Harden called out, “Acosta, Nix, you’re both mine for the week, but you’re done for today.”
“Sleep, then dinner,” Carter said. “See you at the mess hall?” Carter asked Lucy.
“I’ll be there.” She started to walk out with them when Noah called, “Kincaid, a minute please?”
Carter gave her an odd look, and Lucy shrugged. Harden left Noah and Lucy alone in the pool room.
Noah said, “I e-mailed your private account with the whereabouts of every new agent on Saturday from midnight until two a.m. Half were on campus. I’m verifying their background information, but you also have access and you need to be on alert for any discrepancies.”
She nodded, but looked at the door, hoping Carter, Eddie and the others would forgive her when this all came to light.
Noah eyed her. “What’s troubling you?”
“Other than the obvious? My mentor is dead and Hans is in a coma?”
“Lucy, I know this is hard—”
“I can handle it,” she snapped.
“You’re angry.”
She turned away and stared at the pool. The water was settling down from the laps. Watching it calmed her. Water always gave her peace.
“It’s being a spy,” she said quietly. “On my friends. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Noah, but I don’t have a lot of friends.”
“You have many friends.” Noah sounded confused.
She shook her head and faced him. “I have lots of family, and I love them, but my friends are few and far between. I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from high school or college. No one. I thought—” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Lucy, you know you can trust me.”
She shouldn’t be talking to Noah about this, but she was tired and upset. “I thought I was forming lifelong relationships with some of the people here.” She jerked her head toward the door. “Carter and Eddie, for example.”
“You’ll be happy to know they’re in the clear. They went out with a bunch of their Marine buddies from the base, didn’t come in until nearly three in the morning. Fortunately, Acosta doesn’t drink and we don’t have a DUI situation, but it was still a serious breach.”
Lucy sighed in relief. “Two down, thirty-one to go,” she mumbled.
“You still can’t talk about this, even with them.”
“I know. I don’t have to like it.” She took her hair band off her wrist and put her hair up.
“Chief O’Neal and I cleared Tom Harden first thing this morning and I just gave him a quick debrief. If you need to talk and I’m busy, you can go to him. But still, be discreet. You might want to touch bases with him now—he wants to talk to you.”
“I wouldn’t make a good CIA agent.”
Noah cracked a grin. “I don’t think you would. But you’re going to make a great FBI agent.”
If I stay.
But she didn’t say that to Noah.
*
Lucy found Tom Harden in his small office off the gym. Harden wasn’t a special agent; he was one of the few instructors who was a civilian. He’d been in the Army special forces and when he got out ran his own gym while getting his degree in physical training and nutrition. Five years ago Quantico brought him on to lead their revamped new-agent PT program.
“Noah said you wanted to see me,” Lucy said.
“Sit down.” He motioned to the only other chair in his office.
She did, antsy.
“Hans is a personal friend of mine.”
“Have you been to the hospital? How is he?”
“I went by this morning. I have one of the nurses sending me updates. There’s been no change.”
She let out a long breath.
“I’ll let you know if there’s a change in his status,” Harden said.
“Thank you.” She looked at him, curious. “You’re not a federal agent and Hans was never in the Army. How do you know him?”
“In 1999, a year before I left the Army, I was tasked with protective detail in Kosovo. The FBI agents and scientists were sent over to identify victims of genocide. There were several operations where small groups of agents went out to remote burial sites, we had a few close calls with insurgents, and Hans and I remained friends after it was over. He told me about the opening here five years ago. I never planned on working for the federal government—I liked having my own gym. But I was given a lot of leeway to develop this program, and I owe that to Hans. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished