He nodded. “I’ve seen some action, but it’s never gotten too hot to handle. Since I haven’t gone through all the training, they’ve been careful about how close I get to the danger.”

“And that’s okay with you?”

She seemed skeptical. He hadn’t normally been one to sit on the sidelines, but he understood his value. “For now, yes. I’m still learning a lot, and with time, I’ll figure out how best I want to be used by the team. I have a lot of tech skills that others don’t have, so I’m more useful behind a computer than with a gun on the front lines, if that makes sense. My real value right now is more on the investigative side than operations.”

“It’s good to be self-aware,” she said flatly.

She wasn’t cutting him any slack, and he deserved that response from her, given the past between them. He’d forever damaged their relationship, and he didn’t know if there was any coming back from that. “Do you think we can work together on this?”

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t want to be too pushy, but they had to address the gigantic elephant in the room. “Can we put our personal issues aside and focus on the assignment?”

“Do we have much of a choice? The DEA hired you. They must think you’re the right person for the job. We just need to keep things focused on the work. I want to make it clear that I don’t need you as a babysitter.”

“I never thought that,” he said quickly.

“I’m not the woman you knew in law school.”

He couldn’t help but smile a little. “So you’ve mentioned.” Which led him to another thought. “Why is a CIA Mideast analyst working DEA ops in South America?”

She stared off for a moment before looking at him again. “Because I’m no longer just an analyst.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve started working on the operations side too. Not as a support function from Langley, but actually in the field.”

Then it all came together. Layla didn’t have a desk job anymore. She was a CIA operative.

“It’s not exactly what you’re thinking.” Layla knew she would have to explain, given what Hunter understood about her work.

He frowned. “I’m confused. You were hired at the Agency as an analyst, right? Given your degree and your background, you make the perfect Middle East specialist. And now you’re somehow tied up with the DEA, running drug ops in South America?”