Chapter 13

13

R aw fear flashed across his wife’s face, and Leo raised his hands, palms up, in a gesture he hoped would reassure her.

“It’s okay,” he promised.

She held his gaze for a moment before shifting her eyes to the men on either side of him. Then she pulled out the seat across from him and sat down, all without uttering a word.

“Ms. McCandless-Connelly, we just want to talk.”

The taller of the two men, the one Leo now knew as Camden Green, addressed Sasha in a grave, but calm, tone.

“So talk.”

“My associate and I apologize for last night’s misunderstanding?—”

She cut him off sharply. “There was no misunderstanding. You accosted us in a dark alley. You laid your hands on me. We kicked your asses.”

Javier Rose chimed in, “Perhaps ‘misunderstanding’ is the wrong word.”

“What’s the right word, then?”

“Mistake.”

She nodded at that. “Go on.”

“It was a mistake to approach you the way we did.”

“Why did you approach us at all?”

Leo interjected himself into the conversation, “To offer us a job.”

Sasha searched his face. “A job. What kind of job?”

“A highly specialized position in intelligence,” Rose explained.

Her face clouded, then cleared, and she addressed Leo again, “You mean, these bozos want to offer you a job.”

He chuckled. “No, I mean us. And I’m intrigued, so maybe hear the bozos out.” Then he turned toward Green. “I warned you that she wouldn’t be an easy sell.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You want me to listen? I’m listening. Why don’t you start with which agency you work for?”

“We don’t work for the government,” Rose told her. “We work for The Lighthouse.”

Green took up the thread. “The Lighthouse is a global PIA, a private intelligence agency. Our mission aligns with those of the United States and its allies but we work independently. We became aware of the two of you because The Lighthouse was investigating a mole inside the FISA Court.”

“There really was a double agent?” Sasha asked.

Leo nodded. “The court administrator.”

“So that’s why you and Hank were fired.”

“Right.”

She turned back to Green. “I understand why you want to recruit my husband, and probably his colleague. But why me? I’m a litigator.”

Rose answered. “Two of our colleagues are talking to Hank Richardson as we speak—after another misunderstanding, er, mistake. But we’re interested in you because you’re trained as an attorney and you know how to handle yourself.” He pointed to his colleague’s busted nose as proof.

She smiled sheepishly, then shook her head. “I don’t understand what I can do for you, though.”

“We operate outside of the U.S. intelligence community, but we do operate within the law. We’d like to retain you to represent our organization as your sole client.”

“Wait, do you mean as in-house counsel?”

“No, you would continue to hold your title at McCandless, Volmer, & Andrews, but your partnership there would largely be a cover. You would work only on our matters to avoid any potential conflicts of interests.”

“And what would I tell my partners?”

“That we’re what we are—a private intelligence agency. We’ll also be your firm’s largest client by an exponential figure, so I doubt they’ll be too bothered by the arrangement.”

Leo watched her prepare to ask how they could know the details of her firm’s finances and then answer the question herself. She nodded. “And Connelly?”

“He and Mr. Richards would work directly for us as field agents after they, and you, receive training.”

“You want me to train as a field agent?”

The two men exchanged an amused look. Rose gestured for Leo to answer the question.

“They’re realists, Sasha. They’re aware of your background and your propensity for finding trouble. Rather than try to stop you from inserting yourself into dangerous situations, they’ll train you to handle them. They also said depending on the mission, we could work as partners in the field on occasion. What do you say we make it official?”

His wife of ten years looked at him for a long moment, then a slow grin spread across her face. “I say it’s going to be one doozy of a partners’ meeting at my firm this afternoon.”