Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(59)
TWENTY
Jenny, Allison’s secretary, hung up the phone and looked over at Noah, who had been sitting there waiting for almost twenty minutes. “Mr. Wolf? Ms. Peterson will see you now. If you just go through this door…” She pointed to a door beside her desk.
Noah stood up and nodded, then walked through the door into Allison’s office. She was obviously busy behind her desk, but she looked up and smiled when he came in.
“Well, you’ve definitely got this place in an uproar,” she said. “Donald Jefferson threw an absolute fit when you said you had your plan worked out the first day. We’re not used to that around here.” She pointed at a chair across the desk from her, then looked deeply into his eyes. “Noah, are you really sure?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am. I’m going for a ‘natural causes’ death for Pablo Ortiz, one that should be accepted without a lot of questions. If I do it right, which I will, the only one who might have any suspicions will be Valdes, but I don’t think he’ll be complaining or raising too big a fuss. If all the Intel is right, he stands to take Ortiz’s place, and if anyone thinks his predecessor was murdered so quietly, they’re probably going to be looking at him.”
Allison tilted her head slightly, acknowledging the logic of his thoughts. “Just so you know, I’ve got people running a betting pool on whether you pull this one off. We’ve never let an agent get out into the field as quickly as you, so it’s got everyone pretty concerned. Luckily for you, it’s my decision and no one else’s, because I’ve got people who already want to see you eliminated.”
Noah shrugged. “That’s pretty much been the story of my life,” he said. “There’s always somebody who wants me gone, or out of the way, or dead. So far, I’ve proven to be pretty hard to kill, but I owe this last attempt directly to you. If for no other reason than that, I intend to make this mission a success.”
“Well, if you do, you’ll shut up a lot of your detractors, and I’ll take care of the rest of them. I understand Sarah has been spending the last couple of days driving around Hollywood? How do you feel about her?” She waved a hand, dismissing her own question. “Sorry, let me rephrase that. Do you have confidence in her abilities?”
“I went out with her the day before yesterday, and rode along. That girl can definitely drive, I’ll say that. On the other hand, if everything goes according to plan, she’s not going to have to play Jeff Gordon. We should be able to drive out just as pretty as you please.”
Allison smiled. “What about the rest of your team? Still holding it all together?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Noah said. “Neil and I are getting to be pretty close, and Moose has come a long way. I’m absolutely confident that he’ll do what I need him to do, and he’s even started loosening up and acting more friendly, lately. I think dating the Jefferson girl has helped a lot.” He cocked his head to one side and looked at Allison. “I’m still curious about that situation,” he said. “It’s really hard for me to believe that so many people who know about us can live out in the world, but the secret doesn’t leak.”
Allison held her smile, but then she winked at him. “Noah, sometimes it pays for us to have one of our own in places like The Sagebrush. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally one of our people, especially a new recruit, tends to brag a bit. Needless to say, we discourage that, to the point that if one of our people, like Miss Jefferson, were to overhear such bragging, that recruit might very well disappear.”
“Is that what happened in this case? Did Moose go out there and run his mouth?”
“On the contrary, not a bit. Quite the opposite, in fact. Miss Jefferson was here one day when Moose had to come in, and her father told me that she asked about him that day. From what I understand, when she saw him out at the Saloon, she actually went out of the way to make sure he knew that she was aware. You’ll remember, I’m sure, but I told you she was one of our computer whiz kids, so it wasn’t hard for her to get into his bio. I would imagine she was delighted when she found that she is precisely the type of girl he seems to be drawn to.”
“Well, good for him, then,” Noah said. “I guess it just worked out.”
Allison grinned. “Yes, I guess it did,” she said. “Sort of like you and Sarah; that seems to be working out pretty well itself.”
Noah raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “Is that a problem? If there’s a rule against it, I never heard about it.”
Allison sat there and looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. “Normally, I would say it would be a bad idea for a team leader to become romantically involved with a teammate,” she said, “but you are an entirely different case. I’ve already spoken with Sarah about it, and she seems genuinely aware that you’re not likely to have any kind of feelings for her, and she insists that that’s exactly what made you so attractive to her.”
“That’s what she told me, too.”
Allison grinned. “I did caution her about one thing, that sex is actually something that we use as a tool in this business, so there may be times when you seem to be involved with other women. She assured me that her relationship with you is purely physical, and that she won’t let jealousy become an issue. Noah, if it does, I want to know about it immediately. I would try removing her from your team, but if she can’t be salvaged…” She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, unsaid.