Chapter Three
For the third time today, Kari knocked on the FBI Director’s door. Hearing the obligatory “enter,” she stepped inside the office. The director grabbed his coffee cup and sat back in his chair.
“Please, have a seat. Thank you for coming up so quickly, Miss Tomlin.” Again, not like she was going to tell him to bugger off.
“Absolutely, sir,” she said. “What can I do for you?”
“Miss Tomlin,” he began, “you’ve been with us for some time, now. Is that correct?”
Oh shit. Was he firing her? Was the message decoded incorrectly? No, it had to be right. Had she done something wrong? “Yes, sir. Since college, sir.”
“And in all that time, you’ve never taken a full week of vacation,” he continued. “Do you not enjoy taking time off, Miss Tomlin?” She heard the humor in his voice and relaxed a bit. She smiled.
“No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. I just don’t have anywhere really to go.”
“I see.” He cleared his throat and set his cup on the desk. Funny how he always grabbed his cup and scooted away from his desk whenever she came in. “I just got off the phone with Director Tumbel.” She had no idea who that was, but wouldn’t ask, either. “His group needs a female to help on a project. I thought you would be a good choice for that.”
Oh, come on. Couldn’t they find a male who could type and file? Why did it always have to be a woman to do that work? Mainly because men couldn’t get that shit right. She met the director’s eyes and realized he was waiting for her to say something. Shit. What was the question?
“Yes, sir.” Damn, she hoped she didn’t make an idiot of herself.
“Is that a yes, I’d like to go, or yes, I wasn’t listening and don’t know what to say.”
Kari busted out in a laugh. The way he said it was hilarious. He damn well knew which yes it was, but chose not to embarrass her. He was a good guy. Not many of those around. If she ever came across one who was single, she’d grab hold and never let go. Good luck finding one available, though.
“Yes, sir. I’ll help them do whatever they need. Is it a lot of typing or more organizational?”
His brows drew down. What did she say now?
“The job is a field assignment in a foreign country,” he said.
Kari heard the words because she was paying attention, but must’ve heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, sir. What did you say?” She scooted forward in her seat.
“Miss Tomlin,” he leaned over his desk, “we need a female to go undercover for a short assignment.”
She slid to her feet, jumping up. The director snatched his coffee cup. “Yes! I’d so love to go into the field.” Her fist hit that damn copper flag statue again. She reached to put it back in place, and the director threw his hand up, stopping her.
“Let me get that. Please have a seat.” He set the figurine upright, and she sat, almost buzzing with excitement. “Director Tumbel will brief you when you arrive, but I need to ask you a question.”
Oh shit. She hoped it wasn’t a true or false. She hated those questions, she always chose the wrong one.
“Miss Tomlin, you have decoded many classified items for us,” he paused.
“Yes, sir.” Where was he going with this?
His hands clasped together on the desk. “Do you know about the shifters in our community?
She sat quietly, thinking. What was the right answer here? If she said no, would that keep her from going? If she said yes, would someone hunt her down and kill her for knowing something she shouldn’t?
“I have decoded a couple messages that had information about . . . others. Of course, I’ve never talked about it with anyone. So I just thought ‘that’s cool’ and didn’t worry about it.” Please be the right answer, please be the right answer. Please—
“Wonderful, Miss Tomlin.” He smiled. “Then I don’t have to go into all that. I figured you had, so I knew you were the person for this assignment.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” She was ready to come out of her skin. “What is the organization?”
“It’s ALFA, Alpha League Federal Agency,” he simply replied.
That meant absolutely nothing to her. Never heard of them. “Great.” She sprang to her feet. “I won’t let you down, sir.” With that she hurried out the door. In the hallway, she held her first victory dance in a long time. Her arms pumped, booty shook. Yes, she was going into the field. Oh, wait. She knocked on the door again.
“Yes, Miss Tomlin.”
She felt her face melting from embarrassment. “Um, sir. Where do I go for the briefing and when?”
The director came to her and handed her a sticky note with an address scribbled on it. “There is no name on the building, but the number is easy to see. Josh Tumbel, the director, would like you to go over as soon as you can for briefing.”
* * *
After packing her laptop and talking with her boss, she made it to the ALFA building in record time. She had enough excitement built up inside to fuel a jet plane across the ocean. She knocked on the door that had a plaque that read Director Josh Tumbel. She wondered if his first name was Joshua. She couldn’t imagine “Josh” being a shifter.
She wondered what his animal looked like. Would he have big teeth if he was a wolf? How about lots of hair all over his body? If he was an elephant, he’d have a six-foot dong, according to the Animal Channel. She couldn’t imagine—six feet long.
The door flew open, startling her. A gorgeous man smiled at her. Damn, was he married? Hubba, hubba.
“You must be Kari.” They shook hands.
“Yes” was all she could manage. Josh looked like a human, no hint of an animal at all.
“Come in,” he said. He gestured to another gorgeous man sitting in front of a desk. Good god. Did they need a receptionist? Shit, she’d type and file the whole damn day if she got to stare at them.
“This is Sheldon Loper. You’ll be working with him on this assignment.”
She stepped up to the man sitting and shook his hand, exchanging greetings. Her foot caught on one of the chair legs, tripping her enough to lose her balance. Figures, she thought as she tried to catch herself. Story of her life. But hands were there to steady her before she had a chance to react. These shifters were damn fast. Carefully, she sat in the second chair in front of the desk.
“So,” Josh started, sitting behind his desk, “first off, I want to thank you, Miss Tomlin, for volunteering.”
“Please call me Kari,” she said. “Unless we have code names.” She perked up instantly at that thought. How cool would that be?
“No, for this mission, you can use your real names,” Josh said. He glanced at Sheldon in the chair next to hers, then back at her. “Is this by chance your first undercover assignment?”
Her heart about stopped. How could they tell? Did she look like a kid in a candy store? Well, she sure as hell was! “My first field assignment,” she replied.
Josh nodded. “That’s fine. This op isn’t too . . . demanding. Your role is to be a girlfriend to Sheldon and you’re on a trip to visit the city.”
“What city would that be, sir?” she asked.
“Cloustien.”
Her jaw dropped. “No way.” She looked at both men to make sure they weren’t joking. “This is so awesome.”
Josh said, “I guess you’ve heard of the place?”
“Well, yeah? Who hasn’t?” she said.
Josh looked at Sheldon. “Indeed.” Sheldon shrugged. Josh held out a packet to her. “Here is information about the organization you’re touring with. They arrived in Cloustien yesterday, but are allowing you two to join them. Their organizer has no idea you are undercover. She thinks you are regular people coming at the last second.”
She took the envelope from him. “What is the mission? What are we really doing?” she asked.
Josh slid a file folder onto his desk. “One of our agents, Bryon Day, has gone missing and Sheldon will be searching for his whereabouts.” He handed the folder to her. She opened to the headshot inside. Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes fixed on his, and her panties became very wet. Could you fall in love with a photograph? This man was the most stunning thing she’d ever seen.
She scanned his stats on the sheet under the picture. The only one she really cared about was marital status. On that line was the letter S. She could cry at this moment; he was available. As long as he didn’t have a girlfriend. And let’s be real, how could a man like him not have an equally gorgeous female draping off his arm. Maybe females, plural.
Both men breathed deeply and turned away from her. Was the director hiding a smile with his hand? She hadn’t done anything, so the joke couldn’t be on her.
“Kari,” Josh asked, “you were told about our kind, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, my director told me you guys are shifters.”
“Do you know much about shifters?” Sheldon asked.
She knew one thing, and knew it well. “When a shifter finds its mate, they are instantly in love and stay in love until the day they die. They never cheat on each other. Don’t even look at the opposite sex anymore. Their souls are half of each other, bonded together the instant they become one.”
That’s the kind of love she wanted. The type she could devote herself to and know he would always appreciate everything about her, and she, him. She let out a little sigh then looked at the guys. They stared at her with . . . fear or humor? She couldn’t tell.
“Uh, yes,” Josh finally said. “That’s one thing. But we also have extraordinary senses of smell and hearing. We can see in the dark and smell fear or lies or whatever scent the body excretes.”
Her face paled. “Any scent?” Oh god. Her panties were still wet. Oh, well, nothing she could do about it now. She was not letting a little embarrassment keep her from going on this assignment. She straightened in her chair and cleared her throat. “So, when do we leave?”
“Your itinerary and tickets are in your packet. Plane leaves in a few hours. You need to pack for cool evenings and warm days,” Josh told her.
“How many days?” she asked.
The two men looked at each other. Sheldon shrugged. “I would think I’d know something in a few days. Pack for five days. Just in case.”
Josh nodded. “Sounds good.”
She hopped up from her chair. “I gotta go, guys, if the plane leaves in few hours.” She glanced at her watch.
“Oh, don’t worry too much about that,” Josh added. “We get special security clearance and seating. You don’t have to wait in any lines.”
Sheldon then asked if he could drive her to her home, if she was taking the bus. He would also pick her up to go to the airport together. That was so thoughtful of him. He seemed like a really nice guy. Single? He didn’t wear a ring. She shook her head to clear her lusty thoughts.
This was it! She would be on her way to Europe with a gorgeous male, looking for the man whose picture she had fallen in love with, in a town known for people disappearing under the earth and never coming back.