I deciphered this. That's when I realized how soon after her death that he died. I assume he probably started an off-book investigation into her death, but it was never completed."
"He got her killed. He should have brought her in after she helped him bring down all those spies," she said hotly, anger running through her. "But he left her out there." She looked over at Jax, seeing the reluctant agreement in his gaze. "He had to know she was in danger."
"She was always in danger," Jax said. "From the first moment she started working for Constantine. She sold her soul for her career. But in the end, she did the right thing for the country who'd given her so much."
"And she lost her life because the FBI wanted more from her." She saw mixed emotions on the faces of the other agents. "I—I need a minute." She got up and walked out of the room. Jax, of course, followed her, steering her into a kitchen that was thankfully empty.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She sat down at the kitchen table. "I don't know how I feel. It's a lot to take in."
He sat down across from her. "You need time to process."
"Yes, I do. First, I have to accept that my grandmother was a Russian spy and then I have to accept that she was a double agent." She shook her head in bewilderment. "I guess what I really feel right now is confusion, sadness, and anger. I know she made her choice to get involved with Constantine. That's on her. But this Wilson kept using her after she helped him break up a huge ring of spies. He should have protected her."
"I agree."
"You do? Are you sure? Would you have done the same as him, sacrificed Natasha to get more spies?"
He looked into her eyes. "I don't want to lie to you, Maya. It's always a fine line. Assets are people who live in two worlds, and we can never fully protect them. Sometimes they choose to walk away, and we help them disappear. Others choose to keep being assets. Their motives range from money to power to thrills, to finally feeling like they're making a difference somewhere."
"What if she didn't choose to stay on? What if they forced her? What if she was too scared to say no to this Wilson guy or to Constantine? What if she was just trapped?"
"She had choices, Maya. And her choice was to work with the FBI. I think she was evening the scales between the good and the evil she had done. She wanted her son to be proud of her. The last thing she ever wrote in her journal was that she wanted to make things right for her son."
"You're right. I thought those lines were about getting him off drugs, being a better mother, but in light of what we know now, maybe they were about her finally choosing to do the right thing." She paused. "And maybe that choice was also because of Julia. God, Julia! They killed her to stop me from asking her questions. That poor woman. She ran away a long time ago and probably thought she was safe after thirty-six years, but she wasn't. And her death is on me."
"Her death is on the hands of the person who killed her."
She met his gaze. "Coleman or Constantine?"
"I don't know."
"I'm thinking it was Coleman, because when Constantine talked to me about Natasha's death, there was real pain his eyes. He did love her."
"That doesn't mean he didn't kill her."
"True."
"It also doesn't have to be one or the other. They could have been in on everything together."
She frowned at that suggestion. "Which raises another question. I know the agent handling Natasha died, so maybe her identity, her death, was not seen as murder, but the bureau knew about Constantine and Coleman, right? Why didn't they go after them once Natasha was out of the picture?"
"I can't answer that question without doing more research, but my gut says that Wilson kept some of that information away from the other agents. He was protecting his pipeline from a possible mole in the organization. I'm not saying it was right. But we need to know more."
"So, what happens now? Do you start making arrests?" He hesitated, and she frowned. "You're not going to arrest them, Jax?"
"Not this second. We need to put together a good case, Maya, and right now we have a foundation, but we need more.