Eye for an Eye, an (Heroes of Quantico Book #2): A Novel by Irene Hannon Page A

around my condo for more than one day.”
    “That is because you have nothing in your life but work. Work is good. But there is more. You have been too long by yourself.”
    For seven years, since the day she’d opened her practice, Maria Fernandez had shared her office as secretary, receptionist, sage, friend—and matchmaker, Emily reflected. Married at twenty-two, she was the proud mother of three. She loved her work . . . but she loved her family more and couldn’t understand why anyone would want to remain single.
    She’d fretted about the lack of romance in her boss’s life, and it had been her prodding that had pushed Emily to accept that first date with Grant. No one had been happier than Maria when Emily had married. Or more devastated when she’d been widowed. Maria had consoled, comforted, fed, supported, and—after a respectable number of months had passed—begun nudging her to establish some sort of social life again.
    However, despite Maria’s good intentions, Emily had no interest in taking another chance on romance. In time, she hoped Maria would come to accept her decision and quit pushing.
    But that hadn’t happened yet.
    “I’m fine by myself, Maria. I like my own company.”
    “Hmph.”
    The muttered comment that followed was in Spanish, but Emily could guess what mula meant.
    “I need you to check my file for Hope House and pull the names of the women I’ve seen during the past four weeks.” Turning the discussion to business was a surefire way to deflect further personal comments. “The shelter will give you their contact information. I’ve already alerted Margaret that you’re going to call. Once you have all that, go ahead and fax it.” Emily recited the number Mark had given her.
    “I will handle. You rest. Do you want me to bring you some fajitas tonight? We had them for dinner yesterday, and there is plenty left.”
    “No, thank you. My fridge is full. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Sí. I am sure you will.” Maria didn’t try to hide her resigned sigh.
    “If anything comes up before then, call me and—”
    The ring of the doorbell startled Emily, and she fumbled the phone.
    “What was that?” Maria demanded.
    Struggling to quiet the sudden pounding of her heart, Emily took a slow breath and tightened her hold on the phone. “The doorbell.”
    “Do not answer it!”
    “I have an FBI agent watching my front door, Maria. It’s probably him.”
    “You check. I will wait.”
    “Fine. I’m walking to the door now.” When she reached it, she peered through the peephole. Evelyn stood on the other side, balancing a plate covered with aluminum foil. “It’s Evelyn, Maria. Bearing food.”
    “Ah. Good. You will call later?”
    “Yes. I promise.”
    Severing the connection, Emily flipped the lock and pulled the door open.
    “Good morning, Emily. I hoped you’d stay home today. I made pot roast last night and, as usual, I cooked far too much. I was hoping you’d take some off my hands.” The older woman held out the plate.
    With a smile, Emily took the foil-covered offering and motioned her inside. “You’re a treasure, Evelyn.”
    A flush rose on the woman’s cheeks, deepening their natural pink color. With her white hair coiffed into a soft French twist and her twinkling blue eyes, she looked like an ad for a greeting card commercial about grandmothers.
    “Thank you, my dear. But I won’t come in today. I expect the last thing you need is company. Though I must say, you’ve had your share of handsome young men trooping through here in the past twenty-four hours.”
    “They were FBI agents.”
    “I know. I met one of them. And there’s another one across the parking lot now in a black SUB.”
    Emily struggled to stifle the smile that tugged at her lips.
    Evelyn never got abbreviations right. SUVs were SUBs. DVDs were DVTs. ATMs were AMTs. But aside from being acro-nymically challenged, she didn’t miss a trick. If any suspicious characters were lurking in