AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sat and stared into the blackness surrounding her, hot tears streaming down her cheeks and the burner phone still clutched in her hand.
8
Hayley walked into FBI headquarters the next morning in her best black power suit, ready to defend her actions and her honor and beg not to be fired for her insubordination. She didn’t have to wait long. She’d barely reached her desk and put her bag down when Michelle summoned her to her office.
Showtime.
Shoulders squared and head high, she plastered on a polite smile and headed across the open-concept room toward the glass-walled office in the corner. Michelle sat behind her desk, looking perfect as always: perfect posture, perfectly coiffed dark brown hair, perfect makeup highlighting her perfect dark brown eyes.
“Close the door and have a seat.” Michelle gestured to one of two chairs in front of her metal-and-glass desk. “We need to talk.”
Nothing good ever started with those words.
She did as her boss asked, then crossed her legs primly and folded her hands in her lap. “I want to apologize again for—”
“I don’t care about that. Just know if you ever disobey my direct orders again, I’ll fire you immediately. Now, tell me what you’ve learned about Natalie Matthews.”
“Oh.” Hayley did her best to hide her surprise.
Disobey orders, get fired. Got it.
“Okay. Well, there’s some contradictory evidence as to whether she’s dead or just missing.” She filled Michelle in on the newspaper article and the grave site, but also the security cam footage showing Natalie alive and well. She went on to explain about the murkiness surrounding the death of Natalie’s husband. She thought about leaving it at that, but her job was on shaky ground and she felt she needed to be open with her boss, so she told her about meeting Scotty and the rest of his team, about agreeing to work with them to investigate the situation further.
“I see.” Michelle narrowed her gaze. “And what do you think? Do you believe that they’re telling the truth about not being involved in Nick Matthews’s death?”
“I’m not sure. I need more time.” Michelle’s lips thinned slightly, and Hayley noticed the shadows beneath her eyes. It didn’t look like she’d been sleeping well lately. Hayley knew her son’s illness weighed heavily on her, and she felt a pang of guilt at her earlier thoughts about Michelle’s perfection. “Is everything all right? At home, I mean.”
“Everything’s fine.” Her boss’s expression shifted from exhaustion to annoyance in a flash. “What about the blond one? The one you snuck away with. Did he tell you anything about Matthews’s death?”
Snuck away with?
Her posture stiffened, and she crossed her legs away from Michelle. “He told me his team had nothing to do with the shooting.”
“Hmm.” Michelle kept her gaze locked on Hayley’s, the end of her pentap, tap, tappingon her desktop. “Offer him a deal.”
“Excuse me?”
“Offer the guy a deal. Tell him that if someone on his team takes the fall for the shooting, the others go free. I don’t care which one of them it is.”
That was the last thing she’d have imagined Michelle might say in regard to Scotty and his SEAL team. Why would the government offer something like that now? Last time she’d checked, the investigation wasn’t even complete. The whole thing screamedbeware, and her instincts went on high alert. This sounded like exactly what Scotty had described—that someone was trying to shut down the investigation to keep anyone from digging any further. Why else would her bossnot carewho took the fall? Weren’t they supposed to be in the business of finding the truth, not just finding a scapegoat? “Um, do you mind me asking why?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” Michele tossed her pen aside and pushed to her feet. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in after yesterday, Agent Stevens?”
“I thought since—”
“Well, you thought wrong.” Her boss came around the desk, staring down at Hayley. “I’m willing to keep your indiscretion between us and off the record, but only if you present this deal to the SEALs. No further discussion.”
Pulse thudding and muscles tight, Hayley crossed her arms. Scotty would never go for it. And she couldn’t blame him. The whole thing was fishy as hell. Why should an innocent man take the fall and face prison time for a crime he didn’t commit?
“How badly do you want this promotion, Agent Stevens?”
The screws around her heart tightened. Her boss knew all the right buttons to push, dammit. Hayley forced herself to take a breath and met Michelle’s gaze. “Badly.”
“Then do this. It’s the easiest way for everyone to move on.”
Hayley wanted to ask exactly who “everyone” was, but she refrained.
Michelle’s phone rang, and she raised a brow at Hayley. “What’s it going to be?”
