made sure her emotions didn’t show in her expression. A sense of duty had formed her desire to enter the police force, but this…they were asking her to deceive McCabe, if in fact she could convince him to put her on de la Reyes’s detail. To act as a spy while she was in San Baltes.
She’d worked plenty of undercover cases, but there was nothing compelling about the agents’ request. They could cite national security all they wanted, but they’d failed to convince her of the urgency of this particular task. And even she was surprised at the level of distaste she felt for it.
“So that’s it, gentlemen.” Sanders rose, indicating the meeting was at an end. Ava couldn’t tell if he approved of her response or not. “I said I’d release Detective Carter if she agreed, but you have her answer. I’m afraid I have another meeting in a few minutes.”
They all rose, and the tall agent reached into his pocket to withdraw a card. He handed it to her. “In case you reconsider.”
When Ava went to take it, the man didn’t release the card immediately. Her gaze met his.
“Think it over, Ms. Carter.” His voice was pitched low enough to reach only her ears. “I happen to believe a single act of patriotism can erase years of disloyalty. Years that might prove embarrassing should they be made public.”
The freshly healed scar on her shoulder throbbed at his thinly veiled warning. He finally released the card and she slipped it into her suit pocket. Turning without a word, she headed for the door, wondering frantically just how thorough their investigation of her had been.
Because she didn’t think she was imagining the threat in Samuelson’s parting words.
Once back in her car, Ava checked her cell phone and found a text message from Alex assuring her he’d find another ride home. She slipped the key in the ignition, but then sat still for a few moments, her fingers clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel.
It was ridiculous to let Samuelson rattle her. She was accustomed to the strong-arm tactics feds used to get what they wanted, but surely his was an empty threat. Her occupation was a daily testament to her patriotism. She didn’t have to fly to another country to prove it. Just as she didn’t have to constantly strive to negate her radical upbringing. How many times had her ex-husband reminded her of that?
Apparently, not often enough.
Perhaps she’d misinterpreted his words. Ava had the thought, tried to believe it. The assignment the man had described didn’t seem all that vital to national security. So he’d left something out, hardly surprising when dealing with feds.
Which made it impossible to decide whether he’d been bluffing about making trouble for her.
She headed out of the lot and turned on the busy Belleview Boulevard. They lived on the outskirts of the city, a fact her son had grown to hate as his social relationships had become the center of his life. But at the time she and Danny had bought the property, it was quite a bit cheaper to live farther out. That was before trendy developments had started popping up all over in what had previously been a spacious, peaceful area.
Things changed. Ava slowed as she came up on a blue-haired woman who could barely see over the top of the steering wheel. Her neighborhood wasn’t the only evidence of that. Less than five years after they’d bought the house, she and Danny had separated. They’d been divorced for nearly three years.
Turning at her corner, she immediately recognized the blue Toyota parked at the curb in front of her house. Her stomach plummeted. It had been a long, stressful day. She and her ex-husband had an amiable relationship, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with him tonight. All she wanted was a hot meal and a cold beer. Maybe sitting down with Alex to catch the Lakers game on ESPN.
All of which would have to wait until Danny was gone.
Pulling to a stop under the carport, she got out of the vehicle, leaving her gear locked in the trunk. Normally she’d put her rifle in the gun safe, but that would mean carrying it into the house and Danny had never hidden his disapproval about her participation on Alpha Squad. It had been one of the things that had driven them apart.
Pushing open the front door, she saw her ex-husband and Alex sitting on the couch talking animatedly. If their sudden silence at her appearance wasn’t a tip-off that they were up to something, their guilty expressions would have been.
Ava closed the door behind her and raised a quizzical brow. “So, what are you two hatching?”
“Nothing.” Her son was a horrible liar. His eyes, as dark as her own, were alight with excitement. His entire body practically quivered with it. “Dad called right after your text, and when I told him I needed a ride he said he’d pick me up.”
“Uh-huh.” She grabbed him playfully as she walked by the couch, dropping a kiss on his brown mop of hair before he could dodge away. “Did you also tell him we’re going shopping tomorrow and you have to get all your homework done tonight?”
“Oh man.” Alex slumped against the couch. “Can’t you just go and bring some stuff home for me to look at?”
She cocked her head, pretended to consider it. “You mean bring home different sizes and fashions for you to try on and then take back whatever you don’t want? Sort of like your own personal shopper?”
“Yeah.”
“Nope.” Ava dropped in a chair and fixed Alex with a steady look. “Go on and do your English while I talk to your dad. I’ll order something for supper.”
His excitement visibly dimmed, Alex got up and slouched out of the room, muttering, “Okay, but the next kid I see at the mall that calls you a MILF, I’m gonna punch him in the face.”
“Violence is never the answer, Alex,” Danny said reprovingly.
But Ava was less focused on her ex-husband’s words than she was on her son’s. “What is that? MILF? He’s complained about that before.” She swung her puzzled gaze to Danny’s, but her ex looked just as mystified as she was. She’d have to remember to ask one of the other cops. Danny wasn’t exactly up on teenage vernacular.
“Thanks for bringing him home.”
Her ex-husband took off his rimless glasses and cleaned the lenses on his shirt, his fine white-blond hair falling in his eyes. “I wanted to come by and talk to you tonight anyway. It worked out.”
“Must be big.” She waited for him to put his glasses back on, blink at her owlishly. “I haven’t seen Alex that excited since the baseball coach moved him up to play JV last year.”
“Well.” Danny gave her that boyish smile that once would have softened something inside her. “It is big. But how big depends on you.”
For the second time in an hour Ava found herself wishing for a beer. “Danny. It’s been a long day. Just spill it, okay?”
He fingered his white collar, a nervous habit he had. “I just told him about a mission trip I have planned. I booked some flights to Tanzania for this summer for myself and a few other church members. We’re going to help build some
