it hard when his tight grip on the collar of her jacket kept threatening to lift her feet from the ground.
They moved past the midway point of the forty-foot-long RV and he finally released her, shoving her back against the cold metal siding. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“At the moment I figure I’m getting my ass chewed.”
“Don’t get cute.” He folded his arms in front of him and gave her his best impression of a pissed-off boulder. “I swear you sound more like Varik every fucking day.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know better than to provoke someone like Morgan.”
Alex readjusted her jacket and checked the position of the silver badge clipped to her jeans’s waistband. “Does she really have to shadow me in the field? I thought the Tribunal was only interested in my past cases.”
“They were, until you were reinstated. They’re not going to pass up the opportunity to have firsthand observation of your methods. You can thank Baudelaire for screwing you on that.”
“I will.” She cracked her knuckles. “Trust me.”
“Where is he?”
She shrugged. “He left over an hour ago to get coffee. Tasha said she called him but he isn’t answering his phone. I was going to try reaching him through the bond.”
“He hasn’t checked in?”
“No, but that’s not unusual. If something were seriously wrong, I would’ve sensed it. He’s just ignoring Tasha for some reason.”
“Find out what the hell he’s doing and then the two of you get your asses out to that salvage yard.”
“Anything else?”
“Just remember Varik is primary. Work clean. Follow his directions. I’ll put my foot up your ass if you screw up this inquiry and get yourself killed.”
“Gee, I didn’t know you cared.”
“Cut the attitude,” he said softly. “And don’t antagonize Morgan like you do Varik.”
“I do not antagonize Varik! He bugs the crap out of me!”
“He bugs the crap out of everyone.” He sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Take care of yourself. I don’t want to be the one to bear bad news to Emily again.”
Alex watched him leave. She wasn’t sure what to make of his parting remark. Again? When had he delivered bad news to her mother in the past? Alex had been the one to find her father’s staked and decapitated body in the cemetery near their home, so Damian couldn’t have meant that.
She checked her watch. Where the hell was Varik?
As she dropped the shields protecting her mind from Varik’s, Morgan rounded the corner of the lab. “Enforcer Sabian, a moment, please.”
Alex swallowed the smart-ass retort that was her first instinct and recovered her mental barriers. “Of course.”
“I want it to be perfectly clear that I’m here at the request of the Tribunal. I could care less about who your father was and I’m not here to be friends.”
“Damn, and I was hoping we could go shopping later.” She knew the statement was a mistake as soon as Morgan’s hazel eyes narrowed.
“This sort of flippant attitude makes me wonder if you’re capable of being an effective Enforcer.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“You turned rogue. That speaks volumes.”
“Let’s get something straight right now.” Alex stepped close, her words a low hiss. “I don’t like you, and I don’t give a shit what you, or the Tribunal, think about me. Right now, my concern is Mindy Johnson and giving her family some closure. If I clear my name in the process, so be it, but the girl comes first.”
Morgan held her ground. “We’ll see if you still feel that way once the Tribunal convenes next month.”
Alex stalked away, no longer caring if Morgan shadowed her. It was common for Internal Affairs Special Investigators to goad the object of their scrutiny to elicit a reaction, to provoke them into showing a weakness. She’d shown she had a temper. If she wasn’t careful, Morgan could easily paint her as a loose cannon to the Tribunal and that would be all the justification they needed to retire her.
Permanently.
Varik sat in a back corner booth at Mug Shots, Jefferson’s only gourmet coffee shop, and watched as a curvy blond woman settled onto the bench seat across from him. The overhead lamps caught the silver highlights in her curls but cast shadows under her clear blue eyes. Once she’d settled, he reached across the table and laid his hand over hers. “Thanks for meeting me on short notice.”
Emily Sabian nodded and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. “You said it was urgent, that Alex had a vision.”