Chapter 32

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Mac rolled his eyes. Dara’s tone was not one of sweetness and light. He looked up from his newspaper to find his wife’s unhappy face staring back at him. Her furrowed eyebrows, glaring eyes, and pouting lips told the tale. Over the past several weeks he saw that very expression many times. He settled back into the easy chair, opened the paper widthwise, and resumed with the sports page. "No, as a matter of fact, there isn’t," he answered, in no mood for round twelve of ‘What did you do to Sonny?’

Dara ripped the paper from his hands, crumbled it to a ball, and slammed it to the floor. "Damn it, Mac, enough of this avoidance! What the hell did you do?"

She had been pressing him to talk to her for weeks, but up until this moment, she had never been quite so forceful. Mac met her hostile gaze and supplied his usual response. "What makes you think I did anything?"

She propped her hands on her hips. "Because I just got a call from Jensyn."

"Jenny?" Mac stood, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. Their daughter calling wasn’t unusual, but Dara’s behavior, the way she sounded… "I didn’t hear the phone ring."

"I picked up the phone just as her call came in, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is what she told me."

Uneasiness swirled in his stomach. "And what was that?" he asked, already pretty confident of the answer.

Dara stepped up to him and pressed her hand to his cheek. The anger that hardened her delicate features seemed to melt with the warmth of her touch on his skin. A weary laden sigh passed her lips. He hated to keep things from her, but this was something she wouldn’t understand.

"Mac, please, talk to me," she implored, her caressing hand coaxing him all the more. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

"Dara, sweetheart, what is it you want me to say? Do you think I killed Sonny?"

She dropped her hand from his face. "Did you?"

"I can’t believe you would ask me that, or that you’d need to. You know me."

"I’m not accusing you of anything, but do I know you’re keeping something from me! Sonny’s body was found floating in the harbor this morning."

He didn’t bat an eye at her admission, and Mac didn’t have to see her expression to know she noticed.

"And you’re not surprised by that," she said, shaking her head in dismay. "Look, I suspect the police and the media will be at our doorstep at any minute. So you had better start talking and I do mean quick!" Dara punctuated every word with a painful poke to his chest.

"If I told you I didn’t kill Sonny would you believe me?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

He cupped her face in his hands and stared her dead in the eye. "Okay, I didn’t kill him."

"I believe you, but I know there’s more. What is it?"

Before he could elaborate, there was a hard, continual knock on the door. "I’ll get that," Mac offered.

Flashing red and blue lights bounced off the walls, greeting Mac as he walked into the foyer. Dara grabbed his arm before he reached the knob. Unshed tears filled her eyes. "Mac, I’m scared."

"Don’t be. I didn’t do anything wrong. Besides, I’m married to the world’s greatest and most beautiful lawyer." He smoothed away her free flowing tears and pressed a soft, love-filled kiss to her lips. "Everything is going to be fine, Dara. I promise."

***

When Jensyn arrived at the penthouse, Zack and Riley were already there. Meeting in the place where her uncle lived and his ilk of the bureau came together to work on eradicating the evil of the world always gave her a sense of pride, but at present, she didn’t feel that pride. She would have preferred this meeting take place later in the afternoon or even another day, but she was quickly learning the WSB didn’t bend to her schedule or care about what was happening in her life.

"Glad you could make it, Scorpio," Riley jeered as they all adjourned to the secret room.

The area, outfitted with numerous computers, fax machines, telephones, recording devices, and video monitors was a spy kid’s dream come true. However, the excitement of it all wasn’t quite the same for her as it used to be. She had too much on her mind.

Jensyn approached the circular table in the middle of the room and pulled out the chair next to him. "I’m sorry I’m late, but there is a lot going on right now," she returned, managing to keep her annoyance at his tone from appearing in her voice.

"Yes, indeed," Zack replied, picking up the first of a stack of files from the center of the table. "We have a copy of the preliminary post mortem on Sonny Corinthos."

"And the cause of death?" she asked, settling into her seat.

"A single gunshot wound to the head." Zack passed the file to her. "Very gangland like."

"So, you think one of the other families took him out?"

He shrugged. "Possibly, or perhaps someone just wants it to look that way." He drummed his fingers against the table. "Any number of people had reason to want Corinthos eliminated."

Jensyn’s face grew hot with anger at the none too subtle dig at her father. Zach Grayson was always testing her. He wanted her to lose it, to show she was too emotionally involved and therefore not suited for this case, but she refused to break under his pressure. Concealed under the table, she balled her right hand into a tight fist and gripped and gripped until her irritation subsided.

"You’re absolutely right," she finally said. "There’s no shortage of people who wanted him dead."

"Yes," Riley interjected, "which leads me to my question. What’s going on with young Mr. Harmon and Mancusi?"

Jensyn’s head swirled. Were they playing good cop/bad cop with her? They knew she and MJ dated, but they didn’t know he had blown her cover and she wanted it to stay that way. "What’s going on?" she repeated.

Zachary folded his arms and leaned on the table. "Scorpio, don’t play that wide-eyed innocent game with us. We know Harmon is on to you, and we suspect he’s been spending so much time with his dear old granddad in an attempt to feed information to you. So, what do you have?"

"I don’t have anything," she answered, stunned and feeling a bit foolish that they knew about this all along and never said a word. She absently twirled her finger around a curly lock. "How long have you known about this?"

"Long enough." Zach answered.

"I guess you would also know that my cover was blown by you and Riley. A little conversation you two had right in that hallway after our initial meeting. How stupid was--" Jensyn chuckled and dropped her hand from her hair. Why hadn’t she seen this before? "That was planned?"

"Yes, it was," Riley confirmed. He stood from the table and strolled over to the computer in the far corner of the room. "We became aware of the run-ins you and Harmon were having and that little exchange at the library a couple of months ago…that planted a seed."

"How would you know about our meeting at the library?"

Riley typed something on the computer then turned around. "The WSB knows everything about its agents and their lives, Scorpio. Never forget that."

"Well, if you know everything, why are you asking me what’s going on with Mancusi? You should already know."

Zach snapped his fingers. "Ah-hah, that’s the tricky part," he said. "See, we know Harmon’s in, but we don’t know what’s going on. At least not in any great detail."

"Now you know," she said. "There’s nothing. As a matter of fact, I don’t see the point of his continuing this. I was never keen on the idea in the first place, but he insisted on trying to help me."

Jensyn would be lying if she said MJ’s interest in Sal didn’t upset her. She shared his happiness in getting to know his grandmother, but he had been developing a strange affection for his grandfather, too, and that worried her. He insisted she had nothing to worry about, but she disagreed, and the sooner he got away from that family the better she would feel.

"Mancusi’s not telling MJ anything," Jensyn continued, "and the time he spends with the old man is putting a strain on his relationship with his family."

Zach cleared his throat. "Mancusi is his family," he interjected.

"Please! That man would kill him without giving it a thought. I want him out, so I’m going to tell him to leave this alone."

"No, you’re not." Riley took another glance at the screen before returning to his seat at the table. "Actually, you’re going to do quite the contrary."

"What?"

"That’s right. Mancusi is very cautious. He allows very few people access to him, and lucky for us, your boyfriend is one of those people. He’s our one link to the man, and with all that’s going on with Corinthos and our belief that Mancusi is into it up to his neck, we’re going to use every resource available, and that includes Mr. Harmon. With the trouble your father is in, I would think you’d do whatever it took to help him."

"My father didn’t do anything wrong."

"You hope."

"I know!" she declared, feeling her resolve to stay strong and emotionally detached crack and crumble to dust under the pressure. Nevertheless, she took another stab at showing indifference. "Besides, one of the first things we’re taught in training is to not get emotionally involved. It’s never personal; we’re just doing a job. So, what is this?"

Zach stared at her, his gaze unflinching. "We want Harmon inside, all the way inside," he said, his tone even and straightforward. "You need to convince him to spend more time with his grandfather. Have him get more interested in the family business, so to speak."

Jensyn averted her eyes. She hated the way Zach had the ability to make her feel like an insecure eight-year-old. Her first big case, and she gets partnered with Mr. WSB. Find your backbone, girl! She met his gaze, refusing to show any signs of the rattling he did to her confidence. "I won’t do that."

Riley spoke up when Zach shook his head and laughed like he just heard a cute little anecdote. "Scorpio, this a direct order, nobody asking if you’ll do it. You work for the WSB, and your allegiance to us comes first. You have your orders and you are expected to carry them out." He reached into his pocket and slid over a rectangular box. "Inside is a man’s watch. The wind is a high-tech video camera, and the battery never dies. It’s a gift from you to Harmon. Make sure he has that on his next visit with his grandfather."

"Look, MJ only met with Mancusi because he thought it would help me. He’s not equipped for this." She paused for a brief moment to combat the emotions that shook her voice and threatened her eyes with endless tears. She couldn’t show weakness. That was a no-no. "These people are dangerous. How the hell is a watch going to help him? MJ’s a reporter, not a cop!"

"He’s a reporter with blood ties that run deep.  Mancusi has an interest in him, for whatever reason, and we’re going to use that," Reilly maintained. "You said it before, Mancusi is dangerous.  He’s dangerous to the world, and he needs to go down.  Protect Harmon as best you can, and we’ll do the same. We’ll all be watching him, but he’s not to know we’re on to your collusion. The less he knows, the safer he’ll be."

"Yeah, right!" She slammed her hands to the table, jammed the box in her purse, and stormed over to the door.

"Scorpio!" Zach called.

Jensyn turned with a jerk, willing the tears burning for release to stay at bay. "What?" she said through the knot in her throat.

"You don’t have to like this. There’s always a part of the job we don’t like, but you gotta do what you gotta do. It’s our mission to secure the world. We’ll do our best to keep Harmon safe, but in this business…" Zach grunted. "If we lose only a few in our quest to protect many, we’ve succeeded."

Zach’s words echoed in her ears, taunting her, as she entered the outer hallway. She wanted this life—this secret life of a WSB agent. She closed her eyes and leaned against the door. "Be careful what you ask for, Jensyn." An ill humored chuckled followed. "How the hell did this go so wrong?"

Before she had a chance to answer, her cell phone interrupted the monologue. Avoiding the telltale box, she reached into her purse and retrieved the ringing device. "Hello."

"Hey, Jensyn, it’s me."

"Harmon." A tinge of dread invaded the happiness that filled her heart whenever she heard his voice. All the cloak and dagger of her meeting made her realize the nucleus of her problem. She loved MJ Harmon. How could she possibly send him further into the lion’s den?

"I was worried about you. You okay?" he asked.

"I am now."

"Hmm. You sure. A lot is going on and you don’t sound…"

She expelled a weary sigh and rubbed her hand along her forehead. "I just need to see you. That’s all."

"You read my mind, lady. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get away, though. This day is going to be one for the books."

"It already is. I guess you know they brought my father in for questioning."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," MJ said. "You seen him?"

"Not yet. I’m on my way to the station now. Can I wait for you at your place when I’m done?"

"You don’t need to ask, Jensyn. You know where I keep the spare key. I’ll see you later, okay?"

"Okay."

Jensyn ended the call and returned the phone to her purse. Two questions swirled in her head as she made her way to her car. How was she going to do this, and could she?