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J ust then the doorbell rang. Diana, her face grim, said, “That’ll be the pizza. Hold on a moment.” But Livvy noticed that she checked the peephole in the door before she opened it.

Then Diana opened the door and took the two boxes, handed the delivery person some folded bills, then shut the door and clicked both locks. Put the boxes on the table, then slid into her seat. “Please continue, Jake.”

He shrugged. “Not much more to say at this point. I haven’t gone to Sheepshead Bay for the meeting. I’m going to do a few days of surveillance before I do anything. And Livvy is going to back me up.”

Diana, who’d been leaning across the table to listen, leaned back in her chair. “Who is your supervisor?” she asked Jake.

He held her gaze. “Same supervisor Livvy had when she worked for the Bureau. Don Nelson.”

“I’m going to assume that the two of you have discussed this. Any conclusions?” Diana asked.

Jake nodded at Livvy, since she’d actually met with some Bratva members. He hadn’t yet had that pleasure.

She nodded back as if they were perfectly in sync. Like she knew exactly what he was going to say. His chest constricted, and he blew out a breath.

Livvy glanced at him again, then looked back at Diana. “Jake and I have discussed this,” she said. “Jake is concerned that Nelson might be a Russian asset.” She swallowed. “I’ve heard about what happened when Cliff Kingsley was arrested. Mel Melbourne and Devlin Smith were the ones who took Kingsley down. I’ve talked to them, and they’ve said they were sure there were more Russian assets at the Bureau, but that they hadn’t found anyone after Kingsley was arrested. They had no idea who they might be, other than the one person who’d been arrested shortly after Kingsley was caught.”

Diana looked at both of them, her mouth tight. “I suspect your fears about Don Nelson are on target,” she said. “We knew Kingsley wasn’t the only one, but after he was arrested, any others went deep. Stayed in the background. Didn’t cause any trouble that we could use to catch them.”

She glanced at the pizza boxes, pulled them toward her and opened them. “Help yourself. The pizza’s getting cold.”

As they ate, Diana said, “I’ll talk to my counterpart at the NSA. See if he can set up a sting operation to lure Nelson into the open.” Her jaw twitched as if she were holding herself in check. “ I can’t do it, because that would tip Nelson off that I’m suspicious. Any Russian asset at the Bureau has a lot of information sources. But another agency? No one from the FBI would have access to their information or plans.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Livvy said. “We didn’t want to ask for help from any of the agents at the Bureau, because we have no idea if Nelson’s working alone.” She frowned. Glanced at Jake, who nodded to her, like they had some kind of psychic connection and he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Neither of us think Nelson’s the only one at the Bureau,” she finally said. “But since we have no idea who the others might be, we didn’t want to ask around. That would be guaranteed to send any Russian asset burrowing deep underground. We figured you’d have some ideas, as well as resources that we don’t have.”

Diana clenched her teeth, and rage flashed in her eyes, quickly hidden. “Jake, keep your mouth shut. If Nelson pushes you to go to Sheepshead Bay and meet with a group there immediately, stall him. Tell him you don’t do anything undercover until you’ve done due diligence. Then leave. You and Olivia go to Sheepshead Bay and check out this group. Keep me in the loop.” She glanced at Livvy. “Olivia has my personal phone number. She’ll give it to you. Use it if you need to reach me, anytime. Day or night.” She turned and walked into what had to be her home office. Opened what sounded like a safe, closed it again and came out holding two credit cards. “Take these and use them in Sheepshead Bay. In case Nelson is tracking you via your agency card.”

“Thanks, Diana,” Jake said, taking one and handing the other to Livvy. “We’ll leave tomorrow for Sheepshead Bay to check out the group there. Once we suss it out, I’ll probably take the meeting, but Olivia will back me up.” He clenched his teeth together. “I’m pretty sure Nelson’s plan was to have this group kill me. I won’t let that happen.”

“And neither will I,” Livvy said.

Diana put her hands on the table. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” she said. “If I get more information, I’ll let you know. It would be helpful to know who the other Russian assets are.”

“Yeah, it would,” said Livvy. “But bottom line? We don’t trust anyone at the FBI right now.” She forced a smile. “Present company excluded, of course.”

Diana’s smile was forced. “Keep me updated,” she said. She leaned across the table. “And please, please watch your backs. Watch each other’s backs.”

“Already planning on that,” Jake said as he pushed away from the table and held out his hand to Diana. “Thank you so much for listening to what we had to say,” he said.

“And believing us,” Livvy added.

Diana narrowed her eyes. “My FBI agents are the best law enforcement team in the world,” she said. “I will always trust them.” She pressed her lips together. “Until I get proof that I can’t.”

Olivia nodded. “With a little luck, I think we’ll be able to get you that proof,” she said.

Diana’s gaze shifted from Livvy to Jake. Back to Livvy. “If you two can’t do it? I’m not sure who could.”

With murmurs of thanks, Jake reached for the front door. Snatched his hand back before he could open it. Diana murmured, “Good thinking, Jake. Better not to go out that door, in case someone’s watching.”

She nodded toward the kitchen. “Go out the back. I’ll show you the best way to get back to your car.”

Livvy wanted to look out the window, see if anyone was in a car outside Diana’s door. But instead, she walked toward the kitchen with Jake.

Diana stopped at the door that led into the backyard. “Cut through my yard, then the one to the left.” She glanced at them. “Is that the street where you parked your car?”

“Yes, it is,” Livvy said.

“Good.” She smiled. “The neighbors in that yard kitty corner to the left? They’re out of town. No one’s staying at their house. All the neighbors keep an eye on it for them. Cut between it and the house to the right of that one, then you’ll be on the street where you parked your car. Get in and get out of the neighborhood. And watch for a tail on your way back home.”

“We were doing that on the way here,” Jake said. “Didn’t spot a thing.”

“Hope it’s the same going home.” She nodded at each of them. “Call me every day, so I know you’re okay. And stay safe.”

“We’ll keep each other safe,” Livvy said.

Diana’s gaze touched on Livvy’s face, then on Jakes. “Yes. Please do that.” She lowered her voice. “Thanks for trusting me with your concerns.”

“No one else we’d go to,” Olivia said.

“Thank you for your trust,” Diana said. “It means a lot to me.”

They both nodded at Diana, then began running through the backyards until they came to the space between the two houses Diana had pointed out. When they reached the edge of the houses, they waited for a long moment. Listened. When they heard nothing, they cautiously scanned the street.

Seeing nothing, they walked to Livvy’s rental car. Slid inside and locked the doors. Then they headed back to Jake’s apartment. As Livvy drove, Jake kept watch in the side mirror for anyone following them.

When they reached Jake’s apartment and he unlocked the door, Jake stepped inside and signaled for Livvy to pull out her gun and go into the kitchen and living room. Pulling out his own Glock, he walked toward the bedrooms. He checked both bathrooms, and when he saw that Livvy was in her bedroom, he checked his own bedroom.

“All clear,” he said as he stepped into the hall. He swung open the folding doors to the hall closet and peered between the coats. “No one here,” he said.

Livvy stepped out of her bedroom, and they walked into the living room. After double-checking that the front door was double locked, Jake went to his desk and pulled out the small device he’d used earlier. He flipped a switch and the display turned green.

Touching his finger to his mouth, signaling silence, he walked through his apartment, passing the wand over every frame on the wall, every piece of furniture, every lamp. It took him a while to complete the exhaustive search, but finally he clicked off the device. “We’re clear,” he said.

“I started doing that when I got back from Helena,” he said. “Your story was extremely disturbing, and I no longer trust anyone at the FBI besides Diana. I want to make sure no one’s bugged my place. Since it’s been a while since you worked for the FBI, I don’t think anyone will have connected us, but I’m not taking any chances. I do it every time I come home.”

“I never thought I’d be telling an FBI agent that it was smart to check for bugs every time he came home,” Livvy, said, slumping in her chair. “But it damn well is.” She drew in a deep breath and looked around Jake’s place. “You’ve got a great apartment, but I can’t wait to get out of here and over to Sheepshead Bay. A haven of serenity compared to D.C.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Looking forward to hearing what the NSA comes up with. Although I’m guessing that Nelson and whoever he’s working with at the Bureau are smart enough to use burner phones.”

“I’m sure they are,” Livvy said. “Just as I’m equally sure NSA’ll be able to work around the burners.” She grinned. “They are the NSA, after all.”

“Thank God. We need some help at the FBI, and they’re just the group to do it.” He sighed. “The sooner we get out of here and go to Sheepshead Bay, the happier I’ll be.” He rolled his eyes. “And I never thought that working with a Bratva group who’s primed to kill me would beat working out of FBI headquarters. At least we know the Bratva guys in Sheepshead Bay are our enemies.”

Livvy’s mouth lifted in a grin. “You live an exciting life, Dunbar,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just not the kind of excitement I was expecting when I signed up with the FBI.”

He glanced at Livvy, who had huge dark circles under her eyes. “I’m gonna go to bed. You must be exhausted after the long flight and then the meeting with Diana,” he said. “But if you want to stay up and unwind, that’s fine with me. I want to be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.”

Livvy nodded slowly, as if it took all her strength to keep her head steady on her neck. “Yeah, me too. I’m beat. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.

“I’m gonna be out of here early, so don’t worry about getting up before I leave. I’ll be home by midday, I think.”

Livvy rolled her eyes. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” she muttered.

“Yeah.” Jake waved as he walked toward his bedroom. “See you tomorrow, Livvy.”

“Yeah. Be careful at headquarters tomorrow.”

“Careful’s my middle name,” he said.

* * *

Jake got to his office early enough the next day that there were very few agents in the building yet -- which suited him just fine. He went into his office and rummaged through all his drawers, all his files, looking for anything sensitive. He didn’t want to leave anything that could serve as a weapon or be handed over to the Sheepshead Bay Bratva to be used as a tool against him.

After he jammed all the paperwork he wanted to remove into his briefcase, he sat down and opened his computer. When he first suspected that Kingsley wasn’t the only Russian asset at the Bureau, he’d put a keylogger on his computer to track anyone who logged in. To see what they were looking for and what they’d found.

He'd checked it every day and found nothing. But this morning, he had a hit. Someone had used his ID and password to log in.

His stomach tightening with anxiety, he carefully logged out and shut the computer down. He wished he’d installed a camera in his office so he could see who was snooping around, but it wasn’t too late to do it now.

He wanted to run out and buy one immediately but knew that wouldn’t be smart. He needed to wait. Go out to lunch and get a camera then. Stay late tonight, or maybe come back after everyone was gone. Install the camera then, and make sure it was well-hidden.

He’d bring Livvy back with him. She could keep a lookout while he installed the camera. And she’d probably have other good suggestions, too.

He was shocked at how natural it felt to go to Livvy for help. Despite their rocky first encounter at The Trailhead, when she’d wanted to take off his head, they’d developed a good working relationship.

But before he told Livvy what was going on, he had to talk to Nelson. Tell him he was leaving for Sheepshead Bay to do surveillance on the area and the building he’d be walking into.

Before the meeting, he and Livvy would check out the meeting room during the night. Look for hiding places for Livvy. Easy escape routes. Potential traps. Everything a good agent did before an undercover job.

So he drew in a deep breath, stood up, and left a few tells behind -- a hair he’d pulled from his head, dropped onto his keyboard. He tilted the keyboard to the right, leaving it slightly askew. Then he walked down the hall to Nelson’s office. But he locked his own office door first. Not something he’d ever done at the Bureau during the day unless he was going on an assignment. But now? Until they’d found all the other Russian assets at the Bureau, it was SOP -- standard operating procedure.