“In my office.”
“Yes, sir.”
Oliver led the way, and they sat across from each other. He took his time, looking long at Jack, analyzing him. “Talk to me about the girl.”
Jack hesitated. “The girl?” He leaned forward. “Eliza?”
“Yes.” Oliver raised his eyebrows. “You know who I mean.”
A blank look came over Jack’s face. “What about her, sir?”
Oliver didn’t want to waste his time or Jack’s. “I need to know.” He took a slow breath. “Are you in love with her?”
From the moment his words were out, Oliver could tell two things. First, he was right. And second, Jack wasn’t going to admit it because he didn’t yet see the truth himself.
“Sir…” Despite his tanned face, the young agent’s cheeks grew ruddy. “Definitely not.” His tone was more shocked than defensive. Then gradually his expression changed. “However, sir… there is more to the situation.”
“I’m listening.”
And then Jack told him a story that seemed straight out of the movies, like something no one could dream of making up. Eliza was the little girl Jack had rescued? The summer his brother drowned in Belize?
Oliver felt his forehead grow damp. This definitely complicated things. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir. She even knew about my brother being hurt, laying on the beach.” He paused. “She didn’t mention that he had died. I don’t think she knows what happened.”
“So that’s it.” Oliver studied Jack. “You saved her as a child, and now… you have feelings for her.”
“No.” He gave a few slow shakes of his head. “No, sir, I don’t. Nothing more than when we first returned from the mission. I want her to succeed. I want her to make a difference.” Jack crossed his arms. “I want her to have a reason to live.”
Oliver considered that for a long moment. Then he nodded. Maybe that was it. Maybe Jack wasn’t in love with the girl. Either way, his agent needed the reminder. “You do understand, Jack, that agents cannot have any romantic dealings with informants.”
“Yes, sir. Of course.” Jack knit his brows together. “I would think you’d know me better.”
“Well… it’s a rule worth repeating.” Oliver softened his tone. “You never know. The two of you might work together at some point. The lines need to be clear-cut.”
“Always, sir.” Jack looked stone sure. “You don’t have to tell me again.”
* * *
AS IT TURNED out, Oliver did have to tell Jack again. Jack and Eliza, both. Because four weeks later the brass decided they could use Eliza for a surveillance trip to Nassau, Bahamas. And Jack was the perfect operative to go with her. He was closest to her age, and he was the agent she knew and trusted most.
By then Oliver and his superiors had talked with Eliza’s counselor at length. The woman had found no reason to keep Eliza from the field. “Being on mission is her reason to exist,” the therapist told them. “She is singly focused. Not afraid or anxious. No nightmares. Very different than victims who have actually been trafficked.”
The psychiatrist went on to say that outward expressions of trauma might come later. “Jack knows her best. I approve of the two of them working together. If she starts to show signs of a breakdown or repressed anxiety, he’ll see it. And he can get her back here the same day.”
Details of the mission came together quickly.
A group of six high-level traffickers had been working in Nassau for the past three months, recruiting girls and customers at a record rate. But there was a problem. The FBI’s data on the group was incomplete. Sending a team in to raid the operation would be a mistake at this point.
The bureau needed additional surveillance. Someone to trail the men when they went into town and watch the way they talked to solitary young girls. No one in the FBI would be as adept at recognizing that as Eliza.
Jack and Eliza would train together for two weeks, studying photos of the stretch of beach where the criminal operation was most likely taking place. They would rehearse surveillance scenarios and practice what to do if things went wrong.
The trip would be less dangerous than most. A good starting point for the two, since the higher-ups had decided the pair might work together again someday. This first time out together they would fly to Nassau, pretending to be a newly married couple. They would stay on Paradise Island at the Reef, a part of the Atlantis Resort.