Friday. Boston, United Kingdom.

Tanya bolted through the door the moment Kyle was through. She’d ducked enough bullets with Orlando, she knew the drill—stay close to her protective detail and keep her head down. Isaac’s hand was a steadying weight against her spine. He held onto his rifle, tucked close to his side and ready to fire, like they were in the thick of a combat zone instead of suburban England.

Chunks of the flagstones flew up, pelting her legs.

“Get to the van.” Kyle whirled to the right to face the threat.

More shots from the left sent up bits of rock.

She flinched and veered right, aiming for the side door of the van.

“Aren’t there supposed to be fewer guns in the UK?” Isaac’s eyes were wide, his brow furrowed.

It was abnormal to face off against this many armed people. But The Patrol had a lot to lose if she got away. They were literally breaking out the big guns.

A figure stepped around the front of the van, gun up.

Isaac shoved her out of the way and charged, but he didn’t move fast enough. The attacker ducked and shoved the rifle away, closing in with fists raised.

Tanya glanced the other way to call out for help, but the other men were each fending off someone. Her mouth dried up. The Patrol had at least pretended to be working with her. If they got her this time, there would be no pretending about it. They’d torture her to serve their needs.

Which meant they needed her alive.

Unlike Orlando, these men wouldn’t kill her.

This, she knew how to handle.

Tanya launched herself at the man grappling with Isaac. She hit him with her shoulder and struck out with the heel of her hand, ramming it against his exposed throat. The man staggered sideways, biting off curses.

He turned, gun pointed at her, and paused.

His brows went up.

Her gamble was right.

Isaac landed a hard hook on the guy. He went sailing back and lost hold of his gun.

Tanya snatched the firearm, almost before it hit the ground, and went to a knee. She turned, aimed, and fired. The kick was strong enough she rocked backward and didn’t see her target go down.

She turned, adjusting her aim, and fired again.

A second man went down.

“Shit—come on.” Isaac grabbed the back of her sweater and pulled her up.

“Felix, Adam, where are you?” Kyle hollered, one hand pressed against his ear.

“The road.” Tanya pointed at the blast of muzzle fire across the street.

She bolted forward, tearing out of Isaac’s hold. Her boots crunched on bits of gravel and her free arm pumped.

The three at the van were not the three Kyle had shown her, which meant there were more than five people out there with targets on them.

“Damn it, Tanya.” Isaac was right behind her.

They hit the tall, stone wall circling the front of the property. She ducked, glancing around the stones and through the hedges on the other side. The blood pumping past her ears made it hard to make out all the sounds, but the muted yells weren’t that difficult to make out.

“Felix, Adam, where are you? We’re at the gates. Van is headed to us... Okay...” Isaac said.

A bit of movement and a flash of white drew her attention.

Tanya straightened and aimed through the wrought iron gates that’d been thrown open at some point. She fired, the sound shattering the momentary calm.

“Damn it, Tanya.”

Isaac wrapped his arm around her waist and hauled her into the van as it screeched to a stop.

“Cops are almost here,” Kyle said.

“There.” Shane stomped on the accelerator.

The back doors swung, banging open.

Shane turned the van and the vehicle lurched.

Two men jumped through the open doors.

“Go,” Felix yelled.

The other man pulled the doors open and ducked his head.

Isaac slid to the ground, taking her with him, and cradled her to his chest. He pulled the gun from her hands and set it on the ground away from her.

Everything made sense in a firing exercise. There was a bad guy and a good guy. One side lost, one won. She didn’t have to second guess herself or wonder if she was making the right call, because the good guys were the ones getting away.

“Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?” Felix braced his back against the other side of the van and slid to the ground across from them.

No one followed up his question with another. They hardly even spoke.

Had she just betrayed herself?

Friday. London, United Kingdom.

Isaac didn’t want to turn his back on Tanya, for fear she’d ninja out of the room somehow. He’d only ever seen one person move like she had, and no part of him wanted to make that connection. Given everything she’d told him, though, he was beginning to believe her unlikely story.

Tanya’s chest rose and fell. Her lashes didn’t move. She was passed out something hard. They’d barely made it through the door of her room at the hotel before she’d flopped on the bed and it was lights out. He’d had to help her with her boots.

It could all be an act.

In truth, he didn’t know who—or what—Tanya was anymore. She sure as hell wasn’t the delicate woman he’d pegged her as in the beginning. If he knew a terror plot was in motion. He’d probably be heaving right along with her, trying to figure out how to stop it.

He closed the door behind him and turned down the hall. There hadn’t been an opportunity to tell the others what she’d shared with him, and on the road packed in the van wasn’t the time or place.

They’d secured a large suite at the Bulgari Hotel. The head of security was former military, by the look of how things were run, and considering their caliber of guests and permanent residents, there would be no circumventing to get to them. Topnotch security was worth it at this point.

Isaac pushed his shoulders back and stepped into the main area of the suite.

The others had assembled around the dining table. No one spoke. They were all worse for wear after the drive from Boston to London, with only a quick stop to change vehicles, stow gear and change into civilian clothes. Tactical greens would draw too much attention.

Kyle cleared his throat and pinned Isaac with a look. They’d traded a few words while Tanya was out of hearing distance.

“She’s asleep,” Isaac said.

“Who the hell is she?” Felix leaned forward, jabbing a finger at the table.

“Has she said anything to you?” Kyle asked.

“A lot, actually. Most of it just before the attack.” Isaac shoved his hand through his hair. “She confirmed our theory. Orlando is no longer an ally. He’s working with terrorists, trying to sell some sort of chem-weapon. Tanya thinks he wants revenge for the death of his sister.”

“There’s no way we can trust her. She’s this guys’ girlfriend.” Felix shook his head.

“I’m not so sure about that.” Isaac pressed his lips together, wishing he didn’t have to say these words. “I’m just going to put it out there so we’re all on the same page—Tanya is not just a pretty face. Can we all agree on that?”

“Shit.” Shane shook his head. “Did you see that shot she took?”

“Which one?” Kyle countered.

“She moves like Abigail,” Shane said, voicing the thing Isaac didn’t want to admit.

They descended into silence.

Abigail was, technically speaking, the vice president of Aegis Group Operations. As far as anyone knew, she was an American-born woman, with some Department of Defense contract work under her belt. In truth, Abigail hadn’t come into being more than a few years ago. Before that she was a deadly Mossad spy, trained as a very young woman to kill and steal secrets before she’d been betrayed and set on a path that intersected with one of their own. Luke and Abigail were planning a spring wedding. Everyone would be there, because they’d all been called on to assist with the search efforts, in hopes of finding her, following the near disaster in D.C.

“What are we thinking?” Kyle glanced around the table. “If she’s trained by the same people who trained Abigail...”

“That’s a big if,” Isaac said. “Before The Patrol hit us, she’d asked me to dial a number. She was leaving a voicemail for an Agent Jones when we mobilized.”

“And you let her?” Felix gaped at him.

“Okay, trace the number. Find out who it belongs to. And get someone back home on the phone.” Kyle stared at Isaac. “We are going to need Abigail’s input on this, and probably Luke’s. We have to find out the truth about our girl, how deep this goes, and figure out what our next move is.”

“If this guy has turned on us, then chances are, the government will be interested in her. We could always turn her over to the CIA or someone here.” Felix held up his hands. “It’s not the popular opinion, but someone has to say it.”

“You did, now shut up.” Isaac glared across the table.

He’d held Tanya when she’d cried, felt her body shake in fear and saw the moment she flipped the switch and slid back into her real self. That woman who kicked ass out there was who Orlando was scared of. If she was a trained operative, at her age, that would be remarkable and incredibly difficult. There were people, like Abigail, who were raised doing this stuff and they still fractured and broke. Whatever had set Tanya on this course with their team must be an indicator of a greater danger to come. No one would keep their mouth shut about a traitor if they weren’t angling to catch them. That wasn’t how things worked.

“I’ll get on the phone,” Isaac said.

He tapped his knuckles on the table, then turned toward the hall. His communications gear was stowed in the room adjoining Tanya’s. He really was going to be glued to her from here on out.

Isaac rounded the corner and nearly walked into Tanya. She stepped back, her eyes wide, face pale.

She’d heard most of it, hadn’t she?

He glanced over his shoulder at Kyle and the others, their heads together.

“Go,” he mouthed at her and ushered her ahead of him.

Great.

Instead of going to her room, she ducked into his and shut the door behind him. Those dark-brown eyes of hers were wary, and rightfully so.

“Who is Abigail?” she asked.

“Someone who works with us. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“You were talking about me.”

“What’d you expect?”

“I could have explained myself.”

“Would you tell the whole truth?”

She glanced away.

Tanya had secrets. They worried him, but that was because he couldn’t protect her from them if she wasn’t honest. He couldn’t look out for an enemy he didn’t expect.

“I think it’s best for us to find out who you are in our own way,” he said slowly.

“Because you don’t trust me.”

“The situation is complicated. Who is Agent Jones?”

“He’s CIA. One of his first assignments was something to do with a half-sister of mine. I didn’t know anything, but he gave me his card. And...I kept it.”

“And—you were going to say something else?”

“I can’t say it,” she whispered.

“He gave you his card and—he’s your boyfriend? Ex-lover? Husband? Friend?” He searched her face for any flicker of familiarity. So Jones wasn’t anyone she cared about. “Teacher? Partner? Just some guy whose number you have memorized?”

“I thought it could come in useful to know the number for someone who...knew me, then.”

“He’s your back up plan.” Isaac shouldn’t be relieved by that idea. “Does he know it?”

“I can’t say any more.” She blew out a breath.

“I’ll find out for us.”

She nodded and turned toward the adjacent door.

He wanted to grab her, shake some sense into her, but he needed to make the call home more. At this point he—and the others—would be stupid to take her word as gospel truth. They needed to figure out who Tanya was through channels that would verify and vet her information. It was the only way to prove they weren’t playing into Orlando’s hand.

Isaac turned toward his gear and yanked the laptop out of his bag.

Tanya closed the adjoining door behind her, shutting him out.

It was two steps forward and ten back with her.

Why did Kyle have to make her his responsibility?

When Isaac looked at her, he understood her. She wasn’t like most assets they were sent after. Tanya was capable and strong, she’d simply been given a load too heavy for her to bear alone, and that was on whoever was supposed to be watching her. The person behind the scenes pulling her strings. Now that they’d all said it, he could admit that she was more than what she was pretended to be.

The way he saw it, Tanya Graham was either living a lie, or her life had been molded to fit the needs of whoever had trained her. A woman didn’t move, fight or shoot like that naturally. It was something trained into them.

What cause was Tanya fighting for? And were they too late?

Friday. Berlin, Germany.

Orlando picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear.

“Well?”

“Cops are all over the place,” the man said.

“You were too late.” Orlando swiveled to stare out the window. “What do they know?”

“I can’t ask yet.”

“I want to know, so you will find out. Now.”

“There’s no grounds for me to get involved.”

“How would you like for me to explain that to your wife?”

Robert made a strangled sound, but spoke no further protest.

“I thought you would see it my way. Please, find out all you can from the site and report back to me. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Orlando hung up and tapped the phone on the arm rest of his chair.

Robert was only useful for so long. Sending him into a crime scene without proper cause was a risk, but Orlando wanted to know what was there.

Tanya was smarter than he’d given her credit for. She would know that if she remained with that team, Orlando could find her. All he had to do was trace the video conference signal. Granted, that would take some time. So why hadn’t she run from the rescue team when she’d had the chance? In all that chaos she should have had the opportunity.

“What are you up to?”

He jabbed the button on the phone.

“Yes, sir?” Edwin said.

“Get in here.”

A moment later, Edwin entered carrying a tablet. He waited at the threshold until Orlando gestured to the small writing desk in the corner. This was going to take a while.

“First, I need you to trace the video call I just had back to its source. We need to know where the Aegis Team is holding Tanya. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Then, I need you to assemble our Berlin team. We’re going to move some sensitive merchandise. Find us a cargo plane, and get me a team in D.C.” Orlando couldn’t remember if Edwin knew about the chem-weapon or not. Tanya did, but she was special.

“Okay...”

“Last, I need an evaluation of these two clients.” Orlando strolled over to the writing desk and scrawled the names on a sticky note.

“Anything specific I should focus on?”

“Which one’s the bigger fuck up? I need to know who I can double cross.”

“I’m sorry, did you—”

“Think very carefully about the next words out of your mouth.”

Edwin’s throat constricted and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

God, Orlando would give anything to have Tanya back—and loyal. He couldn’t have that, so he’d make sure she died instead.

Friday. London, United Kingdom.

Tanya lay in the darkness, bits of the afternoon light bleeding around the blackout curtains, and listened to the silence.

Hardly any sound leaked from room to room. That was why she’d had to go clear to the end of the hall to find out what the others had been saying.

She’d seen the glances, the way they looked at each other when they thought she wasn’t watching. They were good, but they weren’t that good.

At the estate, she’d made the decision to stay with them because it made sense. Alone, she couldn’t make it. Rob wasn’t answering their line and she didn’t know what else she could do besides call Agent Jones and pray he believed her.

She needed to tell someone what she’d pieced together, that Orlando had three potential buyers and three different targets for the weapon. She’d made lists back at the estate, reasons and tallies in favor and against each buyer. If she tried to think like Orlando, she was pretty sure she could narrow it down to two. To know more, she’d need help, but she couldn’t get off this island.

She hated being trapped.

As pretty as this hotel room was, it was a cage.

She’d lived her life in various cages, some with bars and others with cushions, and she’d hated all of them. Wasn’t taking Orlando on supposed to be about throwing the prison doors open? She hugged her arms around herself tighter, drawing her knees up.

When she’d been rescued as a teen, she’d thought it was an end to being alone, that life would be fine from there on out. She’d been naive about the real world. The truth was, the same things happened out there. She was always an outsider, alone, and an easy victim, if she didn’t stand up for herself. Which was why she’d set out to change things. She was done being the victim.

A light tap on the door brought her out of the endless loop of dark memories.

She lifted her head off the pillow and stared at the door, as though she could see who it was.

The door opened a crack and a head leaned through. The light from the hall made his sandy brown hair more gold.

“Isaac?” She rolled to her back.

“Hey, I didn’t know if you were asleep or what.” He stepped through the door, something clutched under his arm.

She sat but didn’t offer the fact that sleep eluded her.

“The rest of our gear arrived. We had some clothes for you, if you want to shower and change?”

“Thank you.” A shower would be nice. Maybe if she cleaned up a bit she’d actually sleep?

“I talked to our team back home.”

“About me?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And nothing. They found nothing.”

“What about Agent Jones?”

“No reply. Yet.”

Isaac edged toward the dresser, found it by feel and set the clothes on it. Her eyes were so adjusted to the darkness that she could make out his darker form against the shadows.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked.

“We were able to verify what you said about the missing chem.”

“Oh.” All the air left her lungs.

“We were able to pass off why we were wanted to know, for now, but if someone starts asking questions we don’t have answers for...”

“You’ll have to give me up. Why haven’t you all ready?”

“We were hired to bring you home safely.”

“You’ve looked into me, so you know I have joint UK and US citizenship. In theory, I am home. Try again.” She could hear Isaac grinding his teeth.

“I can’t tell you without putting someone else at risk.”

“Abigail? Is that who?”

Isaac’s silence said more than his words.

“Abigail. It’s a Biblical name meaning my father is joy, but the woman was the wife of a king who referred to herself as a servant. Who is she to you? If I search your company’s website, is she there?”

“No.”

“Then you’re hiding her, too. I’m guessing you think she and I have some sort of connection. Protecting her means protecting me. What if you’re wrong about me?”

“I’m not.” He sounded so certain of it. Isaac strolled around the bed, this time without feeling his way around. His eyes must have adjusted to the darkness.

Tanya swallowed.

Who was Abigail?

“How long has it been since you were home?” Isaac sat on the bed next to her, crossing his arms under his head and toeing off his boots.

“Please, have a seat, won’t you?” She should not encourage him. She liked him too much as it was.

“Thanks.”

She bit back her next words. Careless speaking around Isaac was digging herself a deeper hole. If this Abigail was like her, if they shared the same sort of training, then putting them together would only endanger them both.

“So, home?” he prompted.

“I’ve only ever passed through the UK.”

“But you have dual citizenship?”

“It’s kind of fuzzy, but the US and UK took the brunt of responsibility for us kids.”

“People ask you about it?”

“Not really. I mean, for most people it’s ancient history.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“However I can.”

“You must have a very interesting story.”

“It feels like a horror story.”

“What was it like?”

“For me?”

“Yeah. Or in general. I’m curious about your take on things, instead of the reports.”

“My take? My father was a narcissist who wanted everyone around him to love him. He started a new religion, built around having multiple wives, just so more people would have to pay attention to him. By the time I was born, he’d taken it to the extreme. Did you know my mother was kidnapped and forced to be—what?—wife number forty? He made us kids help control the abducted women. We were their jailers, the ones who had power over them until they were married to their new husbands.”

“Shit...”

“He built a system that catered to the rich men who could support the cult and created prisoners of the women. He actively tried to force abortions on anyone who was carrying a boy, and the babies that made it to term were often abandoned.”

“What? Why?”

“Because they were competition. You can’t offer a rich man membership to your cult and promise him a dozen, nubile wives if there are boys growing up, expecting to have an equal split of the women. That’s how the trafficking began. That was how he messed up. He brought too many men in, too soon. He needed more wives, which meant abducting more women. You can’t kidnap dozens of women and churn through them without someone asking questions. Dad got greedy, end of story.”

“How old were you when he was stopped?”

“Fourteen. I was engaged when I was thirteen, but my husband-to-be had to go to America for a surgery and there were complications. I’d just been engaged to someone else when they shut us down.”

“I can’t imagine...”

“It’s in the past.” Or at least that’s what she told herself any time the nightmares began.

“One of the reports says that their first tip as to what was going on there came from a young girl.”

Tanya swallowed.

“What did you do?” Isaac asked.

“What makes you think it was me?” She shifted, leaning away from him.

“Because the kind of girl who signals an international investigation is the same kind of person who’d grow up to do some pretty intense undercover work.”

She couldn’t admit the truth. Every time they spoke, she said too much. She was tired, worn out, exhausted to the point that even sleep was difficult. If she started talking she’d lay it all out for him. There was a reason none of the reports stated her identity. She’d gone on to be a key witness in a number of cases. The rest of the kids she’d grown up with were able to have normal lives, but not her.

“I just want to help you, cupcake.” Isaac’s hand closed around hers, giving her a little squeeze.

“Stop asking questions.” And catching her unaware.

“But that’s what I do best.”

“Then I need to stop talking to you.”

“You don’t really want to do that.” He laced their fingers together.

The feel of his bigger hand wrapped around hers was oddly comforting. It was still a dominant hold, but other than when Isaac had hauled her out of the garden and into the van, he’d been gentle. He’d held her. Let her lean on him. To gain her confidence? She didn’t think it was that simple.

“Did you sleep at all?” he asked.

“No.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, easing into the desire to let him carry some of the burden. “I’m too tired to sleep.”

“You need to rest. We’re all here to protect you.”

“And dig up my secrets.”

“We’ll be careful.”

“Why should I trust you?” She wanted to beg him for a reason, something she could hold onto, but that would be weakness, wouldn’t it?

“Because I’d hazard to guess that we’re on the same side.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“Sure I do. You’ve told me.”

“You can’t take anything I say as truth, though.”

“That’s why we’re digging, remember?”

She swallowed and let her eyes go fuzzy. Her secrets should be buried so deep that no one could discover who and what she truly was. If they could, they were either far more skilled than they should be, or her secrets weren’t as protected as she hoped. Either way, if or when Isaac learned all about her, it would be the end of the road.

“I think everything will be better after a nap,” Isaac’s soft voice, his warm hand, they relaxed her, but not enough to lure her to sleep.

Tanya was too restless to sleep.

When was the last time she’d really slept?

The afternoon Quade died. She’d had a long nap after being up most of the night planting the tracking devices. Orlando had believed her when she’d said she had a migraine. It was the last time she’d closed her eyes and been at peace. Since then, she’d literally been sleeping with one eye open for fear of being caught unaware. It was doubtful that if she were in a room alone she’d relax enough to sleep.

“Would you consider staying here long enough for me to fall asleep?” She hated asking, but if she didn’t sleep soon, she’d begin to hallucinate.

“I thought you were asleep last time. How am I supposed to know you aren’t playing possum?”

“I guess you won’t. Never mind.”

“How about we both take a nap? That way it doesn’t matter if you decide to stay awake.”

“Do you have time for that?”

“I’ve got all the time in the world for you, cupcake.”

Tanya chose to not respond to that line. Isaac was assigned to her, that much she knew, and right now she needed someone in her corner. If it was him, so be it. She’d take the comfort he offered.

She shifted until she lay on her side, facing away from Isaac. The bed dipped under his weight, and his body heat seeping through her clothes was enough warning for her to brace for contact. He slid his hand around her waist, holding her gently. A simple touch that reminded her in the darkness that she wasn’t alone. Isaac was there and he had her back. There wasn’t anyone who’d fought for her like he had in a very long time. If she could trust anyone, she’d pick him. Which was likely what his team was hoping for, but there it was.

“Stop thinking and sleep,” Isaac whispered.

“I’m trying.”

He pulled her back against him. She crammed the pillow a bit more under her neck. Despite playing the part of Orlando’s preferred girl for well over a year, it’d been a very long time since she’d slept with another person. She hoped, for Isaac’s sake, the nightmares didn’t visit.