“And we can’t get rid of Grove without Tarou knowing we’re onto him and Benny. The case will implode.”

I stood there, at a complete loss. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to stall. The timing has to be perfect.”

“So, we don’t just have to pull off one miracle but two.”

“You have to be careful, Liis.”

“Don’t start. We have to focus.”

“Goddamn it! I’m more focused than I’ve been in a long time. When I walked into that squad room and saw you sitting there…I admit it, okay? Knowing I brought you in to expose Grove scared the shit out of me, and it still does. It has nothing to do with you needing protection or you being a female agent and everything to do with the fact that, at any moment, you could have a target on your back, and it’d be my fucking fault!” he yelled the last part, the veins in his neck bulging.

“It’s the job, Thomas. It’s what we do.”

Thomas picked up the file and tossed it across the room. Papers exploded in every direction before floating down to the floor. “You’re not listening to what I’m saying! This is serious!” He leaned down, his palms flat on my desk. “These people will kill you, Liis. They won’t think twice about it.”

I forced my shoulders to relax. “We’re leaving for Eakins on Saturday and attending a ceremony in the Virgin Islands on Sunday, and we have to persuade your brother to lie to his wife for the rest of his life before we leave Monday morning because our boss wants an answer. Let’s concentrate on that first.”

Thomas’s face fell, defeated. “Just…stay away from Agent Grove. You’re not the best liar.”

“Yet you trust me to convince your family that we’re a couple all weekend.”

“I know what it feels like to have you wrapped up in my arms,” he said. “I trust that.”

He closed the door behind him, and after several moments, I finally let out the breath I hadn’t known I was holding.

Chapter Fifteen

“LET ME CARRY THAT,” Thomas said, sliding my leather tote off my shoulder and onto his.

“No, I’ve got it.”

“Liis, girlfriends like this stuff. You need to get your head on straight. Stop being an agent, and start playing the part.”

I nodded, unhappily conceding. We had just arrived at San Diego International Airport. I was glad we could breeze through the business-class line. On the final Saturday of spring break, the airport was particularly crowded. Dodging the human traffic on the way to our gate was making an already tense Thomas even more anxious.

“I’m not looking forward to doing this again in the morning or again on Monday morning,” Thomas grumbled.