Love Irresistibly (FBI/US Attorney #4)(63)

He pushed up on his elbows, not giving a shit about the pain in his shoulder, and pulled her in for a kiss. He eased back to the ground, bringing her with him and holding tight, wanting to be as close as he could get as she began moving over him.

Twenty-three

ON MONDAY, CADE sat at the head of the table in a trial-prep room—a “war room” as they were called around the office—directing his team as they worked through the massive evidence database they’d put together in the Sanderson case.

The war room served a dual function: a place where the trial team could meet, since no AUSA had an office large enough to comfortably accommodate ten people; and it also served as the storage room where they would maintain the many boxes of evidence in the case.

Discovery would begin soon, and Cade wanted to make sure that they had everything in order and that all the evidence was accounted for. As such, he’d gathered the team he and Cameron had assembled: Rylann, who would cochair the case along with him; two midlevel AUSAs from the special prosecutions group; and two paralegals. Along with them were Huxley and Vaughn, as well as two other FBI agents who’d assisted them in monitoring the various recorded conversations throughout the investigation. They all sat around the table, everyone armed with either an open laptop or iPad as they worked their way through the database.

“And we’ve got all the records for wire transfers and deposits into Diamond Strategic Development’s accounts?” Cade asked Vaughn and Huxley, referring to the shell company Senator Sanderson had created to hide the funds he’d collected as bribes.

Huxley nodded. “Boxes twenty-three through twenty-eight.”

As the paralegals made notes to the database, Cade moved on to the next item. “I know we have the call index . . . speaking of which, what’s the status on the audio recordings?”

“You have all of them,” Vaughn said. “The only thing you don’t have is the video of Sanderson and Torino’s meeting at Sogna. The forensic lab has the original footage we took from the restaurant on a hard drive; they just haven’t had a chance to transfer it to a DVD. I’ll follow up with them next week if we still don’t have it.”

“They’ve had the video for four weeks. Tell them I want my copy by Friday or I’ll drive over to the FBI lab and burn it onto a DVD myself.”

“I’m pretty sure that would violate the chain of custody,” Vaughn said, never missing a chance to be a smart-ass.

“You guys worry about chain of custody?” Rylann joked. “Wow. Such sticklers.”

They continued that way for the rest of the afternoon, with everyone good-natured despite the fact that double-checking evidence logs was undoubtedly one of the most tedious parts of an AUSA’s and special agent’s job. They made it until six o’clock and finally called it a day.

Huxley pressed his forehead against the table. “That was mind-numbing.”

Vaughn half-groaned in agreement. “I need a drink.”

Cade concurred wholeheartedly with both those sentiments, so the three of them went to an Irish pub located a block away from the federal building. After they ordered dinner and a round of drinks, Cade quickly checked his cell phone.

Of course Vaughn, with his FBI superpowers of perception, had to comment.

“Got another offer on the table that expires soon?” he asked.

“Go away.”

Vaughn grinned. “You’re quite circumspect about this situation with Brooke. I find that very intriguing, don’t you, Hux?”

No reply.

“Hux?” Vaughn looked to his right, where Huxley was reading something on his phone. With an unmistakable smile, he tucked his phone into the pocket of his impeccably tailored Ralph Lauren suit, and then noticed Cade and Vaughn looking at him. “Sorry. What were we talking about?”

“Just giving Cade crap about a certain sexy general counsel. But never mind that.” Vaughn pointed suspiciously. “What’s going on here, with the phone and the sneaky smile?” He studied his partner. “Don’t tell me you actually have a hot date tonight.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” Huxley took a sip of his beer, deliberately leaving them hanging.

“Look at you,” Cade said. “With who?”

“Addison.”

“Addison? Who’s—” It took Vaughn a second, then his mouth fell open. “Agent Simms? When did this happen?”

Huxley swirled his glass, looking quite coy. “Things have been percolating for a while. But they shifted into high gear after our fake date at Sogna.”

Vaughn threw out his hands in exasperation. “First Morgan, now you. Plus McCall’s getting married next month, and Pallas is having a kid. Purposely. Am I the only one not getting laid as part of an FBI sting operation?”

Huxley pretended to muse over this. “Maybe you should take some time. Figure out what’s gone wrong with your mojo these days.”

“My mojo is perfectly fine,” Vaughn assured him.

Cade was curious. “Is it serious?”

Huxley smiled. “Yeah. I think so.”

Vaughn scoffed at this. “Come on. You’ve only been seeing her for, what, a month?”

Huxley shrugged. “I like her. She likes me. It’s not that complicated.”

Cade and Vaughn threw each other looks. Right.