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Fine. She’d say what she had to in order to get out of here. Michelle hadn’t said that she needed tomakethe deal—just that she needed to present it. “All right.”
“Good.” Michelle answered her call, then put her hand over the mouthpiece. “You can go, Agent Stevens. I’ll email you the details, and you can set up the meeting.”
Sure enough, ten minutes later, her computer dinged with an alert. Hayley opened it and saw the details of her and Michelle’s agreement in stark black and white: one of SEAL Team Ten would confess to shooting their teammate, and the others would receive immunity in exchange for any information they had regarding the whereabouts of Ms. Natalie Matthews. Huh. That last part was new. Hayley scrunched her nose at the screen. Why would Michelle care about Nick’s widow?
Icy tendrils of dread shivered through her nervous system.
She’d been trying to deny it all through that tense, awkward meeting, but now she was forced to admit that there was no other explanation. There reallywasa cover-up going on. And Michelle was in on it, somehow. Had to be. This whole thing against Scotty and his team was a setup.
Hayley wouldn’t be offering him that bogus deal, not now. But she did need to warn him.
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Scotty’s number, her knees tingling with anticipation despite the reason for the call. He answered on the second ring.
“Hey, Red. What’s doing?”
“Hello.” She smiled. The nickname was growing on her, not that she’d let him know. “I need to see you again.”
“Aw, I knew you couldn’t stay away.” Same teasing tone, same flirtation. Same lick of flame in her core at the huskiness of his voice. “Just tell me when and where.”
“Um.” She clicked a few keys on her computer and brought up a list of local safe houses. She saw one a couple of streets over from the house where they’d first met and gave him the address. “It’s nothing fancy, just a safe house, but it should be comfortable enough. Say seven tonight? I have to work until six.”
“Seven’s good for me. Looking forward to it.”
“Me too,” she said.
“Oh, and Red? Bring your laptop. We’ve got some things you can help with.”
We. Meaning his team, not just him. Disappointment flooded her before she tamped it down. This was business. It wasn’t like she and Scotty were a real couple. They’d only played one for a couple hours to throw some federal agents off their tracks. So much for those warm fuzzy feelings brewing inside her. She tamped them down with a vengeance. “Will do.”
“Awesome. See you at seven, Red.”
“See you.” She hung up and checked her watch. She had eight hours to find out all she could about the investigation into Nick Matthews’s death and why someone would be so keen to cut a deal.
* * *
Scotty arrived at Hayley’s safe house a few minutes early, out of habit. That gave him time to check out the place, make note of all the entrances and exits, and secure the perimeter. Once that was done, he let himself in using the key in the lockbox near the front door as she’d instructed in her text, then turned on a few lights to make the place feel more welcoming. He put away the groceries he’d picked up on the way over, then opened a bottle of wine.
A cab pulled up to the front of the small two-story promptly at seven, and Hayley exited, looking delectable as always, her casual jeans and sweater hugging all her curves. His body tightened in response, but he forced his libido into submission. They were here to work, not so he could get laid.
Not that he’d mind a little nookie with Red, but perhapsafterthey found what they were both searching for.
Celebratory sex. Yeah, that sounded damned near perfect. Solve the case, then share a bed. Awesome.
She knocked, and he let her in, grinning like a fool. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, patting the messenger bag at her side. “I brought my laptop.” She set her bag on the sofa and looked around. “Is it just you?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?” Maybe they weren’t on the same page after all.
“Oh, no.” She blushed. “I just… You said you, all of you, wanted my help. So I thought…”
“Ohh. Yeah, no.” Scotty smiled and moved closer to her, feeling the near irresistible pull to touch her, to taste her lips, to stroke her soft skin. He shook off the errant thoughts and concentrated on the mission at hand. That was the priority. Had to be. Kyle had sent Spence back to the Matthews’s house that afternoon to check the attic, and he’d come back with a prize. “Uh, we found Natalie’s computer earlier. Thought maybe you could hack into it and see what’s on the hard drive.”
“Sure. I’ll take a look.”
She took a seat at one end of the sofa, and he walked back into the kitchen, wiping his suddenly damp palms on the legs of his jeans. He grabbed the laptop off the counter and handed it to Hayley. “Here you go. You want some wine while you work?”
“Wine?”
