“That’s not going to happen. Fox isn’t one who crosses the line between professional and personal. Plus, he’s hooked on Cynthia.”
“I know. Fox will get his point across in a way that will make everyone happy.”
“I’m guessing so. Who’s Rowan Harper?” Jag hadn’t heard Fox mention that name when they’d talked earlier about Zadie.
“Zadie’s sister. She’s an FBI Agent.”
“She’s a Fed?” Jag whistled low. “I bet Fox wasn’t expecting that when she turned up.”
Deal chuckled. “No, I don’t think so. And it sounds like they’re getting along swimmingly.”
Fox was one of the most even-tempered people he knew, even in the midst of disaster when they’d been on some of their missions as SEALs. Hearing his raised voice was out of character.
“Wonder what’s going on?” Jag craned his neck as if he could see anything. “Do you think Julian knows her? Maybe we can get some insight about her.”
“He might, but I’m staying as far away from this as possible. Fox will get it sorted.”
The door to the conference room slammed open, and a woman in a navy-blue pantsuit, hair pulled back into a tight bun that looked painful, stormed out.
Fox stood in the doorway, arms crossed and dark expression on his face. A look Jag didn’t think he’d ever see on his team leader’s face.
“Shit, this can’t be good,” Deal muttered.
“Nope.”
Seconds later, Fox stepped aside, and Zadie and her team all walked out, none of them looked super happy.
Silence descended around the office, even Irish and Angel tracked the movements of the group as they left.
“Well, fuck,” Fox muttered, and shoved his hands through is hair. Jag had never seen his team leader look so discombobulated.
“Sounds like that went well.” Hound popped his head up over the top of his cubicle. Jag had been wondering where his friend was, and considering he was close by, he was shocked he hadn’t butted in when he and Deal were talking.
“Anything you want to talk about, Fox?” Ox asked, walking toward them. It didn’t surprise Jag one bit that their boss wanted to know what happened. He liked to keep his finger on the pulse of what was going on in the office.
“Give me a few minutes to get my head around what just happened in there. But you need to know, I’ll be leaving for Texas tomorrow.”
“Gotcha. I’ll get Yolanda to make flight arrangements for you.”
“No need, Zadie’sFBI agentsister is going to do that.” The sarcasm in Fox’s voice wasn’t hard to miss.
Ox’s eyebrows rose. “That’s unexpected.”
“Tell me about it. Zadie never mentioned what her sister did in the previous meetings, just that she wanted to review the security plan I was going to suggest they follow on this trip. The one I didn’t want to go on, for obvious reasons, but now I have no choice.”
There was way more to the story than Fox was saying, and as much as Jag wanted to question him further, now wasn’t the time.
“Okay, keep me updated, and Fox, whatever went on in there,” Ox pointed to the conference room, “that’s where it stays. As annoying as Zadie and her sister are, keep a lid on it, okay?”
“Understood. It’ll be fine. Rowan Harper caught me on an off day. Trust me, it won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t.” Ox gazed around the room. “I’m sure everyone’s got things they need to do, right?”
If that wasn’t a gentle dismissal, then Jag didn’t know what was. “I’ve got to-uh … check on something with, Cass.”
He didn’t have to, but it was as good as an excuse as what anyone else could come up with.
Jag pushed away from his desk and escaped to their computer whizz’s office. He’d pop his head in and say hi. He wouldn’t ask her to check if Steff’s earrings were working. She would be in the middle of her therapist session; he didn’t have to worry about anything happening to her there.
