“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve heard great things about Mills from Hector,” Reindhart intervened.

He was referring to the agent who often trained her at the academy and who was the reason Tara got the job under Reindhart in the first place.

“I know she won’t disappoint us. Hector says she has incredible instincts,” he added as he looked directly at her.

Tara smiled, trying to mask the anxiety she now felt.

“I will make you proud, sir,” Tara responded.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Reindhart looked back and forth between her and Warren. “Now go gather your things. You both don’t have much time. Your flight leaves soon.”

Tara nodded promptly as Reindhart turned to leave the room, leaving her and Warren alone.

She turned toward him—about to express her excitement to work with him—but he only breezed past her, as if on a mission of his own, leaving Tara in an empty room.

She watched for a second as Warren continued to walk swiftly through the rows of cubicles, toward the exit of the floor. and Tara suddenly felt intimidated.

This was going to be a difficult partnership—she could feel it—but as she followed behind him, she felt a new wave of determination wash over her. She knew she couldn’t allow herself to feel intimidated. She had to prove herself, and she was going to do whatever it took to solve this case.

Chapter Three

Tara looked at her phone one last time before turning it off and directing her gaze toward the window as the plane began to pick up speed.

She was hoping that when she went home to pack, she would catch John before he left for work, but when she arrived he was already gone. And when he didn’t answer her call, she was forced to tell him about her first case via text. By the time he saw it, she would be in New Hampshire, almost 500 miles from Washington, D.C.

It was not how she hoped to announce it to him, but this was a part of the job that she knew to expect. It was something she and John had spoken about many times—that she may have to leave at a moment’s notice—and she knew he understood. She just wished she could’ve at least said goodbye, and hear his encouraging words. John always had a way of making her feel better, and right now her new partnership was making her feel uneasy.

The plane ascended into the air, and Tara tried to direct her thoughts back onto the case. She turned toward Warren, who was poring over case files.

“Anything significant?” she asked.

He looked up at her and sighed. “No…It’s mostly information we already know as this point.”

He looked back down at the files, as though trying to avoid any further conversation, and Tara couldn’t help but feel slighted and annoyed. He hadn’t even given her a chance, and yet it seemed as if he would rather have been partnered with someone else.