Stalked - By Allison Brennan Page 0,10

say anything, but his expression told her he expected her to talk.

“It really isn’t important,” she repeated. “Rather junior high.”

“Try me.”

“I just have this sense that Agent Laughlin doesn’t like me.” She smiled sheepishly. “See? Junior high.”

“If it was someone else, I might think that, but your instincts are usually good. Was it something specific, or a vague feeling?”

Lucy considered how to answer. “I suppose there was an undercurrent of veiled hostility from the beginning—which I dismissed because I was nervous.”

“Nervous about what?”

“Where do I start?” She shrugged. “You’ve read my file, I know all the instructors have, and the hoops I jumped through to get here.”

“Some people might wonder why you were willing to jump through the hoops, considering you have many career options. Is that what you’re thinking?”

“What if someone thought I wanted this too much, and questioned why. I’ve thought the same thing. But if the last few months have taught me anything, I let my goals define me for too long. Had my application been denied, I’d have been disappointed, but I would have been okay. But people see what’s on the surface.”

“You suspect he doesn’t trust you.”

Lucy hadn’t said that, but immediately she realized Tony was right. “He’s been professional, but there’s a different subtext when he’s with others. Some of my friends have noticed it, too. I don’t have the same feeling about the other field counselors.”

“Trust your instincts, Lucy. Continue to perform well and there’s nothing he can do. Training is just as much a mind game as it is learning the rules and regs and working as a team. You’ll be dealing with agents like Laughlin across all agencies. Consider this a test.”

It was the answer she’d expected, though she didn’t like it. She was tired of being tested when she couldn’t prepare, when she didn’t even know what she was being tested on.

“And,” Tony continued, “if he goes too far, let me know.” She opened her mouth to object but he raised his hand. “Only if it becomes serious. I think you’ll be fine.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Lucy made herself a quick salad from the salad bar and grabbed a couple rolls before sitting down with her friends at what had become their table. Everyone was there except Lance Orozco and Alexis Sanchez.

Lucy looked at their empty plates. “Sorry—I got sidetracked.”

“The Golden Girl,” Carter Nix teased.

“Studying again?” Reva said. “Trying to graduate top of the class, no doubt.”

Was her drive that obvious? “Not studying,” she said. “Talking.”

“Any good gossip?” Reva leaned forward. “Why were you pulled out of PT?”

Lucy didn’t want to talk about Rosemary Weber or the call from Suzanne. “I can’t talk about it. But it has nothing to do with training,” she added quickly. They were all a bit paranoid about being under the microscope while on campus; she didn’t want her friends to think she was doing anything behind their backs.

“Stop being so nosy, Penrose,” Eddie Acosta said. He and Carter were the only two in the class who had known each other before they joined the Academy. They’d been in Marine basic training together, served ten years in the military in separate divisions, and ended up at the same college through the GI Bill.

“Where’d Oz and Alexis go?” Lucy asked.

“Oz is playing video games in the lounge,” Jason Aragon said. Jason was a prosecutor from Los Angeles and the oldest of their group at thirty-five. He was also a reservist in the Coast Guard, which Lucy thought was fascinating, though he didn’t talk much about himself. There were some whispers that he’d been in a gang in his youth, and he had a faded tat he didn’t talk about, either.

“And Sanchez is talking to her daughter,” Carter said. He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which, I need to call home in fifteen minutes, Shelley likes me to call before dinner to talk to the girls.” Carter was from Denver, married with two daughters. He talked to them every night.

As Carter bussed his tray, Eddie said, “Hey, I’ll meet you in the computer lab at twenty-one hundred.”

Carter gave him a thumbs-up and left.

“Ready for the gun range tomorrow?” Margo asked. They were having a qualification pre-test. It wasn’t counted toward their firearms score but was their first assessment since day two. Their instructor expected everyone to have improved their scores between the day two test and now.

“Firearms, no problem,” Lucy said between bites. “I’m not looking forward to the driving test Monday.”

“Driving?” Reva laughed. “One of the easiest tests,