Free Internal Affairs by Jessica Andersen

don’t trust her.”
    “I do,” she knee-jerked, but then clarified, “It’s her husband, Seth. He’s one of the top forensic analysts for the FBI, and I can’t swear she wouldn’t tell him.”
    “And you don’t trust him.”
    “I trust him to do what he thinks is right, but that’s not always what the person in question has asked him to do,” she said, remembering a couple of times over the past year that Seth had gone against his word in making his own judgment call. Granted, those instances had worked out for the best, but she wasn’t sure she dared run the risk.
    Romo shifted in his seat, and was less able to hide the wince this time. “Then either you can’t use Cassie for this, or you have to lie to her about where the samples came from. Can you do that?”
    The answer should’ve been a categorical “no.” But Sara found herself hesitating. “How about talking to Fax? He was undercover. If anyone knows who you’d be likely to report to, it’d be him.”
    “That’s still assuming I was undercover,” Romo said. “What if I wasn’t?”
    “Then I should definitely turn you in to Fax.” Shepaused, a little skitter of nerves dancing down her spine. “You’re not saying…”
    “I don’t know what the hell I’m saying anymore. I don’t think I’m a bad guy, but how do I know for sure? And if I was doing something wrong, then I need to make it right somehow, which means staying free long enough to figure it out.” He reached out with his good arm and took one of her hands in his. “I hate that I’ve put you in this position.”
    “I’m not too thrilled about it, either.” But the strange thing was, she wasn’t entirely unhappy about how things were turning out. Surprising them both, she said, “I’ll take the samples to Cassie and tell her they came from an informant.” It wouldn’t exactly be a lie that way.
    He looked at her with wary hope. “You’d be willing to do that? Willing to get involved that way?”
    She hesitated for a moment before she said, “Normally, the answer would be no. I’m not a risk taker, I like my life simple and this is pretty much the definition of risky and complicated. If I get caught, the acting mayor will fire me in a heartbeat, my friends will know I lied to them and I’ll probably face some major charges. Not to mention what might happen to you. But the thing is, Bear Claw is my home, and it’s under siege. If I can do something to help fix that, then I guess I have to, don’t I?” Those were only some of the conclusions she’d come to as she’d dozed off, decisions that had been cemented in her mind as she’d slept.
    Hiding from the police reports and task force bulletins because she’d felt she couldn’t do anything to helpwas one thing. Refusing to do something that actually might help was another. And besides, regardless of how things had ended between her and Romo, the history was there. She couldn’t turn him in until she was sure of his guilt. She just couldn’t.
    He squeezed her hand. “You’re a brave woman.”
    “I never was before,” she answered. “Maybe now is the time to start.”
    By midmorning, though, she wasn’t feeling at all brave. She just felt like a total sneak.
    She had falsified official documentation and basically lied her ass off to get Cassie to fast-track the processing of blood samples from two small pieces cut from Romo’s shirt, and the analysis of the bullet fragments he’d had in his back.
    Cassie, of course, didn’t know that was where they’d come from. Sara had sent them over as “don’t ask, don’t tell” samples, which in task-force speak pretty much meant what it said. With so much of the suspicion falling within the law enforcement agencies themselves, there were undercover stings running within undercover stings. At least Sara got the feeling there were—she wasn’t in the middle of the information flow. Which, she hoped, wouldn’t trip Cassie’s suspicions too badly, making