certain.
Ezekiel Mayes was nobody’s fool. He’d spent five years as a homicide detective in Los
Angeles before returning to his hometown and running for sheriff. He was suspicious by
nature, perceptive, and when he had learned an operation had been conducted without his
knowledge by the DHS last year, he had been in D.C. screaming in the faces of men with
enough power to scald Cranston’s ass.
Mayes had some small amount of pull there, Cranston had learned, and he knew exactly
how to wield it. Proof was in the fact that she was working with him now.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. The quote
whispered through Chaya’s mind, and not for the first time. Cranston was playing a very
dangerous game here, and Sheriff Mayes was but one of the potential enemies that he
could make.
“Coffee, Zeke.” Becca, the waitress, set the cup down before turning to Chaya. “You
need anything else?”
“No, thank you.” She shook her head, wishing she could find a way to still the nerves in
her stomach as she lifted the coffee to her lips.
Becca nodded and moved off, but the sheriff’s gaze never left Chaya.
“Cranston’s sunk to a new low.” Mayes leaned back in his chair and regarded her with
sharp golden brown eyes.
“Cranston’s always finding new lows.” Chaya shrugged. “What has he managed to do
this time?”
“He sent a pretty little girl to do a man’s job.” He grunted in disgust. “The Mackays are
none too happy with DHS right now, and neither is the local law enforcement around
here. You don’t pull an op like you did last year and not inform the locals without
stepping on some toes.”
“We weren’t required to inform anyone of our operation here. We were required to
reacquire those missiles, Sheriff, not make nice with the local law enforcement. And my
gender has nothing to do with my ability to conduct this end of the investigation.”
He grunted at that. “Yeah, two years in military intelligence and five with DHS. You
have a hell of a record under your belt, don’t you?”
She did, and it was one she was proud of, sometimes, she assured herself. When she
needed something to find a source of pride in, then it worked.
“I’m not a green agent, Sheriff.” She leaned back in her own chair and stared back at him.
“Nor am I out of my element here. You have enough pull that you were able to make
certain you were contacted and included in any further investigations. I’m fine with that.
But you don’t have the power to give me orders or to direct these interviews. Are we
clear?”
His gaze flared with anger for a moment, then the amusement was back. “Just your little
lackey, huh?” he murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the sound of the bell over the
door tinkling merrily to announce another customer.
Chaya sighed. It was Natches. She could feel him now.
“Shall we get down to business?” She picked up the list of interviewees that she had
chosen to visit that afternoon. “Here’s the short list of people I need to see today. I
assume we can have this completed before too late tonight.”
Mayes took the list and studied it with a frown. “This isn’t the full list.”
“I’m not required to give you the full list,” she told him, feeling Natches moving in
closer, hearing him as a chair scraped across the floor just behind her.
The sheriff’s lips twitched as he continued to study her.
“You like to live dangerously, don’t you, little girl?”
She barely contained her flinch. She had heard those words before, and the hell she had
lived through afterward still haunted her nightmares.
“I live as I must.” She shrugged. “Another of those details that I’m not required to discuss
with you. Now, as you are the first on my list to be interviewed, shall we get started?”
There was a snort of a laugh behind her. The sound had her hackles rising and a curl of
anger prickling inside.
Before Mayes could
Ezekiel Mayes was nobody’s fool. He’d spent five years as a homicide detective in Los
Angeles before returning to his hometown and running for sheriff. He was suspicious by
nature, perceptive, and when he had learned an operation had been conducted without his
knowledge by the DHS last year, he had been in D.C. screaming in the faces of men with
enough power to scald Cranston’s ass.
Mayes had some small amount of pull there, Cranston had learned, and he knew exactly
how to wield it. Proof was in the fact that she was working with him now.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. The quote
whispered through Chaya’s mind, and not for the first time. Cranston was playing a very
dangerous game here, and Sheriff Mayes was but one of the potential enemies that he
could make.
“Coffee, Zeke.” Becca, the waitress, set the cup down before turning to Chaya. “You
need anything else?”
“No, thank you.” She shook her head, wishing she could find a way to still the nerves in
her stomach as she lifted the coffee to her lips.
Becca nodded and moved off, but the sheriff’s gaze never left Chaya.
“Cranston’s sunk to a new low.” Mayes leaned back in his chair and regarded her with
sharp golden brown eyes.
“Cranston’s always finding new lows.” Chaya shrugged. “What has he managed to do
this time?”
“He sent a pretty little girl to do a man’s job.” He grunted in disgust. “The Mackays are
none too happy with DHS right now, and neither is the local law enforcement around
here. You don’t pull an op like you did last year and not inform the locals without
stepping on some toes.”
“We weren’t required to inform anyone of our operation here. We were required to
reacquire those missiles, Sheriff, not make nice with the local law enforcement. And my
gender has nothing to do with my ability to conduct this end of the investigation.”
He grunted at that. “Yeah, two years in military intelligence and five with DHS. You
have a hell of a record under your belt, don’t you?”
She did, and it was one she was proud of, sometimes, she assured herself. When she
needed something to find a source of pride in, then it worked.
“I’m not a green agent, Sheriff.” She leaned back in her own chair and stared back at him.
“Nor am I out of my element here. You have enough pull that you were able to make
certain you were contacted and included in any further investigations. I’m fine with that.
But you don’t have the power to give me orders or to direct these interviews. Are we
clear?”
His gaze flared with anger for a moment, then the amusement was back. “Just your little
lackey, huh?” he murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the sound of the bell over the
door tinkling merrily to announce another customer.
Chaya sighed. It was Natches. She could feel him now.
“Shall we get down to business?” She picked up the list of interviewees that she had
chosen to visit that afternoon. “Here’s the short list of people I need to see today. I
assume we can have this completed before too late tonight.”
Mayes took the list and studied it with a frown. “This isn’t the full list.”
“I’m not required to give you the full list,” she told him, feeling Natches moving in
closer, hearing him as a chair scraped across the floor just behind her.
The sheriff’s lips twitched as he continued to study her.
“You like to live dangerously, don’t you, little girl?”
She barely contained her flinch. She had heard those words before, and the hell she had
lived through afterward still haunted her nightmares.
“I live as I must.” She shrugged. “Another of those details that I’m not required to discuss
with you. Now, as you are the first on my list to be interviewed, shall we get started?”
There was a snort of a laugh behind her. The sound had her hackles rising and a curl of
anger prickling inside.
Before Mayes could
Similar Books
