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“Yeah. I told them a dozen times it wasn’t you but—”
“And you thought they’d listen? Of course they weren’t going to. I was with you during the first botched mission to Mexico, but not the successful one, thanks to food poisoning.”
“Man, no one sane eats truck-stop sushi.”
Trees shrugged. “It looked good. I won’t make that mistake again. And I’m guessing the most incriminating part is that I was with One-Mile when he got taken in Mexico, and I couldn’t save him or call in the cavalry until it was too late?”
“You nailed it. And it turns out One-Mile emailed the schematic of Montilla’s estranged wife’s safe house in St. Louis to you—and no one else—to test you. So when our unfriendly neighborhood drug lord showed up…”
“Walker assumed I was the guilty one and blabbed to all the bosses.”
“Yeah. I told him it was possible your computer or our network had been hacked—”
Trees shook his head. “I would have known. Let me ask you something else: did Walker also tell you he emailed that schematic to Tessa first, asking her to send it to me?”
Zy knew what his friend was implying, and that had his blood boiling with rage. “Yeah, but c’mon. Tessa isn’t any more guilty than you are.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know. She wouldn’t betray us like that.”
Abruptly, Trees exited the freeway and pulled onto the shoulder in the middle of nowhere. “Stop thinking like a guy in love for two minutes and start thinking like an operator. If I’m not the mole and she’s not the mole and no one else got the schematic, how the hell did Montilla get it?”
“I don’t know, but—”
“You don’t know because no one else could have done it. How badly does she need money?”
“Fuck you!”
Trees just shook his head. “Seriously? You’re going to say that to me?”
He was right, and Zy scrubbed a hand across his forehead where he felt a headache developing. “No, I’m not. But Tessa couldn’t possibly need money that bad.”
“Are you sure?”
He wasn’t. Day care couldn’t be cheap. Nor were the baby food, diapers, and clothes for a constantly growing little girl. “Granted, her situation is probably tight, but she won’t even entertain leaving her job to be with me because she can’t find another employer who pays her as well and provides the benefits and flexibility she needs. Why would she fuck that up?”
“Or…she won’t leave her job because she wouldn’t be in any position to pass on information to Montilla for cash.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“You can’t be sure of that and you definitely can’t prove it.”
Trees was right, and Zy fucking hated it. “This is the same argument I’ve had with the bosses. They’re convinced you’re guilty, and no amount of trying to prove otherwise has put a dent in their collective thick skulls. I’m fucking over this. She’s not guilty because I know she’s not guilty.”
“Man, this isn’t the same. If you’d stop thinking with your heart and start thinking with your brain, you’d know that. We almost died together. We’ve both almost died for each other. Neither of us would be sitting here today if we hadn’t proven ourselves to one another and earned complete trust.”
Zy cursed under his breath. “I know.”
“You and this woman… You’re in love with Tessa, so you feel like you know her. But you don’t.”
“I get why you’d see it that way, but when I was assigned to protect her, I spent nights under her roof. We talked. We got to know each other. I learned who she is. You didn’t, and knowing someone purely from office interaction isn’t the same.”
“Maybe not,” Trees conceded, but Zy didn’t buy his conciliatory tone. “Have you taken her to bed?”
“You know the contract says I can’t.”
“That’s not what I asked. My best friend, the one I’ve known backward and forward for almost a decade? He doesn’t give too many shits about rules, especially arbitrary ones. And that nonfraternization clause is totally arbitrary.”
Goddamn Trees for knowing him too well.
Zy cursed. “No, I haven’t taken her to bed. I’d be happy to ignore that stupid-ass rule. Tessa is too afraid of getting fired to break it. I’m telling you…she’s a good person—a rule follower—who wants to do the right thing.”
Trees seemed to weigh his words. “Or she won’t sleep with you because she doesn’t want to get in too deep with someone in the very organization she’s spying on. Sure, it probably has something to do with being a single mother, too. But if I was in her shoes and I was guilty of passing on information for money, the last thing I’d want is to get close to anyone who could find me out.”
What his friend said made a lot of sense. Zy couldn’t deny that, but… “You’re way off base about Tessa.”
