Jesse mentally chewed on that a minute, then said, “Why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on.”
“I’ll tell you as much as I can. Do you mind if I sit?” He hated to admit his weakness, but it was either do that or start wobbling on his feet. Without waiting for the answer—what did he care anyway?—he eased down on the sofa, using his right arm to brace himself so no sudden movement pulled on his chest muscles. “First, I’m government. That’s pretty much all I’m going to tell you. If you start digging and trip any electronic wires, you can get me killed.”
“But you brought your trouble here without thinking about the danger to my town?” There was fire in the cop’s eyes, fire that was justified. But Jesse also sat down, and that was progress. He was at least willing to listen and, because of Bo’s response, was already inclined to believe what he was told.
“You think I’m stupid?” Morgan shot back. “There are layers of protection. Rees isn’t my real name. We went out of our way to make sure Bo is in no way linked to what happened. My backstory is solid, I’m off the grid. No one digging from the other end is going to find me unless you blow my cover by making inquiries from this end. What we’re waiting for is whoever was behind the shooting to trigger their own alarms by trying to find me. Then we trace it back, identify, and handle.” He didn’t say how the situation would be “handled,” but he didn’t have to.
“I’ve already asked all those questions,” Bo added as she rejoined them. “Jesse, I wouldn’t have let him stay if I hadn’t satisfied myself it was safe. I talked to his . . . supervisor, I guess. The way this was handled, without any kind of electronic or paper trail, there’s no way he can be connected to us. His supervisor, him, me, and now you—we’re the only ones who know.”
Except that wasn’t quite true, Morgan thought, though he kept his expression veiled. The connection to her was going to be difficult to find, difficult enough that no one would think they were meant to find it, but the whole point of this was that he could eventually be located. Then the shit would hit the fan, for the guilty party at least, and afterward he’d get back to his real life kicking terrorist ass.
Jesse didn’t like it, didn’t like anything about it; that was plain. He looked back and forth between Morgan and Bo, weighing, considering, but finally his trust in Bo outweighed his reservations. “If you’re satisfied, boss,” he said.
She rocked her hand back and forth to indicate she hadn’t one hundred percent bought in. “I’m satisfied enough, for now. But I know for certain Morgan isn’t in any shape to leave, so that’s that.”
That too was a good note to hit. She was aware of the possible danger, but also of reality. If Jesse thought she was being reckless, that could tip the scale the way they didn’t want it to go, but she’d just reassured him she was on guard.
“I wouldn’t have come here if I thought there was any danger to either Bo or the town,” he said, putting a thumb on the scale to tip it even more in his favor. “If it helps, I’m armed.”
“Got a permit?”
“One that covers every state. But I also have one issued by West Virginia, so I’m covered there.”
“Mind if I see them?”
Axel had covered that too, getting him concealed carry licenses in the Morgan Rees name. He hitched his left hip up and retrieved his wallet from his back pocket, extracted the permits and handed them over.
Jesse’s eyebrows rose as he looked at them. “They’re issued to a Morgan Rees. I thought that wasn’t your name.”
“It isn’t; if you thought you’d find out my real name by this, it won’t work. I do this shit for a living, and the agency paperwork behind me is solid. These will stand up.” They weren’t legal, but they’d stand up.
Morgan could see the ire and frustration in the cop’s eyes; he knew what Morgan was admitting and didn’t like not being able to investigate something his instincts told him he should. He had no reason to believe anything Morgan was telling him, but he also realized that it could be true. Jesse glanced at Bo, and once again his trust in her was the deciding factor.
“If you’re okay on this, boss, then I guess I am too.”
“Even though I think it’s okay,” she replied, “I also think we should be smart about this. We won’t let our guard down.”
That seemed to settle the matter. After a few minutes Jesse left, not satisfied but reassured anyway. Bo immediately put on her coat and took Tricks for a walk. Morgan watched out the window as she and the dog disappeared into the tree line, the dog all but bouncing around her as she chased the tennis ball Bo tossed underhanded—and with her left hand, which struck him as odd—and brought it back to her with a happily wagging tail and an eager expression that was easy to read even from that distance.
He clicked into analysis mode, going over every nuance of Jesse’s tone, exactly what he’d said. He thought the cop would be a good ally despite his misgivings. To cover the bases he needed to let Axel know exactly what had been said and that the cop had been partially read in on the situation, but he wouldn’t call again unless it was an absolute emergency because he had no way of knowing where Axel was, or with whom. Any contact would have to wait until Axel initiated it.
He got to his feet and walked around, knowing he had to start pushing his body to do a little more each day. The hours of driving the day before had unexpectedly knocked him flat, telling him he still had a long way to go before he reached full recovery. He could wait patiently in ambush for days at a time, but this physical incapability was maddening. There was no way of knowing when whoever was behind his shooting would find his location, so he had to be ready.