A headache gnawed at Luke’s temples as he pushed into the situation room, the cool air vibrating with a low hum. The space was a mix of dark and light, the perimeter alive with bright screens contrasted by silhouettes of men sitting in darkness. In the center were four quarter-round tables facing each other to form a broken circle, three chairs at each.

He wasn’t supposed to be in here again, wasn’t supposed to be starting a new mission after his decision to leave.

This was the epicenter of HERO Force, where missions were planned, security coordinated, and hostages tracked across continents. From quiet research to pops of gunfire echoing through headsets, everything the team did went through this space, and now it would serve as the nerve center for the mission to find the brancium and protect Buckeye’s sister.

Summer fucking Daniels.

The meeting had gotten completely out of control, his reaction to being in the same room with her far more explosive than he’d been prepared to deal with. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so pretty, and he sure as hell hadn’t expected her to realize who he was.

She resembled her brother in a twisted sort of way, but the big brown deer-in-the-headlights eyes that had earned Buckeye his nickname were mesmerizing on his sister, her perfectly proportioned frame the feminine version of Buckeye’s wiry physique. Even the lips that had been comically curved on her brother were lush and full and downright kissable when centered on her perfect little heart-shaped face.

Watch it.

His dick twitched in his pants and he cursed. Yes, he’d found her attractive, all right, and that was before she’d lit up like a goddamned Christmas tree and smiled at him. His old pen pal. It seemed like a lifetime ago they’d corresponded, Buckeye’s little sister who’d glommed onto him and wouldn’t let go.

He shook his head. Truth was he’d encouraged her, enjoying the attention at a difficult time in his life, but soon he was laughing at her bad chemistry puns and eager to read the next installment of Stupid Chemistry Students and the Women Who Teach Them, her stories from the Chem 101 class she ran as a teaching assistant.

She was a total nerd and funny as shit. Who would have thought she could also model for the Rocket Scientists Illustrated Swimsuit Edition? An image of her on a sandy beach in a bikini popped into his mind, a pencil between her lush lips and a thick textbook open on the ground.

Fuck.

He’d seen the cautioning look in Mac’s eyes, warning him to back away. But from the moment she realized who he was, it was like a boulder rolling downhill, picking up speed, the final outcome inevitable. Luke would be the one to protect her, to keep her by his side through this ordeal.

Because that’s smart.

He shook his head.

He was drawn to her because of their history and what happened, and he wondered if he should have talked to that shrink after all, because if that was the case, he was nothing short of crazy. Summer could never find out what he did, ever. Yet she might as well be tied to his side, for how much time they’d be spending together.

Sloan stood up from a console, facing Luke. “Is it true Buckeye’s sister’s a knockout?”

The question shouldn’t have bothered him. His back shouldn’t have straightened, his stare shouldn’t have hardened to a fine, sharp point. But they did. “She’s good-looking.”

Sloan crossed his arms and widened his stance. “Good-looking like not hideously ugly, or good-looking like, ‘Man, I never realized Buckeye was hot?’”

Luke could only imagine Sloan’s reaction to Summer. The other man was known for his effect on the opposite sex, but he liked to use women and throw them out like empty cheeseburger containers. Luke’s protection detail started right now. “She’s off-limits.”

Sloan held up his hands. “Okay then.” He gestured to a large monitor. “We used Steven Galbraith’s ID from Daniels Aerospace to run a facial recognition scan. His real name is Steven Walsh. Father was committed to a mental institution when Steven was thirteen and the kid was placed in a series of foster homes. He aged out of the system and joined the army, earning himself a dishonorable discharge a year and a half later for assaulting a female officer.” He turned to a computer, striking a few keys.

Luke jerked his head back. “How the hell does a guy like that fake his way through an aerospace engineering job?”

“This is where it gets interesting. He wasn’t faking. After he was discharged from the army, he petitioned the courts and got guardianship of his father, then took him out of the mental institution and brought him home to live. The dad’s an aerospace engineer. Probably encouraged him to go back to school.”

“So between Summer and her father, and this guy and his father, we’ve got four rocket scientists in two families.”

“Right.”

“You don’t see that every day.” He shrugged. “Cops, firemen, sure. But not rocket scientists.”

“Trace’s staked out in the parking lot of AGL Aerospace looking for our man.”

“Can we find out if AGL is working on anything comparable to Alloy 531 that would require brancium for testing?”

“No way. These companies are very secretive about the products they have in development.”

“That doesn’t give us a lot to go on.”

Sloan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re welcome.”

Luke had a hard time telling when this guy was trying to be funny or just being a dick. The men of HERO Force New York had yet to settle into a cohesive group, their jagged edges still protruding from the bunch like glass shards in a bundle of wheat, and he wouldn’t miss this place when it was time to go.

When will that be, exactly?

He’d come into work today expecting to give his notice, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if Mac had told him to go home. Now, just a few hours later, he was committed to staying for another mission, and not just any mission, but guarding Buckeye’s sister. The one mission he had no business being a part of.

Life was fucked up like that, pulling you into a situation you’d do anything to avoid, handcuffing you to the one person you needed to get away from, like smashing your head into a wall over and over again until you learned some cosmic lesson you shouldn’t have forgotten in the first place.

He headed for Moto’s desk. They went back to BUD/s training together, the very beginning of their journey to become SEALs. They’d been placed on different teams and lost touch until they’d both been recruited by Mac, but Moto was one of the few men at HERO Force Luke actually liked.

He peered at the other man’s screen. Blueprints. “What’s this?”

“Plans for AGL from the county clerk’s office in Boston. I’m importing them into CAD so we can take a virtual tour.”

“You can do that?”

“The plans are set up for it. The architects must have had it on their machines, which they submitted into the public record, maybe by mistake. I just have to import the files from the county server. Only take a few minutes.”

Luke watched as screen after screen of information popped up, Moto’s fingers flying like a concert pianist’s up and down the keys. As promised, a 3D image of a reception area came on screen.

“Sweet,” said Luke.

“Now we can go anywhere you want.” Moto maneuvered the point of view through a doorway and into a long corridor.

“How big is the building?”

“Let’s see.” Moto checked the paperwork. “Twenty-eight thousand square feet.”

“Jesus Christ. How are we going to find this thing?”

Mac walked past them. “My office, Wiseman.”

Luke sighed but followed, entering the austere room with white walls and dark wood furniture and closing the door behind them. He knew exactly what was coming before Mac said a goddamn word.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Mac. “Do you really want to be alone with that woman? She’s bound to have questions about her brother’s death.”

Luke sat in a metal chair with a vinyl seat. “That doesn’t mean I have to answer them.”

“You could, you know. It’s your story to tell. Your prerogative if you want her to know.”

“Hell no.”

“Then let me send one of the other guys instead.”

Luke’s jaw muscle twitched. “She asked for me.”

“But are you comfortable with her? This is on you, man. One hundred percent your call. But I saw the way she looked at you in there, and if you’re determined to keep secrets, you’re in for one hell of a challenge.”

Mac was too observant for his own damn good. “Maybe they shouldn’t be secrets anymore.”

“That’s between you and God.”

“Or else it’s between you, me, and Buckeye.”

They never spoke of this. Never talked about what happened, or what should happen now. It was understood. A shared history that could eat them alive if it were allowed out of the past and into the light of day.

The window suddenly blew open, its metal frame slamming into the wall behind it. A gust of icy air pushed into the room. It had been happening all week, papers blowing everywhere, the wild weather wreaking havoc on the hundred-and-thirty-year-old office building. Mac let loose a string of curses and slammed it shut.

He sighed heavily, sitting back down. “Maybe each of us has to make our peace with it.”

Peace. Luke laughed without humor. It had never occurred to him there could be any such thing. “Have you?”

“No. But if you go with that woman, it will be a fight with yourself to keep it hidden. The truth wants to rise to the surface like a breath you’ve been holding underwater.”

He would never tell Summer the truth, no matter how much his lungs burned. “I can handle it.”

Mac nodded. “Remember you said that. I’m going to throw it back in your face when this goes badly.”