“No sir,” he bit out with the barest civility.
“Then get your ass out that door and into that bar. Once there, you will stick as close as possible to Miss Brock until your commander or your operations director informs you otherwise. Are we clear?”
“Yes. Sir.” Animosity filled the young man’s tone now, but he left the room, closing the door with a controlled snap as Doogan turned back to Graham.
His friend was watching the closed door with brooding thoughtfulness.
“His insubordination is straining my patience, Graham,” Doogan informed him. “This is your fair warning, just as I promised. One more time and our friendship won’t save his job.”
Graham nodded slowly, his expression still contemplative.
“You’ve put up with him longer than I would have under the same circumstances, Brom. I was hoping he would have softened by now. I’ll take care of it.”
Brom. Graham called him Doogan when others were around, mostly. He was one of the few Doogan allowed the privilege.
“Now.” Graham narrowed his gaze back at him. “What’s this about being at the top of Zoey’s list of potential first lovers?” He grimaced worriedly. “That’s not a safe place to be, my friend.”
Reaching into the light jacket he wore, Doogan pulled free a white envelope and handed it to Graham. “Perhaps this will explain things better. It’s from Director Bryce himself.”
“Why do I have a feeling this letter is just going to end up pissing me off?” Graham sighed.
With an inclination of his head and a wry smile, Doogan took the chair Graham had offered moments before and watched as the other man sat back down at the desk.
Propping his ankle on the opposite knee, Doogan turned his attention to the security camera as Graham opened the envelope and pulled the letter free.
As Graham read, Doogan watched Eli via the security camera placed behind the bar. The younger man sat at the bar, watching Kye in between glares at the camera.
Doogan was trying to be patient with the boy. He knew why Eli had a problem with him, just as Graham did. Because of it, he’d let the young agent get away with far more than he should have.
Eli refused to see the truth of the events that instilled that resentment in him. No matter the times Eli’s father had tried to make him understand, and no matter the attempts Graham had made, that resentment lingered.
“Oh, fuck,” Graham groaned as he finished the director’s letter. “Doogan, you don’t want to do this.”
No, he didn’t want to do it, but there was little choice at this point. Somehow, another agent had learned Harley was missing and was under the belief Zoey had killed him. Neither Doogan nor Director Bryce had yet to learn the agent’s source of information.
“If I don’t do it, then the assignment will go to Collin Westfield.” Doogan leaned forward as Graham’s eyes narrowed in surprise. “My own initial investigation revealed the rumor that Natches Mackay beat up Agent Harley Matthews aka Harley Perdue and demanded he leave town because of his cousin, Zoey Mackay. That’s the rumor here in Somerset. According to Westfield, he was contacted by an anonymous source who revealed that Zoey Mackay killed Harley, then somehow managed to hide the act. Rather than investigating, Westfield requested immediate arrest. The director refused the request, but that hasn’t stopped the agent from threatening to go over his head. If that happens and Zoey’s arrested, then all the hard work the rest of us have done since Timothy Cranston began courting the Mackay clan as DHS support is shot to hell.”
“Arresting any Mackay will start a war between a hell of a lot of powerful men and DHS,” Graham admitted. “The director will lose quite a few damned good agents as well. I can think of four of us right off the bat.”
“Five, just in case I wasn’t a consideration,” Doogan amended coolly. “The problem is, Westfield won’t care. That’s why I’m here myself, because I do care.”
Graham wiped his hand over his face, then stared back at him in disgust. “That letter.” He flipped the paper in contempt. “Orders me not to tell my wife jack shit, Doogan. That’s her sister we’re talking about.”
“And your wife’s baby sister doesn’t do a damned thing that your wife isn’t well aware of, Graham,” Doogan informed him mockingly. “Are you aware Lyrica knows Zoey is tortured by nightmares of killing Harley?”
Graham stared back at him in shock. “Not possible. Lyrica would have told me.”
“I stayed at Zoey’s last night and bugged her living area. I actually overheard the conversation this afternoon. Lyrica’s certain it’s some nightmare Zoey can’t distinguish from reality, whereas Zoey is convinced there’s more behind it. Incidentally, it would have happened before he was seen at Ziggler’s convenience store at the edge of town. But if Westfield ever gets so much as a whisper of that little nugget of information, then hell is going to explode at DHS as well as in Somerset.”
Graham shook his head. “Harley’s not dead. I saw him for about two minutes after I was released from the hospital last summer. He made the shot that killed Jimmy Dorne. That was months after he was seen leaving town.”
“He has to come in, Graham . . .”
“Good fucking luck,” Graham snapped. “He won’t even come in for Natches, and they were tight as hell. Hell, until he took that shot at Jimmy, no one had seen or heard from him since he’d disappeared.”
“Does Natches have any idea why?” Doogan asked him.
“None.” Graham shook his head, and he wasn’t lying.