Wired (Buchanan-Renard #13)(26)

“Absolutely not,” her aunt snapped.

“Maybe we can figure out a solution over the phone.”

No such luck. Her aunt went into a full-blown rant and included the word ungrateful three times. God, Allison hated weekends with her relatives. She interrupted her aunt’s tirade, said she would see her tomorrow, and disconnected the call.

Liam stood in the doorway watching her. He could tell from her stance and her expression that something had upset her. She looked so disheartened. He doubted she would tell him what was wrong, but he asked anyway.

“What happened?”

“I’m just thinking,” she said.

“Yeah? About what?”

“Witness protection.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Want to tell me why?”

She shrugged. “It’s a way to disappear. That’s all.” She straightened and brushed past him as she returned to the living room.

For the rest of the evening Allison listened to the details of her assignment and answered about a hundred more questions. Most of them centered on the possible ways she could get into the protected sites without being detected. Even though the sites were constantly being monitored, Allison knew there was always a way around every obstacle. She just had to find the vulnerability. To her it was like a complicated math problem. There was always a solution. Truth be told, she couldn’t wait to get started.

It was after midnight when Liam called it quits. The night air had turned cold, and as they walked to his car, Allison folded her arms to ward off the chill. After removing his jacket, Liam placed it on her shoulders and drew her close. He didn’t know what perfume she was wearing, but it appealed to him. So did her killer body. Damn shapely for a model. No harm in noticing, he thought, as long as he kept the relationship professional. He wasn’t about to make a move. Allison was important to him because she was going to help him solve a problem. Once that was done, he would be on his way to another assignment. Travel had become a way of life for him. Even though he had friends all over the world, there hadn’t been time for personal commitments, and he had long ago accepted that as part of his job.

“It’s cold for this time of year,” Allison remarked as Liam drove her back to her house. He had turned the heat on, but she was still shivering. “I’m tired of cold weather . . . but I love Boston.”

“Aren’t you planning to move as soon as you graduate?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I’m thinking Santa Clara, California. It’s beautiful there.” Several minutes later she said, “You’re the lucky one.”

“How’s that?”

“You get to travel all over the world.”

“Yes, I do, but it can get old.”

“Maybe you just need someone to go with you.”

They stopped at a red light. Liam turned to her. “Are you applying for the job?”

She had foolishly believed she was beginning to relax with him until he looked into her eyes and smiled. He made her forget her every thought. She tried to be practical and analyze her reaction to him. Maybe it was just that he seemed so much bigger than life. She had done photo shoots with a lot of male models, men with perfect profiles and nearly perfect bodies, but none of them was as ruggedly handsome as Liam. There was a raw sexuality to him. She looked down, and her hands were fisted in her lap. She really had to put a stop to that, she told herself.

She knew he’d noticed. She didn’t think he missed much of anything. But then, he was an FBI agent. He should notice the little things.

“How do you want to do this?” Liam asked.

“Do what?”

“What we’ve been talking about all evening. Getting into the FBI system without being detected.” He smiled as though he could tell her mind was going in an entirely different direction.

“Oh,” she said, pulling herself together. “I’ve often thought about how I’d do it.”

“You’ve thought about breaking into the FBI?”

“No, I’ve thought about how I’d do it. That’s all. The key is finding a weakness.”

“What if there isn’t one?”

“There’s always a weakness,” she insisted. “I just need to find it.”

“When are you going to start?”

“I have to drive to Emerson tomorrow, and I won’t get back until late. Then Sunday I have to finish a paper on algorithms. We don’t have class Monday, so that’s when I’ll start.”

He parked in front of her house and handed her his card. It just had his name and a cell phone number. “You can get hold of me anytime, night or day. I’ll pick you up Monday morning at eight.”

“Why?”

“To drive you to the cyber unit. Phillips is insisting that you work there.”

“But that’s crazy. All I need is my laptop.”

“You’re going to be testing CSA security. He wants you in his unit.”

“What does he think I’ll do at home? Invite people over to watch me?”

He didn’t argue the point. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“Meaning, we’re through discussing this.”

“That’s right.”

He walked her to her door and patiently waited by her side while she dug through her purse, looking for her house key. She kept handing him things to hold while she searched, and by the time she finally found the key, he held her billfold, her sunglasses, a striped zipper bag, three pens, and a cell phone. She stuffed them all back in her purse.