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“Afterward, Natalie Woodsworth became Alexandra Garcia. But,” Joe said, pulling a manila folder out of his briefcase, “in name only. Alex, I assume you’ll need employment one of these fine days. Well, you can’t get employment if there’s no history of an Alexandra Garcia existing, correct?”
She nodded, and Quinn squeezed her hand, startling her. She wasn’t sure if she’d reached for him, or if it had been the other way around. It didn’t matter. She took comfort in his touch, in his support.
“As far as the government’s concerned, which I am but a humble servant of,” Joe continued, sarcasm dripping from every word, “the last known sighting of Mrs. Natalie Woodworth was at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. During this same time period, there’s now a record of Miss Alexandra Garcia working in Virginia. In fact”—he flipped through the manila folder—“your verifiable employment record has you as an administrative assistant for the last three and a half years in Quantico, Virginia.”
She stared at Joe, and her jaw dropped. She had a work history now? “You can do that?” She turned to Quinn in disbelief. “He can do that?”
Quinn glared at Joe. “Quantico? Real cute, asshole.” Squeezing her hand again, he said, “Alex, you’dreallybe surprised at what can be done as a humble servant of the government.”
“What’s the big deal about using Quantico?” she asked, leaving her hand in his grip. How the simple contact could be so soothing, she hadn’t a clue. But she gratefully took the tiny bit of comfort he provided.
“The FBI Academy is located there,” Quinn answered, his glare still fixed on Joe. “Could you be a little more obvious? Fucking feds.”
“Hey, the academy isn’t the only thing there,” Joe countered. “It’s a legit place of employment.” He looked at Alex. “You’ve got one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the world in Quantico, which the FBI Academyjustso happensto sit on. The NCIS Headquarters and DEA training facility are also there. The last time I checked, Connie, all those are notableandbelievable places of employment for an administrative assistant.”
Her head spun. “Why can’t I just legally change my name to Alexandra Garcia? Why do I have to switch to a whole new identity?”
“Because if you just legally change your name, then there will be a record of it. Name changes are public documents. Anyone looking for Natalie Woodsworth could do a little snooping and find the new Alexandra Garcia. Any decent PI could locate you in two days. But if Natalie Woodsworthdisappearsit’ll be much harder to find you, particularly if ‘Alexandra Garcia’ already exists.”
Technically, Joe’s explanation made sense. Still... unease turned her stomach. “So what about the divorce papers I had filed when I was in the hospital? What happens with that? What happens to my old identity?”
“All that still stands. As for your old identity.” Joe shrugged. “Nothing happens with that. It just is. Like I said, the last known sighting of Mrs. Natalie Woodsworth was at Mass Gen. As far as everyone is concerned, you—as Natalie—were released from the hospital and disappeared. No one has seen you since. You went off the grid.”
Alex pursed her lips, shutting her eyes. Just like that, her entire past—gone.
“Do you want to start completely fresh or not?” Joe said, no trace of empathy in his voice.
Her eyes snapped open, and she studied him. He was leaving something out. Something big. “What’s the catch?”
“Ah, a girl after my own heart.” He chuckled, dropping his feet to the ground, then propping his elbows on Quinn’s desk. “Let’s worry about this supposed ‘catch’ at a later date. How about you just take a peek at the paperwork? You don’t have to commit to anything right now. It’s not WITSEC or anything.”
“What’s WITSEC?” she asked, frowning. When Joe grimaced, as if he’d regretted his words, her frown deepened.
“Witness Protection.” Her eyes widened, and he rushed on. “That’s not what this is, Alex. This is simply... protection. Just look it over. Okay?”
There was something sketchy about this, but she took the folder he slid across the desk. Scanning the contents, the legal jargon made her eyes cross. But she was taking control of her life, dammit. If that meant taking hours to figure out what the legalese said, so be it.
She’d see what the feds were offering, and she’d probably take it. At this point, she’d do just about anything to get Preston out of her life for good. And besides, as far as she was concerned, Natalie Woodsworth had died a long time ago.
Quinn rose, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t feel pressured to sign anything you don’t want to. We’ll let you read those over in private.” He nodded toward the door. “I’m gonna have a brief chat with Buchanan outside.”
* * *
Once the door was securely closed behind them, Quinn spun. Grabbing Joe’s shirt with both hands, he slammed his friend against the wall.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he hissed. “After all she’s been through? After all the crap that asshole put her through, you guys are going to use her as fuckingbait?”
A look of resignation crossed Joe’s face. “Look, I understand why you’re pissed. I do. But you know how it is. They want Woodsworth. I have no say in this. You know that.”
“Fuck,” Quinn grumbled as he released his friend. Yeah, he knew. That was one of the reasons why he’d left the FBI. He’d gotten tired of asking, “How high, sir?” every time they’d said, “Jump.” And he was now a sheriff, so that said a lot.
“What am I supposed to do, O’Conner? Huh?” Joe raked his hands through his blond hair and began to pace, then jerked to a stop in front of him. “I’ve got my orders. I’m relying on you to protect her.”
“What else do you know?”
“Not much. I thought we fucking had him. Felony assault with a deadly weapon not only against her, but also againstme,a fucking fed. Case closed. He was going to do serious time for that, and then we were going to stack the white collar shit on top.”
Quinn held up a hand. “Wait. You said they want Woodsworth, but theyhavehim. He’s sitting in a cell.”
