that Becca either is in danger or
is
the danger.” Natalie said it as a comment, but it was clear from the slow emphasis of each word she didn’t believe the sentiment.
At least they’d finally hit on a topic that did interest him. Not that he let that show. He steeled his body to remain still and forced his mouth into a thin line. “You obviously want to tell me something, so why not just go ahead and say whatever you came here to say.”
“She is the prime suspect.”
The news kicked him in the gut. Not what he expected at all.
Wade frowned. “Suspect in what?”
Natalie ignored Wade like he was beneath her. Just the help. Her focus remained on Jarrett. “Eliminating her team.”
“Why exactly would she do that?” Jarrett asked, unable to conjure up an explanation that made any sense.
“Power gone wild. Thirst for revenge. Lost her mind.” Natalie held both hands up in the air as she ticked through the possibilities with all the enthusiasm of someone reading from a grocery list. “The reason doesn’t really matter. The point is that she’ll be put down like a rabid dog.”
The description set a flame to Jarrett’s brewing fury, but he refused to even flinch. “And why are you telling me?”
“I thought you should know in case you got the wild idea of trying to help her.” Natalie finally glanced at Wade. “If she comes here—”
“Which she wouldn’t.” Jarrett said it like an order, basically commanding Natalie to speak to him again.
It worked. The explosive fury behind those brown eyes burned into him. “You are to contact me immediately if you hear from Becca.”
He’d hand over the keys to the club before he took directions from Natalie or anyone in her office. And no one was touching Becca but him. “Again, Natalie, I don’t work for you.”
“I know you think that.”
“You seem to forget our deal.” Not that he ever could. It proved to be the ultimate case of sleeping with the enemy. “I gave you information you needed—”
“To stay out of prison.”
Jarrett bit back a sharp response, one that pointed out how much he hated it when people interrupted him. But that would give her power. If she knew his weak points, those things that grated and prodded at him, she’d use them against him daily. Hell, he’d do the same thing in her position.
“You were desperate to have it and I acquiesced.” The same information he’d painstakingly collected and portions of which he continued to hold back for his protection and the safety of a select few others. “We both know the drug charges were bogus. The concerns about what I knew from customers, those from outside of the country and those in power positions in D.C., led your office to admit Spectrum had exceeded its authority coming after me.”
“I don’t believe we admitted any such thing.”
Maybe not directly, but it happened at some level or he wouldn’t be free. He had ferreted out that much. “The team wasn’t supposed to plant drugs or have me arrested. Because, as we both know, the CIA isn’t in the domestic drug-crime-fighting business. But I’m thinking someone at Spectrum went rogue. When you realized, you terminated the team and the operation. Then you got into bed, metaphorically of course, with me.”
Natalie spun her seat around to face him with her smirk back in place. “I never would have made the deal with you.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not in charge at the CIA.” Jarrett slid off the seat and stood next to the bar. “Next time make sure you have an appointment before you come over. I am no longer available for drop-in visits.”
Her feet hit the floor as she reached out for his sleeve, her hand catching only air. “We’re not done.”
He thought about the silent alarm and the woman upstairs and all he wanted to do to her, and kept walking toward the hall. With his final step in the room, he glanced over his shoulder and shot Natalie a look that made most men wither. “Yes,