Taking

Jake hesitated, then said, “Let me think about it. I’ll get back to you.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Harry said.

They ended the call.

Jake winced a little, wondering why on earth he’d promised to get back to Harry.

He knew perfectly well that he could never convince Special Agent in Charge Erik Lehl that this ought to be an FBI case. Not on such a slim connection.

Hell, I don’t really believe it myself.

But he’d said what he’d said, Harry was out in Arizona waiting for Jake to call back at pretty much any minute. And the only thing Jake was going to be able to tell him was what he should have told him before they’d ended that call—that there was no way for him to get the FBI involved.

Jake stared at his cell phone for a moment, trying to get up the nerve to make that return phone call. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it—at least not yet.

Instead he hunkered down and began eating his breakfast in earnest. He figured maybe more coffee might help him think better about how to handle this situation.

Or maybe not.

Jake knew he hadn’t been especially sharp lately. In fact, he’d already been feeling low when Harry called him, and it wasn’t just because he’d blown off Riley Sweeney’s graduation.

That case he and Riley had solved some weeks ago—the nasty case of the barbed wire killer—had left him feeling exhausted and burnt out. That seemed to be happening more and more as he grew older. His energy just didn’t bounce back like it used to. And he suspected that his colleagues here at the BAU knew that. In fact, he guessed that was why Erik Lehl hadn’t assigned him to anything out in the field since that last one.

And maybe it was just as well.

Maybe he wasn’t up to it just yet.

Or maybe he wasn’t up to it at all anymore—ever again.

He sighed into his coffee cup as he thought …

Maybe it really is time to retire.

That thought had been bugging him a lot lately. It was one reason why he’d gone to the trouble of transferring Riley Sweeney to the BAU. It was why he’d made such a green agent his partner. In all his years as a profiler, he’d never met anyone else with a talent like his own—the ability to climb into a killer’s mind.

Whenever he did retire, he wanted to leave someone like that behind to continue his work—a bright young agent who could fill his own shoes. But he worried that getting Riley ready for all that might be no easy task. He often described her as “a diamond in the rough.”

And she was a rough diamond indeed. Even now that she had graduated from the Academy, Jake was sure it going to take a lot of work to get rid of those rough edges—her impetuosity, her tendency to bend and even break the rules and not follow orders, and her lack of discipline when it came to using her own gift.

She’s got a lot to learn, Jake thought.

And he had to wonder if he was actually up to the task of teaching her all that she had to know, especially now that he seemed to be past his own peak.

One thing seemed certain—he mustn’t go easy on her. Not that he’d exactly pampered her so far. In fact, he often found it hard to hold onto his temper when she did crazy, rookie things. But he liked her a lot, even though he tried not to show it too much. She reminded him of himself when he was much younger.

So he sometimes felt tempted to spoil her.

But he mustn’t do that.

He had to work her hard. He had to shape her up fast.

As Jake finished his breakfast, he found himself thinking again about Harry Carnes, who was probably waiting for his return call right now.

Jake wondered …

Isn’t there anything I can do for the guy?

He had to admit, he could feel his spirit lift a little at the idea of getting out of this place.

And why not?

Erik Lehl didn’t seem eager to put him on any cases right now.

The alternative was to sit in his office and do boring paperwork, unless …

An idea took shape in Jake’s head.

He had lots of vacation time piled up. He could ask Lehl for two or three days off, go out to Arizona, and see if there was anything he could do for Harry.

Of course, Riley Sweeney was on her way here right now to report for duty.

But there wouldn’t be much point in her starting to work here at the BAU if her senior partner was going to be on vacation, so …

Why can’t she come with me?

This could provide some simple, safe training opportunities for the rookie agent.

He smiled at the idea.

As Jake left the commissary and headed for Erik Lehl’s office, he thought …

Who knows? This might actually be fun.

CHAPTER THREE

By the time she neared the BAU Headquarters in Quantico, Riley was in a terrible mood. The drive from her apartment in DC had been worse than she’d expected. The morning traffic had been so thick and heavy that she almost missed her exit.

It would be worse if I were commuting the other way, she told herself.

Still, it wasn’t going to be any fun to face this traffic every morning. And then returning after a day of work—would that be any easier?

Now, as she finally reached the BAU parking lot, she saw two entrances—one for visitors and one for staff.

Which entrance should she use?

Nobody had told her. In fact, she hadn’t heard from anybody since she’d received that note after her graduation the day before yesterday—the message telling her she should report for duty at Quantico, not in DC.

When she’d gotten the note, she’d been certain the transfer must have been Agent Crivaro’s idea. But now she wasn’t so sure. After all, they’d already worked together on some demanding investigations. Wouldn’t Agent Crivaro have made an effort to get in touch with her to talk about the change?