The stress of living a double life was wearing on me. Withholding information from Bridget was making my stomach turn. I knew that if I told my longtime friend and boss what had happened in the past and what I was doing now, she would help. Not wanting to drag my friends into my dark past, I made a deal with the devil to get me closer to my goal. But, the devil kept requesting more of me without giving me the information I needed to take down the people who killed my family.

The devil would figure out soon that I had hacked their system to get the information about Jessica’s kidnappers. When the trail led back to my computer, they would come for me this time. They had been waiting for an excuse to bring me in and make me work for them full time. Jessica was worth what I would go through.

Jessica had been kidnapped by a terrorist organization. She had become part of my family. Her twin sister used to work for us at White Hat Security before she met Sam, her fiancé. Now Patty and Sam were living in Shialia, working to take over the crown.

Jessica’s fiancé, Brock, was a skilled hacker, but he didn’t have access to the same files I did. Jessica and Patty’s dad was the king of Shialia, and he had slept around. Axmed had been the king’s illegitimate son and the head of the terrorist organization that went after Jessica ten years ago. They had gone after her again recently. After she had been kidnapped, I hacked into a database to discover the details needed to get her back. Brock and his group rescued Jessica before she was killed.

The shouting from the reception area of White Hat Security brought me back to the present. Bridget’s voice went from yelling to screaming. A loud bang had me moving faster. I figured I had better go calm her down before I had to bail her out jail.

“Miss, we are here for Sophie Stewart. This has nothing to do with you.”

The sound of my full name had me slowing my steps. I peered around the corner to see a few men in black suits. I knew they were here for me. Needing to hide a couple of things before they took me in, I hightailed it back to my office. Bridget would hold them off. She was either trying to protect me or to give me time to hide what I needed to before these men got to me. The pink external drive plugged into the front of my computer contained the work I did for the devil. I removed the drive and hid it in the ceiling tiles. I grabbed my purse and headed back to the reception area.

“I don’t care who you think you are. I want to see a warrant. You can’t just come in here and demand to talk to my employees without some form of documentation. We do nothing illegal here.” Bridget was screaming. The whole office stood around her, trying to figure out what was going on.

A man stood in front of Bridget with his arms crossed. The black tailored suit fit him perfectly. He was tall, close to six foot five. His hair was dark brown, and his brown eyes looked tormented from years of working for the devil. He was close to losing his temper. He kept pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to stay calm. At least if I was being arrested, it would be by this man. He was hot. Like, panty-dropping hot.

The sexy man pinched his nose one more time before saying, “Ma’am, tell me where Sophie Stewart is before I take you into custody for obstructing justice.”

Bridget walked toward the tall drink of water. Her pink high heels gave her a minor height boost, but the man Bridget was about to go toe-to-toe with still towered over her. I knew I needed to step in before she ended up in federal custody. She had no clue who she was dealing with. I, on the other hand, knew precisely what was going on.

I walked out from around the corner. The sexy man in the form-fitting black suit looked up to see me. He headed around Lacey’s reception desk toward me, moving with an athletic grace that seemed effortless. If he hadn’t been wearing the standard-issue spy getup, I still would’ve known he was special ops by the way he moved. Bridget went after him. Before she ended up in more trouble, I needed to get this under control.

“Bridget, it’s okay.”

“Say nothing. I have Alex coming down with Antonio.”

The man, who I assumed was in charge, continued making his way toward me. He was the only one that had been talking to Bridget. The other agents just stared. Bridget made many people speechless. He cleared his throat before saying, “Sophie Stewart, I’m Agent White. Will you please come with us, or do we need to handcuff you?”

I couldn’t resist playing with him. “Well, Agent White, I know that’s not your real name. You need to stop with the color coding. If you’re putting the handcuffs on, I would prefer the pink fuzzy ones. I like the kinky side of things.”

Agent White didn’t have time to reply to my comment before Antonio and Alex walked in the front door. This was getting out of control. I needed to go with Agent White before someone ended up doing something they regretted.

Antonio walked over to where Agent White and I were standing. He looked pissed. “Agent White, do you want to explain why you are trying to take Sophie into custody?”

“Stay out of this, Antonio. This comes from the director. I need to take her in.”

“Why was I not informed about this case?” The vein in Antonio’s head was throbbing.

How does Antonio know Agent White, and why would he be informed about the devil’s cases?

“This is not your concern. Stop asking questions.”

The pissing contest needed to end. “Agent White, let’s go so we can get this over with.”

“Sophie, you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know who these people are. If you go with them, we might not be able to get you out.” Antonio spun and looked at Agent White. “You don’t have jurisdiction on US soil.”

Agent White’s next words brought the dread to the forefront. “Sophie Stewart, you are under arrest for treason.” He reached around to cuff my hands and pushed me out the door.

I could hear Bridget in the back, demanding Antonio do something. But there wasn’t anything he could do to get me out of my situation. I only hoped it would get me closer to my sister.

I twisted to take one last look at my life. Bridget was in tears, and Alex had his arms wrapped around her. He looked like he wanted to kill someone for making his wife cry. Antonio was screaming into the phone, and the remaining staff seemed shocked or close to tears.

Agent White assisted me into the back seat of a black SUV. He walked around to the other side and sat next to me. I held my wrists out to him. “These are unnecessary.”

“I think you are more dangerous than the director knows. But he would be mad if I hurt his pet.” He reached over and unlocked the cuffs.

I didn’t think the director would consider me his pet. We had been at each other’s throats for years.

“Do you want to tell me where you're taking me or why you came for me?” I was planning on playing dumb until they showed me proof of what I did wrong. I wouldn’t put it past this organization to pin a false accusation on me so that I had to work for them all the time, not just when I wanted.

Agent White shifted in his seat. From the look on his face, he was uncomfortable with this assignment. “You know what you did.”

“Nope. Since you won’t tell me what evidence you planted, do you want to tell me why Antonio knew your name? Well, your fake name.”

The sexy man shook his head and looked forward. It seemed I wouldn’t get any answers out of him. I spent the remaining car ride figuring out a plan to either escape or get out of the mess. One speck of hope was that Antonio knew where I might be going.

When I looked out the window, I noticed we were heading to an airstrip. My stomach took a nose dive at the sight of the strip. I had a feeling we were on our way to DC to see the devil himself. But, I was in for another surprise, since the devil was waiting for me on the plane.

“Sophie. It’s so nice of you to join us,” he barked.

Director Sanchez’s voice could command a room. Everyone listened when he spoke. Well, almost everyone. I couldn’t give a flying fuck what the man had to say. Twenty years ago, he made me a promise he still hasn’t fulfilled.

He came to my adopted family’s house on my sixteenth birthday, asking if I would train under his men and help him with undercover work. If I did, he would help find my sister or at least what happened to her. My foster parents were kind but lacked money. If I could help them by working with this man, I would. I thought maybe one day we could move out of the slums, and I would find my sister. It had been twenty-five years since she went missing, but I had hope she was still alive.

“Did I have an option? You know Antonio will come after me. Why didn’t you just call me in?”

“You took that option away when you hacked our network. Antonio works for me. I’ll get him to drop his bulldozing. And I tried calling you numerous times. You weren’t answering.”

“Is it hacking when I have access?” I asked. “Sucks when you want something and can’t have it.”

The devil took a sip of Scotch and pointed to the white leather seat next to him. “Those files are classified. And, I always get my way. You’re here, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. Not wanting to give him any satisfaction, I sat in the seat across from him. “What do you want?”

He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes at my outward disrespect. “It’s time I tell you why I haven’t let you find your sister.”

This is the carrot he always dangled in front of me to keep me in line. I would help him with his cases. He would give me a little information about my sister. I had looked for the files they had on her. They weren’t on any of the servers. I had a feeling the director kept them in a safe so I couldn’t reach them.

“Is this where you give me a little information so I fall back in line,” I said with disgust in my voice.

“No. This is where I tell you that, if you want to see your sister, you will become a full-time agent and work with Agent White. The case you will be given will lead you to your sister. Do you agree to come work for me for the next ten years?”

If it led to my sister, I would do anything. Agent White was sitting in the chair across from us, watching the exchange. It wouldn’t exactly be a hardship to work with that man.

“Kat and I have been apart for twenty-five years. I’ve worked for you the past twenty. Have you known where she was this entire time and kept her from me? If I don’t find her in the next six months, you have no deal.”

“You’ll find her by then.”

“Then yes, I will take the job.”

An evil grin spread across his face. “Welcome to the CIA, Agent Red.”