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When I was a boy, I saw a fire break out in the council estate where I lived. I would never forget the terror on people’s faces as they’d watched everything they owned burn right before their eyes. I’d been too young then to truly understand how far-reaching a disaster like that could be, but I’d understood all too well what it was like to have nothing.

I’d been an expert even at that young age.

Now, years later, I watched the lines of code streaming past on my screen and felt the same bone-deep emptiness I’d felt that day. I couldn’t stop this attack. Blake Security was in chaos and there was nothing I could do.

Panic clawed at my throat as I continued to furiously type commands.

My mind racing, I tried everything I could think of. Then I tried things I was sure wouldn’t work but I was desperate enough to try anyway. But no matter what I did, section after section of my network went down. It was like watching dominoes fall.

I wasn’t being at all dramatic to say it was like watching my world come to an end.

“I’ve been shut out. I’ve been shut out of my own system.”

The words hung in the air, sharp as knives. I was sure if I said them too many times they’d slice my lips to ribbons. But I had to do it. Saying it aloud made it all too real. It was just the slap in the face I needed to bring me out of the trance I’d been in since I’d first discovered the breach.

Like a shot, I was out of my seat. As soon as I hit the hallway, I called out, looking for my friends.

“Noah! Lucia!” I thought back to earlier tonight, trying to remember where everyone was going.

It was dark in some areas but the lights were still on in the kitchen. As if on cue, the lights went out, plunging me into darkness. We’d just discovered that we could control the lights remotely. I let out a disgusted sigh. There was no way of knowing just how much damage had been done so far by whoever was mucking around in my system.

“Help! Somebody help!”

I rushed forward at the panicked scream. It was a woman, which reawakened my fears that everyone hadn’t left as planned. When I got closer to the elevator, I realized the sound was floating up from a floor below.

“Lucia?” I asked incredulously.

“Matthias! Thank God! We were on our way back up when the elevator stopped.”

Noah spoke up then. “Matthias, what’s happened?”

My boss’s voice was steady but I’d known Noah a long time. This was his damage control, don’t-freak-out-Lucia voice.

“There’s been a cyberattack. I’m trying to get the cameras back online and restore my access but it might take a minute.”

Before they could respond, I heard a pounding coming from behind me. I whirled around, drawing my weapon in one fluid motion. Panting, I glanced right and left, looking for intruders. Nothing.

Not wanting to give away my position if there was someone in the penthouse with me, I didn’t bother to update Noah and Lucia on what I was doing. I could hear Noah still talking but I didn’t turn back. At least if there was someone in the penthouse with me, they were safe in the elevator.

For now.

Although it would have been really fucking convenient to have Noah to back me up right about now.

I kept my eyes trained on my surroundings as I traced my steps back to my room. Whoever had gotten into the system hadn’t turned off the power yet but it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to do it. If I had even a chance in hell of stopping them, I needed to regain control before that happened.

Just as I was sitting down, my phone rang. I snatched it out of my pocket and answered without even checking the number.

“What?”

“It’s Dylan. Ryan just tried to log in to the system and he’s getting an error.”

“We’ve been hacked. Don’t come back yet in case it’s a trap.” I hung up and immediately sent a text with the same message to everyone. Whoever was behind this had spectacular timing, locking down the system when Noah and Rafe wouldn’t be able to help me. Lucky.

Unless it was planned that way.

Whoever had executed this plan was skilled. Very. I was one of the best hackers in the world and it wasn’t false modesty that told me so, merely the number of systems I’d broken into over the years. It wasn’t often I met a system I couldn’t gain access to, and all of that experience breaking in places uninvited had given me unique insight on how to keep people out. So for someone to take control of a system I’d designed by brute force, it wasn’t a garden-variety hacker. Maybe not even one person. In all likelihood, it had taken a team working on it together.

Which could mean that my past was coming back to haunt me. Finally. But if that was true and someone was coming to take me out, I’d go out in a blaze of glory.

Reaching under my desk, I unclipped the Glock that I always kept there. Next, I reached over to the shelf behind my desk and pulled forward my three volumes of the Lord of the Rings series and slid out the knives I kept hidden behind the books. Whoever was coming in, they’d better have done their homework. Because hacking was one thing; hand-to-hand was another.

At least I’d get to look the bastards in the eyes before I slit their throats. I was in the killing zone now. Nothing could bring me back.

Then I heard the one sound guaranteed to penetrate through to the heart. A baby’s cry.

“Isabella. Oh bloody hell,” I whispered. How could I have forgotten?

When Noah and Lucia had gone out for a quick bite, they’d only planned to be gone for an hour or two so they’d felt comfortable leaving the baby with me. Isabella slept so well that I rarely had to do much anyway when they left, other than the time I’d knocked her pacifier out and she’d screamed bloody murder until I’d found it and given it back.

I stood, my blood prickling in my veins like ice. This wasn’t just about me anymore. Whoever had chosen tonight to attack had signed their own death warrant. Because I would die myself before I let any harm come to Izzy.

Waiting in theory was much easier than in practice. I had given myself plenty of time, leaving my hotel room earlier, being sure to dress in jeans and a black, long-sleeved shirt—nothing that would attract undue attention. I’d taken a cab to the first address provided and then, per instructions, walked to the second address.

I stared up at the imposing glass and concrete structure, my burner phone clutched in my hand. This was the target? A security company? Knowing that my time was short, I whipped the T-shirt over my head to reveal the tight black compression vest beneath. This thing was designed to withstand a lot of force, was bulletproof, fireproof and could even keep me afloat if I found myself in deep water. From my pocket, I pulled out a band and tied my hair back. I would put on a mask before going in and would need my hair to be out of the way.

This area of town was busy so I kept to the shadows, feigning interest in the screen of my phone. But while I waited, I used the time to scope out the building. There was only one entrance visible from this side. Honestly, it looked like a run-of-the-mill office building or maybe a warehouse of some type.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting but this wasn’t it. Usually the Family had much loftier goals but perhaps this security company had information they needed.

Disgust roiled in my belly. God, I was tired of this. Living my life in the shadows, always at someone else’s whim. I thought back to the long-ago night when my mentor had fished me from the icy waters of the Thames. The night I should have died but instead had been granted a new life. My mentor, Andromeda, had taken care of me, taught me to defend myself and trained me to be a weapon so I’d never again be vulnerable the way I’d been as a child. But I couldn’t deny there were moments, in the dark of night, where I wondered if being saved that night was truly a mercy. Was this really a life I wanted to lead, being used to further the agenda of men drunk on the thought of more money and power?

Oh yes, even though I was undercover with the Family and had seen close up the atrocities they’d commit to solidify their power base, I was under no illusions that ORUS was much better. The organization had saved me, true, but it didn’t mean I was blind to the things going on behind the scenes.

Even a broken clock was right twice a day. I shook my head at the thought. It had been something Andromeda used to say when I would question their methods or strategies. As a teenager, I’d accepted it as being an easy way to brush off my questions. But now that I had more experience under my belt, I wondered if my mentor hadn’t been trying to justify the things they did in her own mind as well. If I was this conflicted about the ORUS mission after only seven years, I couldn’t imagine the moral compromises one would have made after a lifetime in. Not that I knew Andromeda’s age. Questions were one of the first things I’d learned to squelch. An inquisitive child, I’d quickly learned that people in my strange new world didn’t take kindly to anyone trying to ferret out personal details.

Not even the ones who claimed to trust you.

Some life.

Whatever. Shaking my head, I pushed away the uncertainty. I was here to do a job, and Sabine’s life depended on my succeeding. If this was the place I was designated to infiltrate, then so be it.

The phone in my hand vibrated. I raised it to my ear but did not speak, per my instructions.

You have three minutes to get up the stairwell to the penthouse level. The voice sounded robotic, like a computer.

I had so many questions. What if I took longer than three minutes? What if someone saw me? But instead, I waited quietly.

A second later, the robotic voice continued. Once you reach the penthouse level, your target will be alone. You have seven minutes to secure the target and exit through the rear door. The click in my ear was the only indication they’d hung up.

Well, that was that, then. I sighed. It was crazy to go through with this on so little information but what choice did I have, really? Bring back the target or my friend would die? It was an impossible choice.

Being an ORUS agent for the past decade had taught me plenty about impossible choices. And I didn’t have the time to ruminate on my decision because I had no doubt the voice wasn’t joking when it claimed I only had three minutes to get upstairs.

Tucking the phone into my vest, I walked quickly to the east side door, letting out my breath when it opened easily beneath my hands. The stairwell was dark as I sprinted up the floors, barely breaking a sweat as I passed floor five, six, seven and on.

At the top level, I paused briefly to allow my heart rate to settle and patted the Sig Sauer at my hip. More than likely I wouldn’t need the weapons I’d been issued, and it was a definite that ORUS would prefer I didn’t use them. Whoever this target was, Orion wanted him alive and well when I delivered him. No matter. It should be easy work to incapacitate some middle-aged office worker. I glanced down the stairwell I’d just ascended as it occurred to me I’d have to take him back down the same way I’d come up.

Change of plans.

There was no way I’d be able to get in, subdue the target and then carry him all the way down. He’d have to be conscious so he could walk down the stairs on his own. Otherwise, it would take too long.

Seven minutes.

The echo of that robotic voice urged me forward. I was wasting time.

The click of the door sounded loud in my ears as I entered the penthouse level. A baby’s cry in the distance stopped me in my tracks. What the bloody hell? There hadn’t been anything in the briefing about a child.

Motion up ahead caught my eye and I shrank back against the wall. If there were a baby here, I might have to take care of more than just the target. My eyes closed briefly before I blocked out all emotion as I’d been taught.

It was time to take care of this.