“I need you to do something, Joey.” Will was always intense, but his expression was guarded and he kept his voice low.
“Yeah, of course. What do you need?”
Will took a deep breath, looking down the hall again as though making sure no one could hear them. “I need you to deep dive on Coulter. I need you to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is not tied to the Syndicate, or being used as a pawn in their twisted plan. For all of our own peace-of-mind.”
Joey shook her head and gave him a confused look. “I don’t know how much I can find that hasn’t already been dug up. The man went through the Vice-Presidential security scan, not to mention the media hounds trying to find even the hint of dirt. What am I supposed to look for?”
Will leaned forward. “Everything,” he said firmly. “Those other checks weren’t looking for Syndicate ties. They wouldn’t have even recognized them if they saw them. But you will.”
It wasn’t unusual for Will to be passionate about something, but his fierce explanation of her mission was a bit over-the-top, even for him.
It made sense to her though. If he was going to be leading a team on a clandestine operation at the request of the man, Will needed to trust him. Will trusted Ross and Flint, but he wasn’t going to take their word for it.
“Can you do this, Joey?”
She nodded once. “I’ve got you, Gilbert. If there is anything suspicious about Harrison Coulter, I’ll find it.”
Will smiled tightly. “Thank you. Oh, and don’t mention this to anyone else, okay?”
She hesitated, and then nodded. It wouldn’t hurt to run the deep dive. Ross wouldn’t like it, but if worse came to worst, he’d say that Coulter had nothing to hide.
Will left and Joey stood in the alcove alone for a minute, her mind racing with what had just transpired. Her phone buzzed, and she saw Cole’s name flash. She took a deep breath. Instead of answering the call, she walked down the hall to the lobby.
Cole looked up with a grin. “Hey, I was just trying to call you.”
“Yeah, I saw it.” She hesitated. “Can we talk?”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
“What’s so important?”Cole demanded after she explained that she’d be stuck here for the foreseeable future, tied up with something else.
“I can’t tell you that,” Joey said again.
He squeezed his fist, fighting the urge to pound it on the wall behind him. “So what? We’re just done? The CPB-PGI project just dies because something else is more important?”
Joey’s expression was sympathetic, but he didn’t want sympathy. He wanted action. “We’re so close. We just need a couple days!”
Her hand came to his arm. “I know. And I’ll be here. I’m not abandoning you. I’ll monitor the trap door from here at BTS and we’ll catch them. But I can’t be inside, out of reach. This other job is going to move quickly, and my team will need me.”
Cole sagged. “What if I need you?” He whispered the question, aware of how pathetic he must have sounded. It wasn’t just that he was desperate for her to help save the project. He wanted to be near her. To know that she was on the fourth floor at Zia or sleeping safely in his guest room.
Joey tipped her head up and lifted to her toes, kissing him gently. It soothed the anger slightly. “I’m sorry about the timing. I’ll be here. We’ll get him. And this other job will resolve and things will go back to normal.”
Cole frowned. “That’s the thing. This is our normal, isn’t it?”
She tipped her head to the left, then the right. “Sometimes, yeah.”
He sighed. “How can I hold that against you when I know eventually it will be me doing the same thing? It’s why relationships never seem to work for me. I’ve never been on the receiving end of it though. It kind of sucks,” he added bluntly.
Joey smiled. “After it’s over, I’ll tell you all about this other mission. And I hope you’ll understand.”
Cole nodded. “It’s a date.” He kissed her again. “Do we get to do dinner tonight?”
Joey shook her head slowly. “I wish, and not just because I’m starving. But I can’t. I’ll be camped out here until this mission is over.”
Cole raised his eyebrows. “Camped out?”
“Yeah, we’ve got some beds for when we need to crash. But I’ve got some major work to do while we wait for your mole to trigger our trap. I’m just a call away, okay?”