TWENTY-NINE
Jade
I woke up with his magnificent body next to mine, which put a smile on my face right away. He moaned and stirred but didn’t wake as I carefully climbed out of my bed.
We should have gone to his place, I thought as I remembered his comfortable bed on my way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. What does all of this mean for us?
The only way it would work is if we could continue to communicate like we had the night before. He had appeared ready to work with me, but with men I could never tell. Not completely. They were such a damn mystery.
After taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I returned to the kitchen for a cup of fresh coffee. A third of the way through, he walked in, his hair perfectly messy and his eyes nearly closed.
“Morning,” I said quietly.
He grunted as he shuffled toward the coffee pot.
I took another drink, wondering if I should ask him about breakfast.
“Sleep well?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
When he finished pouring some of it into a mug I had set next to the machine, he walked over and sat down next to me. I sighed as he leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek.
“What about you?”
“Best sleep since last time we were together. Your bed is better though.”
He smiled then took a drink of coffee.
“We should go talk to the FBI today,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said then sighed. “It’s a lot of hassle.”
“It’s better to tell them you have nothing to do with it sooner than later. I’ll go with you to back up your story and make sure you have a witness.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking into my eyes.
I nodded. He frowned.
“They told me you might be involved.”
“What? That’s crazy.”
“That’s what the agent said yesterday.”
“We definitely need to both go talk to them.”
“I wanted to make sure you knew what he said about you.”
“You don’t think I’m involved, do you?” I asked, upset.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so. Can I finish my coffee before we get into an argument?”
“I don’t want to argue at all.”
“Good. Neither do I.”
We both sipped at our coffee. I kept stealing glances at him, wondering what it was about him that had me falling so hard and so fast.
* * *
I sat next to him in a plain, unassuming waiting room in the FBI building downtown. After dropping the man’s name who had talked to him in the alley, the security guard downstairs had shown us to the right floor. Cooper turned his head to look at me.
“If something happens, I’ve got your back.”
“I can’t wait to talk to this guy and see what he thinks he knows about me.”
“They might have been lying. We shouldn’t be talking. The waiting room might be bugged.”
I nodded my head then turned to face the only door in the tiny room. We waited.
A few minutes later, the door opened and a man in a black suit walked in. Cooper and I both got to our feet as he stared at me with a curious expression on his face.
“This is the female journalist who has nothing to do with it,” Cooper said.
“Come with me,” the man said.
“Can we get your name?” I asked.
“Mr. Sorenson. This way, please.”
He held the door open. Cooper stepped forward first. I met them in the hallway. The three of us walked down one hall then another. By the time we stopped at a door, I wasn’t sure where we had ended up in the building.
“Take a seat,” Mr. Sorenson said while adjusting the oval, wire-frame glasses on his face.
Something was off about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. As I sat down next to Cooper in another uncomfortable chair, I watched the man’s face for any signs of lying.
“Thanks for coming in,” he said, opening a folder on his desk. “As I said, if you give us information on what happened before, we will make sure you’re not charged with anything.”
“Hold on a minute,” I said.
“I thought you were a journalist not a lawyer,” Mr. Sorenson said with a chuckle. “Although they’re both kind of hated the same these days.”
“People hate the media more. Trust me. I’m…”
“We know who you are,” he interrupted. “And we’re glad you came in too. When we saw you asking questions about Max Erickson renting office space, we thought you might not be involved after all.”
“You know she’s not, right?” Cooper asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.
I rubbed his back with my hand, more to support me than him.
“We’ve been listening to phone calls and reading emails, and, yes, we know she’s not involved.”
“Wait. You’ve been listening to my calls and reading my emails?”
“It’s all standard stuff,” he said. “The Patriot Act has given us a lot of power.”
“Too bad America doesn’t seem any safer,” Cooper said, getting upset.
“Let’s not get into a political argument,” Mr. Sorenson said. “As both of you have had contact with Mr. Erickson before, we want to wire you and get something we can use in court.”
“Absolutely not,” Cooper said.
I raised my hand.
“Hold on a minute. I have a say in this too.”
Cooper turned. I looked at him.
“If I can finish the story that I started in Afghanistan and clear your name at the same time, I’m all about helping.”
“You don’t understand the risks,” Cooper said.
I turned my attention back to Mr. Sorenson.
“What do you need me to do?”
I wasn’t ready to commit but definitely interested.
“Easy. We’ll give you a recording device, and you get Max to admit what he’s doing.”
“He’s not even told me anything yet,” Cooper said, shaking his head.
The fact he was so worried about me made me glow on the inside. Most of the joy, however, was extinguished by the reality of what the FBI was asking us to do.
“There has to be another way,” Cooper continued.
“Believe me, we’ve tried. These guys are slick.” He looked at Cooper. “You’re not involved in any of this, right? The time to tell me is now.”
“No,” Cooper said firmly.
“Fine,” Mr. Sorenson replied. “I have to fill out all the paperwork to get this started, but if you two stop in tomorrow afternoon, we’ll have the equipment ready for you. All you need to do at that point is get Max to slip up and say something incriminating.”
“Oh, that’s all?” Cooper scoffed.
He stood while shaking his head.
“Come on, Jade. Let’s get out of here.”
“You two be safe,” Mr. Sorenson said.
We walked out of the office and back downstairs.
“Those guys are fucking nuts,” Cooper said once we’d made it outside. “We’re not going through with this.”
“We have to do it,” I said.
“We don’t have to do anything.”
He placed his hands on my cheeks, staring into my eyes.
“I care about you so damn much.”
“And I love you.”
Once the word had slipped out of my mouth, there was no taking it back. He kissed me, his lips saying everything without him having to say anything at all.
We rushed back to his apartment and the better bed.