SUNDAY. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina.

Léo placed the laptop on the tail gate of the truck and opened it. They needed every job, even this small one, to go perfectly. No more fuck ups. No disasters to clean up, No bodies to hide.

“Here you can see our projected spread of the virus.” He gestured to the map.

“You can’t track it real time?” The client leaned forward and squinted at the display.

“No, this is merely a representation of the virus’ rate of infection.”

“I want proof. Show me this is going to work.” The man straightened and leveled a glare at Léo.

“Your main competition, Thiago, he has a thing for the ladies, doesn’t he?” Léo reached over and tapped the keys. He’d organized infecting vectors so much he could do it in his sleep. With only minimal research, he could pinpoint how and where to distribute the disease. The boss had taught him well.

“Everyone knows that.”

“Early this morning, three of Thiago’s lady friends were returning to their respective homes. My team ensured each woman was a vector for the contagion. If they continue to stick to their schedule, which you provided, they will entertain Thiago again tonight and tomorrow before he rotates to his next set of girls. Now, this virus starts out as nothing more than a little chest congestion. Thiago and his friends aren’t going to think a lot of it, not with the way they smoke. However, in three days they’ll begin hallucinating. In four days their lungs will begin to fill with blood and other fluid, suffocating them to death.”

For the purpose of dramatics, Léo tabbed to a picture of their final test subject. It took some finesse to get a virus that would allow a vector to spread the disease for a window without being too obvious. The key to this was that the mortality rate would eventually kill it off as those affected were quarantined and died.

“Shit, man.” The client glanced away. “All that from three girls?”

“No. They are merely our guarantee to you that this will kill Thiago and his leadership, thereby clearing the way for you to take over his territory. We have set up vectors at key gathering places where Thiago’s men hang out. By the time Thiago’s people are dead, people will welcome their new protector with open arms.”

“For what I’m paying you, this better work.”

“It will.” Léo smiled all the while the skin between his shoulder blades itched. “Pleasure doing business with you. My associates will remain here with you, monitoring the spread. Remember, there is no cure for this, so keep your people clear of the area.”

Léo turned on his heel and nodded at the two techs who would remain behind to nurture their outbreak. Sometimes they picked the wrong vector, or they had an unexpected variable. Man made outbreaks were not an exact science. Yet. But they were close.

He got in the waiting car. No sooner than his feet were in than Crane took off.

“Tell Julie to stay on them for a while,” Léo said.

“She’s got a spot.”

“How is the lab?” Léo asked.

“Settling in as we speak.”

Léo held his breath for a few blocks, peering around corners as they sped toward the airport. Julie was there to take the customer out if anything happened, but if Léo  died there was no bringing him back. Once he was certain the client wasn’t pulling anything funny, he grabbed his phone off the seat.

There were a few texts updating him about the status of the new location for the South American lab. The move was for the best. The factory was a good facility, but too remote. They’d had to haul a lot of freight there to keep day-to-day operations going smoothly, and a site that far out raised questions. The new, urban center would hide them nicely while keeping the team close to supplies and travel routes into the US.

He still didn’t know anything about the East Coast job if the boss would need to move manpower to the US or what.

When the boss stopped talking to everyone, that was when Léo worried the most. He’d hoped that when the boss came to him about wanting Heidi Novak, they’d made progress. The last person the boss had focused on, Laranya, had nearly destroyed them all. Bringing Léo in on the plan was a marker of progress with the boss.

But this silence worried Léo. The boss had a few screws knocked loose, and they were getting looser every year. Léo could manage him, knew how to coax him back to reality, but only if they were in contact. Being cut off like this spelled disaster.

What if he went after Heidi? What then?

The woman knew they had connections to the CDC, but if she figured out how deeply those ties went, what then?

“What’s the company chatter? Did Julie mention anything?” Léo knew Crane was plugged into the employees better than Léo was. They’d talk to Crane where they wouldn’t say a peep to Léo.

“A lot of people want to know why we don’t finish the quarantine.” Crane eased to a stop at an intersection. His eyes went to Léo’s in the mirror.

“By a lot of people I’m guessing you want to know?”

Crane didn’t answer.

Léo had to spin this.

The reality was that the boss had insisted on starting the India lab and through Léo’s process of stepping in to assist and build their vaccine line of business, the boss had become focused on another potential rescue.

Laranya.

But she hadn’t wanted to be saved.

It was the first time the boss had targeted someone who hadn’t already expressed the desire to be liberated from their abusers. Léo wasn’t even positive Laranya was mistreated by her father. In the end, she’d done her best to burn down everything around her and nearly started an epidemic the likes of which would spread. Usually they took care of these situations with fire, but Laranya had them by the balls. They couldn’t tie that loose end off and Léo would not work on a cure for what ailed her.

There weren’t many who knew about the stalemate, but the whispers were beginning.

“What do all of our stories have in common?” Léo had to get ahead of this.

“The boss.”

“And what did the boss do for us all?”

“He rescued us. But the quarantine...”

“He’s rescued them, too.” Léo stared at the back of Crane’s head and willed him to grasp the vision. To believe in the boss with all his fanatical passion. “Which means we will honor his wishes because those people are now our brothers and sisters. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Crane nodded and kept his eyes on the road.

Every loyal person to the boss had a story, a reason why they were here. The boss was their savior, the person who’d liberated them when no one else would. His methods weren’t typical, and he didn’t know what mercy was, but he had a code that everyone under their umbrella lived by.

Léo worried that Heidi Novak, like Laranya before her, would threaten that. He could understand why the boss was smitten with her. An internet search yielded all the markers of the boss’ type. And yet, she wasn’t like them. She hadn’t wanted to be rescued or brought into the fold. She’d destroy them if they allowed her to, and then where would everyone be?

This was an alarming trend the boss had begun.

Léo couldn’t leave this up to chance. He needed more direction. They had to take action. This couldn’t be allowed to play out.

He punched his boss’ contact and pressed the phone to his ear.

It went straight to voicemail.

Fuck.

He ended the call.

It was a standard rule to not leave the boss messages.

Now what?

They had no one in India that he was aware of. Who was the boss tasking for this job? Léo and the boss had butted heads a few times. Léo’s best interest was always focused on the boss, while many of the new people were enamored with the work. That perspective had caused a few clashes as of late. What if the boss was using someone else? What if Léo was going to be replaced by someone who didn’t ask questions or challenge the boss?

Léo needed to know.

He scrolled to a seldom used contact and hit the dial button.

“Hello?”

“Doctor Williams—”

“What are you calling me for?” the man asked. “Nice work in Egypt, by the way. Glad to see you’re migrating away from the sample set.”

“Parle français.” Léo trusted Crane with everything—except what was in the best interest of the boss.

“This is not a good time,” Williams said in French.

“I need to know how the boss is doing. Is he well?” Léo stared out the window at the passing city.

“Well enough,” Williams said slowly.

“How is he really doing? Work aside, tell me.” Léo was fairly certain they were the only two people who cared about the boss as a person and not a cause. They’d been with him for so long, way before the others.

“He’s focusing again.”

“What on?”

“The woman.”

Heidi Novak.

Why did the boss care so much about her? It couldn’t be work related. Her story was old. The boss couldn’t save her from anyone, so what was the draw?

“I need to talk to him,” Léo said.

“Not possible.”

“You know what’s at stake if he’s this hyper focused on a person. What it cost us last time.”

“It’s not possible because the boss is on a plane. He’s headed to India.” Voices called out in the background. “I’ve got to go. The boss say’s it’s handled, but...”

“But someone needs to be in India to manage him if things don’t go well.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“I have to go. Do what’s best for the boss.” Williams ended the call.

Léo leaned back and closed his eyes.

If he went to India, he would not be present to handle the conference call and coordination with their East Coast client. Given the radio silence on that front, Léo feared that job was dead. Which left them with a lot of people and resources on the ground with nothing to do.

Léo could always follow orders and remain where he was. But he’d been through enough of these hyper focus spells to know what came next. The boss would lose sight of the bigger plan because some lost soul needed saving. Léo had always known there would be a day when one of the boss obsessions would put everyone at risk. Léo couldn’t give two fucks about anyone but the boss which meant Doctor Novak had to die.

“Call Julie. Tell her to meet us at the airport,” Léo said.

He was going to India. Someone had to handle this.

ADAM PEERED THROUGH the seats to where Heidi and John sat with their heads together. She’d assured him when she didn’t want to swap seats that the friendship was just that. It didn’t help his overpowering sense to rip something to bits and bang his chest.

“If looks could kill...” Riley smacked his gum.

“Be less obnoxious.” Adam directed his focus to the print out of Indian road signs. He needed to be prepared to drive, and that took study.

“Grant is always telling be to be less obnoxious. Do you have any tips?”

“Go fuck yourself, Riley.”

“That bathroom line is too long.” Instead Riley tapped at his phone screen, a grin spreading across his face.

Adam glanced at the guy.

Riley wanted him to ask.

Adam didn’t care.

He stared ahead, at Heidi once more, and caught her eye. She smiled, briefly, then turned back to her conversation.

“Have you met Megan?” Riley asked.

“Nope.”

“You should. She’s a real sweet talker. Gets under Grant’s skin like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’m not interested.” Adam turned the page. “How much coffee did you have?”

“Too much. I wasn’t saying you should be interested in Megan. I get the feeling that lady could take on our whole team.”

“Have you looked at any of this?” Adam knew they’d need two vehicles for gear and people.

“A little, yeah.”

“Look some more.” Adam thrust the packet at Riley.

“Where’s all this going, do you think?”

Adam stared at the back of John’s head for a moment.

He didn’t know, and he didn’t like it.

“Can I ask you a question?” Riley flipped through the in-flight magazine.

“What, Riley? What?”

“Why’d you get married in the first place?”

Cold fingers slid down Adam’s spine. He turned his head and stared at Riley’s profile, but the other man continued to flip through the magazine.

Adam’s real reasons, the ones deep down that he’d never admitted to anyone, were selfish. And they’d lost him the love of his life.

“It’s none of your fucking business,” he said.

“Well, it’s why we’re here, ain’t it?” Riley finally tilted his head and peered at Adam.

“You don’t know a God damn thing, Smith.”

“Maybe not, but you’ve been a pain in the ass to deal with since we left. At first I wondered if there was bad blood between you two, but now...” Riley shrugged. “Seems like two people with as much history as you have deserve another chance.”

Adam wanted another chance. Desperately. But he wasn’t sure it would work out, regardless of his feelings. They’d lost too much time and the wounds went deep.

MONDAY. MUMBAI, INDIA.

Heidi was physically and emotionally exhausted. After the leg from Lima to Madrid, she and Adam hadn’t talked much, probably because he’d used his quota of words for the week in one conversation. Things had felt easier between them, more like they used to. He’d stuck by her side and she’d fallen asleep leaning against him or holding his hand a few times. If it weren’t for the plane bit, she could have forgotten they weren’t back in his parent’s basement.

The SUV bumped over the road and her eyes popped open.

Had she fallen asleep again?

She blinked out the window. The vehicle crawled along on the clogged streets. This must be the evening rush hour. She did her best to keep her eyes on the sky, otherwise her brain would start tallying up the various diseases from the street filth alone.

“This is us.” Kyle directed Adam to pull into a gated lot outside a tall, concrete and glass building. “We’re going to check things out. You three stay here, okay?”

Adam was directed to park in a valet spot by a uniformed attendant while the other vehicle was guided next to them. Heidi took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. They were here to find out information that would hopefully put an end to this mole business. If they could find evidence that someone in the CDC was behind all the outbreaks, they’d have a smaller suspect pool. Once they knew who was responsible, they could stop them.

Both Adam and Kyle got out, leaving Heidi, Cindy and John in the SUV.

“How are things between you two?” Cindy asked.

“Complicated.” Heidi watched Adam stroll to the gates, while Kyle entered the building.

“Does anyone else think we need to go back to Atlanta?” John twisted in his seat.

“And tell them what?” Cindy asked.

“The truth?”

“We need to know what we’re dealing with before we go after whoever is working with Léo.” Heidi turned to face the other two. “He’s dangerous, so the mole is, too. We have to have the facts straight before we accuse anyone of anything.”

“I hate to say it, but Heidi is right,” Cindy said.

Heidi was more than a little surprised it was Cindy siding with her. The woman was the poster child for careful. Still, with her meticulous eyes on this, Heidi thought they stood a good chance of uncovering something major.

Someone tapped on the window. Heidi turned in time to see Adam pull her door open. He offered her his hand and helped her step down out of the SUV. She stepped to his side, making way for Cindy and John to get out after her.

“Follow me, everyone?” Kyle waved them toward the condo.

“Where are you going?” Heidi peered up at Adam. A few hours together and now she didn’t want to be away from him.

“Bringing the equipment up the service elevator.”

She nodded, his answer placating her for now.

Heidi followed the others into the lobby. The exterior and interior did not match, one bit. While the outside was fairly boring concrete, balconies and windows, the lobby was gleaming chrome, miles of hardwood, and lush flowers. Everyone in the lobby wore either a uniform like the valets or was decked out in designer clothing. Heidi was distinctly aware of the travel weary state of her clothes.

“This way.” Kyle waved them into an elevator with two attendants.

Heidi glanced out to the parking lot once, catching sight of Adam hauling a large crate out from the back of the other SUV. She stepped onto the elevator and stared at the chrome finishing, letting her mind wander.

She’d given up hope that she and Adam could ever be more to each other than what they were. The idea that they had potential left her reeling, floating in uncharted waters, buoyed by hope.

It was a dangerous place to be.

They road all the way up to the top most floor without anyone speaking. The elevator dinged and one of the building staff swiped a card before the doors opened.

Instead of letting them out to a hallway, the doors revealed a comfortable living room full of warm colors and scattered with toys.

“Kyle, so good to see you!” A tall woman with thick, curling hair and a wide smile strode toward the elevator.

“Mrs. Basu—”

“Mrs. Basu? Seriously?” The woman came to a stop next to Kyle and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, giving him a friendly squeeze. She peered at the rest of them, an inner light shining out through her eyes that was full of wonder and joy. “Hello, I’m Aanya. Come inside, please? Is this everyone?”

“No, ma’am. Adam and two other guys are bringing our luggage up. Thanks for offering to put us up like this.” Kyle and Aanya strolled past the first seating area.

“What happened to Shane and Isaac? I don’t remember the other one’s name.” Aanya frowned.

“Sick leave, ma’am.”

“Are they okay?”

“They will be.”

Once they entered the suite, she could see the spacious layout of the floor. Directly in front of them was what appeared to be the main living area of the house, judging by the toys. A galley kitchen stretched along the left, running parallel to a long, formal dining table. Aanya led them to the sofas. A pitcher of water and glasses sat on the coffee table.

“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” she asked.

Heidi would have preferred to shower and change before sitting on someone’s furniture, but she was too tired for all that. She eased down onto the sofa while the others helped themselves to the water.

“How’s Tommy?” Kyle asked.

“Good. He’s doing really well. My husband went to see if he’s napping yet. He’s always wanted to meet you.”

There was a story there, one Heidi didn’t know. When she had the energy to be curious she’d have to ask Adam about it.

“Are our guests here?” a man called out.

“I hear my husband.” Aanya grinned.

A man rounded the end of the living room. He reached for his wife without looking at her while offering Kyle his right hand.

The couple was happy and in love. Heidi could see it in the way they leaned toward each other, the confidence that the other was there. It was the kind of connection she’d always wanted with Adam. Was it possible they could have that still? Or had that ship sailed? Heidi wanted to believe.

“Heidi? Hey, Heidi.” John nudged her.

Heidi blinked her eyes back into focus. She’d gotten lost staring at the sunset.

“Sorry—what?” She twisted back toward the group and found everyone staring at her.

“We need to get Dev and Aanya up to speed.” Kyle walked to the sofa across from her and sat down, the couple following him. “You’re going to speak the same language. Mind laying out our problem for them?”

“Of course.” Come on, Heidi. Get your head out of your ass. “Uh... Over the last year we have worked on some unexplainable outbreaks. Mutated strains of diseases that have been eradicated. Diseases popping up where they’ve never been before. A few of the outbreaks were the work of the same disease, but there was no way for it to infect remote locations with no common vector. Baffling things.”

“This is where we came in,” John said.

“I work in virology. John works in epidemiology. Cindy heads up a special team that focuses on Zika. We had an outbreak that was a mutated form of Zika in Canada, during the winter.”

“How?” Dev Basu’s face scrunched up.

“Someone forced the Zika virus to mutate. With Cindy’s help we were able to deconstruct our sample and identified traces of the rhinovirus which helped this new strain survive in colder climates and without the need for the mosquito vector.”

“Wait—this is all news to me.” Kyle frowned. “What exactly are you saying?”

“Someone took the common cold and crossed it with Zika, creating a more contagious strain,” Cindy said.

Three familiar figures entered by way of the kitchen. Adam’s presence eased the slight nervousness that had unsettled her mind. She let her attention shift back to the others.

“Why?” Aanya blinked at her husband.

“This is just one example. It took me, six? Eight months?” Heidi glanced at the others but they merely shrugged. “It wasn’t until a few months ago that, with John’s help, we identified one of the building blocks to another outbreak. It contained a strain of polio thought to have been eradicated. The only place where that strain lives is at the CDC in a research lab.”

“You think someone inside the CDC sold samples?” Dev asked.

“We think it’s worse than that.” Heidi grimaced. “Once we understood how to reverse engineer, the viruses we were able to identify two other strains kept in the same CDC lab. Now, all of this sounds terrible, but this is just what we deal with. Once we realized someone was making these, we started tracking patterns. Unexplainable outbreaks. To us, it was clear someone was doing this. What’s worse, these outbreaks weren’t raising flags in the CDC.”

“That’s my area,” John said. “I took Heidi’s research and started combing through CDC records, which was when I discovered someone was amending reports. Changing things so they wouldn’t send up red flags.”

“That’s when we stopped talking about this at work,” Cindy said.

“I’ve been going out into the field more to try to understand what we’re up against, which was why I went to Peru two weeks ago.” Heidi had always wanted to do more field work and get out of the lab. She just hadn’t thought this would be how it happened. “We were beginning to realize there were other impacts to people getting sick. That where these outbreaks were, they disrupted trade, maybe someone’s control on the area.”

“Our team back in Seattle have put together an economic report on the impact of these outbreaks.” Riley, the slow talking, easy smiling guy of the group, sat down on the edge of the sofa and leaned forward. “Out of Heidi’s list of outbreaks, we were able to identify power changes, independent covert ops, enough instances of things going in a direction they shouldn’t that there has to be a connection.”

“Exactly.” Heidi nodded. “And the vaccines?”

“What?” Dev’s frown deepened.

“This is why we’re here.” Kyle glanced at Dev then Riley. “You have the printouts?”

“Right here.” Riley pulled a folded stack of paper out from under his arm. “While half of the outbreaks on Heidi’s list were directly related to some other event, we think some of them were dry runs. In these circumstances, Sorkin Pharmaceuticals produced a ready for market vaccine within six to eight weeks and had it on the market.”

“Sorkin?” Dev took the papers, but barely glanced at them.

“We were hoping you might know something about them,” Riley said.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure how they were still surviving.” Dev shrugged. “They lost several contracts for compounding and their patents for products have missed the market needs. Do you think they’re behind all of this?”

“We don’t know,” Kyle replied. “We are hoping to get in and talk to the CEO tomorrow. Get some answers.”

“How are you involved in all this?” Dev asked.

“Heidi, John and Cindy are our clients. We’re helping them get to the bottom of this so they can go to the authorities,” Kyle replied.

“I see.” Dev flipped through the pages. “The Sorkin CEO couldn’t organize this. He’s a hard working man, but he wouldn’t have the skills to pull off what you’re describing.”

“He could have answers though, right?” Heidi knew this wasn’t a quick fix that they were facing a larger plot. This was just their first move.

“It doesn’t make sense that whoever is behind this would use the same company to cure their diseases over and over and over again,” Riley said.

“Something’s not adding up. We need to talk to this CEO,” Heidi said.

“I’m not sure we can help you with this. Any action by me or our company would be viewed with hostility.” Dev set the papers down on the coffee table.

“You’re already doing more than we’d hoped for. All we wanted to do was ask a few questions,” Kyle said.

“You didn’t actually think we would let you come to Mumbai and not have you over for dinner?” Aanya laughed. “Speaking of dinner, it should be here in the next hour. Would you like showers or anything before?”

“WiFi?” Kyle asked.

“I like your priorities.” Aanya grinned.

“Aanya can show you our spare rooms and Kyle, I can show you where you can set up.”

“Would you mind if I kept John and Cindy for a moment? We haven’t had a chance to revisit our lists, and I’d like to do that.” Heidi glanced at the other two who nodded.

“Certainly. I’ll get them settled.” Aanya nodded at Adam and the other two. “Need anything?”

“No, thank you.” Heidi smiled.

Adam caught her eye and gave a little nod before ambling off after their hostess.

Heidi’s heart did weird loops in her chest. God, she hoped she wasn’t being set up for a crushing fall.

“Well?” Cindy prompted.

“Sorry.” Heidi shook her head. Right, they had things to do before she could sort out the next move with Adam. “Knowing what we know, can we add or eliminate anyone to our suspect list?”

“I’ll say,” Cindy muttered.

“It has to be someone in management. Someone who has access to my lab.” John stared at a spot on the floor. “I just... I can’t believe it, you know? Who?”

“If we’re saying management and the epidemiology labs...that’s a short list.” Heidi could probably count the suspects on two hands and have fingers left over.

“Well, it’s not John, so we can mark him off,” Cindy said.

“Are you sure?” John chuckled, but it was a bitter sound.

“Don’t talk like that. We’re the only people we can trust.” Heidi pushed to her feet.

“He’s right, though. We need to be able to eliminate ourselves, otherwise we could be putting ourselves at risk,” Cindy said.

“Really?” Heidi turned to face them.

“We have to prove that you were kidnapped and not gone voluntarily,” Cindy said.

“You can’t be serious...” Heidi gaped at the other woman. “You’re serious?”

“We are talking about accusing some top ranking doctors at the CDC of engineering outbreaks. I’m dead serious.” Cindy stared right back at her.

“How do we do that?” Heidi was too tired to think of a way out of this. It was all so convoluted without adding complications. “I’d say, I brought that tablet out with me, but then you’d counter with of course I’d bring back the most pointless piece of evidence.”

Heidi paced the living room. They really did not need more challenges than what they already had, but she could see the value to Cindy’s assertion. How did they know they could trust each other? Whoever was behind this was someone they’d worked with and trusted before.

“This is ridiculous. We can trust each other. We have to believe in that. The moment we stop is when we might as well give up.” John stared at both of them. He’d pushed his hands through his hair to the point that it stuck up in silver and brown waves.

“We need to cross all our t’s and dot all the i’s,” Cindy said.

“I’m not disagreeing with you, but we’re going to spin our wheels trying to prove our innocence while wasting the time we have here, getting to the bottom of everything.”

“I’m with John for now.” Heidi stopped and faced the other two. “I agree that we’re going to have to be pretty blameless ourselves, but we can’t squander the opportunity we have while we’re here to get answers.”

Aanya strode into the living room, still smiling.

“Need more time, or are you three ready?” she asked.

“I’d love a shower,” Heidi said. She hated the grimy feeling of traveling, plus a shower might help some ideas shake loose.

“This way, please?” Aanya turned.

Cindy took off after Aanya while John waited on Heidi.

“How are things with Adam?” He pitched his voice lower.

“I think we’re working it all out.” Heidi would never have guessed she’d say those words. Not in a million years.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” John peered down at her.

“I want to believe it can work.” If it couldn’t, she didn’t want to know. Not right now.

They fell in behind their hostess and Cindy, passing passed through the kitchen and dining area. Past the table and chairs a set of stairs led to the floor below.

“Kyle and my husband are still in the office, but everyone else is down here.” Aanya led the way to the second floor of the condo.

The stairs let out into a play area and another living room, this one done in bright, primary colors. Unlike the very adult space upstairs, this was clearly where the children of the family reigned.

“How many kids do you have?” Heidi asked.

“Currently, one. You’ll meet Tommy at dinner.” Aanya glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “I don’t think I kept your names straight. My apologies. Ma’am? This is your room. Dinner should be here and ready in half an hour or so.”

Aanya pushed the door open and gestured to Cindy.

Cindy marched into the room without a backward glance and shut the door.

Aanya glanced at John next and gestured at the door across the hall from Cindy’s.

“These are the smaller rooms, but they’re more private,” Aanya explained.

“You want to take this one, then?” John asked. His kind eyes said he understood that after enough failed marriages he got Heidi’s struggles.

“Heidi’s room is down the hall,” Aanya said before Heidi could decline.

“Oh, well, I will see you at dinner.” John ducked into his room.

John and Cindy were almost painfully introverted. This much travel and interacting with people outside their profession must wear on them.

“This way, please.” Aanya nodded across the living room down another hall.

“You have a lovely home.” Heidi couldn’t imagine having all this space to herself.

“Thank you.”

“You’re American?”

“The lack of an accent gives me away, doesn’t it?” Aanya’s smile widened. “I met Dev through friends. He splits his time between here and America. More here now since...well, it’s a long story.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine. I’m sure Adam will tell you the story.” Aanya’s light dimmed a little.

“Oh. I—I’m sorry.” Heidi hadn’t understood how Adam and his team knew the Basu’s, but she was getting the bigger picture now.

“Aanya?” a little voice called out from behind them.

Heidi and Aanya turned.

A young boy wearing pajamas and dragging a blanket stood in the hall. His complexion was almost ghostly pale.

“Tommy, hey, what are you doing up?” Aanya crossed to the little boy and crouched in front of him.

Tommy, her son?

Heidi kept the questions to herself. Whatever had brought Aanya and Dev to need Adam’s help was likely serious and full of bad memories. Whoever Tommy had been before he came here, it didn’t matter. He was her son now, evident in the gentle way she hugged the boy and how he seemed to draw light from her.

“Come on.” Aanya held out her hand. “We’re going to show Heidi to her room, and then you are going to get a bath before dinner.”

“Do I...” Tommy shut his mouth at the stern look from Aanya.

Heidi muffled a chuckle and found somewhere else to look.

“Down here.” Aanya and Tommy led the way to the last room on the hall. “This is you. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks. A shower will help a lot. It was nice to meet you, Tommy.” Heidi put her hand on the doorknob.

Aanya and Tommy wiggled their fingers at her. Heidi couldn’t help but grin. Sometimes the world was a wonderfully, beautiful place. Full of people helping others. Whatever Aanya and Tommy’s story was, Heidi hoped it had a happy ending.

She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, blowing out a breath.

Her gaze was drawn to the balcony doors open to the evening air, and a small table set up just inside the room. It was already set for two, complete with a white table cloth and flowers.

Adam sat in the chair facing her, his hair still soaking wet to the point water ran down his neck, wetting his collar.

“What’s all this?” Heidi took a few steps into the room, enough to see the queen sized bed and both of their luggage.

Adam merely shrugged.

Heidi crossed her arms over her chest and swallowed down the urge to grin. Sometimes the good won. Tonight, she wanted to focus on that.