Julie Kenner – Undercover Lovers (страница 4)

Tori licked her lips, the truth fighting with her pride. On the pride side, she knew—she just knew—she’d done the right thing, made the right call. If she hadn’t thrown that can, the perp would have gotten away. The robbery would have gone down, and the FBI would have no one in custody.

On the truth side, Tori knew she’d disobeyed a direct order. In her mind, though, so long as none of the good guys got hurt, following orders wasn’t anywhere near as important as catching the bad guys. Too bad no one had asked for her opinion.

“I’m sorry, sir. It was an instinct, sir.”

“Bullshit. Quit trying to be your father, Lowell.” He bent his head to look at her over the rim of his glasses. “This is going in your file. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any choice.”

Tori’s heart sank even as her ire bloomed. She managed to catch his sleeve before he turned away. “Travis!”

The frown he shot her was anything but amused.

“I mean, Agent Murphy.” She lowered her voice. “Give me a break here. I’ve been pushing a computer since I joined the Bureau. I want to get out in the field. I want an undercover assignment.”

“Then do the job you’re assigned and earn it.”

“Earn it? I earned it at Quantico!”

He glared.

Tori squared her shoulders. “What about the report I turned in last week? Those blackmail incidents.” She started counting on her fingers. “The senator, that real estate developer and even that movie director. There’s a connection there. Did you read the report? And those are only the ones we know about. Someone’s running a scam out there. If I could only get out to—”

“Damn it, Tori. Your job is analysis, and you do a damn good job of it.”

The words came out harsh, but after a few moments, the older man’s face softened, and she recognized the familiar features she knew so well. Travis Murphy and Tori’s dad had been best friends at the academy and had worked closely together after that. When Mark Lowell had died, Uncle Travis had stepped in, watching out for Tori and her mother.

Now, she had to wonder if he was regretting being as good a role model as he’d been. Maybe if Travis hadn’t doted on her so much, she wouldn’t have followed in his and her father’s footsteps. After all, it wasn’t too late to take that accounting job at one of the Big Eight firms.

She stifled an unladylike snort. Not damn likely.

“I may be good at it, sir, but I didn’t sign up to work a desk. I have a degree in accounting, remember? I walked away from the desk job option. I joined the Bureau—”

“To be an undercover agent. Like your dad.” His eyes were sad, remembering. “I know. And I suppose I can’t protect you forever. But you’re not going to make it to the top by bending the rules.”

Her dad had bent plenty of rules, but Tori knew when to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she closed her eyes and counted to ten. It was only while she was counting that Murphy’s words sunk in. Slowly, she opened her eyes, hoping she wasn’t setting herself up for more disappointment. “What do you mean, you can’t protect me forever?” She drew in a breath. “Am I getting an undercover assignment?”

The thin line of Murphy’s mouth remained firm, but he nodded. “Yeah, kid. It looks like you are.”

Tori’s breath caught in her throat. “What? When? With who?” Her words tripped off her tongue, and it was all she could do not to shake Murphy and have him spill the entire story right then.

He held up a hand, laughing. “Hold on. You’re scheduled for a full briefing in about an hour. Right now, all I know is that you’re investigating the allegations in your report. And you’ll be working with one of the guys from your class at the Academy.”

“Doug Leyman?” she offered, suggesting one of her study buddies.

“Carter something,” Murphy said. Tori’s stomach twisted even as she wondered why Carter’s name would be unfamiliar to Murphy. Considering how much it had affected her career, surely her little tryst with Carter was legendary within the Bureau by now.

But Murphy looked genuinely clueless. “Carter Simmons, maybe?” he said.

“Sinclair,” Tori corrected. For years, she’d lived with the Carter mistake hanging around her neck like an albatross, and now this? She looked Murphy in the eye, wondering if the universe wasn’t playing some cruel joke on her. But he didn’t look to be joking, and she exhaled, standing up straighter and meeting his eye. “The agent’s name is Carter Sinclair.”

2

TORI SAT ON A BENCH outside the Burbank airport and read through her report on the Kama Resort for the umpteenth time, going over every nuance that had led to her putting together the connection between the blackmail victims, and to her conclusion that there were more victims out there still unaccounted for.

Her eyes drifted over the page, taking in every word. Not that she actually needed to read it. Heck, at this point she could practically recite the thing from memory. But reading kept her mind off Carter, and that had to be a good thing.

Carter. She shouldn’t have let her thoughts go there, because now she was stuck thinking about him. And she didn’t want to think about him. Thinking about him only made her frustrated and angry and a whole host of other emotions she had no business entertaining. And to find out she was going to be working in close quarters with him—and at a sex resort, no less.

She shivered, not sure if it was a blessing or a curse.

She recalled his face—that cocky grin, those brooding eyes. And lashes so long they’d be feminine on any man other than Carter.

A curse. Definitely a curse. And not only because he frustrated her on so many levels. Sure, he’d been her nemesis throughout their tenure at the academy, and sure, he’d gotten the prime assignments while she’d been pounding a keyboard. But she was a big girl. She knew Carter hadn’t been the one holding her back. No, that dubious honor belonged to her superiors. And while she was pissed as hell, she wasn’t pissed at Carter. Well, not much, anyway.

But this was her case. She’d put the pieces together. She’d spent hours getting blisters on her butt while she made phone call after phone call tracking down leads that tied the players to the resort. She’d been the one who’d burned up the Internet trying to find missing pieces of information. And she was the one who’d drafted the report that got the ball rolling.

By all rights, she should be leading the team. But was she? Nope. Once again, Carter had bested her, and she was reporting to him.

The situation stank.

Not that she’d really expected anything else. After all, she’d been stuck in a closet with a computer for the last few years while Carter had been out doing the job she deserved. Not that anyone had ever come out and said anything about her indiscretion with Carter. Instead, her superiors had consistently praised her brains even while citing her past insubordination. Okay, so maybe she didn’t always follow protocol, but lots of agents didn’t, right? The point was to win in the end.

No, Tori was certain that her fate was a product of her impetuous encounter with Carter. Hopefully this new mission meant she’d finally paid her dues and was getting an assignment based on merit.

Of course, it wasn’t as if they’d given her the type of assignment she’d been wanting. She’d hoped to infiltrate a drug ring or buddy up with members of the mob. Instead, she was getting undercover light—pretending to be married at a sex resort. Not what she’d expected, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

And even though she was stuck as the underling, she intended to do everything in her power to shine on this job. And if that meant impressing—and obeying—Carter Sinclair, well, she could handle that.

She’d try anyway. She intended to work her tush off in the process. Because when this was all over, she wanted to be out in the field permanently. And if Carter was her stepping-stone, then so be it. She was ten times the agent he was, and in the end, she’d surely prove it—even while being the subservient little underling.

As it was, she’d already outlined a number of ways they could get the case rolling. Her eyes skimmed over the neatly printed list, only one of many papers in her portfolio. She’d worked on her plan over the course of the entire flight from Washington to California and she had some great ideas for jump-starting their research and investigating the potential perps.

Carter was sure to be impressed.

“Looks like the gang’s all here.”

Tori flinched at the achingly familiar voice behind her. A voice that forced her to admit that, on a certain forbidden level, she was excited about seeing him again. Damn.

Gathering herself, she shifted on the bench to face him. She drew in a quick breath, hoping he didn’t notice. Carter had always been good-looking, but she hadn’t expected the commanding presence she was facing. Somehow, he’d matured since she’d seen him last, and the change suited him.

“Solved the case yet, Lowell?” he asked.

She smiled, the same cool and collected smile she’d used a hundred times to ward off unwelcome advances. “Not just yet, Sinclair. But I’ve got a self-imposed deadline. By noon tomorrow, I’ll have this thing whipped.”