Dark Seduction (13 page)

“A Changeling.” Logan’s look grew hard. “We know now you’re not Carla. You might as well show yourself.”

Tori stared at Logan, saw his furious gaze. Her heart ached that she’d deceived him while at the same time she was angry that he knew who she was and furious for who he was.

But he was right. She might as well show herself.

She shifted from Carla to Tori. Long blonde hair that had been resting on her shoulders slid up and vanished as her dark curls appeared. She knew her eyes were morphing from gray to hazel-green, her body going from tall to petite. She shifted out of Carla’s slinky silver dress into jeans, T-shirt, and athletic shoes. Even what had been in her silver evening purse was now in her jeans pockets.

Logan sucked in his breath. “It is you.” His expression hardened. He looked at the back of the device again as if reading something there. “Did you plan this from the beginning?”

“I was recruited after meeting you,”
the computer said.

The computer only seemed to respond to direct questions. She was still able to think without every word coming out.

Logan narrowed his eyes. “What happened to Carla?”

Tori shook her head but the computer answered for her.
“I don’t know. She was already in a coma when I was given the assignment. I don’t know what caused it.”

With a scowl, Logan asked, “Who do you work for?”

Tori tried not to answer, but it came out clearly.
“I was recruited by the PIA.”

Logan frowned and looked at the agents. “What’s the PIA?”

“Paranormal Intelligence Agency,”
the computer answered even though the question had been directed at the CIA agents.
“A branch of the government.”

“It’s a faction that
claims
to be a branch of the government.” Taylor looked at Tori. “But it’s not.” She returned her gaze to Logan. “Our intelligence tells us that this is the group that is trying to steal the technology to sell to China or the Middle East.”

Tori glared at him as she spoke, “That’s not true. The PIA is a branch of the government protecting the CVP. Logan Savage is the one who plans to sell the technology.”

Logan’s gaze kept going to the back of the CVP as he asked questions. Was he reading something there?

He looked grim. “Is that what you really believe?”

“Of course”
the computer said for her.
“You are working against the government. You are an enemy of the United States.”

“So instead of trusting me, you decided to work against me,” he said.

“Why would I trust you?”
the computer said.
“You are the enemy.”

“Why did you kill Jeremy Farrell?” Logan’s voice grew hard.

“I didn’t kill him. But someone from my agency did.”
Horror at what was coming out of her mind made her shake.
“But it might as well have been me.”
Tears threatened to force their way out.

“What do you mean?” Taylor asked. “Your wallet was on the victim’s body. How did it all happen?”

Stupid, stupid, stupid,
she thought, but fortunately that didn’t come out. Tori wanted to bang her head back against the chair. She’d forgotten to check Jeremy’s clothing.

“I went to Jeremy’s apartment earlier in the day and dropped it,”
the computer said.
“I returned after midnight for my wallet. When I came back, I saw my partner come out of the building, although he didn’t see me. I went up to Jeremy’s apartment and found him dead.”

Logan braced his hand on her chair. “What were you doing in Jeremy’s apartment to begin with?”

“I convinced him to show me how to break into Savage Industries’ computer system to get to the CVP for the PIA.”
Tori raised her chin as the computer answered the question aloud.
“It wasn’t his fault. He thought he was showing me the hole in the security so that I could let you know since his boss wouldn’t listen to him.”

Logan narrowed his gaze. “Who didn’t listen?”

“Michael Demitri,”
came from the device.

Logan frowned. “Aimy,” he spoke aloud to the computer, “Any luck in tracking down Demitri?”

“After multiple attempts I have been unable to locate him,” Aimy said.

“Send James McKnight to Demitri’s home to check on him,” Logan said. “Tell McKnight that it’s urgent.”

“Yes, sir,” Aimy said.

Logan turned his attention back to Tori. “Why did your agency kill Jeremy?”

“I was told they forced him to make a second attempt.”
She looked down and waited for the computer to say it for her.
“They killed Jeremy to keep him quiet.”

Quiet filled the lab for a long moment and Tori stared at her hands.

“When did you take Carla’s place?” Logan asked.

She swallowed and looked up again as the computer answered.
“The day after you spent the weekend with me.”

“Two weeks ago.” Logan shook his head. “I should have known better than to believe Carla had changed the core of who she was.”

Tori didn’t volunteer anything.

“So everything you said was a lie.” Logan’s gaze didn’t waver. “Wasn’t it?”

The computer took it as a question and Tori’s response came out clearly.
“Not everything. I truly fell in love with you.”

Her face went hot and she knew she’d gone red. She hadn’t even acknowledged to herself that she’d really fallen for him. And here it was, stated for Logan and the agents to hear.

Logan looked stunned. “Apparently this thing has bugs,” he said after a few seconds.

Tori’s face felt hotter yet. “Apparently it does.”

He looked at her for a long moment, his features now unreadable. He turned to the agents. “What do we do with her now?”

“I see two options,” Agent Taylor said. “We lock her up or she works for us as a double agent.”

“Work for you?” Tori narrowed her eyes. “Who are you really?”

“CIA,” Mallory said. “We happen to be the good guys.”

“I’ve worked freelance for the PIA for four years.” Tori tried to read the agent. “How am I supposed to know that what you say is true?” She looked at Logan. “How am I supposed to believe you?”

Logan shrugged. “You’ll have to take our word for it.”

“How about you climbing into this chair?” she said.

“Not going to happen.” He shook his head. “We will not apply the CVP to me or the CIA agents. Too many secrets must be kept confidential that the agents and I are each entrusted with. So you either trust us and work with us or you don’t and it’s jail for you.”

Tori closed her eyes. She could hope the PIA would pull some strings and get her out from behind bars…

If they were the bad guys, likely she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

They killed Jeremy,
went through her mind over and over.
How could the government have sanctioned the death of an innocent like him?

She focused on her heart and her gut instinct. If she followed both of those, she’d be at Logan’s side in a second.

And she did believe him.

In her heart she believed that the PIA was either a rogue agency or a faction out to gain power. What the CIA agents had said backed up what she felt to be true. Something hadn’t felt right about the agency for some time.

Add to that the fact that Jeremy’s death was because of them… It had not been necessary to kill him. Not necessary at all.

She was certain that a lot of good people worked for the agency, people who were no doubt unaware of its true nature, just like she’d been. Was her partner Brian one of the good guys? Or the bad? He’d been the one to kill Jeremy, of that she was certain. Had he just blindly followed orders like she had?

No matter what she thought, she needed something more logical than her heart and gut instinct to separate the truth from lies. She opened her eyes and turned to the agents. “I need proof.”

“Tell you what,” Taylor said as she put her hands on her hips. “You get one of the PIA agency’s dirty agents in here and we’ll strap him into that chair and you can hear it for yourself.”

“How am I supposed to know who’s dirty and who’s not?” Tori asked. “What if I bring in someone who’s in the same boat I am? What if they believe everything the agency has taught them?”

“We know of agents who are as dirty as the agency,” Mallory said. “What’s the name of your partner who killed Jeremy Farrell?”

“Brian Eckhart,”
the computer said before Tori could. She glared at Logan for still pointing the damned CVP instrument at her.

Taylor shook her head. “Oh, Eckhart’s dirty all right.”

Tori felt stunned. “Brian?”

“Eckhart has been with the agency a long time and he’s in there tight.” Taylor nodded. “The agency always pairs up an insider with agents who don’t know the true nature of the organization. Which apparently is the case with you.

“So what you need to do is get him in here,” Taylor added. “We’ll set it up and then notify you so that you can carry out the plan.”

Tori bit the inside of her lip as she twisted everything in her mind. If she could get Brian in here, it would give her proof one way or another.

Finally she answered, “What do I need to do?”

“Just a couple more questions.” Logan brought her attention back to him and the CVP instrument. “Do you plan to work against the PIA as a double agent and do what you’re instructed to do?”

“Yes but only if you can prove to me they are dirty,”
the computer answered and Tori’s breath blew out in a slow exhale.
“I will do what I need to do.”

“Do you know what will happen to you if you try to double-cross us?” Logan asked.

“
Prison,”
the computer said for Tori.
“I’ll be convicted and sent away.”

Tori looked at Logan, wanting to see in his eyes that he cared for her, but his face was stone-cold.

“As long as we understand each other. You work for us but we need to prove our ourselves and we will.” Taylor said.

So many feelings rolled through her as she looked from Logan to Taylor to Mallory. It was like her world had just been turned upside down. Everything she’d believed was falling apart. She’d worked for this organization and to believe that she’d been working all along for the enemy… It was pretty hard to come to terms with it.

“Yes.” Tori nodded. “I understand.”

Taylor studied her. “You’ll need to make damned sure they don’t even suspect us having talked with you, or you may be dead next, Agent Adams. You won’t even have a chance to work as a double agent.”

Ice went through Tori’s veins. She knew Taylor was right—the PIA would kill her in a heartbeat. She nodded again.

Agent Taylor gave a tight smile as she studied Tori. “It looks like we have some work to do.”

Chapter 14

“You’d better shift back into Carla,” Agent Taylor said to Tori once her cuffs were removed. “If the building’s being watched, we need to make sure things look as they should. If anyone asks why you were here, you can tell them that Mr. Savage left something behind that he needed.”

“But why would that have taken so long?” Tori asked.

“I’m sure you can think of something,” Mallory said with a smirk.

For some reason Tori’s cheeks felt warm. They were talking about her and Logan supposedly having had sex.

She turned her gaze on Logan but he wasn’t looking at her. No doubt he hated her now. How could she blame him?

“What do I need to do next?” Tori looked from Taylor to Mallory and avoided Logan’s eyes. “Other than changing back into Carla.”

“You’re going to go out as planned,” Taylor said, “And then we will call Logan with instructions in the morning. We need to get some wheels turning and get everything into place.”

When her gaze met Logan’s, his expression was one of disgust and a sick feeling went through her belly.

While they watched, she shifted into Carla, growing six inches taller, pain shooting through her as her limbs grew longer, her scalp tingling as hair spilled down into a golden fall past her shoulders. When she had fully shifted, she was wearing Carla’s silver dress and heels, her things back in the silver handbag instead of in her jeans pockets.

Logan just stared at her and she wondered what he was thinking, feeling.

The worst would be if he felt nothing. Nothing at all.

After Logan put away the device and locked it in the special case, he took her by the arm and led her from the lab, the agents following.

He practically dragged her to the elevator and he stepped inside, bringing her with him. The agents stayed in the hallway, apparently discussing something. As the elevator went down, Logan’s fingers pressed so hard that it hurt where he held onto her. She tried to jerk away from him but his hold was so tight that she couldn’t shake him off.