Stephan's smile widened. "Yeah, and it's not polite to abuse a family member like that."
It was when your brother was being such a bastard.
Stephan's smile faded. "Keep away from her, Gabriel. She has a job to do. I don't want you getting in the way."
"What I do in my own time is my business, not yours,"
Gabriel said, voice flat. "I'm warning you, don't ever try to control my moves there."
Stephan raised an eyebrow. "You have an obligation to both the SIU and Federation, just as I have."
"Yeah, right." Gabriel turned and headed for the door. The Federation and the SIU could go hang if it meant letting Sam walk unwarned into a trap.
He may have succeeded in getting rid of her as a partner, but that didn't mean he wanted her dead.
"Gabriel, I'm warning you. Leave her alone."
He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and glanced over his shoulder, meeting his brother's gaze. "Or you'll what?
Censure me? Bust me down to field agent again? Do it. I don't really give a damn."
"This could be our one chance to draw Sethanon out."
"That doesn't justify sending her out blind."
"I'm giving you a direct order. Do not go near her. Do not warn her."
"You'd better get my file out and add the black mark to it now, because that's one order I have no intention of obeying."
He slammed the door open and walked from the room.
Two
Sam glanced at her watch as she entered her office. It was just after four. She had an hour before she was due at the labs to have the studs attached and to be shown how the bugs worked.
All she really wanted was to go home. Not that she currently had a home to go to. Her Brighton apartment had sold almost as soon as she'd placed it on the market. The new owners had gushed over its size and closeness to the beach.
That it had been bombed twice in recent months was a fact she and the real estate agents had failed to mention.
She slapped the folder on the desk and sat down. "Computer on."
A pink fluff ball with chicken legs appeared onscreen.
"Afternoon sweetness."
"Afternoon, Iz. Any mail from that useless real estate agent of mine?"
"Not one."
Typical. He'd promised two days ago to get right back to her with the latest housing list. The man was either extremely forgetful or was tired of her nagging and trying to get rid of her.
Probably the latter, she thought ruefully. She leaned back in her chair and wearily rubbed her eyes. Maybe it would have been wiser to wait until she'd found somewhere else to live before she'd sold the apartment—as Gabriel had told her on the one occasion this week that he'd actually deigned to grace her broom closet with his presence.
And yet, she didn't really regret her actions, even if staying at hotels was costing a sheer fortune. The apartment had never truly felt right—maybe because it was something she had been given rather than earned. Maybe because the reasons for the gift had never really been clear.
Or perhaps it was the cop in her that couldn't get past the idea that, in the end, such gifts usually proved very costly.
She reached forward and picked up the folder Stephan had given her. Inside she found a series of photos—Wetherton's friends, family and immediate associates.