Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents #7)(30)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“Shut the door,” Mercer ordered without looking back.

Dylan shut the door.

Mercer exhaled. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, son, and I need you to reply honestly, you understand?”

“Yes.” No.

“What’s the most important thing in your life?”

Rachel. He cleared his throat, pushed back his shoulders and said, “The EOD.”

Mercer looked back at him. “I don’t know if you heard me, but I said you needed to reply honestly. The door’s shut, and this conversation will never leave this room.” Mercer arched a brow. “So let’s cut the bull and try that one again. Agent Foxx, what is the most important thing in your life?”

“Rachel.” Her name was torn from him.

Mercer nodded. “Better. Much better.” He studied Dylan in silence for a time, then said, “But if she matters so much, then why did you push her away?”

“I’m protecting her.”

“She’s a marine. The woman can protect herself.”

Dylan took a step toward his boss. “The rogue stabbed her just a few months ago. She got a concussion in Jack’s blast. She’s not ready to be in the field. Your own doctors said—”

“No one but you said she needed to be shipped down to Atlanta. That was totally your call as the team leader.” Mercer’s shoulders sagged a bit. “Don’t think I don’t get where you’re coming from. You care about someone, and you want to keep her safe. But Rachel Mancini isn’t the type of woman who will tolerate being locked up.”

He wasn’t locking her up. He was just trying to get her out of Jack’s path. Because Jack would come gunning for Dylan again. He knew it. Rachel couldn’t get caught between them.

“You think I haven’t been there?” Mercer asked, surprising Dylan. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to care and to want to do anything and everything in your power to protect those closest to you?” Mercer’s hands dropped to his sides. “We want to control everything, but sometimes we just can’t.”

He didn’t want to control Rachel. He wanted to keep her alive.

“She’s been on dozens of missions with you. You never hesitated with her before,” Mercer charged.

This was different.

“Why?” his boss pressed. “Why the change now?”

Because he’d crossed a line with her. There was no way he could just look at Rachel as an operative any longer. “I put a target on my back. We both know it. I don’t want Rachel getting hurt because of me.”

“You mean…because of your desire to take down Jack.”

Mercer always saw too much.

“I haven’t forgotten about Shannon,” Mercer said. “I remember all too well. You walked through that door—” he nodded toward said door “—and demanded to be lead on the investigation. Your eyes burned with fury, but your voice shook with pain.” His lips twisted. “You’ve changed a lot in the years since then, but that fury—it’s still in your eyes any time you talk about Jack. Fury like that can make a man reckless. Are you reckless, Foxx?”

“No.”

“Maybe you’re lying to yourself now.”

He didn’t understand the point of this meeting. “Look, Mercer, the heart-to-heart is not really working so much, and I need to get Rachel home—”

“No, you don’t.”

Something about Mercer’s tone put Dylan on edge.

“Actually, she’s not your concern at all any longer.”

“Just because I won’t be the team leader for her doesn’t mean that she’s not—” Mine. He stopped, keeping that bit back.

“Rachel Mancini is no longer a part of the EOD.”

“What?”

“She resigned about ten minutes ago. I imagine she’s already left the building.”

“You just let her walk away? With Jack loose out there?” Dylan spun for the door.

“We both know Jack doesn’t want her dead.”

“No, he just wants her.” But he can’t have her. Dylan grabbed for the doorknob.

“You want her, too, and that’s your problem, Agent. You’re not thinking the way you should. Instead of using a strong, talented agent, you’re letting your fury guide you.” Intensity thickened in Mercer’s voice. “Rachel isn’t Shannon, and you need to remember that.”

Dylan yanked open the door and rushed outside.

Judith’s hot glare singed him.

He didn’t stop to talk. He searched the whole floor, looking for Rachel.

She wasn’t there.

He rounded the corner, heart racing, and nearly collided with Thomas. The man moved so silently that Dylan hadn’t heard his approach.

“Where is she?” Dylan growled.

Thomas frowned at him. “Rachel? I thought she was in your office.”

No, she wasn’t. More searching showed that Rachel wasn’t in the building at all. A security check told them that Rachel had left about five minutes before. She’d just walked away.

And left Dylan behind.

Chapter Seven

Even at night, Rachel could see the scars left by the explosion. The pavement and the nearby building were dark, seemingly lined by a thick shadow.

But she knew the darkness wasn’t a shadow. Scorch marks. The blackness left behind after the explosion.

She stared down at the sidewalk. A new streetlamp was close by. The city workers were fast, she’d give them that. The streetlamp illuminated the sidewalk in the exact spot Rachel had hit when she’d been thrown by the blast.

Violence could change so much.

Voices rose in the air. Laughter. She glanced over, following those sounds to the pub. It was a busy night there. She found herself walking toward the pub, toward the light and warmth that it promised.

The pub’s main door swung open beneath her hand. The place didn’t remind her of death and destruction. There was laughter there. Men and women flirting.

Living.

She made her way to the bar and recognized Aidan right away as he pushed drinks across to thirsty customers. He was laughing. Despite the fear he’d shown the previous night, the man now looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

If only she could feel that way.

Rachel eased through the crowd. Someone bumped her shoulder and she turned instinctively—and found herself staring at the blond male she’d met just a few nights before.

“Hi, there.” He flashed her a wide smile. “I don’t think we’ve met.”