Kimberly Van Meter - The Agent's Surrender

She stopped and met his gaze. “My balls, or lack thereof, are none of your business. Can we please stick to the task at hand, or would you rather pull up a chair and start a counseling session? I should warn you, I’m all out of tissues.”

“You’re a piece of work. You did me a favor,” he muttered, unable to believe he’d opened his mouth in the first place. “Forget I mentioned it.”

“Already have.”

Damn, he was stupid ten times over for bringing up ancient history at the worst possible time. But sometimes his mouth just took over and he had to run to catch up. Sort of like the day he’d taken it upon himself to have a talk with The Major. Yeah, that’d ended in all sorts of bad. He supposed good intentions didn’t mean crap in the Fallon household. Holden’s first real, solid relationship had gone down in flames all because some crotchety five-starred major general had really messed up ideals and expectations for his only daughter.

Holden looked at Jane. “You know, I feel sorry for you.” Jane regarded him with a wary expression, but he continued. “Yeah, I do, because you’re constantly looking for Daddy’s approval and you’ve obviously never seen the movie before. Well, I have, and I can tell you—it never ends the way you want it to. Your dad is an overbearing prick and he’ll never give you what you’re looking—no, begging—for, yet you’ll sacrifice everything in your life for that one tiny nugget of approval from a man who ought to just love you for who you are. And it’s sad, Fallon. Really sad.”

She swallowed audibly and he knew he’d hit a nerve, but in true Fallon style, she didn’t bend or show weakness. “Are you finished?” she asked in a husky tone that immediately made him feel like a toad. What the hell was wrong with him? He should’ve just left it alone. What did it matter what her issues with her dad were? They didn’t affect him any longer. Jane was free to live under her father’s thumb if she chose.

He waved her off. “Forget it. I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m sorry...that was out of line. I guess I’m just on edge.”

“Sure.” She accepted his apology with a stiff nod and walked away as they both continued to search the office.

After ten minutes, Holden rose with a muttered expletive. “You’re right, nothing’s here.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs,” Jane said, heading for the door. Although she had a reputation for being a hard-nosed investigator, she was plainly happy to get out of the room. Seemed Jane wasn’t immune to the heebie-jeebies.

Holden took one final look at his brother’s office, trying not to picture him sprawled across his desk with the back of his head shot off. Nathan had said in his statement that moments prior to Miko eating that bullet, he had told Nathan to dig deeper into Tessara Pharm. Nathan Isaacs, one of Miko’s best friends and fellow snipers formerly employed by the now-defunct I.D., had managed to peel back a layer of corruption within the covert government agency, but he’d nearly died in the process.

Holden caught up with Jane on the stairs. “I didn’t see any mention of Tessara Pharm in your report aside from the brief notation about Winslow. Didn’t you ask any questions regarding Miko’s involvement with the pharm company?”

“What involvement? Winslow was the only connection to Tessara Pharm, and she’s dead, which I noted in my report.”

“The last thing my brother said to Nathan Isaacs was for him to look deeper into Tessara. Don’t you think that warrants a look?”

“He said that before Isaacs took down Winslow. Trust me, that was the only connection. You don’t get government contracts without being thoroughly vetted. Tessara is clean.”

He didn’t believe it. Miko wouldn’t have said that if that were the case. “I’d like to poke around Tessara, but first I want to talk to Nathan again and see if he left anything out of his statement.”

“Such as?” Jane asked, frowning. “Are you saying that Isaacs could’ve withheld evidence?”

“No. But maybe he forgot some details. It’s not as if Nathan didn’t get caught up in some hairy shit, too. Winslow almost won that fight. Nathan was in ICU for weeks recovering from a bullet wound to the gut, and that’s no cakewalk.”

“I read the file. Even bleeding out, he managed to take a beating from Winslow before killing her. Impressive,” she admitted. “Nathan Isaacs is a bit of a badass.”

Yeah, it was true. He wouldn’t steal Nathan’s thunder just because the sudden admirable light in Jane’s eyes caused a spurt of jealousy from out of nowhere. So instead, he said, “He’s a good man. One of the best.”

Jane nodded, and it was apparent he’d caused the wheels to start moving, which was a good thing. He’d rather have her working with him than against. “Fine, we can talk to Isaacs, but everything is going on the record. I don’t want anyone using the excuse they won’t talk unless they have anonymity.”

“Sometimes you have to bend the rules, Fallon,” he told her, giving her no such promise. When lives were at stake, sometimes regs went out the window. He’d do whatever it took to get the real answers, and that included twisting the rules into a pretzel.

“You’re impossible to work with,” she groused under her breath as they walked into the main room. The bar was off to the right, and a pool table stood, dejected and forgotten, on the left. Jane noticed the table and said, “I’m surprised they didn’t immediately sell that at auction.”

“Me, too,” he said, frowning. Everything of value had been stripped from the bar, including Miko’s collectible tap handles he’d purchased for a steal on eBay. Holden strode to the pool table and ran his palm over the familiar green felt. He and Miko had played many games on this table and wagered more money than they should’ve because they were both so damn competitive. A smile tugged at his mouth at the memory. “Miko was a terrible pool player but a great cheater. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d found a way to slant the table to his advantage. He didn’t even deny the fact he didn’t play fair. The sucker was always taking me for a couple hundred every time we played.”

“So much for that honor you were talking about,” she quipped drily, and Holden shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t like that. He considered any competition fair game. Second place is first loser. C’mon, Fallon, you can’t tell me you don’t feel the same.”

“True,” she agreed grudgingly. “But I don’t condone cheating of any kind. If you can’t win on your own merits, you don’t deserve to win.”

He grunted a concession and bent down to inspect the ball return. “Maybe it’s broken and they figured whoever bought the place could either throw it away or have it repaired.” He felt along the track. The balls gleamed in the dim light, a reminder of better times. He pulled three quarters from his pocket and slid them into the coin return, pushing it in, but the coins slid back out, answering that question. “Yeah, it’s broken,” he said, reaching underneath to feel along the underside. The pads of his fingers found a tiny button and he stopped, motioning for Jane to bring the light. “I feel something...a button of some sort. I don’t know much about pool tables, but I can’t imagine why there’d be a button underneath the table.” Jane came closer and bent to peer beneath the table with the light. “You see anything?”

“That’s odd,” she agreed. “Press it and see what happens.”

“Famous last words,” Holden quipped with a grin and she grimaced at his humor. But soon neither were laughing because suddenly a hidden door released and a taped manila envelope dropped to the floor. “What the... Miko, you crafty son of a bitch...”