"Jack, I can explain." Shadow braced her hands against the edge of the conference table and pushed her chair back.

Uh-oh. Taura reached out for Jack's arm but wasn't fast enough to catch him before he stormed across the briefing room.

"Jack." Corona rushed after him. "Just calm down."

"Explain what?" Jack lunged at Shadow, stopping only when the team's leader, Machiko Ericson, planted herself in his path. "Explain why you used us as cannon fodder, pulled our objective out of there, and left us hanging? Yeah, go ahead, explain! I'd fucking love to hear that!"

"Jack, please..." Shadow stood and backed up against the wall.

"Sit down, Jack." Machiko braced her hand against his chest to prevent him from taking another step. "We'll talk about this."

Jack swatted her hand away. "There's nothing to talk about. That stupid twat screwed us!" He pointed at Corona and Taura. "She could've gotten them killed!"

"Jack." Machiko glared at him and Taura swore the room temperature dropped twenty degrees. "Sit the fuck down. Now."

He glowered at her for several seconds, grumbled, and threw himself into the nearest chair.

Machiko turned back to Shadow and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You gonna be okay?"

Tears streamed down Shadow's cheeks. She wiped them away, shrugged, and took a seat well out of Jack's reach. She wrapped her wings around her shoulders, stared at her hands, and continued weeping silently.

Aww. Taura sighed and took the chair beside Jack. She reached out and held his hand to try to calm him down as well as to hold him back if he tried to take a swing at Shadow.

Corona crouched behind Jack, rubbed his shoulders and wrapped her wings around him.

"How about that explanation?" He raised an eyebrow and stared at Shadow. "I'm on the edge of my goddamn seat."

Shadow sobbed and raked her talons through her hair. She took several deep breaths and managed to pull herself together.

"I met Eric Winslow about two weeks ago, when I slipped into one of the ADS offices to pull some files from their computers. He just stumbled onto me and I had to talk my way out of it so he wouldn't alert security."

"Uh-huh. Looks like you talked your way out of it, alright -- and into his bed."

"My bed, actually. Yeah, we hit it off." She shrugged. "That's how you found out that he was trapped in his office. He called me for help."

Machiko leaned forward. "I did tell you to sit this one out. Your emotional connection to him clouded your judgment."

"I couldn't leave him there when his company's own mechs were trying to kill him."

"Jack and the girls would've gotten him out in one piece," Machiko said. "You'd already done your part."

Shadow opened her mouth, turned and frowned at her. "Done my part?"

"A separate investigation led us to ADS. We needed the files you went in to get and we also needed someone inside the company to keep feeding us information. So I made sure you slipped into that office when Winslow was there."

"You set me up." Shadow stared at Machiko with her mouth hanging open.

"Being used is no fun at all, is it?" Machiko raised a brow ridge. "Point taken, I hope?"

"You …" Shadow's glowing cyan eyes brightened and the tip of her tail lashed.

"The thing is, when I use someone, I don't put their lives at risk. Well, not usually. What you did could've gotten three of my agents killed."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I wasn't thinking." Shadow wiped more tears away and continued scowling at Machiko. "But how did you know Eric would even go for me?"

"We had just enough info on him to know that he's got a chimera fetish. And since you're so into humans, I figured the odds were pretty good that one of you would make a play for the other. Once you two hooked up, we contacted him and he kept passing information to you in exchange for us not telling his wife about his relationship with you."

"Wife?" Shadow's jaw dropped again. "He's fucking married?"

Taura winced. Ah, hell.

"That matters to you?" Jack glanced at the ceiling and shook his head.

Shadow leaned forward and jabbed a talon at him. "I don't touch married guys. Personal rule of mine. I just don't go there."

Corona cleared her throat. "This is all very interesting, but can we get back on topic? What's going on with Winslow? Why was he under siege? Did he find out something worth killing him over?"

Machiko opened her mouth, glanced at Jack, and sighed. "Actually, I think we'll put a pin in this. There's a few things we still need to clarify with Winslow and I need you all to clear your heads before we proceed." She pushed her chair back, stood, and tugged on her maroon suit jacket. "We'll get back to this in the morning -- be sure you've put this behind you and you're ready to do your job when you come in."

"Fine." Jack stood and stormed out the door.

Taura and Corona exchanged a glance. Taura sighed and placed her hand on Corona's arm.

"Let's go home."