Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,35
this the way it’s gonna be, Charlie? You constantly running off to play spy? I gotta say I’m not sure I can work with that. We’re supposed to be a team. Or am I the team with the others and you’re the spook on the side?”
“I’ve always been the spook on the side,” Cal said.
“When you worked for the agency.”
Silence.
Ding ding ding!
Josh stiffened. Fucking hell, how could he have been so dense? All this time he thought Cal had finally left the agency. He was so stupid. Cal had never left the agency.
“So what was your assignment?” he asked, his tone dripping with ice. “Keeping an eye on us?”
Cal swung around to face him. “No. God, no. Angel, you can’t think—”
“Not thinking seems to have been my problem.”
“Angel—”
“We need to get back to the office.”
Josh turned his head to look out of the window, effectively cutting off the conversation. His mind whirled ninety miles an hour. He needed to think. He needed his damned notebook.
“I’ve always been the spook on the side.”
How could Josh have missed this? Cal had never left his days as a spy behind. Not for CDR. And not for Angel Enterprises. But what did it mean? He was never a big player in the agency, unlike his uncle. Could he have been corrupted by Chyna Moles? Was he one of her goons?
“I’m not the bad guy,” Cal said as if he’d read Josh’s thoughts.
No one answered him. He sighed and went back to looking out of his window.
Not for the first time that day, Josh wished he could go home. He wanted to shut the world out and spend one night in his bed with his cat. Did he want Cal there? He wasn’t sure at the moment.
Gil looked up as Josh walked into the conference room, a look of triumph on his face. He sat next to Max at the bank of monitors. It hadn’t escaped Josh’s notice that he preferred to be by Max.
“We found the list.”
Cal gave him a curt nod. “Good. We’ll go through every property in the morning.”
“Do you want to start now?”
“No. I don’t want to search in the dark. Who knows what weapons she’s packing? She’s going to be ready for us.”
Gil cocked his head. “What’s happened? You all look shell-shocked.”
“Did you know Cal is working for the agency?” Josh said brightly as he slipped off his coat and put it over a chair.
“Jesus, Angel,” Cal barked.
Josh shot him a fuck you look and slumped down into the chair.
Dave and Rick hovered by the entrance to the conference room, obviously ready to bolt for it if necessary. They hadn’t said anything in the car. Josh wondered what they thought about the revelation.
Gil leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen in his fingers. “I had my suspicions.”
“You did?” Josh glared at him, feeling betrayed by his former teammate. “You didn’t think to mention it to me?”
Gil shrugged. “I figured we’d find out at some point.”
“You didn’t think it was important to mention that our glorious leader is working for the rogue government agency that is riddled with corruption from top to bottom?”
“That’s all government agencies, including our own,” Gil pointed out.
Josh didn’t want to think about what was going on back home right this moment. The world had changed since he left Seattle.
“So none of you are bothered to discover Cal is still a spook?”
He looked at each man, noting their reactions. None of them looked like they wanted to lasso Cal and haul ass out of the office. Josh sighed. Only him then.
“I knew,” Max said. “I heard the chatter. But he’s one of us. So I can’t say I’m bothered.”
Josh scowled at him. Did the noob in the corner really think he got a say? Max caught his expression and shrunk back in his chair. Gil scowled at Josh who rolled his eyes. Seriously, Gil was going to protect the agency boy over his long-time teammate. Gil’s scowl darkened. Josh frowned. How did he get to be the bad guy here?
“Cal has been a spook the whole time we’ve known him, Josh,” Dave said. “We’ve worked with him on and off for years. He’s always had our backs.”
Rick nodded. “I trust him.”
“The question is, do you trust me, Josh?” Cal said, his expression serious as he stared at Josh. “You’ve known me a long time too. Do you trust me?”
“I don’t know,” Josh admitted. “I don’t trust the agency. I never did.”
“You worked for them,” Gil pointed