Madrid, Spain

2200 CET

Mick saw how nervous the geek squad was, that was one of the reasons he’d sent each of them out with two of his guys. He knew that together their nerves would spread, but separated they’d probably follow orders more easily.

They had all left the building by different exits, each group taking a different route.

But Mick admitted that he also wanted some more time alone with Kaylee. She kept glancing over her shoulder every few minutes to see if anyone was following them. She seemed tense, but was quiet, which suited him just fine. The pack he had on his back was light compared to what he’d carried in the military, and as darkness had fallen in Madrid, the city came alive. There was music on the streets and the smell of garlic and seafood filled the air.

He kept a close eye on their back trail as they walked, and noticed that most of the people on the street were families, couples, or groups of friends. He reached over and took Kaylee’s hand. She froze and started to pull away.

“Don’t. It will help us to blend in,” he said.

She stopped trying to free her hand and tipped her head to the side to study him. “I never know what to expect with you.”

“Same,” he said, tapping his earbud once to mute his mic. He could still hear the others, but they wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“Have you experienced much of the nightlife here?” he asked.

“Not really,” she said. “How did you turn off your mic?”

“Like this,” he said, tapping hers to turn it off. “Just tap it twice to turn it back on.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Ramona and I went out a few times clubbing, and then Jeff wanted to see some flamenco so we went to Cardamomo Tablao Flamenco. It was really good. I hadn’t seen the dance performed before, and it was so passionate and intense. Have you seen it?”

“Nah,” he said, pulling her closer to him as they edged past a group of twenty-somethings talking on the sidewalk. “I’ve never been to Madrid before.”

“It’s nice. Lots of culture and the food is incredible,” she said. “You should come back sometime.”

“I might,” he said, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t do vacations or touristy stuff. He pretty much worked, fought and had sex. And he didn’t like to have to travel during his downtime.

“You won’t though,” she said. “Will you?”

“How did you guess?” he asked. Was he getting sloppy? Had he somehow alerted her to the truth?

“Just a hunch. I can’t see you in a pair of khaki shorts and walking shoes doing the tourist thing… Wait, do you have a girlfriend? Wow, guess I should have asked that before I threw myself at you.”

He glanced at his watch to make sure they were making good time and then drew her to a stop out of the pedestrian traffic in a small alleyway out of view. “You didn’t throw yourself at me and I wouldn’t have kissed you if I had a girlfriend. I don’t really date.”

“You’re not celibate.” She pulled her smartphone out of her back pocket so she wasn’t staring at him. But also because she’d dropped a line of code onto her laptop in case anyone tried to track her. There were no alerts.

“No,” he said. “Just not into the whole relationship thing.”

He positioned her so that she was out of view of anyone who passed by. The wall of the building was against Kaylee’s back. He kept his head turned toward the entrance of the alleyway, subtly keeping watch while he held her. They really didn’t have time for this, but she clearly wasn’t going to stop talking until she cleared the air.

“That sounds…lonely.”

“Are you involved with someone?”

“No, but I spend most of my time on the computer. Guys tend to like being the center of attention, so dating doesn’t really work for me.”

“Sounds lonely,” he said.

“Touché.”

“Maybe we both just know what we need and don’t need,” he said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

She nodded and then let out a breath. “I’m really not used to this.”

“Running from someone who means to do you harm?” he asked. “No one gets used to it.”

“I think my dad might be involved with this,” she said.

She immediately bit her lip and he could tell she hadn’t meant to reveal that. Damn. She was tired, he could read that easily in her body language. It shouldn’t matter to him but it did. “What? Why?”

“He’s a hacker, you know that. He’s been working for different organizations since I left him,” she said.

“Yes, I did know that. When we talked back at the apartment I got the impression you hadn’t seen him since you were a kid,” Mick said. Was she working both sides? He hadn’t allowed himself to think that she or any of her team might be. So far, the “cakewalk” hadn’t been nearly as easy as they had anticipated.

“I haven’t. But his code—it’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t spent as much time reading source code as I have, but everyone does things in a way that is unique to them,” she said.

“And your dad’s code is part of Diavolos’s operation?”

“I think so. Not the surface stuff. But as I got deeper into the code, tracking the trail back to the source, I started to see bits of his coding. I don’t know for sure that it’s him, but…”

“Your gut says it is,” he said.

“Yeah. And if that’s true then he must know it was me who found him,” she said. “I keep trying to tell myself that he isn’t trying to get me killed. That he might be trying to keep me safe…” She trailed off again.

He tipped her chin up and saw the honesty in her eyes. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“Don’t make a promise like that,” she said.

“Why not?” he asked, leaning in closer.

“Because I’m tempted to believe you.”

* * *

Kaylee felt like an idiot telling Mick that her father might be the reason why someone was gunning for their group, but she was starting to feel responsible for this. She’d done her job. A job she’d been hired for. From the beginning, she knew it was a long shot that she’d find Diavolos, and if she did find him it would be dangerous.

But unravelling the code had been too intriguing. The ultimate puzzle that no one else could solve. She hadn’t been able to resist.

But maybe she had been naïve. She’d never thought she’d find her father in the morass that led to one of the most wanted cyber criminals in the world.

“Believe me,” Mick said. “I don’t have a lot of good qualities, but my word is strong. I won’t let you down.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to put her trust in this man, who she’d just met, and let him protect her. But trust wasn’t that easily won from her, and she guessed from him either. And though he was making a promise now—

“What if it is my dad?” she asked.

“Diavolos?” he asked.

She hated when he did that. Answered a question with another one. She felt like she never got a straight answer from him.

“No. Dad’s not interested in that kind of management. He’s after his payday, but managing people and interests the way that Diavolos’s network requires, that’s too much like real work for him.”

“You think he’s the one who’s trying to kill you,” he said.

“Do we even know for sure if someone is trying to kill me?” she asked.

“I’m guessing yes, judging by the way they keep sending men after you,” he said. “Bad guys don’t tend to want to bring you in for a friendly chat.”

But would her dad?

Her head ached. She was tired and she hated that at twenty-eight she was still not free of her dad. She’d thought that once she escaped his presence she’d be free. But of course, she wasn’t. She was still running from him and not escaping his grasp.

“Maybe…”

He rubbed his thumb against the bottom of her jaw and stepped back from her, taking her hand again. “I don’t know about your old man, but mine was never what I hoped. He never saw anything I did and reacted with pride. He never was able to give me what I needed from him, and I felt like a moron each time I let myself hope he would.”

His words resonated deep inside her, where she liked to pretend that she was okay. Where she knew she wasn’t. She reached for his hand, laced their fingers together and squeezed.

“Thank you.”

He nodded. “I think we better start walking again.”

She followed him out of the alley. Like before, she was aware of her surroundings as they walked through the busy street, but this time she was… Well, it sounded silly even to her, but she felt lighter.

“Tell me something about you,” she said.

He spared her a sideways glance but kept on moving. “Like what?”

“Something you’d tell someone on a date.”

“I don’t date,” he said.

“I thought you said you didn’t have relationships, but you weren’t celibate.”

“I did.”

Processing what he was saying, she came up with only one answer. “Do you pay for sex?”

“Not unless I have to,” he said sardonically.

“Okay, explain that to me.”

He shrugged and led her across the street at a pedestrian crossing. “Women are attracted to me. When I go to a bar to hook-up…I just drink and they show up.”

“That’s pathetic,” she said.

He nodded. “It is. Tell me something you’d say on a date.”

She could totally see how he’d draw women to him from across the room, but part of her wanted him to be better than that. To be more. Just like her father, who she always expected to be good underneath it all, to put her first. Her dad had let her down more than once. Was she setting herself up for disappointment with Mick?

No. This was just a distraction, not anything serious.

“I just did,” she said. She tried to tug her hand from his, but he held her firm.

“Okay, okay. Let’s see. I have a brother, Paul. He’s eighteen-months younger than I am, and when we were growing up he wanted to be an astronaut.”

She stopped pulling on her hand and looked over at him. “Why?”

“He was convinced that he and I would be the right men to start a colony on another planet. That we would be able to pick who went with us to the new planet.”

“Did you want to join him?” she asked, trying to picture Mick as part of a group to start a new colony somewhere. One thing she could easily see him doing was protecting everyone. He was good at making her feel safe.

“Yes. I wouldn’t have let him go anywhere on his own,” Mick said.

“So is he an astronaut?”

“No,” Mick said.

He led her off the main street and into a side alleyway where she saw the Fiat that Frank had told them to look for. They walked over to it and found the key under the front passenger-side wheel well. He unlocked her door and opened it and she got in.

He got in on the other side behind the steering wheel.

“So what is he?” she asked as he started the engine.

“Dead.”

* * *

Mick didn’t want to talk about Paul, even though he had brought him up. It was just that his brother was the one person in his life he’d had a good relationship with. So he was the only thing he could talk to Kaylee about.

He couldn’t tell her about the men he’d killed, or how once his rage took over it was hard for him to calm down. That would creep her out and he didn’t want that.

He still wanted her, but he was coming to see how dangerous she was. She made it too easy to talk about things he usually ignored. Things that were definitely better left buried. He reached up and double-tapped his mic.

“One here. We’re mobile,” he said.

“Two here,” Linc said. “We are as well.”

“Five here,” Cade said. “Also mobile. ETA, two hours.”

“See you there,” Mick said.

He tapped his mic to mute it again as he started the car and began driving out of the city. He knew where he was headed, having memorized the map when they were back at the apartment.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” she said as they drove deeper into the dark landscape.

“It’s been a while,” he said. “But thanks.”

She maneuvered between the seats of the Fiat, grabbing her messenger bag out of the rucksack. He remembered how attached she was to the old bag from her father. And for the first time since…well…since he could remember, Mick hoped he was wrong. He wanted Dirk Thomas to be the father that Kaylee desperately wanted to believe he was. She pulled out her bag and opened up her smartphone. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he drove. He was focused on the present. On saving her and making sure they got back to Virginia. He was beginning to believe the sooner he got her delivered to Sam, the better it would be for all of them.

“Nothing from my dad,” she said.

“Is there any way you can check the tracking spot and see if they know you located them?” he asked.

“Yeah. I set up an alert to ping me if anyone attempted to trace the intrusion. I checked it earlier and we were clear,” she said. “I’ll check it again now.”

“Did you ever want to do something else, so that you weren’t following in your father’s footsteps?” he asked.

“Yes. But I can’t do anything else. I don’t have a high school diploma, and I have a juvenile record. The only other way to make money on the streets was pushing or working on my back. This was easier.”

Again, her honesty surprised him. He made his choices the same way. Ruling out what he couldn’t do, and then doing what was left to him.

“You’re good at it?” he asked.

“Very. I think Dad always knew I would be,” she said. “Or at least that’s what I tell myself when I think about him showing me how to code as soon as I could read.”

That made him more concerned about her connection to her father. She would likely have torn loyalties. Sam didn’t suspect her, or he would have mentioned it to Mick when they’d first spoke. But he was beginning to wonder if he was seeing a side of Kaylee that she normally kept hidden.

She had been the one to find Diavolos’s server location, something that no one else on her team had found. Only a fool wouldn’t be cautious. He double-tapped his mic.

“We might be going in blind. Take precautions,” he said.

“Will do,” Linc said.

“Always do,” Cade responded.

He muted his mic again.

“What does that mean?” she asked when he turned his attention back to the road.

“Just that there could be some sort of trap waiting at the airport.”

“I told you I don’t think anyone tracked me,” she said.

He didn’t respond to that. He liked her more than he was comfortable admitting even to himself, so he didn’t want to hint he thought she was playing him. But life had taught him different lessons. She could be working both sides. Sam knew something was up, was this what he had been warning Mick about?

“You think I’m setting you up.”

She made it a statement, not a question, which he appreciated since that meant he didn’t have to respond.

“Wow. That is so insulting. Why wouldn’t I just take this information to my bad guy boss?”

“Insulted is better than dead,” he said. “I don’t know what motivates you. I do know that relationships with fathers are complicated, and you might…you might still feel some loyalty to him.”

He’d never betray anyone for his father, but for Paul…he would have, so he had no idea what Kaylee would do. Family was complicated.

“I’m supposed to trust you, but you can’t do the same for me,” she said. “That’s rich.”

“We’ll see soon enough. I’m more of an ‘err on the side of caution’ person,” he said, explaining more to her than he would to anyone else.

“I get it now, why you don’t have relationships. You’d have to pretend to be human,” she said.

Her words were harsh, and he sensed she meant them to hurt. It didn’t take a genius to know he’d hurt her by doubting her intentions. But he wasn’t in the business of saving feelings. He was in the business of protecting and keeping everyone alive and safe. And that meant that he wasn’t going to rule anything out until he saw concrete proof.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked after a few miles had passed.

“No. What can I say? You know I’m human—that was just your way of trying to start a fight with me,” he said.

“You’re right. I’m mad. I don’t like it that you think I would betray you and my team. That I would set everyone up,” she said.

“I don’t like it either,” he said. “But that’s how I stay alive. I’ve been betrayed by teammates before.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I haven’t.”

“Then count yourself lucky,” he said. “And you have been betrayed.”

“By who?”

“Your dad, remember?”

She turned away from him, staring out the window as he drove into the dark night.