At the hospital, Hunter paced back and forth outside the room where Layla was being attended to. He couldn’t believe she had been the one to protect him and that she’d been hit. She claimed it was just a scratch, but he would feel a lot better once a doctor made that formal determination.

He’d known she had to have skills for the CIA to let her in the field on dangerous missions, but he was experiencing firsthand that she was a trained operative. Thankfully, her quick action had saved them both today. The Layla he’d known in law school had never even held a firearm. The Agency had changed her, but he was glad she was able to defend herself, especially given the danger she now found herself in.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the door opened and the doctor walked out of the room. “She’s asking for you.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, sir. The bullet just nicked her. She’ll be fine.” The doctor gave him a pat on the shoulder, and Hunter anxiously walked into the room.

Layla sat on the edge of the hospital bed. Her shoulder had been bandaged.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“I told you it wasn’t that bad.”

“Layla, you were shot!” In what world could she not see that as a big deal?

“I know, but I’ll be okay.”

“Your quick thinking today saved our lives.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You moved a lot faster than I did.”

“I’ve had extensive training, so don’t beat yourself up over this. When I started at the Agency, even though I was on the analyst track, they decided to send me to the Farm. I thought it would be good to have those skills and knew I might not get the opportunity again once I was stuck at a desk, so I went along with it. It has definitely paid off, that’s for sure.”

Those comments only fed into a narrative that was developing in his mind. “Do you think they always wanted you to be a field officer?”

“You know, I’ve asked myself that question. When they were recruiting me, I made it very clear that I wanted an analyst position. I feel like I’m best suited to a desk job, and they seemed to accept that, but they still wanted me to do the training. They said it would be helpful for me to understand field ops better, since I have a supporting role.” She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

In his mind, she had much more than a supporting role. It appeared Layla had become the star of the entire show. “There aren’t that many people with your skill set, Layla. Which makes the Agency investigation even stranger. They need you. It bothers me that they would put such a valuable asset in jeopardy.”