was too bad that Logan had this one hang-up. Deep down, she admired him a lot. Okay, and she was also a tiny bit jealous.
Logan had roots. He never drew attention to it, but he was deeply connected to his heritage. That much was obvious last night in his casual T-shirt pick.
Kelsey didn’t have that.
Her mother’s side of the family were Maori. Her father’s family were Polynesian from Hawaii. But they were gone now. All of them, as far as she knew. And it was just her with a few memories. She didn’t have a place to belong or people to call her own. It was just her.
Deep down, she wanted to be connected to something. It was basic human nature to belong and build community. She supposed that she had that with her work family, but it wasn’t the same.
She shook her head.
This mood had to go.
She had a job to do,, and they still didn’t quite know how they were going to separate their target today.
Kelsey drew in a deep breath. The holidays made many people melancholy. That had to be the reason for it. The mood would pass. She just had to push through.
She scanned the last page and fed it into the shredder. It was remarkable what she could learn doing something as simple as filing. So far there wasn’t much of anything that had to do with their current focus, but she was learning more about Dixon, what he stood for, who he was.
One thing was for certain, if the man was seriously a presidential candidate, he had to stop hanging back. The man needed to get his name out there.
But what did she know about politics?
Kelsey sank into her chair and glanced at the conference room.
Logan wasn’t there anymore.
He must be out walking the building. With any luck, he’d find a blind spot where they could have a private word with this visitor.
Speaking of visitors...
A woman in a navy skirt suit entered. Before Kelsey could open her mouth to greet the woman, Robert appeared from out of nowhere. Kelsey watched him shake the woman’s hand enthusiastically and show her into Dixon’s office.
That wasn’t right.
Kelsey clicked onto the day’s agenda.
There was nothing on the calendar. And she didn’t remember a meeting for this time on that odd, alternate reality calendar either.
She twisted to glance over her shoulder at the closed door.
There seemed to be a lot of meetings, yet no record of them. This didn’t feel right. Plus, wasn’t she supposed to keep track of things like meetings and guests?
Kelsey’s phone vibrated.
Could it be Logan?
Her heart did a little flutter at the thought. Though he obviously wouldn’t be texting to see how her day was or anything as nice as that. It would be about the job.
Which meant she really had to see what the message was.
Kelsey twisted to look back at the other new girl. “Hey, I’m going to run to the ladies' room, okay?”
“Sure thing,” the cheerful woman said.
“Thanks.”
Kelsey got up and headed out into the hall. She snatched her phone out of her pocket as she made her way to the women’s restroom.
The message wasn’t from Logan.
It was from Diha, which was probably better anyway. Kelsey smiled and tapped the icon, only for her smile to wither and die.
Heads up, cat is out of the bag.
“Shit,” Kelsey muttered.
She’d expected the secret to get out, but this quick? Wait, which secret were they talking about here?
Which one?
She hit send and sighed. A few moments later, a reply dinged.
Your new job. Say as little as possible and only use the secure app from now on.
Her mind immediately went to the mole. Was this them again? Someone in their ranks working against them?
The very idea made her stop, close her eyes and clench her fists. It wouldn’t be the first time in history that someone betrayed their compatriots, but this felt personal. Everything about it did. Their team was tight. Yes, Kelsey and Logan butted heads all the time, but when it came down to it they knew which side they were on. She would trust him to have her back if things got hairy. And someone was betraying that trust.
Was she being paranoid?
Regardless, it was now something to deal with going forward. She’d manage. Both she and Logan knew to be careful.
Kelsey pocketed her phone and turned around, heading back to the office.
No one ever said undercover work was easy. She’d field issues from the team after working hours. For now, she and Logan