Also, it occurred to Riley that, unlike Ryan or John, she really didnt have much to say about her hopes for the future.
What does that say about me? she wondered.
She finally did talk about her budding relationship with Ryan, and how theyd gotten engaged just yesterdayalthough she didnt mention that she was pregnant. She didnt notice any particular change in Johns behavior.
I guess hes just naturally charming that way, she thought.
She found herself relieved at the thought that shed jumped to conclusions, and hed never been flirting with her after all.
He was a nice guy, and she looked forward to getting to know him better. In fact, she felt pretty sure that John and Ryan would like each other. Maybe they could all get together sometime soon.
When the interns finished their meals, Hoke Gilmer rounded them up and took them down a few floors to a large locker room that was to be their headquarters for the ten-week term. A younger agent who was assisting Gilmer assigned each of the interns a locker. Then all the interns sat down at the tables and chairs in the middle of the room, and the younger agent started handing out cell phones.
Gilmer explained, Itll soon be the twenty-first century, and the FBI doesnt like to be behind the latest technology. We wont be passing out pagers this year. Some of you may have cell phones already, but we want you to have a separate one for FBI use. Youll find instructions in your orientation packet.
Then Gilmer laughed as he added, I hope youll have an easier time learning to use these than I did.
Some of the interns laughed as well as they claimed their new toys.
Rileys phone felt oddly small in her hand. She was used to larger house phones and had never used a cell phone before. Although shed used computers at Lanton, and some of her friends there had cell phones, she still didnt own one. Ryan already had both a computer and a cell phone, and he sometimes teased Riley about her old-fashioned ways.
She hadnt liked that very much. The truth was, the only reason she didnt already have a computer or a cell phone yet was because she couldnt afford it.
This one looked almost exactly like Ryansvery simple, with a small screen for text messages, a number pad, and just three or four other buttons. Still, it felt strange to realize she didnt yet know how to even make an ordinary phone call with it. She knew that it was also going to feel strange to be reachable by phone all the time, no matter where she happened to be.
She reminded herself
Im starting a whole new life.
Riley noticed that a group of official-looking people, most of them men, had just filed into the locker room.
Gilmer said, Each of you will be shadowing an experienced special agent during your weeks here. Theyll start off by teaching you their own specialtiesanalyzing crime data, forensics work, computer lab work, and what have you. Well introduce you to them now, and theyll take things from here.
As the younger agent matched up each of the interns with their supervising agent, Riley soon realized
Theres one less agent than interns.
Sure enough, after the interns went away with their mentors, Riley found herself without a mentor of her own. She looked at Gilmer with perplexity.
Gilmer smiled slightly and said, Youll find the agent youll be shadowing down the hall in room nineteen.
Feeling a little unsettled, Riley left the locker room and walked down the hall until she found the right room. She opened the door and saw that a short, barrel-chested, middle-aged man was sitting on a table.
Riley gasped aloud as she recognized him.
It was Special Agent Jake Crivarothe agent shed worked with back in Lanton, and who had saved her life.
CHAPTER THREE
Riley smiled when she recognized Special Agent Jake Crivaro. She had spent her morning among strangers and she was especially glad to see this familiar face.
I guess I shouldnt be surprised, she thought.
After all, she remembered what hed told her back in Lanton, when hed handed her papers for the Honors Program
Im eligible for retirement, but I might stay on for a while to help someone like you get started.
He must have specifically requested to be Rileys mentor for her internship.
But Rileys smile quickly faded when she realized
He isnt smiling back.
In fact, Agent Crivaro didnt look the least bit happy to see her.
Still sitting on the table, he crossed his arms and nodded toward a nondescript but amiable-looking man in his twenties who was standing nearby. Crivaro said
Riley Sweeney, I want you to meet Special Agent Mark McCune, from right here in DC. Hes my partner on a case Im working on today.
Pleased to meet you, Agent McCune said with a smile.
Likewise, Riley said.
McCune seemed markedly more friendly than Crivaro did.
Crivaro stood up from the table. Consider yourself lucky, Sweeney. While the other interns are stuck indoors learning how to use filing cabinets and paper clips, youll be heading right out into the field. I just came up here from Quantico to work on a drug case. Youll be joining Agent McCune and mewere headed to the scene right now.
Agent Crivaro strode out of the room.
As Riley and Agent McCune followed him, Riley thought
He called me Sweeney.
Back in Lanton, shed gotten used to him calling her Riley.
Riley whispered to McCune, Is Agent Crivaro upset about something?
McCune shrugged and whispered back, I was hoping you could tell me. This is my first day working with him, but I hear you already got to work on a case with him. They say he was pretty impressed by you. Hes got a reputation for being kind of brusque. His last partner got fired, you know.
Riley almost said
Actually, I didnt know.
Shed never heard Crivaro mention a partner back in Lanton.
Although Crivaro had been tough, shed never thought of him as brusque. In fact, shed come to think of him as a kindly father figurequite unlike her actual father.
Riley and McCune followed Crivaro to a car in the FBI buildings parking level. Nobody spoke as Crivaro drove them out of the building and continued north through the streets of DC.
Riley began to wonder whether Crivaro was ever going to explain what they were supposed to do whenever they got wherever they were going.
They eventually reached a seedy-looking neighborhood. The streets were lined with row houses that looked to Riley like they must have once been pleasant homes but had become awfully rundown.
Still driving, Agent Crivaro finally spoke to her.
A couple of brothers, Jaden and Malik Madison, have been running a drug operation in this neighborhood for a couple of years now. They and their gang have been brazen about itselling right on the street, like it was some kind of outdoor market. The local cops couldnt do anything to stop them.
Why not? Riley asked.
Crivaro said, The gang kept careful watch for cops. Also, they had the whole neighborhood scared stiffdrive-by shootings, that kind of thing. A couple of kids got shot for just standing around where they werent supposed to be. Nobody dared talk to the cops about what was going on.
Looking along the rows of houses, Crivaro continued.