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“When did the FBI fake his death?” Tamilya asked.
“What?” TJ asked.
She looked at Marcus. The moment she did, she knew the two of them were on the same page. She could see it there in his expression. She tore her attention away from Marcus and looked at TJ. “When did he come to the FBI?”
He blinked, then she saw the recognition in his eyes. “Let me look it up, but it wasn’t too long after the bombing.”
TJ pulled out his phone and started working on the answer.
“What are you getting at?” Charity said.
“What if he was involved in the bombing, but he thought it was going to be military targets?”
“Oh…oh! Yeah. That would piss him off if he didn’t want civilian deaths,” Charity said.
“Our CI told us there were rumors that he was linked to Li. He has connections to several hits mainly where China has interests. Hitting the US would be different for him.”
“And, let’s be honest, the Chinese wouldn’t want people to know they were linked,” Marcus said.
“Why not?” Charity asked.
“First, they would like the idea of screwing with us. Causing our morale to plummet,” Marcus said.
“Yeah. Just like the Russians messing with our social media, there has always been forces in the Chinese government that wanted to do the same thing.”
Tamilya’s phone buzzed and she recognized the number. Addie.
“Give me a second,” she said as she stepped away and then clicked on her phone. “Hey, Addie, what’s up.”
“I was wondering if you’ve had any other developments in the case?”
Tamilya hesitated for a second before answering. She didn’t like the fact that her old boss seemed to call right at the very moment that they all figured out this might be connected to Virginia Star.
“Not at this time. Just a few leads and that Golubev might be linked to Li.”
Addie made a rude noise, and Tamilya knew at once that she wasn’t pleased with the situation. She honestly didn’t blame her old boss. When you are about to walk out the door with your pension and a great new job waiting for you, having the biggest screw up in your career popping back up isn’t the best occurrence. It was actually the worst. If the FBI decided to reinvestigate the case, it could put her retirement on hold, and she could very well lose the job she had lined up.
“Right now I am taking it all with a grain of salt.”
Tamilya was lying, she just hoped that Addie didn’t catch on. Her old boss was sharp, but being on the phone these many miles apart, Tamilya hoped she didn’t get caught. They didn’t need Addie sticking her nose into their business.
“Yes, well, you will keep me up to date, right?”
She asked it as if it were a question, but Tamilya heard it more as a warning. Addie might have been treating Tamilya as her protégé, but she knew the agent hadn’t thought twice when Tamilya’s job came under fire. She’d tossed her to the side the moment Tamilya became a liability.
“I will, especially if I get a bead on anything you can help with.”
A beat of silence. “Thanks. I don’t have many days left, but I would rather not go out with a whimper,” she said with a laugh.
“No problem, Addie. I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks,” she said, and Tamilya hung up without saying anything else.
There was definitely something bothering Tamilya about Addie, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Was she afraid that this case coming up would screw her chances at her new job? Hell, if anything came out now, she could lose her retirement. With the daggers out for law enforcement, nothing was sacred. One mistake could ruin your entire career. Since Addie was the most opportunistic woman Tamilya had ever met—and that said a lot since she’d been to high school with not one, but three Miss USA state champions—that had to be the reason.
She walked back over to Charity, TJ, and Marcus. All of them looked at her, but it was Marcus’ attention that disturbed her the most. The longer he looked at her, the more she felt her body temperature rise. When she realized she was ignoring the other two people in the room, she tore her attention away from him.
“I’ve called the boss,” Charity said. “He wants a meeting in thirty. Everyone is coming back in.”
