“Hey, Liam. How are you?”

“Mason?” I was surprised to hear my childhood friend on the other end of the phone. “Wow. It’s been a long time.”

“You’re a busy guy.” He chuckled.

“You too.” His voice launched me on a trip down memory lane. “Life’s changed.” We had spent hours hiding in the mailroom at Hendrix BioTech and sneaking smoke breaks by the loading dock. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

“What have you been up to?”

“I just finished an op in Brazil. Some ambassador’s kid got snatched by human traffickers and was about to get shipped to the Middle East to be part of a sheik’s harem. We got her back, but it was messy.”

“You do visit some interesting places.”

“I guess. Where’s life taken you recently?”

Mason cleared his throat. “I just got back from Central America, and I’m more than ready to stay close to home for a while.” He must have put his hand over the mouth piece because I could hear his muffled voice calling to his wife. “Kinsey, your dad is calling. Come get your phone.”

“How’s old Noah?” I asked.

“He’s still Noah.” Mason changed the subject quickly. “Anyway, I need a favor.”

“Okay.”

“One of Kinsey’s friends is in a spot of trouble. The friend thinks someone broke into her tour bus… more than once. I was wondering if you could do your thing.”

I took a deep breath. I hated to refuse a favor, but I had other plans. “I don’t know, Mason. I don’t really want to spend a lot of time back in the states.” In fact, that was the last place I wanted to be. “Jeannie is there.” Just saying her name hurt. I pulled a well-worn photo from my pocket, touched the face, and the ache in my chest intensified.

“That was a raw deal, Liam. No one deserves what she did to you.” The back of my neck turned hot. I still didn’t want to talk about it. Thankfully, he didn’t dwell on it long. “But this woman really needs your help.”

“Text me the info.” I said, sighing. “I’ll check it out, but I’m not promising anything. I’ve got a job over in Romania—”

“You’ve got guys for that.” Mason interrupted me, the urgency clear in his voice. “Liam, this woman requires a special touch. She needs you.”

“Fine. I’ll fly in and talk to her, but I’m not promising to take the case myself.” I pulled up my schedule and started checking flights. The sooner I was back overseas, the happier I would be.

“Thank you,” he said. “That’s enough for me. I’ll tell Kinsey you’ll take care of her friend.”

“Just don’t promise something I can’t deliver, Mason.”

“Ha!” He chuckled. “I always thought you were the one who would be the lawyer, not Luke. You always hedge your bets.”

“I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“Thanks, Liam. Take Care.”

“You too. Bye, Mason.” I dropped the phone on the plain wood table in front of me and stared at it as if it would bite. It was stupid, really. Intellectually, I knew the chances of randomly running into Jeannie were infinitesimal, but I really didn’t want to go back to the states no matter how much of a chicken that made me.

I stood up and paced in the small room, my combat boots thumping loud on the pine floor. My eyes never left my phone. As I stared, it began to vibrate, alerting me to Mason’s text.

Reading the mission details didn’t make me any happier about taking the job. If Mason and I hadn’t shared a history, I would have called him back and told him to find someone else. Instead, I scrubbed my fingers through my hair and let out another deep sigh. Finally I sat down, picked the phone up again, and dialed a number by memory.

He answered on the first ring. “Boss?”

“Ben,” I barked, “I need you to put together a team of three guys and set up round-the-clock security for a celeb—a Maggie Lane. She’s the lead singer of a band called Indigo.”

“Indigo? Really? I love their music.” Ben sounded excited, and that was never good. Normally Ben, my right-hand man, spotter, and best friend was cool, calm, and collected. He had been invaluable on this last op before accompanying the girl back to the states. I needed that guy back, not a gaga groupie.

I’m not sure what it was about this mission. We did high profile cases all the time, but this one felt like a really bad idea.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been gone too long to know who the latest fad bands are,” I replied dryly. “From what I’ve read, she’s a stubborn, entitled celebrity.” I took a moment to calm myself. “But she matters to Mason’s wife Kinsey. I’m doing him a favor. This girl—Maggie—he thinks she’s being stalked.”

“Three guys? Eight hour shifts? Onsite trailer?” Ben rattled off our standard operating procedures for round-the-clock protection.

“Roger that. I’ve got a few things to wrap up here in Brazil with the human trafficking ring we took down. You take point on this and call me on the sat phone with any questions.” I stood and started pacing again, working some of the lingering stiffness out of my legs.

“Ten-four. When will you be back in the states, Liam?” I could hear a pen scratching as Ben took notes.

“I don’t know. I really don’t want to come back right now. There are too many bad guys still waiting to be caught down here.” A groan escaped me. “But I promised Mason I’d meet this woman.” I pulled a piece of gum out of the leg pocket of my cargo pants and popped it into my mouth. “The feds have contracted us on several cases, and they’re willing to pay big money. Our accounts will be more than flush again soon.”

“Pretty sure they’re never not.” Ben laughed. “I’ve seen the books… but okay. I’ll keep you updated. See you soon.”

“Hey, Maggie! Come here!” I heard Elijah holler as I sat in my trailer, curled up on the couch, drinking a steaming cup of coffee.

“Really?” I hollered back as I tucked the pashmina shawl around my shoulders and stood. Walking to the trailer door, I looked out the window and saw several large men dressed in black fatigues standing with Elijah. Opening the door, I stared for a moment. “Who are you guys?”

The strangers towered over Eli and the other guys in the band. They had broad shoulders, close-cropped hair, and stern expressions to match their dark clothes. Their tight t-shirts were tucked in at the waist, displaying the guns on their hips.

“Scorpion Security, ma’am. Mason Alexander sent us.” Their leader turned to me. “I’m Ben. I run the field office here in the states.” His presence was overpowering.

“Uh… nice to meet you?” My nerves were rattled. I don’t like big men. My father always seemed huge growing up. He was stern and demanding, expecting the highest achievement from me and accepting no less.

“I need a copy of your schedule, ma’am. We’ll need access to your trailer and any other place you go.” He pulled a clipboard from under his arm and flipped several pages. “I have a list of rules here. They are all drafted with your safety in mind. You’ll need to have one of us with you at all times—”

“No, no, I’m sorry. There’s been a mistake.” I cut him off and started to back away. “We’re going to stick with the company we have. I’m so sorry to have inconvenienced you guys.”

I had no interest in having these hulking military guys watch my every move. Julie’s rent-a-cops wandered around, drank coffee, and kept the groupies away from my trailer. They gave me space. I could deal with that. These guys meant business. These guys scared me. They were going to disrupt my routine.

“Miss Lane!” he called after me as I turned and fled back to the safety of my trailer. “Miss Lane!”

“I’ll go talk to her,” I heard Julie say as I slammed the door shut behind me to block out the rest of the world. I fell face down on the couch, ignoring the crinkling paper beneath me.

“Maggie?” Julie peeked in the door. “Can I come in?”

“Ummppphhhh.” The pillow I buried my face in muffled any answer I gave.

“No pouting.” She came in, sat on the couch next to me, and tried to pull me up to look at her. “You know you need these guys, Mags.” She gave up on trying to move me and rubbed my back instead. “Come on. You were freaking out just last week over the last letter.”

I flopped over and put my head in her lap. “What do I do, Julie? They want to come in here.” Through the pillow under my chest, something hard poked me. I growled, pulled it and the pillow out from under me, and threw them both to the floor.

She started stroking my hair. “You let them. It won’t be forever. They’ll figure out what’s going on and then we go back to life as we know it.”

“Jules, you’ll always be here for me, right?” I couldn’t keep it together on my own. She always knew what to do. “You know I can’t do this without you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” The rhythmic movement of her hand through my curls soothed me. “You’d fall apart the first day I left. Indigo needs a strong hand to guide it, and God knows it isn’t you. I’ll always be here.”

“You’re so good to me.” I cried for a while and then dozed off, knowing Julie had it all under control. I never looked down to see the picture I had tossed to the floor—a grainy photo of a doll with its hands bound and a noose around its neck.