Disavowed(99)

“He says he shoved her toward the street after the crash to send her to safety. She’s got some whiplash and minor abrasions but that’s about it. And as far as we can tell, she was totally in the dark about what he’d been up to behind the scenes. Not surprising, given how good he was at covering his tracks. Oh, and the guy you tangled with in Lake Placid? Former Mob hit man.” She sat back and folded her arms across her chest, her expression fierce. “The asshole who killed Janaia and Frank was also caught last night, trying to get across the border into Mexico. I can’t find out anything more about him, but at least you can feel good that he’s being put away.”

Briar let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks for telling me that. I needed to hear it.”

“I can imagine.”

They talked a while longer, mostly rehashing last night’s op, then Bauer stood and picked up the empty coffee cups. “Too bad we can’t recruit her for one of our sniper teams,” he said to Matt, grinning as he shot a look at Briar on his way to the kitchen. “I think she’d be one hell of an addition.”

“She would,” Matt agreed, smiling into her upturned face. He’d trust her to have his or his guys’ backs on an op any day. Just one more reason why he’d fallen so hard for her.

“If you want me to wait while you get ready, I can take you over to Langley,” Rycroft said to her.

“Oh.” She glanced up at Matt. “You’ll be at Quantico for most of the day, right?”

“Probably, yeah. But if you’re not done by the time I finish, I’ll head over to Langley and meet you.” Even though he knew she was strong, he didn’t want her to have to do this alone, go through the grueling debriefing process where she’d have to relive everything that had happened over the past few months, including Janaia’s death.

She turned to Rycroft. “Sure, thanks.” Standing, she offered Matt her hand and helped pull him to his feet. “Be down in a few minutes,” she said to the others, and led him to the stairs.

Up in his room Matt shut the door. She looked back at him, paused in the act of undressing to jump in the shower. Her eyes flared with unmistakable arousal as he held her gaze and began stripping off his own clothes, still awkward because of his sore shoulder.

A sexy smile curved her lips as she took in his swelling erection. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, we don’t have time.”

“Showering with a friend is the environmentally responsible thing to do,” he argued. “It saves water. We’ll be helping save the planet.”

Her dark eyes sparkled up at him, filled with hope and happiness. “I’m getting my life back today.”

He grinned and cupped the side of her face, stroking the scratches there. “Yeah you are.” Kissing her smiling lips, Matt wrapped his good arm around her waist and backed her toward the shower.



****



At CIA headquarters in Langley five hours later, Briar walked to the conference room door with Alex and paused when he stepped aside.

“I’ll be right outside waiting for you,” he said with a smile, as though he knew how tired she was and that she was nervous about this last meeting. She was mentally exhausted and had a feeling this final meeting would be the most draining of all.

Nodding, she knocked on the door and turned the handle when a male voice called out for her to enter. A fifty-ish man with glasses and graying light brown hair sat at the far end of the long rectangular table. He stood and rounded the end to shake her hand. “Miss Jones. Glad to see you’re well.”

“Thank you.” He gestured to the seat beside his and she sat, looking at the papers he’d set out.

The Director eased back into his own chair and regarded her with shrewd blue eyes. “I realize there’s nothing I can say that will make up for what you’ve been through, but you have my sincerest and most heartfelt apology for everything that’s happened.”

Briar blinked, a bit taken aback by his directness. She hadn’t expected him to offer a personal apology. “Thank you.” She sounded like an idiot, repeating the same thing, but she didn’t know how else to respond.

“I know you’ve been briefed about all this paperwork already,” he added. “There’s the standard non-disclosure agreement and a statement guaranteeing that you won’t sue the agency.” His expression turned hard. “Though if anyone had a right to do just that, it’s you.” While she mentally raised her eyebrows, he cleared his throat. “I’ll personally be overseeing how Mrs. Miller’s case is handled. Her family will be given a sizeable compensation package, though we won’t be disclosing the details of her death. You’ll need to sign a non-disclosure statement for that as well.”