There was something in Karl's expression which warned Alyssa that she had better convince him, or else things would start to get very very hot. She'd seen Karl in action once before - the man was like a machine. And the way he was holding on to her let her feel how tense he was.
They couldn't afford this. She couldn't afford this. It was the first time she'd been back undercover since that op got blown two years ago -- and maybe the cover hadn't been perfect, but they needed an agent in range and she was good. She was really really good. She could make this work, and they'd given her the chance...
It was more than one operation, more than wanting her partner to relax that had her reach up to clutch his other shoulder to keep his attention - if this went down it took everything she'd worked so hard for with it.
"It's not bull, damnit," Alyssa hissed. "There's only one way to make a bruise look real and that's to get hit. They didn't have any way for me to get in, I had to do it myself, I'm handling -"
The door to the club opened and out stepped Jose Ramerez, former Green Beret, better known as Thug 3. "- shit." Alyssa breathed. She met Karl's gaze quickly -- nothing would disguise the fact that they were arguing. Maybe if he - "Hit me," she breathed a second later.