the sergeants is going to call me once they find out what they’re dealing with.”
“That’s another reason I asked for you to come along.”
“Which is?”
“Because you’re a handsome woman, you can get favors outside the FBI.”
“Handsome?”
He had finished buttoning his shirt and took a step closer to her. His voice softened. “Do you think I should have said…beautiful?” He was looking into her eyes now.
It took a moment for her to compose herself. “I think that painkiller has worked its way up into your brain.”
Carefully, Vail started tucking in his shirt. “How’s Kaulcrick taking all this?”
“Not as well as you are. In his mind, he got bested by Bertok.”
“Maybe,” Vail said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means there are an awful lot of moving parts to this thing to be only one person. I have to think about it for a while.” As they walked out the door to the parking lot, Kate saw him discreetly slip the pain prescription the doctor had given him into a trash receptacle.
Once they got to the hotel, she walked him to his room. “Sure you’re all right?”
“If I’m not, what did you have in mind?”
“The standard stuff—CPR, tourniquets, a kidney.”
Vail smiled. “Thanks for the ride.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
As he turned to put his key in the lock, surprising even herself, she gave him a light kiss on the cheek, but immediately regretted it. He was the last man in the world she wanted to think of her as an emotional female. She reminded herself that Vail, however, was not most men. And maybe it was a good thing to show him that she was capable of a certain degree of intimacy. If nothing else, it would keep him from figuring her out as easily as he did everyone else. “There’s a conference call with the director at nine a.m. If you don’t feel up to it, I’m sure he’ll understand.”
He stared at her for a second. “Thanks for hanging in on my side. I know that people like Kaulcrick see it as being disloyal.”
“That’s all right, I plan to do a lot of sucking up to him over the next few days. And should push come to shove, I’ll give you up in a heartbeat.”
“If you do, I’ll tell him you kissed me.”
“He said, she said, bricklayer.” She turned to go. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
NO SOONER HAD VAIL gotten his shirt off than he heard a soft knock on the door. Thinking Kate had returned, he was surprised to find Tye Delson standing in the hallway.
“Hi,” she said. “Came to see if you’re all right.”
“I’m good. How’d you know?”
“The pickup truck that was used to lead your surveillance crew away. They needed a search warrant.”
“I’m sorry, come on in.” He opened the door wide and stepped back.
She gave the room a quick look and said, “Thought maybe you could use a drink.” She pulled a silver flask out of her purse and held it up with ceremony. “I’ve brought bourbon. The shopkeeper told me it is the traditional celebratory for a near-death experience.”
“So we’re celebrating?”
“Actually he said it was good for calming the nerves, but if I thought you were that kind of man, I probably wouldn’t be here.”
“Let me get some glasses.” He opened a drawer and pulled on a T-shirt.
“How many stitches?” she asked when she saw his back.
“It felt like seven or eight.” He walked over to a side table and picked up two glasses. “Do you want ice or water?”
“This is twelve-year-old Kentucky sipping whiskey. The clerk insisted that it not be defiled with California groundwater.” Vail came back, and she poured a couple of ounces for each of them. Then she took out a pack of cigarettes. “Do you mind?”
“It won’t be the first time I smelled smoke tonight.”
After she lit one, she held up her glass and said, “To surviving.” They both took a healthy swallow. “So how bad was it down there? In the tunnel.”
“It wasn’t the best of times; it wasn’t the worst of times.”
“How very non-Dickensian. From what they told me, it sounded pretty bad. They don’t know how you weren’t killed.”
Vail studied her for a moment, trying to figure out why she was there. The first time they had met, she admitted liking to hang out with agents, but this seemed more than that. She was wearing a dark workout suit that, unlike the long, loose dresses he had seen her in at the office, revealed an amply feminine figure. Was he a