Alexa’s gaze slid up from her computer and to the massive screen on the wall. Matt was updating the team on their mission in Munich, even though she still hadn’t been able to crack Boris Gregov’s encrypted files.

“Gregov is in Cyprus.” Matt placed a pin on a wall map next to the screen, marking Gregov’s location. “We’re not yet sure what he’s doing there, but our agents are following him. That does put him pretty damn close to Istanbul, to Kemal Bekas, which means something could be up.”

Xander stepped up next to Matt and began swiping his fingers across the screen, moving icons around and opening files. “We were able to copy Gregov’s computer, but Alexa,” he tipped his head at her, “is still working on decrypting the few files on there that we hope will be relevant.”

Alexa scowled at Xander, knowing he was poking at her. But what choice did he have but to push her? He was second in command on the case—the lead intelligence officer. Then again, all the members of the team were itching to close the case. “It’s barely been two days, guys—I’m doing my best. Besides, we’ve been distracted by the incident in London.” She hated making excuses, but the files were nothing like she’d seen.

Xander tapped at his wristwatch and winked at Alexa.

“We haven’t intercepted any new transmissions since the email about the attack,” Matt said, pulling her attention back to him. “Since we have no idea when or where it will take place, we’re shooting in the dark. And this time, we absolutely have to connect whatever attack the group is planning on Kemal Bekas—as well as prevent it. We chop off the head of their organization and—”

“You don’t think another leader will rise if we take Bekas down?” Agent John Daniels interrupted, looking up at Xander and Matt.

Xander swiped at the smart screen again, pulling up an image of Kemal Bekas. Surrounding his face was a web of other men and women—people MI6 believed were all connected to the group, known as @Anarchy. Although when talking—MI6 referred to them simply as Anarchy.

And as much as the agency wanted to take down Bekas, they still hadn’t garnered enough evidence to swoop into Turkey and make the arrest. Or the kill.

Alexa cleared her throat and rose to her feet, leaving the oval table to join Xander and Matt. “Bekas is the brains behind Anarchy. Without him, it’ll fall apart.” She hoped, at least. “And I don’t believe there is anyone,” she pointed to other faces on the screen, “who has the money and resources to pull off what Bekas has done. No Bekas, no Anarchy.”

Alexa’s fingers skimmed her blouse, then rested on her collarbone as she thought about it all. “Of course, the hackers that have joined the group won’t up and quit hacking—but if they aren’t working collectively for one main purpose than they pose a lower risk, for sure. None of these hackers that work for Anarchy have the same conviction as Bekas. He’s motivated by hate and loss. The hackers working with him are motivated by money. Okay, so some enjoy creating chaos, but Bekas—he’s looking for retribution. And revenge is always a much more dangerous game.”

There were two other main players aside from the leader, Bekas. The Russian, Boris Gregov, and a wealthy Frenchman, Pierre Reza.

MI6 figured Bekas had named the terrorist group, @Anarchy, to attract other hackers to the organization—the younger generation of hackers ate it up.

Anarchy. Chaos. Money.

Why not?

But after tracking @Anarchy for fifteen months, Alexa and her team realized @Anarchy was no longer just a group of cyber terrorists. The organization’s actions had become progressively more dangerous—murderous, even.

Alexa stuffed her hands in the pockets of her tan silk pants and examined the names and faces of the men and women on the screen. The people were of many different nationalities and ethnicities, but they all had one thing in common. They had also been known for their hate of Britain and the United States.

“And since we can’t ask the Turkish government to help us nail Bekas, we’re on our own,” Matt added glibly.

“But Bekas is part Kurdish. You know the current government isn’t exactly favorable of the Kurds. We could use that to our advantage and at least smoke Bekas out of Istanbul. Maybe we’d have better luck getting at him in different territory,” John recommended.

“It won’t work. Bekas won’t up and relocate the headquarters of his legitimate business, Bekas Tech, from Istanbul. And we can’t convince the Turks to force him out,” Matt said, folding his arms.

John’s dark green eyes met Alexa’s, and he pinched his brows together, the lines in his aging face deepening. “Why don’t we just send an agent in and kill the bastard—we can be done with this.” John had been saying the same thing almost every day for the last six months, so he already knew the answer.

“I wish,” Xander said.

Alexa grumbled. She’d love to put a bullet in Bekas herself.

But there were rules. These weren’t the olden days or the movies. They couldn’t go around killing businessmen without approval from Parliament. “So, right now, our focus is to find out what Bekas is planning. The email Gregov sent to Bekas two weeks ago hints that it will be their biggest attack to date,” Alexa said. Both worry and excitement pierced her. On the one hand this was the closest the team had come to taking the group down. But on the flip side—what if they failed?

“And we’re certain that the message was decrypted correctly? I mean, it’s so soon. They don’t normally have hits that close to each other, and just last month they took credit for the attack at the British bank in India,” Jill Stanley said. She was the newest agent assigned to the team and was still getting her footing.

“They’ve been speeding up the attacks. They’re more aggressive lately,” Alexa responded. That was why she didn’t have time to focus on the bombing in London, which had been at an empty and deserted factory. She had a real threat to stop.

“Ahem.” Matt redirected the group’s attention back his way. “It’s critical we nail these bastards now and stop this upcoming attack. I don’t want to see any more deaths. You got it?” He raised his brows and rubbed his hands together. “So, give me what you have. I need updates on our leads—then you can get back to work.”

“Any movement on Bekas?” Xander asked.

“No. Our informant inside Bekas Tech said Bekas hasn’t left Istanbul in two weeks,” Tenley, another intelligence officer on the team, responded as she looked up from her notes.

“And how is Berat?” Xander had been the one who’d managed to turn the Bekas Tech employee into an important ally.

“Nothing new right now,” Tenley answered as she scribbled something down. Tenley was the youngest agent on their team. She’d only been recruited from Oxford two years ago, but her IQ was off the charts, and her uncanny ability to learn languages had garnered her a position on their team.

“When do you normally hear from Berat?” Matt inquired.

“Every Tuesday morning.”

“Okay. Well, I want you in Istanbul. I want you to meet with him in person and try and get eyes on Bekas. Watch him like a hawk these next few days.” Matt’s hand swooped up to the back of his neck, annoyance spreading across his face. “John—go with her.”

When neither Tenley or John moved, Matt’s eyes narrowed, and he held his hand up and flicked his wrist twice, waving his hand. “I meant now!” Ever since they heard of the explosion, Matt-the-joker from their OP in Munich had been on holiday. He was all business. As he should be, she guessed.

Tenley popped to her heels and started for the door, and John followed after her.

“We’ll get you assigned to a target soon, Jill. That leaves you, Sam. Please tell me you have better news about Reza.” Matt’s eyes darted toward the computer genius they had recruited from Kenya eight years ago. He had previously been hired by companies to hack their servers and find the faults in their systems, so the companies could better defend themselves from malicious hackers. When Sam had hacked MI6 to show the agency its flaws—on his own initiative—he had been arrested for the breach. Ultimately, however, the bold act had landed him his job.

Sam scratched at the black stubble on his jaw, his dark brown eyes finding Alexa before sliding over to Matt. “Reza has been on the move a lot. He was in Greece, then Italy, and it looks like now he’s back home in Paris.”

“You manage to intercept any emails or calls he’s made in the last few weeks?” Matt took a step closer to the oval table.

“We’ve intercepted two emails, both encrypted. I’m working on decoding them. One was a little over a week ago, and the other more recent.”

“Maybe it’s related to whatever Gregov’s working on.” Matt nodded at Alexa. “You want to add anything?”

“Honestly, I should really get back to Gregov’s files,” Alexa answered.

“Sounds good.” Matt looked over at Jill. “Let me get you more up to date,” he said to her. “We’ll all touch base tomorrow.”

Alexa sat back down as Matt and Jill left the room, leaving her and Xander alone. She began drumming her fingers on the table by her laptop. “So—has Laney tried to rope you away from our case and on to the bombing?” Sarah Laney was the chief of MI6, also known as C.

Xander rested a hip against the desk and folded his arms. “Not sure if this bombing will fall in our laps or not. Should be Secret Service territory, anyway.”

“True.”

Alexa focused back on her computer screen and stared at it as the algorithm she’d set up to crunch through Gregov’s files continued to work—code scrolled across, becoming a blur. “Have we heard anything new from Secret Service?”

“London PD started sweeping the site of the explosion and is working their way outward—they established a five-kilometer perimeter to check if the American involved in the bombing came from one of the surrounding points,” Xander explained. “I mean, I doubt the guy was wandering around the neighborhood with a suicide vest strapped to his chest and no one noticed.”

She blinked a few times and dragged her gaze back over to him. “Which means he was in a secluded area before he arrived at the mill.”

“Or he was dropped off, and the police need to extend their search perimeter if they don’t find anything soon.”

“Any change on the American?”

“Yeah. The doctor woke him up, but apparently, he has amnesia.”

Alexa narrowed her eyes. “Really? I find that a little hard to believe.”

Xander shrugged. “Yeah, me too.” He patted her on the shoulder and a breath of air rushed from his lips. “I’ll give you some time to work. Be back later.”

“Thanks.”

Once Xander had left, she pressed her hands to her face, and then rubbed her eyes. She was tired and sore from sitting in front of a computer for such long hours. “Come on, dammit.” She shoved her laptop back and stood up.

Alexa moved over to the window and folded her arms. Her eyes fell upon the Thames, admiring the dusky sky’s reflection on the grayish water. Pillow-soft snow coated its banks.

When was the last time I went for a walk? Of course, it was ridiculous to think of doing anything leisurely. Her only stress relief was the mandatory fitness training.

She touched her stomach, her hand skating to her side as she closed her eyes, a memory moving fast through her like the pull of a ripcord. Then her shoulders shuddered and she stepped away from the window and went back to her laptop.

She sat down, wrapping herself in the laptop’s familiar glow, and kept working as the algorithm ran in the background.

Xander was back a few hours later with a mug of tea in his hand. He set it in front of her and sat down. “Still nothing?”

Alexa pressed her palms to the desk and pushed her rolling chair back. “The files we downloaded are basically a bunch of pixel fragments. It’s complex.”

“And you’re the best at complex, which is why we dragged your arse to Munich with us.” A smile met his lips. God, didn’t he just love giving her a hard time.

“You try and figure out a million-piece jigsaw puzzle when the pieces are all practically the same color, shape, and size . . .” Her analogy seemed lost on him as he shot her a blank stare. “Using our binary systems to decode these files is proving damn near impossible. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I knew these guys were on another level, but I didn’t expect this,” she said while waving her hand at her computer as if she were brushing it away.

“So we send it to GCHQ.” The Government Communications Headquarters were Britain’s, and really the world’s, premier cyber agency.

She scrubbed a palm up and down her cheek and glowered at her screen. “Something doesn’t make sense—it doesn’t feel right.”

“At least you were able to bypass Gregov’s firewalls and copy his files back in Munich. But if we want to stop whatever cyberattack Anarchy is planning we really need to—”

She held up her hand. “I know. I know. And I already copied the files and sent them off to GCHQ. Maybe they’ll have better luck.”

Xander touched her shoulder and gently squeezed. “Good to hear you already passed the files on, because we need you to play dress-up again.”

Alexa looked over her shoulder at him, her lips parting. This was always her least favorite part of the job. The only time she wanted to impersonate someone else was via computer.

“It’s Laney’s orders.”

“Why?” She pushed to her feet. “This isn’t about the bombing, is it? You said Secret Service is on that.”

“They’re asking for our help now.”

“Isn’t there anyone else?” She pleaded with her eyes, narrowing them at Xander. But she knew she was wasting her time. If Laney wanted something, there was no arguing. “We’re knee deep in our own shit right now.”

He shrugged. “Not my decision, babe. Sorry.”

“Well, who am I supposed to be this time?”

Xander smirked.

“What?” She folded her arms, growing tense.

“Oh, well, um.” He paused and touched his chest, and then his smile spread until she wondered if it would reach his ears. “Laney needs you to play nurse.”

“Oh, bloody hell.”