Kissing Sin (Riley Jenson Guardian 2)

I did as he began to check me for bugs.

"The Blue Moon is safe, no matter what Jack thinks. It's Misha you'll have to watch. Don't trust him, no matter what."

"I won't." I hesitated. "Why does the mole at the Directorate have to be someone close to the director?"

"Because she's the only one who knew our whereabouts."

"Which would suggest the Director herself." Only, she wasn't likely to betray her own brother, or the organization she'd started and ran for more years than I'd been alive.

"It's not her. But it could be someone who has access to her office and maybe overhead a conversation."

"What about Gautier?" Even saying his name had a shiver running through me. Gautier might be the Directorate's top guardian, but he was a creep, a murderer, and, I suspected, a psychopath on the edge.

"He's not close to the director."

"But I'm betting he's reporting to someone that is."

"It wouldn't make a difference. Whoever the mole is, they've obviously been with the Directorate a long time. It's someone very canny, someone we wouldn't ever suspect."

"So make a list of people you'd never normally suspect, and start watching them."

"Hard to do when we don't actually know who we can and can't trust."

True. "Couldn't we just watch who Gautier talks to?"

"Gautier's clever enough to realize we're doing that." Rhoan glanced at me. "Besides, he's on assignment up north at the moment. Has been for the last month. He's not involved in this little episode."

At least that explained why I hadn't seen him around. I thought I'd just been damn lucky. "What about Alan Brown?"

"As shifty as hell, and definitely involved in something, but again, I'm not sure he's in on this."

"But he fast-tracked Gautier's entry into the Directorate, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but we've a feeling he was forced into that. Brown's being blackmailed."

I raised my eyebrows. "Someone knows about his appetite for whores?"

"His appetite for gambling, more likely." Rhoan sat back with a grunt. "Can't find anything resembling a bug."

Good. At least I wasn't responsible for bringing problems home to threaten him and the others. "If you know he's being blackmailed, then surely you'd be able to trace the source."

He rose, grimacing. "I wish it were that easy."

"Paper trail?"

"No trail."

"How come?"

"Brown's as cagey as a fox. We're certain he's giving someone information, but we can't uncover who or what."

"You've put him under surveillance, then?"

He gave me the look. "Hell, no. We just thought it was easier to let him wander around as he pleases."

I whacked his arm. "Don't get smart."

"Then don't ask dumb questions."