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As for the bounty, well, that was a whole different set of worries that cramped her stomach and made her break out in a cold sweat.

She took one last breath, then pushed away from the wall. She could have a breakdown later, in private.

She tapped on the bedroom door. “Dev’s here. He needs to talk.”

She heard Tate say okay, and with that acknowledgment turned on her heel and walked back to the dining area, putting her game face on.

She walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, then tilted her head at Benny and Dev. Both of them demurred.

“I don’t know how alcohol will affect me now,” Benny said, the medic in him showing.

She got that, but damned if she didn’t need a little something extra right now.

Benny held the legal pad she’d given him, and she could see the doodling all over the page, interspersed with notes. In the past he’d done that when he was trying to work something out, even if it was something as simple as the best way to approach a personnel issue on base.

It was good to see his familiar scrawl, the loops and whorls and starbursts that she’d always thought were far past the amateur level he claimed. Then she’d known it for truth when she’d encouraged him to explore that piece of himself, when she’d modeled for him and seen the brilliance of his work.

She remembered, then, that his box of art supplies was in the back of her car. She’d been meaning to drop them off at the storage unit she’d maintained since her grandmother died. Getting rid of those pieces of him had been too painful to consider yet, and it wasn’t as if she could have given them to Beth, not when their relationship had been a big, fat secret.

This was getting way too complicated, and it felt like every new fact was coming at her with the speed of a freight train.

Beth and Tate were right on her heels, and she barely finished her first swig as they settled onto barstools. Rather than circling around, she stayed in the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

Benny and Dev grabbed the remaining two barstools, and then Dev looked at her and rolled his hand, indicating she should start talking.

“My cover’s blown. I spent months building Marisol’s character, winnowing deeper into the gang that was pipelining for a cartel. LVMPD pulled me back a few months ago with the story I was heading out to Texas to be with my ailing grandmother. I was only a mid-level player, so I didn’t know a lot yet, but I’d been really close to finding out the identity of who was running things.”

“Why the hell did LVMPD pull you in?” Tate asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Jordan shrugged. “When I came in and debriefed they said the feds already had someone else in there and that we couldn’t risk outing each other. It seemed like a bullshit reason to me at the time, but I go where I’m told.”

But now, thinking back on it, she had to wonder.

“Anyway, they know who I am now. When Benedict splashed my picture up a few days ago, they figured it out. Granted, I look a lot different in real life than my Marisol character, but somebody figured it out.” She grimaced and took another pull on the beer. “So now not only am I under an IA probe regarding the shooting of Turner, where I’m not sure if I fired the lethal bullet, my cover’s blown and LVMPD pulled me in for reasons unknown. Oh, and there’s a fifty-thousand dollar bounty on my head. Not looking great for my career,” she finished glumly.

“I’ll do what I can,” Dev said.

Jordan held up a hand to forestall him. “Dev, let the wheels turn when it comes to the admin portion of this. If they don’t clear me and return me to duty, then we can talk about it. I hear you might know a few good lawyers.” She smiled to take the sting out of the refusal.

He accepted that with better grace than she thought he would. “All right. Just know that I’m here and at your disposal whenever you need me. On that note, I’ve been thinking about what we need to do with Benny.”

“Well, doesn’t that make me sound like a big problem to be solved?” Benny said, a hint of snark in his voice. Jordan was glad to hear a touch of his old self coming to the surface, but a part of her felt dread at what Dev had whirling in that mind of his. The man took complicated to a whole ‘nother level when it came to plans and schemes.

“Not a problem per se,” Dev said with a grin. “Because we’re damn glad to have you back. But we’d like to keep you that way, and part of that is laying low. At some point we have to figure they’re going to want to do an autopsy on your body. That’s going to put Davenport into a hell of a bind.”

Oh hell, Jordan hadn’t even thought about that and forced herself to shift her thought processes away from her personal problems and into the bigger picture.

“He’s a big boy and will figure out a contingency. Either he chooses that moment to disappear, or he’ll have a cover story prepared. But we need to get you separated from us, Benny, for your own safety in case they come calling. I’ve started building you a new identity, but wanted to make sure you’re comfortable with the name I’ve chosen before we proceed.”

“What is it?” Benny asked with a hint of trepidation in his voice.

“Chance Johnson. You can go by CJ if it works. Easier than remembering a new name right off the bat.”

Chance Johnson. Jordan rolled it around in her brain. She liked it, but to her, he would always be Benito.

“I don’t mind it,” Benny said after a long moment. “It’s not like I know who I am now, anyway.” His voice was hollow and it took everything in her not to reach out to comfort him.

“It’s going to take getting used to for all of us,” Beth agreed and lightly punched his shoulder.