“I don’t see how you could possibly think Noelle is involved in that,” Hutch replied.
“I don’t know that she is. I know she seems perfectly innocent, but there were files on her system that make me worry.” Cara sat back. “And that’s all I can tell you right now. I have decisions to make. If you were who you said you were, it would be simple since I would let things play out. But you aren’t, and I have the added complication of your partner.”
Oh, now they were getting somewhere. “What’s your problem with Kyle?”
Cara looked back to Ian. “It’s not something I’m willing to discuss with the man he considers his uncle.”
“I know everything you know, probably more.” All of the sarcasm had left Ian’s tone. “I’m concerned about Kyle and his previous attachments, both professional and personal, and I’m definitely worried about the ones he refuses to talk about. So why don’t we cut to the chase. You need to explain what you want from us or let us go. I’ll let you in on a secret. The officer who helpfully allowed me to use my phone doesn’t realize what a paranoid bastard I am. I have protocols in place. I didn’t call my Charlie. I called my lawyer, and he should be here…”
There was a knock on the door that proved Big Tag had impeccable timing. Chris went to open it. He stared a hole through Cara when he looked back. “Mitchell Bradford is here, and my chief is, too. The lawyer said something about the DA being on speed dial.”
Ah, Maia Brighton, the gift that kept giving, even if it sometimes bit a man on the ass. Literally. She was the duly elected Dallas district attorney and a long time…associate of Tag’s. He wouldn’t call them friends, but Maia was part of the community and would close ranks if she had to.
Tag grinned. “You gotta love a good lawyer. Mitch will have called my Charlie, and she’ll be down here soon. You want to let me give her a ring to tell her to pick up some breakfast for Hutch on the way? We can still make this friendly. It’s been a while since I was in handcuffs, and honestly, it’s good to keep the kiddos guessing about whether their dad is a good guy or a bad guy. Keeps ’em on their toes. So you can have Charlie come in as a helpful partner or as a raging bitch whose man has been done wrong. I know which way I’d go. Also, I suspect you’re going to need Hutch to cooperate or you’ll both be off this case, and he honestly does think better when he’s not hungry.”
Cara stood and walked to the back of the conference room, Chris following behind her. They started in on a whispered discussion.
Big Tag sat back. “It’s not a bad day. I’m going to get donuts and a breakfast sandwich. Charlie lets me off the cholesterol leash anytime I get arrested. I should do it more often. I haven’t had a burger in a while. Hey, you know if we keep them talking, we could get lunch out of this.”
Hutch frowned his way. “Noelle is in trouble. I don’t know that I want Kyle around her. He snuck through my security system last night, and Michael says he called someone early in the morning. From a burner phone.”
Ian groaned and let his head fall back. “Damn it. What has Michael figured out?”
“Pretty much everything we suspect,” Hutch admitted. “He thinks he worked for the Agency and he might be reporting back to them. You know you shut Drake down hard after that last mission.”
It hadn’t been a mission so much as survival. Some of the team had been forced to put down a rogue CIA operative named Levi Green, and it had caused a wide rift between Tag and a man named Drake, who served as a sort of liaison between McKay-Taggart and the Agency. Drake seemed to be a good man, but he was a company man first and foremost, and that might mean using Big Tag’s nephew to spy on him. It wouldn’t be the first time the CIA had planted an operative in the office.
“Well, I should have suspected that, but Michael will keep his mouth shut,” Ian replied. “We need to make a big decision, Hutch. I think they’re about to ask you to work for them.”
“I work for you, and I’m not going to do anything that might put Noelle in danger. I won’t cross that line. Not even for you.”
A ghost of a smile hit Ian’s face. “Then Charlie did good. But Hutch, if they have even a sliver of evidence against Noelle, they’ll have leverage. We can blow their investigation up and then Noelle likely loses her job and perhaps her reputation, depending on how bitter the feds want to be. Her boss won’t help her. She’ll probably end up getting sued, and she doesn’t have the money to fight Layne in court. Or you can step in and do the job they were setting her up to do.”