“Good, because that’s exactly how I want things to stay.” Kira turned onto Broadway toward the high-rise where she lived. “Maybe this is all based on the fact I worked all night and then went to a meeting instead of going home and going to bed, but my brain is spinning right now.”
“We can talk after you get some sleep.”
Kira slowed for a parcel truck to pull out in front of her. “I just need to know what exactly the Marshals know about the work I’ve done in the past. They mentioned my security clearance, so I know they ran a check on me.”
“Let me see.” Jordan went quiet for a second.
It wasn’t as if Kira was going to bring up her previous work for any government agency to that judge and a marshal. It was enough that they knew she had been a doctor in all kinds of conditions, under a whole lot of hair-raising situations. That was probably enough to make her qualified for this particular assignment. But she still needed to talk to her bosses at the hospital, just to make sure they knew she had taken on additional duties for a short period of time.
Jordan came back on the line. “It looks like they just did an in-depth background check. Which wouldn’t have given them more than what’s on your résumé, at least officially. Unofficially, the CIA didn’t divulge anything, and neither did any other agency.”
“Thanks.”
“Were you really worried about some of your secrets being leaked?”
Kira pulled into the underground parking lot in the basement of her building and pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head when the area around her plunged into dim light. Her numbered space was down one level, in the corner. Far enough from the elevator that she always walked with her keys between her fingers, just in case someone came up behind her with ill intentions.
“I just ran into someone I met a long time ago, and it kind of threw me. All of it colliding in the same conversation where they are mentioning my clearance.”
“Right.” Jordan paused. “Do I need to run a background check on someone?”
“Not as far as I’m concerned. My plan is to steer clear of him as much as possible during this job. Besides, he’ll be on security, and I’ll be taking care of the patient.” That meant they didn’t necessarily have to see each other, right?
Kira didn’t need the constant reminder that she might have been completely wrong about Luca Saxon. That the person she had built up in her mind as a hero could be far from it. It seemed more likely, from the stories Mack had told her, that Hammer—the team leader—was the heroic one. He was the guy who’d saved his family from a burning house. Luca had settled into civilian life, and now he was trying to build his nest egg. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering everyone needed money to live. But it definitely rubbed her the wrong way.
Which meant it was high time that she set aside those fantastical daydreams about being swept off her feet by a hero, and let go of the idea that a man could be everything she dreamed he was.
“That may be so,” Jordan said. “But I still want his information so I can do some checks of my own. Just in case something happens to you, I’d like to be prepared.”
“You’re so sweet.” Kira gave her friend Luca’s name. “He spent the last couple of years fighting wildfires, I guess?—”
“Oh.” Jordan paused. “I know who he is.”
“You do?” Kira frowned. She only knew about the wildfire thing because Mack had been telling her stories of his brother and the rest of the team. Everything that’d happened during their summer in Montana, then in Alaska, and all about people in some place called Last Chance County.
If she didn’t think Mack was more honest than a lot of people she’d met, she might not believe him. She might think he’d been making it up. Or at least embellishing stories.
Jordan said, “Those guys were all over the papers for a while. They made national news after they took down some conspiracy to poison the food supply last year, or something like that. But I know about it because there was a CIA agent involved. One of my assets, though she dropped off the radar a few years ago and no one knew what had happened to her.”
“Really?”
“I figured she’d been killed, and honestly, it bothered me for a long time. Thinking that maybe I could’ve done something to save her life.”
Kira swallowed against the lump in her throat. “But she’s okay now?”
“We connected recently, and she’s doing great,” Jordan said. “I keep my people safe. That’s the deal, isn’t it?”
As far as friendship with Jordan went, that was pretty much a declaration of undying devotion. Kira smiled to herself. “Love you too, girlie.”
It was also a measure of Jordan’s dedication to her job at the CIA that she worked so hard to keep people safe. Jordan was going to work for the agency for her entire career because she believed that much in the work they did. In keeping assets safe and ensuring missions were completed with as little loss of life as possible.
Kira said, “Now I have an appointment with half a chapter of a sweet romance novel and a pile of blankets. Otherwise, when my shift rolls around tonight, I’ll be exhausted.”
Jordan said, “Falling asleep thinking about some guy might not be a bad thing.”
“I’ve done way too much thinking about this guy. It’s time to find a new hobby.” She hung up the phone and headed from her car to the elevator and up to her apartment.
The lobby between the elevator doors and her front door echoed, the temperature lower than necessary so that it raised goosebumps on her forearms. She ducked into her apartment and toed off her heels by the front door.