“FIND ANYTHING?” I asked for the tenth time.

Calahan’s voice was stressed and breathless in my earpiece. “Still nothing.”

This was not going well.

I was in a hotel room, staring at my laptop screen, using the hotel’s security cameras to keep tabs on Konstantin. Just across the hallway, Calahan was frantically searching Konstantin’s room. We were way behind schedule. The plan had been to get into Konstantin’s room as soon as he went downstairs to join the party, but one of the hotel security guards had been patrolling the hallway and we’d had to wait for him to leave. Calahan had only made it into Konstantin’s room a few minutes ago and we knew Konstantin would come back upstairs any moment.

“Anything?” I asked again.

“No!” snapped Calahan. I could hear the bangs as he pulled open drawers and slammed them shut. “Where is he?”

“Still in the ballroom,” I said. I watched as Konstantin prowled the room. I could actually see his power in the way the crowd parted ahead of him, reverent and fearful, in the way people turned to stare at him and then whispered in his wake. As I watched, Konstantin locked eyes with someone right on the other side of the room... and scowled. Just a tiny narrowing of those cold gray eyes, a tightening of those gorgeous lips, but it was enough to make the man on the receiving end go pale and stumble backwards, then flee the room entirely. The sheer, raw power of the man….

I knew Konstantin would start back upstairs any minute. He was at the party for business, not fun, and the second the last shady deal was done, he’d go back to his room to work. I’ve never known anyone so intensely focused. He never took a vacation. He didn’t seem to have any vices at all... or if he did, he kept them hidden within his mansion.

“Come on!” I told Calahan. “Get out of there!”

“Just keep watching him,” said Calahan stubbornly. “I want to check the closet.”

I gritted my teeth, my foot tap-tap-tapping on the floor with stress. If we didn’t pull this off, Alison would have to go undercover. And if we got caught, we’d be going to jail. I focused on Konstantin to try to take my mind off how high the stakes were.

But staring at Konstantin had its own problems. His back was turned to me, his dinner jacket stretched tight over his broad back, the fabric sweeping down elegantly in a vee to that tight, toned waist. The fabric was so expensive, so perfectly black, that it looked as if he’d had it made from a piece of the night sky. I imagined pressing my hand against his back, my palm caressed by the silky smoothness of his jacket and then the heated throb of the hard muscle underneath. The size of him, so much bigger than me...it would be like touching a bear, a lion, knowing that he could twist around in a heartbeat and end me….

I reached out and brushed my fingers against Konstantin’s back, but all I could feel was the hard plastic of the screen. For a second, I wished….

I wished I could get close to him. Just for a second.

Then I realized what I was thinking and I went cold. Am I going crazy? After two years of watching him, had I forgotten who he was? The man was pure, undiluted evil.

And he was suddenly moving, crossing the room in huge strides. My throat went tight. “He’s on his way!” I managed. “Get out of there!”

A sudden intake of breath from Calahan. “I found his laptop!”

“I don’t care!” Impatient, Konstantin wasn’t waiting for the elevator. He was taking the stairs three at a time. “Get out now!”

“It’s booting,” said Calahan. I heard him tapping keys. “Hardware key? What’s a hardware key?”

I flipped through cameras, tracking Konstantin as he moved. “He’s on our floor! Move!”

Calahan cursed under his breath. Then I heard the laptop close.

“Hurry!” I begged.

“I’ve got to put it back where it was,” muttered Calahan. “Or he’ll know we were here.” I heard the rustle of clothes and then the closet doors closing and footsteps. “Okay, coming out—”

I checked the cameras and my heart nearly stopped. “Wait!”

Calahan’s footsteps stopped as he froze.

“We’re too late,” I moaned. “He’s in the hallway! He’ll see you coming out!” I could feel the blood draining from my face. This was way worse than getting caught by hotel security. Konstantin was likely carrying a gun. If he found Calahan in his room, he’d shoot and then claim self-defense….

Konstantin arrived outside his room. I imagined Calahan standing on the other side of the door: they were practically face to face. There was only one thing to do. “Hide!” I told him frantically.

I heard footsteps in my earpiece as Calahan turned and ran. His breathing suddenly went echoey. The bathroom. He’s hiding in the bathroom.

Konstantin opened the door to his room. I held my breath...but there was no yell of shock, no gunshot. Calahan must have gotten out of sight just in time. Konstantin went inside... and closed the door.

I sat there frozen, staring at the screen. Calahan was trapped. And as soon as Konstantin went into the bathroom, he was dead. I started to panic, breathe. What the hell do I do? I wasn’t a field agent like him, I just did surveillance. Should I call the cops? Call Carrie? We’d broken into a hotel room without any sort of warrant. We’d be arrested, our careers would be over, and Konstantin would find out he was being watched. He’d be too suspicious for Carrie’s undercover plan to work. We’ve blown the whole thing! And even if I did call for help, it probably wouldn’t come in time. Konstantin would find Calahan any minute.

Unless….

My eyes lifted from the screen. I looked towards the hallway, and Konstantin’s room.

Unless someone distracted Konstantin while Calahan slipped out.

My heart came to a juddering halt. Go in there?! With Konstantin?! I couldn’t be a diversion, I’ve spent my whole life not getting noticed.

But if I didn’t do this, Calahan was dead.

I ran for the bathroom, stripping off my suit as I went. I didn’t have a plan, I had an idea, and I didn’t have time to worry if it was a good one or not. Naked, I turned the faucet on the sink on full and dunked my head under. When I lifted my head, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and froze. This is crazy. This needed someone like Alison, someone pretty and confident and brave. But all there was, was me, with my mop of frizzy hair the color of dirt, freckles and scared brown eyes blinking behind thick glasses.

And low down on my side, an ugly, raised scar. The reason I learned to be invisible.

I grabbed one of the fluffy white bathrobes and pulled it on, then ran out into the hallway, slamming our room’s door behind me.

I lifted my hand to knock, then faltered. What the hell am I doing? This was Konstantin.

But this was Calahan’s only chance. I knocked.

Distant footsteps, coming closer. My legs twitched with the need to run, run! But I made myself stand firm. My vision swam, the door distorting. I felt giddy and weak.

He threw open the door.

And I was face to face with Konstantin.