Shifters: A Samantha Reece Mystery Book 1 by Jaime Johnesee (libby ebook reader txt) 📕

I knew I could trust Grace and her people. I’d also had enough dancing around the issue and more than enough game playing for the evening. I decided to speak my mind.

“What the hell is going on here, Sal? You know me. You know I had nothing to do with this aside from the fact Grisly targeted me. What the fresh fuck are you guys doing?” I wanted the truth and, dammit, I was determined that someone was going to give it to me.

If the people I’d spent my entire adult life working for wanted to cause me shit because this guy came after me then I was not going to play nice about it. Not anymore.

“Sam, you’re a good agent—”

“So, what, you interrogate all of your good agents?”

“You would do well to back off a bit there, Agent Reece. We question our agents veracity when we are deciding on whether to read them in on a situation or not.”

“What are you talking about, Sal?”

“I’m talking AWFA. I’m telling you they have people in all kinds of places. Places you wouldn’t expect. I’m also telling you there are people even higher up that are aware of it. We want to stop the Americans for a Were-Free America from getting their clutches on any more power than they already have.”

“And you thought that I was a part of this? You do recall I’m a shifter, right?”

“So was Grisly.” Point, set, match, to my fellow feds.

Chapter 19

“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME ABOUT IT? If I hadn’t said anything would you have just let me walk out of here not knowing this?”

“We would have contacted you, eventually. I didn’t really doubt you were on the up and up. Gerry wouldn’t tolerate a weasel in his midst and he’s really good at reading people.”

“Sal, who was controlling Grisly?”

“That, my dear, is the question I was hoping you’d be able to answer.”

“How high up is this guy?” I sat back down and felt a little deflated.

It had been scary when I thought they were going to try and pin this whole mess on me, but it was scarier having my fears confirmed. If Grisly’s boss, or even bosses, were at the top of the food chain, we were all in trouble.

“Higher than it should, but not above me. At least not that I know of.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m still being allowed to investigate with no limits. If he had someone higher than me in the Bureau I’d be getting my leash pulled.”

“Why’d you choose to read me in, Sal?”

“Because, like you said, you are a good agent, Sam, and I can use more good agents in the know. Maybe we can cut the heads off the snakes before they get any bigger.”

“So, are you going to go after Grisly’s puppeteer?”

“At some point, yes. Right now we need to find out exactly who is involved. We haven’t any idea who that puppeteer is. Or, possibly, puppeteers.”

“More than one? Is that possible? I can see one crazy guy slipping through the cracks on the FBI entrance exam, but more than that? Doesn’t seem likely.”

“The AWFA aren’t crazy, just extremists.”

“Aren’t extremists, by the very definition, crazy?”

“They can be, but they’re far more dangerous when they’re sane. Or partially sane, at any rate.”

“So what do we do?”

“You go on about your business like you do every day. I will clear you in the internal investigation and then I’ll try to track down the puppet master.”

“I want to help.”

“Sam.” Alex’s tone was sharp. “May I talk with my client a moment, Agent Guzeman?”

“Alex, I don’t need you to step in.”

“Just for a moment, please.”

“The room is yours, Baltazar.” Sal and his navy blue clad pal left the room, leaving me with Alex.

“What the holy hell?” Between thinking I was going to be arrested and finding out that my boss’s boss believed Grisly’s buddy was a link high up the chain I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“You need to hold off on being all gung ho to jump onto the mole hunt.”

“Why is that?”

“These people had you in the hot-seat, Sam. What if you’d said something they didn’t like? How hard would they have grilled you if I hadn’t showed?”

“According to them, when they came clean and told me everything, maybe a day or so.” I was insulted.

As if I couldn’t have held my own during an interrogation. Like I had needed his help. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for it. I think his showing up knocked Sal for a loop and helped get me cleared faster, but I also think I could’ve done the same thing without his help. It may have taken a bit longer, but it would have ended up in my favor.

“That would have been a very stressful day.”

“Nothing I couldn’t have handled.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t, just saying you might take a step back before hopping on the bandwagon of the guy that brought you in without reason in the first place.”

“Alex, they knew they had a mole. I set up the operation and picked my team; of course they’d bring me in and grill me. They took it further than I thought, but I get why.”

“You’re a lot more forgiving than I am.”

“That’s true. I’m also a hell of a lot cuter.” I grinned at my old friend.

“No arguments here.”

Alex was a good looking man. When he smiled, though, he became absolutely gorgeous. That smile transformed his handsome face into something utterly beatific to behold. A few years back we had scheduled a lunch date, but someone brought in a witness on his case for questioning. Alex had asked if I wanted to stick around, he told me it’d be quick. I agreed, expecting to have to wait a few hours for him. He took me to the observation room and went to work.

The man had serious skills and knew just where to push while questioning. In less than fifteen minutes—and with one smile—he’d gotten the girl to