him out since the night we both acted unprofessionally, but so far, he’s still a frequently reoccurring thought.
The way he looked at me, as though I’m someone special, it still makes my belly quiver. The man makes my knees weak. In the deep of night I still feel him inside of me: hard and pulsing. He’s a large man and seeing him hard and glistening with my release, before he’d come on me, was incredible, and dirty, and forbidden. I wanted more. Before he’d been shot, I’d seen the same want in his gaze, and it had been so hard for me to resist him. I had though. I didn’t know what else to do.
My feelings for him are all tangled up. When he’d been shot, my first instinct had been to go to the hospital to be there for him. I’d gone eventually and spent all night with him, not that he’s aware of that. I’d told myself that it was guilt, because he’d been under my supervision. That wasn’t the reason though. I’d been unable to stay away and had needed to be there with him.
“Ugh.” Groaning to myself isn’t going to make anything go away or turn back the clock…but, I’m not sure I would turn back the clock if I could. The brief sexual encounter I’d had with Joshua had been the most erotic of my life. It was the things of dreams.
I need to work and take my mind off of him.
Slowly raising my head, the jackhammer has slowed to more of a soft drumming noise. That, I can handle. I glare at the file on my desk that Ritter left as though it’s a coiled snake ready to bite. I know this is my job, but for once I don’t want to open the file in front of me, which is ridiculous.
A knock on my office door draws my gaze and seeing Stephanie, one of the analysts in the unit, I indicate for her to enter and offer a small smile. “Did you find anything?” I’d asked Stephanie to search for people who had been in prison during the two-month absence of killings.
“Three people.” She sighs and drops into the opposite chair. “Two female and one male. The male is currently locked back up in the State of Texas for aggregated assault, and has been there for two weeks, so he’s off the list. The first female, forty-five year old, Monica Rinaldi, has moved States to live with her daughter. She was in jail for assault. According to witness statements, Rinaldi’s daughter was in the midst of a disagreement and things got rough. The mother’s got involved and Rinaldi attacked the other woman.” Jennifer sighs. “In my opinion the other mother gave as good as she got and they both should have been charged, or not at all.”