Dade paced the entire length of the small office he occupied in the basement of the enormous country house he was using as a home base in southwest Montana. The place was large, but it was jammed with his team members. Every day more of them trickled in from wherever they’d been hiding.

He’d made contact with each member of the original team and Ryan’s team. With the exception of those who were living in the bunker in Colorado and those who were with Ryan at the second bunker in New Mexico, everyone was working their way toward Montana.

Chaos reigned as everyone did their part to help by either scouring the internet for information or keeping the house running.

Thank God for SURVIVE. The underground group had provided this home set far away from the main road on several acres of ranchland. It was a godsend. Without the help they were receiving from SURVIVE, Dade wasn’t sure where everyone would be. The looks on everyone’s faces when they found out he was alive were priceless.

Currently, he was holding his phone waiting for Ryan to pick up. “Comeoncomeoncomeon…”

“Hello,” Ryan finally answered, sounding winded. “Sorry. I didn’t want to answer in front of anyone.”

“Have you made contact with Graham today?” Dade asked, not bothering with formalities. The clock was ticking.

“No. But he’s been in communication with Spencer. He knows he only has hours to finish.”

Dade rubbed his temples with the fingers of one hand spread across his forehead. “I hope he and Kate have a plan. I’m concerned.”

“I know. Trust me, I’m pacing my office.”

Dade glanced around and stopped walking. “You and me both, then.”

“You at least got to see Graham firsthand. Is it true he’s recovered at an extraordinary speed, or is he pushing himself too hard?”

“Oh, it’s true. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen him. He had far more stamina than I had at one week. And that was before I even knew I technically wasn’t going to live. I was still tired and far too weak to walk. Graham left us all in the dust.”

“If anyone could do it, it would be Graham. I trust him and Kate to get the job done and get the hell out of there. They know the stakes.”

“I hope you’re right.” Dade turned around as the door to his office opened. Blair stepped inside, closing it behind her. “Please let me know if you hear anything.”

“I will. You do the same.”

The line went dead, and Dade set the phone on his desk and hauled Blair into his arms, nestling his face in the thick hair at her neck. Please, God, let this work out.

Kate stood in the bedroom, running both hands through her hair while Graham stuffed everything in a backpack. “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here.”

Graham sat on the edge of the bed and reached for his shoes. “Tell me what happened with Temple.”

“I told her I thought you would benefit from some fresh air and better scenery. That it might help you snap out of your funk. I suggested I take a car and we go for a drive. She was adamantly opposed to the idea. She doesn’t think it’s safe for us to leave the bunker. She suggested we go for a walk around the perimeter instead.”

“Shit.” Graham glanced at the clock. “We need to come up with something. I want to get these hard drives out of here, but more than that I’m seriously concerned about what’s going to happen when everyone on staff realizes the mainframe has been compromised and someone has deleted all the data. I don’t want to be inside when that happens. We could really be trapped here then.”

“I agree.” Her hands were shaking, and she rubbed them together. “How long do you think we have before they force Spencer to delete the mainframe?”

“Not sure. An hour maybe. Tops.”

Kate fidgeted. “I didn’t expect Temple to balk at my plan.”

Graham rubbed his temples and pushed to standing. “Maybe we should pull the fire alarm.”

Kate pursed her lips, thinking. “That could work. It would get everyone out of the building, but it won’t get us off the government grounds. We’ll never be able to walk out the front gate.”

“Perhaps in the mayhem, we can get the guards to let us out. Lie our way out. Tell them we’re going to get more help or something.” He grabbed the backpack and tugged it onto his shoulder, and then he approached her, cupped her face, and met her gaze. “We can do this.”

“This is the craziest thing we’ve done yet. People are going to be suspicious as soon as you walk out of this room on foot. You’re going to attract attention.”

“I’ll go out the side door on the south end of the building past the living suites. You need to go pull the alarm, then I want you to head out the front door with everyone else.”

“Someone will be able to see me pulling the alarm on the security camera.”

“Eventually, but by the time they analyze the video, it’ll be too late. We’ll be gone.” He slid his hand to the back of her neck and squeezed. When his lips touched hers, she calmed marginally. “We can do this because we have no other choice.”

“Where will I meet you?”

“Come around to the side after you leave the building. I’ll meet you there. You should beat me if you move fast enough.”

She nodded slightly as he spoke. “’Kay,” she breathed.

A few seconds passed while she stared into his green eyes. “We’re out of time, babe,” he pointed out, and then he released her. “Meet you outside.”

She backed up, taking a deep breath, but before she could turn around, alarms started blaring. She jerked to a stop, eyes wide. “What the hell?” she mouthed over the deafening sound.

“Fuck,” he mouthed in return.

Someone pounded on the door to the suite.

They stared at each other for several seconds. Kate’s heart was racing.

Graham lowered to sit on the bed, looking defeated. He pinched both temples with the fingers of one hand and nodded toward the door, the only way he could communicate that she was going to need to answer it.

She spun around and rushed to the door, looking through the peephole first. Two security guards she didn’t know stood outside. She opened the door. “What’s going on?” she shouted over the roar of the alarm.

“You need to come with me.” The taller bald man reached for her arm and pulled her into the hallway. The second man, shorter, stockier, with dark hair went into the suite.

“Is there a fire or something?” Kate shouted.

The blood drained from her face when she saw the guard’s expression. There was definitely no fire. He was nearly dragging her down the hallway. The alarm was sounding because of them. Because of what Kate and Graham had done. She could feel it in her bones. They’d been caught.

When people rushed past her, heading toward the entrance, Kate began to panic. The man was holding her arm too tight. He knew something. Who the fuck was he? When she glanced at him, his expression was serious, brows furrowed, lips pursed. He didn’t care a bit that the alarm was blaring.

He also wasn’t leading her out of the building. He was heading toward the medical wing and the hallway with the lab. What would he do with her?

She had to get away from him. She knew in her gut she would be doomed if she let him take her wherever he intended. Graham was also in serious trouble.

Two people from the cafeteria rushed past her. And then Shelby came out of the lab. Her gaze was wide as she spotted Kate and then glanced at the tall, bald man. “Is the alarm for real? I assumed it was an accident.”

The man scowled at Shelby. “Get out of the building, you stupid fool.”

Shelby’s eyes widened further. “Where are you going?” she shouted as the bald man attempted to drag Kate past Shelby, heading deeper into the bunker in direct opposition of his advice to Shelby.

Shelby stepped in front of Kate, blocking her from passing.

Kate took the opportunity to jerk free of the guard while he was struggling to maintain his grip. She needed to get out of the building.

The guard shouted at her, but she ignored him and Shelby as she turned around and ran toward the front door.

Even though the medical staff was operating on a skeleton crew after the relocation of most of the Project DEEP team, there were still dozens of other personnel. Guards, kitchen help, cleaning, and front desk staff.

The guards were the people Kate should have been paying closer attention to for the last several days. Even though Tushar had swept their suite looking for potential bugs, he could have missed something. Or perhaps Spencer had done this. Was it possible he wasn’t trustworthy after all? No, that made no sense. If his end goal had been to delete all the data, why go to all the trouble helping Graham and Kate download it first? Unless his plan had been to trap Kate and Graham all along.

As soon as Kate burst through the front doors into the afternoon sun, she glanced around, wondering what the hell to do next. She decided to rush toward the side of the building where she and Graham had intended to meet. Perhaps he would have somehow managed to get to that exit.

People were milling around outside, speculating about what the alarm was about. Kate noticed Mina talking to Trish, but she turned away quickly and raced for the south entrance.

As she turned the corner, nearly jogging, she ran straight into Temple Levenson, who grabbed her biceps with both hands as if to stop her or steady her. “Where are you going?” Temple asked.

“I didn’t see Graham out front. I thought he might have made it out the side door.”

Temple’s brow was furrowed. “He’s not going to exit from any door.”

Kate swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “What do you mean? I need to go back in and help him.”

“It would seem you’ve helped him enough.”

“Pardon?” They were both shouting over the continuous loud blare of the alarm that was still sounding. Kate was going to have to think fast on her feet.

Temple gave her a shake. “I don’t know what you two have been doing, but security is questioning Graham now. I thought they were questioning you too.”

Kate tried to breathe. This was not good. “Temple, I have to get back in there.”

“Not a chance. If you want to be useful, you can start by telling me what the hell you’ve been doing and who you’re working for.”

How much did Temple know? How did she find out? And whose side is she on?

Kate searched her boss’s face. She’d known her for three years. Had worked for her closely all of that time. It was so hard for her to imagine Temple undermining the work being done by the team, but she couldn’t risk the very real possibility. She was going to have to ad-lib. “What has he done to cause such suspicion?” Kate decided it might be best if she answered questions with questions for now.

“We know he has a computer. We also know he’s been lying about the state of his health. So, you can stop the charade now and tell me what’s going on, or I can call the guards, tell them I’ve found you, and turn you over to the government.”

This was way past bad. It was awful. Did they have surveillance in the suite? That didn’t make much sense since they would have been caught days ago if that were the case.

Her thoughts returned to the possibility of Spencer. Had he set them up? All the blood drained from her face at the thought that the hacker had something to do with this.

Temple released Kate’s arm with one hand and reached behind toward her back pocket to pull out a phone.

“No,” Kate shouted. “Temple, you need to listen to me.”

Temple lifted one brow. “Start talking. I’ll give you about thirty seconds.” She palmed the phone, but didn’t put it away.

Kate was out of options. She had nothing to lose. If Temple was in on the ruse to undermine the team, it no longer mattered if Kate called her out on it. “Graham is not the bad guy here. He’s been trying to help. We need to get to him.” We need to get the hard drives out of the building. Though Kate imagined it was probably already too late for that.

“If Graham has done nothing wrong, then security will figure that out.”

“Who is holding him? What does security have to do with anything?” Something was missing here.

“Two people from the government are here. They arrived this morning when they got a tip that Graham was logging into the system and snooping around. They found out he’s been stealing data.”

Fuck. Goddammit. Kate’s mind raced around, trying to come up with the possibilities. Spencer was now her top pick. Had he sold them out? Had he been lying to Dade and Ryan and all of them the entire time? But why would he let them almost escape before sounding the alarm. He could have had them captured at any time.

It suddenly seemed less likely Temple was involved. She was as confused as Kate, plus she was convinced Kate and Graham were the moles.

“I see this doesn’t surprise you, which tells me I need to turn you in also.” Temple lifted her phone again.

Kate reached out and swiped it out of her hand. It went flying across the grass. Kate wasn’t a violent person, nor had she ever done anything this bold in her life. Especially not to her superior. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Temple’s eyes flew open wider. She glanced at the phone and then at the grip she had on Kate’s arm, undoubtedly trying to decide if she should release Kate to retrieve the phone. Too bad it hadn’t landed on concrete and busted in half.

Kate turned the tables. She needed to shake sense into Temple. If Temple was on the right side of things, Kate would force her to see reason. If not…well, Kate didn’t know what the hell she might do if Temple proved to have fooled everyone for three decades.

Kate shook herself free from Temple’s grasp—partly to prove she could and partly to gain the upper hand. She grabbed Temple’s elbows with both hands and shook her slightly. “You need to listen to me. I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I swear to God if I find out you’re involved, so many people will hunt you down that no corner of the universe will be far enough for you to hide.”

Temple’s eyes widened again. “Me? What the hell are you suggesting?”

“You heard me. Someone is undermining the entire project. You know that. So, yes, Graham and I snuck in here under false pretenses in attempt to salvage what we could. No, we didn’t tell you or anyone else because frankly we don’t know who to trust. Someone listens in on you or else they use information you provide them. You’re compromised, Temple.

“And, I’ve got to tell you, you’re at the top of nearly everyone’s list as the guilty party. So, it’s time for you to shut up and listen. If you’re the one who undermined three decades of work, then may God have mercy on your soul. But if not, then stop talking and hear me out.”

Temple’s mouth fell open. “I am most certainly not involved. Right now, you are, though. And so is Graham, and it doesn’t matter what you say or do, the two men inside the bunker who are questioning Graham will get to the bottom of his involvement.”

Kate was scared out of her mind about what might happen to Graham if the two men in question worked for Blue Cell and wanted to shut him up. Permanently. Not to mention the fact that they would come after Kate next.

“Who the hell are these two men, Temple? Talk fast. We don’t have much time.”

“How should I know? They showed up, briefed me, and set off the alarm.”

“Dammit. What did they say?”

“That’s none of your business,” Temple shouted. The roar of the alarm was still blaring annoyingly, making them shout louder to be heard anyway.

“Temple, this is serious. You have to trust me.”

“Like you trusted me?” she screamed.

“You’re in charge of this bunker. You have been for three decades. For more than ten years someone has been undermining the work you direct. Forgive me if I’m not inclined to give you a free pass while you disperse two teams of scientists all over the Midwest, causing years of work to halt and science to stall out.”

Temple gasped. “I’ve been doing everything in my power to protect all of you.”

“Why? Why do you think you’re protecting everyone by stopping the progress of scientific development and sending everyone away to hide for over a month?”

She pursed her lips and inhaled through her nose, and then she spoke again. “Just because your team has been dispersed doesn’t mean we’ve halted progress. Project DEEP continues to work on diseases. None of you could be doing that, even if you wanted. You’re too far behind on the latest scientific developments. Nothing is holding back science. I’m doing everything in my power to keep the bunker safe and protect all of you. I’ve guarded that data with my life. You each obviously have targets on your backs. My job is to protect my people and this bunker.”

“I sincerely hope that’s the case. I hope to God you have innocently been following the direction of your superiors, blindly though it seems. Even if you are innocent in this mess, I will always question why you would follow the directions of your superiors when time after time it would seem you should have questioned them.”

“You’re talking about jeopardizing my career for a hunch that you all have that no one bothered to tell me about.”

“Your career? Is that all you care about? Retirement?” Kate was screaming.

She noticed people had gathered behind her at a distance, but someone pushed through the crowd to approach. Tushar.

It probably killed her, but Trish stayed behind, holding everyone else back as her husband jogged toward Temple and Kate. “What’s going on?” he asked as soon as he reached them.

Kate caught him up without looking his direction, her gaze still pinned on Temple. “Two government officials are inside holding Graham. I don’t trust them, and I’m trying to shake some sense into Temple to get me back inside.” Kate knew Temple had access to enter the building. Kate did not. In fact, it wasn’t as simple as a key. Temple would need to use her thumbprint to get the door opened.

“Let’s calm down and discuss this rationally,” Tushar implored.

Kate jerked her gaze to him. “You think we have time to calm down here? Graham is probably in serious trouble as we speak. Every second is another one closer to his death. I have no doubt those motherfuckers will shoot him in the head and then make up a story about him going postal and trying to kill them.”

“She’s right,” Tushar said, his attention directed at Temple.

Temple jerked. “You too? What the hell is wrong with you people?”

“The entire project is compromised, Temple, and you know it,” Kate repeated. “Someone doesn’t want us alive. Someone doesn’t want us researching disease. That someone might be above you, but whoever it is, they’ve been using you as a puppet for years.”

Tushar stared at Temple, probably hoping she would see reason.

Temple’s shoulders fell. “What has Graham been doing? Are you sure he isn’t the mole?” she asked, her voice calmer.

Kate said a silent prayer that she could get Temple to see reason fast. “He’s been downloading all of the data and copying it to hard drives.”

“Why? It’s backed up. In triplicate. Nothing can ever happen to the data in any of the bunkers. Is he trying to steal it?”

“Fuck no. He was trying to save it. And it’s no longer backed up anywhere. Surely you’re aware of that. Someone wiped it all out about thirty minutes ago.”

“How the hell could you know that?”

“She’s right,” Tushar added. “I saw it myself moments before the alarm went off.”

Temple shuddered. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s true,” he added.

“Did you know about this? About Graham?”

Tushar nodded. “I gave him the computer and the hard drives.”

“Which we need to retrieve before they’re destroyed. Three decades of scientific research, Temple. Your entire legacy. It’s on three hard drives inside this bunker where two men with bad intentions are hoping to destroy it.”

Temple hesitated. “It’s very hard to imagine the world you two are painting.”

“You know we’re right,” Tushar said. “And you also know we’re running out of time. Open the door, Temple.”

She stared at him for a moment and then nodded. Seconds later she turned around and ran toward the side entrance.

Kate followed. As did Tushar.

Temple typed in a code on the door and then set her thumb on the pad. A moment later, the door snicked, indicating it was unlocked. She pulled it open and then reached toward her back and grabbed a weapon, which she handed to Tushar. “You better be right. My job is on the line. As is yours.”

Tushar grabbed the gun and stepped inside. Kate followed him. She could hear Trish screaming behind them and knew Tushar’s wife would be seriously pissed when they next saw her, but Tushar didn’t stop.

Temple grabbed Kate’s arm and tugged her back. “You guard the door. I’ll go with Tushar.”

Kate shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.” It was Graham they were after. No way was Kate going to stay back and wait. Temple was out of her mind.

Temple took a deep breath and nodded. “Be careful.” She held the door open while Kate rushed to catch up with Tushar.

The alarm was so much louder inside the bunker, and Kate cringed, hating the sound. Suddenly the shrill noise stopped.

“Where was he when you last saw him?” Tushar asked as he reached under his shirt and pulled out a second weapon from a holster strapped across his chest. He set Temple’s in Kate’s hand. Naturally. No way would Tushar have fled the building unprepared.

Kate kept her voice low. “Our suite. One man grabbed me. The other went inside. I shook free and ran from the building. I assume that man returned to help the first. I’ve never seen either of them before. I thought they were with the bunker’s own security when I first saw them. Didn’t occur to me they had come from outside.”

“Did Graham get everything downloaded before it was erased?” He shot her a glance after peeking around the corner to the next hallway. The inside of the bunker was totally silent. No sign of anyone.

“Yes. We were just about to get out of here when the alarm went off.”

Tushar nodded and rounded the corner, gun raised. “When was the last time you shot a weapon?”

“Before.” She didn’t need to add to that. He would understand.

“Then let me lead. I got a lot of practice while we were in Montana.”

Tushar and his wife had been the leaders of their team. They had been with Project DEEP for twenty years when they succumbed to AP12 and had to be preserved. Kate would never forgive herself if anything happened to him. He was only forty-five. He’d just been reunited with his wife and son. He didn’t deserve this. He hadn’t asked for it.

She grabbed his arm. “No.” It wasn’t that she believed her life was more expendable than his, but in a way it was. She didn’t have a husband. Kids. She had been too pigheaded to let any of those things happen for her. If she didn’t make it through this, at least she wouldn’t be leaving behind people who counted on her. Her parents and sister would be devastated all over again, but they weren’t the same as a spouse or kids.

Holding the weapon in one hand, she reached into her pocket to pull out her keycard, praying she would find Graham and the two assholes in the suite. If not, she and Tushar would then need to scour the building.

In a quick motion, she swept the keycard over the pad above the handle and opened the door. Silence. Shit. She spun around and shook her head.

“Dammit,” Tushar muttered. He turned around, and she followed him away from the living quarters. If they weren’t in the suite, the two men had most likely taken Graham to the medical end of the building. That’s where they’d been heading with Kate.

Kate closed her eyes when they reached the hallway that led to Temple’s office and a few others. She heard voices. Good sign.

Tushar continued forward even though Kate wished he would trade places with her. He eased along the wall, holding his weapon at the ready. When he reached the first door, he glanced at Kate and nodded across the hall. They couldn’t be sure where the voices were coming from yet. Left or right?

They waited. Kate held her breath, offering a silent prayer to whoever might be willing to help them.

Something crashed.

She jumped in her spot, itching to rush forward. Tushar reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

Someone screamed. Graham?

Then she smelled smoke. She yanked free of Tushar and ran down the hallway toward the smoke. Gun raised, she stepped into the doorway of the conference room. The two men from earlier had their backs to her. They were standing over a huge metal trash can dousing it with lighter fluid. She knew in an instant they had burned the hard drives.

Graham was tied to a chair, shouting. Neither man paid any attention to him, though Graham was bouncing the chair forward as if he could stop the madness.

Kate knew the moment Tushar was next to her. He lifted his gun and took a shot. The first man’s knees buckled slightly as he grabbed his thigh.

Kate took the second shot, aiming for the other man’s leg and hitting her mark, even though she hadn’t shot a weapon since being reanimated. Both men spun around, guns drawn.

Kate jumped out of the doorway as shots were fired. She searched for Tushar, but he hadn’t been as fast. He’d gone down.

Panic swallowed her whole, causing her to reach around the corner without regard for her own safety. If Graham hadn’t been behind the men, she would have fired off the entire chamber and been done, but she couldn’t take that risk, so instead, she glanced around the doorframe, exposing her head.

Before she could do anything else, several more rounds went off inside the room. People screamed. She couldn’t tell who, but she didn’t waste another moment. She spun fully into the doorway.

The two men who’d been holding Graham were on the ground now. Tushar was in front of them, gun lifted as he shifted it back and forth between them. Graham was still sitting in the chair, eyes wide. “Tushar’s been hit. Get help, babe.”

“I’m fine,” Tushar said from the ground. “Flesh wound. Get Graham untied.”

Kate kneeled in front of Tushar first, ignoring his command and checking him out. He had dropped the gun and was holding his left arm with his right hand. Blood was oozing between his fingers.

Kate peeled his hand back and winced. “More than a flesh wound.” She grabbed the base of his shirt and yanked it over his head, and then she wrapped the dark blue scrubs around the wound and tied it off. “Hold it tight with your hands.”

She jumped up and rushed toward Graham. His gaze was on the fire. “Put the fire out first,” he exclaimed.

She spun around, grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall, and doused the already dwindling flames. Dropping the canister, she rounded Graham and worked the tight knots at the back of the chair.

Tears stung her eyes from the smoke.

Someone appeared in the doorway, and Kate jerked her attention that direction to find Trish behind them.

“Oh my God,” Trish exclaimed, kneeling at her husband’s side. She was shaking, her eyes wild.

“I’m fine,” he reassured her.

Trish took a look at her husband’s arm and then frantically touched him everywhere as if to ensure herself he hadn’t been hit anywhere else. “I can’t believe you did this. You could have been killed.” She batted his hand away and applied pressure to the wound herself.

Tushar set his hand on her forearm. “Trish,” his voice dropped lower, “I’m okay.”

She shook her head, her face flushed and tears streaming down her cheeks. “Don’t try to placate me. I’m pissed. You ran into a dangerous situation without thinking. Of me. Of us. You scared the hell out of me. You could have been killed. I nearly died when I heard the shots.”

Tushar didn’t try to argue with Trish, but he did pull her head into the crook of his neck. He gripped her tightly, holding her close, mouthing something Kate couldn’t hear into her ear.

Trish was still breathing heavily, but she nodded.

Kate returned her attention to the ropes. Finally, she managed to free Graham, whose gaze was locked on the trashcan.

Tushar stood, staring at the same spot.

No one said a word. They didn’t need to. The damage was obvious.

Kate knew better, but it didn’t matter at the moment.

What mattered was two men had infiltrated the space that should have been the safest place on earth and tried to kill her man. What mattered was that the bunker where she’d spent three years of her life didn’t feel safe.

What mattered was that nothing in her life felt safe anymore. She could run, hide, lie, change her name, color her hair, leave the country, or even pretend to be homeless and sleep under a bridge. Whoever was trying to take down DEEP, and everyone involved, would find her. The only way she could be safe again would be to leave DEEP, leave the project. Leave town. Leave this life. The message was received loud and clear: Anyone meddling with this project would be hunted.

None of them were safe, and she was tired. She wanted out. She wanted to go home, see her parents again, meet her niece, sleep, live life. She couldn’t do this for much longer. Living on the run was not in her blood.

Tushar kneeled to check the pulse of both dead men. “Who are they?” he asked.

“No idea,” Graham responded as he shook the ropes free, pushed off the chair, and grabbed Kate, hauling her into his arms and dipping his face into her hair. When he seemed satisfied that she was okay, he lifted his gaze to everyone else, but he didn’t release her. He probably had no idea he was holding her so tight it hurt.

“What did they say?” Kate asked him, tipping her head back to look up at him. She was numb. She wanted to get out of this bunker. This city. This state. Her ears were ringing from the alarm and the gunfire.

Her energy was zapped.

“Not a lot. They came here to do a job, and they did it.” He shifted his gaze to Temple as she appeared in the doorway.

Temple’s face was red with some emotion Kate couldn’t read. Fear? Shame? Remorse? Guilt? She dropped her gaze to the floor, her shoulders drooping. “I swear I had no idea.”

“Why did you let them inside?” Graham shouted. “Why would you let two strangers question us? If Tushar and Kate hadn’t entered when they did, I would be dead.”

Temple ran a hand over her face. “They convinced me you were the mole. They even had evidence to prove you’d snuck in here and logged into the system. They showed me how many hours you’ve spent downloading the data.” Her voice rose. “They convinced me you had stolen the data and then deleted it from the system.” She stood taller. “Not to mention the fact that all of that is true.”

Graham flinched. His voice rose again. “To save it! Not to destroy it. I put it on those hard drives to save it. And I’m not the one who deleted it. I’ve been working day and night to save it before it would be deleted.”

Temple glanced at the trash can and cringed. Her hand went to her forehead again, rubbing back and forth. “If you’re not the one who deleted the data, who is?”

“How the hell should I know?” Graham asked. He was still holding Kate, his body shaking.

“How did you know someone was going to delete it?” Temple asked.

“Inside tip,” was all Graham gave her.

Temple rolled her head back to stare at the ceiling, hands on her hips. “I’m the one in charge here, Graham. Not you. If you don’t give me all the information, how the hell am I supposed to help? Are you telling me that you and other members of your team have been hiding things from me?”

Tushar stepped forward, holding his shirt over his arm still. So far, he hadn’t gotten involved. Now he looked fit to kill. “Temple, you’re compromised. You might not like to admit that, but it’s true. Information that comes to you gets dispersed to someone who misuses it every time.”

Temple jerked her gaze to Tushar.

The room was silent for long moments before she finally relaxed her shoulders and nodded. “Okay, you might be right. It’s happened far too many times to be a coincidence.”

While everyone spoke, Kate stood next to Graham shaking. She wanted to get out of this bunker. Now. Run as fast and as far as she could.

Temple’s voice was calmer when she spoke again. “I assume you have more secrets than just this one.”

“Yes,” Tushar readily agreed. “Though I’m not privy to them. I’ve been here with you. But yes. I can assure you there are people working to solve this problem.”

She nodded slowly again and glanced at everyone in the room. “Then you have my support. I don’t want any member of your team in danger. Whatever you know, keep it to yourself. Because you’re right, it would seem any information I’m privy to gets used against your team. This conversation stays in this room, though. If my superiors find out I’m helping you, I’ll be implicated.”

“You have our word,” Tushar agreed.

Kate wanted to scream that she was done, that she didn’t want to know another detail either. She glanced at Graham to see a determined look on his face. He was staring at Temple. “We will get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do on this earth.”

Temple nodded.

Kate nearly swallowed her tongue. Of course Graham would be committed to seeing this through. That was the kind of man he was. Dedicated. Devoted to the job, to the bunker, to the team.

But Kate wasn’t with him anymore. They weren’t on the same page. He was furious, shaking, anger fueling him into action. He looked like he might personally sprint across the room and rip these two men into ten pieces even though they were already dead.

She was done. She wanted out.