“So does that mean we’re co-operatives again?”
Her lips move into a half-smile. “Of course.”
Are we co-operatives that flirt with each other?
That touch?
That kiss?
What are the rules here?
I’ve felt too much for Lacee to go back to how things used to be, but I also don’t know if I can trust in a future with her. When I got Sienna’s package, I wholly trusted everything she said—trustedher—and I thought that she trusted me. Now I find out that she believed Todd when he said I was the mole despite everything she knew about me. It turns out she didn’t trust me at all. Besides, it was hard to hear Lacee tell Nicholas that it wasexhausting pretending to love himand thatnone of it was realthat sheused him to gain knowledge.My head says that she did the same thing with me. Her “all’s fair in love and war” motto keeps replaying through my mind like a warning. But my heart notices her flirty smile and how her eyes stare back at me with an intensity that reduces my strength.
I have to play things smart right now. There’s too much riding on this situation to be blinded by my feelings for her. I still don’t have the full story.
I step back, distancing myself from Lacee and her charms so I can think clearly. “So if you’re not building a case against me, what have you been telling Todd?”
“Nothing.” Disappointment passes through her eyes when I step back, or maybe I’m just wishing it was there. “But now that we have more information about the case, we can go to Todd together.”
“No.” I shake my head.
“Why not?”
“Hear me out.” I sit down in front of her. “What if Todd’s the mole?”
“You think the Director of the CIA is a double agent that’s been secretly working to design and sell weapons of mass destruction without anyone knowing? Not only that, but you think he placed a CIA operative on the case to uncover his identity?”
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous. But yes, I think it’s been Todd all along.”
“How did you even land there?” She sits down too.
“It all leads back to the failed mission in France when the nuclear codes got stolen.”
“You really have to get over France. Everyone has missions that aren’t successful. Look at Nicholas Lawrence and me.”
“It’s not about the failed mission. I think Todd set me up.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because hewantedthe nuclear codes to get stolen and sold to Russia becausehe’sthe broker. He couldn’t just hand them over. He needed to set up a ruse to make it look like the US government was trying to recover them. Meanwhile, he tipped off the independent weapons dealer when and where they could retrieve the codes.”
“Independent weapons dealer,” Lacee nods, “or known to his friends as Sasha Petrov.”
“Exactly. I think Sasha Petrov has been involved in both cases.” I stand again because sitting feels too casual for a moment like this. “Then, when I came home from France, I started digging into the mission, trying to figure out what went wrong. But Todd knew if I kept digging, all roads would eventually lead to him, so he benched me and assigned me to stupid jobs where I wouldn’t be in his way.”
Lacee twists her chair, so she’s facing me. “Surely he knew that wasn’t going to stop you from trying to figure out what happened in France.”
“You’re right. That’s why he got you to frame me as the mole. If he can show everyone else I’m guilty, no one will look at him.”
“Yeah, but why assign anyone to tail Nicholas Lawrence to try and find out who the mole is? Doesn’t that just bring more attention to the weapons and himself as the broker?”
“I think he had to appease the Director of National Intelligence—make it look like he was trying to find the weapons dealer and the broker when really, the whole time, he was controlling what information you brought in so that the evidence didn’t lead back to him.”
“Do you think Todd told Nicholas I was undercover?”
“I don’t think so, judging by Nicholas’s reaction today. And telling Nicholas would only incriminate Todd as the mole since no one at the agency knew you were working the case. You’re not going to tell Nicholas you’re undercover, so if the only other person who knew you were there tells Nicholas, then he’s obviously the double agent.” I shake my head. “Todd had to save face with the Director of National Intelligence. That’s probably why Nicholas and Todd never met and why Nicholas didn’t know the name of the CIA officer acting as the mole.”
“This is a lot.” Lacee sits back in her chair. “I feel like my brain’s about to explode with how everything fits together.”
