Freak by Francine Pascal Page A

we?” Agent Frenz asked stoically.
    â€œWhy don’t you just say what you mean?” Tom demanded, feeling the truth of Frenz’s insinuation. He was heating up even as he stood there.
    â€œYou almost lost your cool in there,” Frenz pointed out. “Again.”
    â€œThe woman just told me that my wife’s psychotic, criminal mastermind father was still alive and that he had ordered surveillance on myself and my daughter. I think you can cut me the slightest bit of slack,” Tom said, stepping up to Frenz. He was so close to the man he could see his already sizable nostrils flaring.
    â€œSir, I respectfully suggest that we remove Agent Moore from this case once and for all,” Frenz said, taking a step back and looking at Director Vance. “I think we’ve given him enough chances to prove himself.”
    All eyes turned to Vance as he took a deep breath and rubbed his sizable hand over his face in frustration. Tom’s throat was dry, but he forced himself to speak.
    â€œI’m going back in there, sir,” he said. “I have to finish this.”
    Vance inhaled again, drawing himself up to his full height. “Go,” he said. “But tread lightly, Moore. You’ve been warned.”
    As Tom exited the room headed for the interrogation block, Frenz eyed him skeptically. Tom could have punched the little weasel.
    Who the hell did he think he was, suggesting Tom step down? His rank was so far beneath Tom’s, he couldn’t even remember what it was like to be in Agent Frenz’s position. When this debacle was over, the first thing Tom was going to do was file an inquiry into Frenz’s assignment to this case. It was insulting.
    Tom strode into the interrogation room and found Natasha exactly where he’d left her, sitting straight-backed at the table, waiting patiently. He sat down across from her and got down to business. He was sick of messing around.
    â€œWhy is Yuri here?” he asked.
    There was a moment of silence as Natasha savored whatever morsel she was about to share. She tilted her head, sighed, looked at him like he was pitiful—like he was missing something so very obvious.
    â€œWhy, Natasha?”
    â€œHe wants Gaia,” Natasha replied.
    Tom felt all the muscles in his body recoil. He turned his head and looked at the one-way mirror, somehow keeping his gaze steady. He knew that Vance had his hand on the doorknob right now to come relieve him before he could explode. He tried with all his might to convey his message to his superior: Back off. I’m staying.
    â€œWhy?” Tom asked, his jaw clenched.
    â€œHe’s decided that Gaia would be the better candidate to take over the Organization,” Natasha explained.“Tatiana has been, for lack of a better word, passed over.”
    I don’t believe this, Tom thought, his fists gripped together under the table. He wants Gaia? He wants Gaia to take over his international terror organization?
    â€œIf he wants to groom her to take his place, why instruct you to kill her?” Tom managed to ask.
    â€œHe did not order the hit,” Natasha replied. “That was me.”
    Tom once again saw himself lurching over the table. Saw himself squeezing every last trace of life out of Natasha. Instead, he waited. He breathed. He gradually started to see straight again.
    â€œI didn’t appreciate his decision to demote Tatiana. She trained all her life. She deserved to take the helm,” Natasha said. She flicked something off the knee of her orange jumpsuit and gazed at Tom.
    â€œWhy did he do it?” Tom asked her. “What suddenly made him decide to. . . choose Gaia?”
    â€œGaia was always the ideal candidate, but Yuri couldn’t risk coming to the States,” Natasha explained. “Not as long as Loki was operating here. It was too risky.”
    Tom gazed at the tabletop, his mind working. “So once Loki fell into a