Ben kept his head down and strode toward the cell phone repair shop at the end of the strip mall.

He had to find Carson Adair soon. She hadn’t been to her office the whole week. He’d never caught her at her apartment though he thought he’d seen her car Tuesday. If he didn’t get his hands on her to figure out what the FBI knew he was toast. Dead. Fucked.

The Syrian rebels were looking for him hard.

Then there was the Saudi prince who’d just gotten back from vacation and wanted an update. Before much longer he’d be after Ben’s head.

The Cubans already had a hit out on him and raised the money twice.

Ben knew he was operating on limited time. Soon enough, someone would sell him out and then he’d be dead. There was no way to get the money back without Carson, and even then all he had was a prayer that it might work.

He hadn’t known that his backdoor hack only worked on personal accounts, not business ones. That was why he’d only been able to transfer his personal funds. But if he could get Carson, understand what the FBI knew more fully and get access to a bank terminal, he could feasibly fix this. At least so far as his clients money was concerned.

Then there was the problem of getting out of the country. He was on a no-fly list and his guy who did papers had just returned from a trip yesterday.

With any luck Ben would be a new man in a few days.

His business was gone, but that was why he’d saved. This line of work only lasted for so long.

He pulled the glass door to the shop open and stepped inside.

A man wearing some kind of contraption on his head with magnifying lenses glanced up at him.

“With you in a minute,” he said.

A teenage boy stuck his head out from the back office.

“That’s my friend, Dad.” The young man gestured for Ben to follow.

The father frowned deeper.

Ben nodded and followed the boy.

His attempts to locate Carson using GPS had failed. Her phone hadn’t been turned on in a week. That left less sophisticated means of tracking her.

“Well?” Ben sat in a vacant chair next to the desk where the kid had a laptop set up.

“I found the car, but only a few times.” The kid pulled out a map of Seattle suburbs. “Here, here and here are where I catch her two to four times a day. She has to be somewhere in this subdivision.”

Shit.

It wasn’t an address.

This was a few square miles of housing, and only three points where he hoped he might catch sight of her car.

“There’s a gas station, here. I’m still working on their pump cameras. They have the new, fancy ones. If she’s in this area, chances are she stops there for gas.”

This was more than he had to go on.

“Thanks.” Ben took cash out of his pocket and slapped it down. “Keep working on this. I need to get her location narrowed down farther.”

For now, he could scout the area. Have a look around. VW bugs weren’t exactly popular.

RYAN STRODE INTO THE house, mentally ticking off the time he’d have to shower and do a few things before Carson arrived. Tomorrow was Friday. It would mark a full week since Carson’s arrival in his life.

God, he wanted a cold one. But after Tuesday he wasn’t going there. If he couldn’t stop at one, he’d get none. He was going to be different now.

“Ryan, hey.” Alec glanced up from the TV. “Got a second?”

“Maybe?” Ryan wanted to start laundry more than he wanted to catch up with his roommates.

“Yo, Vito,” Alec bellowed. He paused his game and got up.

“Must be nice to do nothing at all,” Ryan said.

“Client canceled the last of the contract, so I’m basically getting paid days off.” Alec walked past Ryan into the main room of the house.

He had no choice but to follow.

Vito stood at the kitchen bar with a laptop open.

“Come here. Want to show you something.” Alec braced his hand on the bar and looked at the laptop.

“If you’re going to show me some kind of fucked up porn, I’m out.” Ryan held up his hands.

“This is serious.” Alec nodded at the screen.

Ryan frowned at the display.

Carson’s Facebook profile. He’d avoided connecting with her there while he cleaned out his friend’s list. If he was turning his life around there were people he didn’t want to be connected with anymore.

“Honestly, when she showed up I didn’t think anything about her story. But—something’s not right, man. That’s when I started looking.” Alec nodded.

Vito scrolled down a little ways.

“I didn’t remember Carson until I saw she’s friends with this chick, Jessica.” Alec pointed at the picture of a woman with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a wide smile.

It was the same woman who’d been in the picture he had of Carson and another woman.

“I remember her because she puked in the shower. I remember walking her back to your room. She had a friend here. I think the friend was Carson.”

Ryan stared at Alec.

“What the hell are you trying to say?” Ryan asked slowly.

“I don’t think Carson’s the girl you slept with. I don’t think she’s pregnant. I think she’s conning you, man.”

“No.” Ryan shook his head. “That’s crazy. Why would she do that? It makes no sense.”

“Has she asked for anything? Money?” Vito leaned his elbow on the bar.

“No.” Ryan could hardly believe these two.

“Look, you clearly don’t want to hear this for whatever reason, but something isn’t right. If you don’t like us poking around at her social media, maybe you should have a look yourself?”

“Do you hear yourself? Do you know how crazy it sounds to say that she’s faking a pregnancy? That she got kicked out of her house?” Ryan took a step back. “You’re pissed I might be happy. That’s what this is.”

“Happy you’re sharing a tiny bedroom with a woman you know nothing about? Yeah, so jealous.” Alec threw up his hands. “She’s got you by the balls, dude. And you don’t even care. If you wanted to knock up some chick so bad why this one?”

“It’s not like this was planned.”

Ryan stared at the laptop.

That woman.

Carson’s friend.

He remembered her. Just a little.

It was that mouth. They’d made a joke about how much beer she could gulp down. There’d been some crude crack made after that and then...

Was Alec right?

Ryan knew he could drink hard, but he typically remembered something. This thing with Carson, the utter black hole of knowledge bothered him.

Was it because she’d lied?

The concept of her making all this up was so wrong. The person he’d been sleeping with for the last week was not someone capable of that kind of thing. She just wasn’t.

But what if she was?

The front door creaked open. Ryan knew without looking that it was Carson. It was how she did things, making every action quieter, less intrusive. Any one of the guys would have shoved the door open, causing it to bang off the wall.

But not Carson.

He felt her presence like a hot poker jabbing into his spine.

“Hey guys,” she said slowly.

Alec continued to stare at Ryan. He’d dumped this mess in Ryan’s lap and now he had nothing to say?

Carson circled the bar to the sink. She twisted the lid to her travel mug off and poured the remnants of her coffee down the drain.

Gone was the T-shirt and leggings. Today she was dressed for work in a button down blouse, slacks and a long cardigan. She was neat. Professional. She didn’t look like a con artist.

What did she have to gain by lying to him?

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Are you really pregnant?” Ryan clenched his hands into fists to keep them from trembling.

“What? What kind of question is that?” Carson’s mouth worked soundlessly.

When a person was afraid there was a frantic energy to them. Eyes darting around, fruitless cries for help. Carson stood there, absolutely still. Like a deer that knew it had been seen.

“We compared stories.” Alec gestured at Vito. “See, we don’t remember you. But your friend, the girl with the dark brown hair? This Jessica chick? I remember her.”

The front door banged open.

Silas and Paxton were home.

“You guys didn’t burn the place down?” Paxton called out.

“Ryan?” Carson stared at him. “Can we talk about this alone?”

“I think it’s best if we’re all here.”  Ryan turned his head. “Get in here you two.”

Silas, followed by Paxton, hauled their gear into the main room. Both men seemed to catch the vibe and sobered up.

“Do either of you remember Carson from before last Friday?” Ryan asked.

“Uh, trouble in paradise?” Paxton dropped his duffle bag onto the floor.

“Just answer the fucking question,” Ryan demanded.

“No,” Silas said simply.

“Dude, that’s not my job.” Paxton held up his hands.

“Do you remember her?” Alec tilted the laptop and pointed at the avatar of Carson’s friend.

“Shit. Is that the girl who hurled in the shower?” Silas’ face twisted up into a grimace.

“Yeah. Yeah, I remember her.” Paxton didn’t seem thrilled about the memory either.

Ryan stared at the wall behind the guys.

Everyone remembered Carson’s friend. She’d gotten sick. She’d made an impression. She’d sure as hell been here. But Carson? At least one of them should be able to place her.

He turned back to face her.

“What’s the truth, then?” He braced his hands on the bar, grateful there was something between him and the fridge.

Carson took a step back and her hands came up. Her lower lip quivered, but she held it together.

“I can explain.” Her voice wavered.

“Are you pregnant?” That was all he needed to know right now.

Carson’s face scrunched up. For a moment he thought she might cry, but she wrestled her expression back under control.

“No,” she said softly.

That word felt like a stab, but not to him, to the part of his chest where the love and excitement he’d been harboring for a future child had gathered.

There wasn’t going to be a baby. He wasn’t going to be a dad.

“Shit,” Paxton said.

“Was it all a lie?” Ryan could feel his blood boiling.

He’d pushed aside the other’s concerns. He’d believed her with no proof. She’d taken him for a ride, and as far as he could see it was all for a place to sleep and food to eat.

She wasn’t answering him.

He deserved some kind of explanation.

Ryan stalked around the end of the bar.

“Was it all a lie?” His voice reverberated off the tile.

“I can explain.” Carson held her hands up.

“Wow. Back it up, man.” Alec shoved Ryan back and put himself between Carson and Ryan.

“Tell me,” Ryan snarled.

He’d thought he’d found his reason to be better. In the end it was all a lie.

CARSON STAGGERED AWAY from where Alec held the line with Ryan. He’d always been gentle and playful with her. She’d forgotten that under the surface he was a dangerous man. And now she’d made him angry.

Vito grabbed Ryan by the arm and hauled him off Alec. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t touched her. It was the way he looked at her.

“You don’t want to go there, man,” Alec said.

“I want to look in her eyes and hear her say it,” Ryan snarled.

“You sure that’s all you were going to do.” Alec held his hands up.

“You think I’d—?” Ryan’s mouth gaped open, and he finally looked away from Carson.

“You’re pretty pissed off right now. Why don’t you walk it off?”

Ryan glanced at Carson. She felt that look more than any kind of physical touch. It went deeper, to her heart.

She’d known this was coming, but she wasn’t ready for it.

Ryan turned toward the French doors leading into the sun room.

“Ryan? Ryan, can we talk, please?” Carson didn’t know what she’d say to him, but anything was better than him walking away.

“Don’t talk to her.” Alec braced his hands on the bar, blocking her path.

She could still go the other way. It would be closer to Ryan, but farther from her escape route out of the house.

“You’re going to give me answers,” Alec said.

Carson swallowed.

“Why are you here? What’s worth all this? Who put you up to it?”

All of those moments she’d caught Alec studying her out of the corner of her eye made sense. He’d been waiting for this, biding his time until he found a chink in her armor.

There were a lot of them.

Maybe the thing that should surprise her most was that it took this damn long.

Ryan paced in front of the sectional. He wasn’t leaving the room, but he wasn’t looking at her either. But maybe he’d listen?

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Alec demanded.

“I didn’t want to do this.” Her voice wavered, but not as much as she’d feared.

Ryan pivoted and laced his hands together behind his head.

“Then why?” Alec asked.

“Because...” She couldn’t tell them about the FBI. But she could be general. “My sister was in some trouble. Some people, they wanted something from her. But she’s a kid. So, I did it. And now...I’m in trouble.”

“What the fuck does that have to do with Ryan?” Paxton asked. His face was scrunched up, no doubt confused.

“I needed somewhere to hide, and you’re all body guards.” That was as detailed as she could get and not break her agreement.

“What kind of trouble? Why are we just now hearing about this sister? What did you do? For who?” Alec was on a roll now and he wasn’t letting up.

Carson kept her gaze on Ryan. He reached the end of the room and turned again, this time toward her. But only for a moment. He kept his eyes closed as though he knew she were trying to connect with him. Ryan was shutting her out. And she couldn’t blame him for that. Not after what she was doing to them.

For the last two days his talk of the future, what they could be together, hadn’t scared her. She’d begun to want it. Even though she knew it would not be possible once the truth came out. And she wasn’t going to try to keep the lies going. She hadn’t thought they could withstand the deception, and she was right.

Emotion clogged her throat and tears prickled her eyes.

“Hey. Look at me, not him.” Alec snapped his fingers.

“I—I can’t tell you anything else.” Her voice came out as a whisper.

“Sure you can. Open your mouth and say something real.”

“No.” Carson glanced at Alec. “If I tell you too much, they’ll go after my sister.”

She’d rather die than have the FBI make good on their threats. Frankie didn’t deserve that.

“This is some bullshit,” Paxton said.

“Can I just grab my bag? I’ll go. You’ll never have to see me again.” Carson held up her hands. Even though she’d wanted to believe this happiness would last she’d known it couldn’t. All her things were still in her bag or hanging up in the bathroom despite Ryan insisting there was enough room in his closet and dresser for her things.

“I’ll go get your stuff. Stay here.” Silas pushed off the bar. He’d been quiet until now.

“Thank you,” Carson whispered.

“What if we go to the police? What then?” Alec straightened and dropped his hands to his sides.

“I—I don’t know.” She shrugged.

“Did your parents really kick you out?” Ryan asked from across the room.

“I’m sorry, Ryan. No, they didn’t kick me out.” Carson swallowed. “I live in an apartment. By myself. Frankie still lives at home. She’s seventeen. We talked them into going out of town to protect her while I was here.”

That was when Carson had naively thought the whole thing would be over in days. Now she didn’t know if it would ever be done. Maybe Carson needed to get Frankie and go. If the FBI couldn’t find her, they couldn’t try to deport her. Mom and Dad would be upset, possibly even angry, but they couldn’t know. Too many people had a glimpse of their reality already.

Silas emerged from the hall with her bag and dry cleaning in hand.

Carson snatched up her purse and stared at Alec.

Would he let her leave? Or would he try to make her answer?

The corner of Alec’s jaw twitched.

He’d never really liked her. She shouldn’t expect any understanding from him. All this time he’d been waiting for an opening, and here it was.

“Don’t come back,” Alec said, pitching his voice low.

Carson jerked her head.

She would never be able to face Ryan again. Not after the pain she’d seen in his eyes. She’d miscalculated and wounded him deeply. That had never been her intention.

Alec stepped back.

She rushed past him and gathered her things from Silas.

“Be careful,” he muttered for her ears alone.

The gig was up. She’d done the wrong thing and been caught.

Carson glanced at Ryan, who stood staring out the back windows, the sun glinting red in his hair. She wanted to say if she could go back, she wouldn’t have come here. But then she’d have never known him, and she didn’t know if she could wish that in earnest. For a few stolen days, they’d had something good. She couldn’t regret that even if she’d gotten there by telling lies.

She’d made a decision in a panic, hatched a plan and gone with it because Frankie’s future depended on Carson.

No one spoke to her on her way out the front door. She stopped on the welcome mat, her will breaking. The first tear rolled down her cheek.

She had no right to be sad or feel sorry for what she was losing. She’d never truly had Ryan.

If she and Frankie survived this, Carson was going to be different. She didn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life. If Ryan could like her, then someone else out there could love her.

Carson marched to her little bug and loaded her things inside. She climbed behind the wheel and jabbed at the lock button. This wasn’t the place to cry. She could put some distance between her and the house before she fell apart.

She started the bug and whipped it around, heading back to the main street out of the neighborhood and toward the highway.

This was never going to last. That was what she had to keep telling herself.

As bad as she felt, what was Ryan feeling right now? She’d betrayed him on a level she hadn’t been prepared for. There was no way for her to know what she was doing before she’d implemented her plan.

Carson made it as far as the gas station a few blocks away. She parked haphazardly on the side of the building and buried her face in her hands.

Everything hurt.

She sobbed to the point her lungs ached. When this started, she’d never anticipated liking Ryan. Meeting him in a bar and being smitten with him was not the same thing as what she’d experienced here. And she wasn’t prepared.

Carson tilted her head up and pushed her hair back.

Was there any way to fix this with Ryan?

She didn’t think so.

Leaving fast was for the best. Rip the bandage off and all that.

She wiped at her eyes. So what if her makeup ran and smudged?

Someone tapped on the window.

She groaned and dropped her hands into her lap.

Now what?

Carson turned her head and stared at the business end of a gun pointed straight at her.

KAWA PICKED UP HIS phone from the park table. The hotel room was too stuffy and crowded to remain in there. Things were moving too fast for him to ignore even one phone call.

“Yes?” he said.

“This Drek?”

“Yes.” Kawa hadn’t intended that to be the name he used. A butchering of his last name led to this.

“I got a lead on that Grewing guy.”

“Where?”

“He left a shop in my area a little while ago.”

Kawa and the man launched into haggling on a price for the information. At this point, Kawa was willing to pay a king’s ransom for the ability to get his hands on Ben. The man knew enough they could sink Akkadia’s bid for independence. Kawa needed the man gone more than he needed the funds at this point. In the end, Kawa vowed to pay a nominal sum at a meeting point near the address.

He strode the dozen or so yards back to the block of hotel rooms Kawa had for himself and the small contingent of men. He knocked once on the door before entering.

The six men cooling their heels glanced at him.

“Get everything together. We leave in ten minutes, and we won’t come back here.”

Once Kawa had killed Ben, they’d focus on the senator. Alternative arrangements were in the works to rescue the sister and whatever other hostages they might use to foster goodwill with the United Nations. They could still come out of this as the good guys.

Akkadia was one step closer to reality.