Thursday. Berlin, Germany.

Orlando Steiner paced the room.

“I should have heard something by now, shouldn’t I?”

He glanced at the empty chair, the sun gleaming off the gold-gilt arms.

“It’s too soon. I’d still like an update or something.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. He didn’t like spinning this many plates at once. It inevitably led to something not being carried through to the end, and he hated incomplete projects.

“Things were going to be rough for a while,” he muttered.

He took a few paces, his head cocked to the side. Sometimes he could still hear her voice, the calm sound of reason in this otherwise chaotic world.

“At least the leak was plugged. Am I right?” He stared at the cushions, their light floral pattern bringing back spring memories. “Tanya is still a loose end, but any moment now, we will have an update and then we can make a plan. I should have listened to you when you first said there was something wrong with her. I thought it was just the way she was raised, all that mumbo-jumbo about her dad. But no. I’ll have it taken care of, and from here on out, I will listen to you.”

Orlando knew Elda wasn’t there, that she’d died long ago, but he found that vocalizing his thoughts to her helped. Especially during the hard times. So long as he didn’t do it while anyone was around.

“Everything is coming to a head. I have a good feeling about these American buyers. I have to remember not to speak English around them. They have this tendency to talk more when they don’t realize I can understand them. You’d laugh at their idiotic carrying on. So full of themselves and their ideals.”

One thing at a time.

First, he’d take care of Tanya, and then he’d look into a new accountant.

“I’ve just about recovered all the files from Quade’s laptop. I always wondered how he could be so good at shuffling cash around and never get caught. I guess now we know. He wasn’t really on our side.”

Orlando would need to be extra careful for the next few months until the waters calmed. It was inevitable word would get out. Someone would talk about his loyalty issue, and skittish customers would give him a wide berth. At least until they needed something.

He checked his phone again.

Still nothing from his customers or the Aegis Group team.

He sighed and paced to the window, staring down on the narrow street with its cobble-stone lanes and people the size of ants shuffling around.

“You would have loved this place, you know? It’s so full of history and culture. I can’t believe you never came to Berlin before. Such a pity.”

Elda’s life had been snuffed out before she’d been able to truly see the world. He’d always wanted to take her to exotic places. Their father was likely rolling over in his grave at the idea of his bastard son taking care of his daughter. Elda had always been the single, bright spot of good in his life. Orlando had made many of his early decisions in life based on her guidance.

Without her, it was all different. Then again, he’d never have gotten this far if he’d stayed his previous course. He owed his upward momentum to her untimely demise. If he had to choose, it would be a tough call. Have his sister alive and well, or have his empire and money? If he were more cold-hearted that wouldn’t even be a choice. That heart, the emotional response, was something he needed to squash, or else it would get him killed.

He’d cared for Tanya and she’d nearly destroyed him.

The phone on the desk vibrated.

Orlando pivoted and crossed to the antique wooden piece where he did his work and scooped up the phone, frowning at the name.

The last person he wanted to speak with.

He grimaced and answered.

“I didn’t expect to hear from you.” Which was Orlando’s polite way of saying, I shouldn’t be hearing from you.

“Checkin’ in is all,” the man said.

“There’s no reason to check in. Nothing new has happened.”

“Everythin’ handled, then?”

“What do you think?” Orlando let his tone go icy.

“Anythin’ I can do?”

“You can keep doing what I told you to do, which is nothing.”

“But my wife...”

“Is fine.”

“Can I speak to her?”

“She’s resting.” Orlando tapped the laptop keys. He had one monitor of video feeds, keeping him up to date on his living pawns. “Can you imagine how painful life without the one you love could be? Because I can tell you it’s not pleasant.”

“Sorry, sir, I just wanted to be of assistance is all.”

“If I need you, I will phone for you. Understand?”

“Quite clear, sir.”

“Good day.” Orlando hung up the phone.

Another plate teetered.

Maybe he could delegate this one to someone else?

Did he dare?

The truth was, Orlando didn’t know who he could trust anymore. Quade had been with him going on three years, almost ever since Elda’s death. It’d taken losing his sister to truly understand who the people he could trust were, and to open his eyes that his allies didn’t give two shits about him. He’d bought into the lie that they were all in it together, but when he needed help, there hadn’t been any to give.

He’d been weak when he’d fallen for Tanya. She was perfectly chosen to suit his tastes. If he wasn’t so pissed about it, he’d have to congratulate whoever had trained her. Still, she couldn’t fake love, and he’d always known she’d been holding back. His lust had blinded him.

Oh, the conversations they’d have once she was back in the fold. She was so much smarter than he’d given her credit for. To play the role so well, for so long? That took talent. He’d enjoy getting her back, breaking her spirit, and exacting his pound of flesh. She’d not only betrayed his business, but him, and he couldn’t let her go that easily.

The phone vibrated again, and this time, his customer’s name flashed across the screen.

He breathed a sigh of relief. If they were still contacting him about the goods, then Tanya hadn’t yet been able to pass along her intel. He didn’t know who she worked for or what clandestine agency had trained her, but if she’d ratted him out they’d be on his customers already. He had to act fast to move the merchandise before his window closed. If everything played out just right he’d get his revenge on not just Tanya, but everyone.

Thursday. Boston, United Kingdom.

Isaac gripped the side of the van and stared at the newly rescued asset. Her chest heaved and her eyes were wide. All the color had drained from her face, making her complexion more like aged, bone china. Her gaze remained fastened to his, fear making her pupils large, black dots.

People reacted in all kinds of ways to being rescued. Most were frantic or cried in joy or relief. Others couldn’t believe it. Still others had to be bodily carried from where they were held. Very few were more afraid after their rescue. Tanya’s breathing, the dilation of her eyes, the sweat dotting her brow, the woman was on the verge of a panic attack.

“Hey, it’s all going to be okay,” Isaac said.

“Incoming,” Shane said from the back of the van.

Adam turned the wheel. Tanya lurched, pitching head first into the opposite wall. Isaac caught her around the waist, pulling her up against him and tightened his hold on the side of the empty van.

“Faster,” Kyle ordered.

“I’ve got you,” Isaac said to the woman.

She didn’t so much as acknowledge him.

“Tanya? Squeeze my hand if you understand me.” If he didn’t get her calmed down soon they’d be carrying her, and that felt more like an abduction than a rescue.

There was nothing normal about her reaction. She was so inside her head, she might as well not even be there. Hell, she was shaking so violently he was half afraid they’d missed some medical condition.

God, Isaac had a bad feeling about this whole thing. It wasn’t a simple get-the-girl job, it was more than that, and the trembling woman in his arms was at the center of it all.

“Guys?” Isaac glanced at the rear of the van. “Something’s not right.”

“They’re almost on us,” Kyle said.

“Can’t go faster,” Adam called out.

“Find us some cover before they ram the van,” Shane yelled.

Isaac remembered the last time they were in a van accident all too well. His arm had popped out of the socket, and for a while, he’d been certain he’d broken some of the small bones in his hand.

“Hold on,” Adam said. “Garage is on the left.”

Isaac clamped his arm around Tanya’s waist not a moment too soon. The van turned sharply, sending her lurching into him, her head ramming his chest. The whole vehicle shuddered as it stopped. He rocked back on his heels, holding them both upright with his grip on the van.

Shane and Kyle leapt out the back of the van, guns up and masks down.

This whole op was a bad idea getting worse with every passing second.

Muzzle fire created spots of white in his vision. The retort of the guns in the enclosed space made his ears ring.

The pursuing vehicle skidded out of sight.

“Go,” Kyle hollered.

Felix nodded at Isaac and then jumped out of the van.

Some things were at least going according to plan.

He couldn’t coddle Tanya. Right now, the most important thing was getting her under cover and away from these people.

Isaac picked her up. She didn’t respond in the slightest, staring blankly ahead. He kept his head low and stepped out of the van, Adam at his back. While Shane and Kyle kept the men from following them into the building, Isaac and the others ducked into what’d been an empty service station. Three smaller, faster getaway vehicles sat ready and waiting.

“What’s wrong? Did she get hit?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know, I think she’s having a panic attack.”

“Shit.”

Felix opened the closest passenger door and Isaac sat Tanya in the seat. The sound of her gasping for air brought up memories of dying breaths he’d rather not remember.

“It’s going to be okay, Tanya. Just breathe. Can you take a deep breath for me?” He knelt next to her and gripped her hand.

She stared at him, her eyes so wide and lost he couldn’t help but think that maybe, this time, they’d made a mistake.

Her hand tightened around his.

Isaac sucked in a slow, deep breath.

She mimicked him.

“Good. Keep breathing like that and focus on me, okay?” He closed the door, mentally cursing those few moments he’d lost.

Bullets pelted the ancient brick walls outside. Isaac yanked the seatbelt across her and jammed it in the catch. Felix already had the driver’s door open for him and was at the garage entry, ready to raise the door while Adam revved the engine of another vehicle.

Isaac slid across the hood of the car and vaulted into the driver’s seat. They’d underestimated her value, that was for sure.

Their window for getting out of here clean was closing. With the UK’s monitoring system, cops would be on them in moments.

Adam’s car shot out as the door raised enough to admit them. The fit was so tight the car’s antenna hit the metal door.

Felix waved Isaac out next.

He slammed his foot on the gas, and the car shot forward.

God, he loved European cars.

The wheels slid across the smooth stones of the back street before he got turned fully around. The sound of Tanya’s occasional gasp and whimper dampened any joy he might have gotten out of driving the high-performance vehicle.

The only person holding the alley down was Shane. Adam must have made the Kyle pick-up successfully and gotten out, leaving just one man to cover their exit. Unless the pursuing men had taken the Felix-and-Kyle bait.

Isaac gunned the engine and shot out onto the otherwise empty road.

No one laid in wait, which meant the guys following them had gone. Where to wasn’t Isaac’s concern.

He took a sharp left, then a right, weaving his way through the otherwise sleepy town of Boston with its picturesque homes.

“Stop,” Tanya said softly.

“I can’t. Not yet.” Isaac twisted, glancing behind him, but it was hard to tell if anyone was following with the way the streets wove back and forth.

“Stop, please?” She turned to face him, her dark eyes nearly black with fear. Her cheeks were slightly damp, which seemed wrong. She didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who cried.

“You’re safe now.” He’d just keep delivering those lines and leave it to the others to sort out.

“Don’t take me back to him, please?”

Isaac grimaced and for once he was grateful for the stupid knit mask. He didn’t need to ask who him was.

“Hang tight. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, okay?” That much Isaac could promise.

“You don’t understand. You don’t know.” Her voice cracked and she gulped down air again.

This whole gig was bad, but it wasn’t Isaac’s call what work they took, who they rescued. He went where he was told, did what needed doing, and that was it.

For the first time, he wanted to ask questions. He didn’t want to blindly agree to do what he was told. What didn’t they know?

She choked out a sob, the sound hardening his resolve that something wasn’t right.

“Tanya? Hey, Tanya, focus on my voice, okay?” He glanced at her, but she had her face covered by her hands.

Tanya was afraid, more than she’d been in the backyard of the cottage they’d found her at. What had Orlando done to her that made her so terrified? What had they gotten involved with?

Isaac turned the car onto a tree-covered, one-lane street that wound through otherwise unpopulated forest and pressed the accelerator. He couldn’t do anything else for her until they were safe.

The road dumped out onto a small lane that was now a service entrance to the small estate their team had booked as their staging location. He pulled the car off the road and straight into what had once been a horse barn, shifting into park so hard the seatbelt jerked him back.

“Tanya?” He pressed the button, releasing his seatbelt.

Her hands were curled into fists so tight her knuckles were white. She stared at the dash, but her mind wasn’t there.

“Tanya, look at me?” Isaac pulled the mask off and leaned forward until he was in her line of vision. “My name is Isaac, okay? I do not work for Orlando. You’re safe, understand?”

“Then why are you here?” She glanced up and away, the barn registering.

“Orlando hired us to rescue you—”

“Then you do work for him.” She clawed at her seatbelt.

“No—just, listen?” He grasped her hands, holding them tight between his.

Her eyes widened, lines divided her face into a map of worry and fear.

“He’s going to kill me, don’t you understand?” She twisted her hands in his grasp.

“No. Tanya, I won’t let that happen. Look at me. Please?”

She glanced at him once, then a second time.

“I know what kind of person he is, and I will not let anything happen to you. Understand?” Isaac had never meant a statement more than he did right now. “I promise you. You’re safe now.”

She licked her lips, and though she didn’t say that she didn’t believe him, her disbelief was evident in every tremor that shook her body. Her breathing was normal and she sat a little straighter, but she was still barely holding herself together.

“Orlando wants me dead. That’s why he sent you to flush me out.” She stared at him, her gaze seeming to dissect him. There was something about the way she looked at a person, studying them as though she could read his performance stats on a chart. “I was safer where I was. You might as well kill me now.” She let go of him and opened her door.

Whoever Tanya Graham was, Isaac had a pretty good feeling they hadn’t been properly briefed. This whole situation went deeper than they realized. The question was, had they gotten in too deep?