Bill, the hapless IT slave, must have noticed her staring for too long into the break room. He’d cleared his throat to break the silence. “What are you looking at?”

That was the question. What did she see before her? What were the possibilities waiting to be unlocked? Throw up some new paint, knock down a few walls . . .

“Or maybe,” Bill said, “I should have asked what you’re thinking about. Whatever it is, you seem lost in it.”

“I’m thinking about some big changes.”

Bill smiled politely. “You must be, after everything . . .”

“No, these are just simple changes. For the better. That’s my job, right? To make things better?”

“So, then what’s better about the break room?” Bill asked.

“I’m thinking about converting this whole wing into a daycare facility, for employees.”

“Oh,” Bill said, nodding, mm-hmm-ing in approval. But he didn’t go beyond that. He didn’t dare ask her what kind of changes might be happening in her to facilitate such a change. To get her mind on the topic. She didn’t know, either. She wasn’t pregnant.

But she could be.

She always could be.

She wanted to be, eventually, with Logan’s child.

“What do you think?” Holly said. “Think it’s possible?”

“It’s more than possible.”

“It is,” she said.

“And it’s what you’re here for now. To make those changes. All that stuff falls on you, the boss. The department chief. I’m glad to see you’re already thinking about those executive decisions.”

She smiled at him and his wisdom.

A few moments later, Holly was giving the same speech to almost a hundred department employees, saying everything minus the daycare suite. She would hold on to that one . . .

After another round of applause, she continued: “Changes, people. That’s the word. Changes, and they’ll be happening for the better. And not necessarily for the easier.”

A playful groan spread over the audience. They knew her, and they knew what she meant. Soon they’d know much more.

“You know me. You know I’m fair but firm. I have no intention of making the environment as hostile as Gary Johnson did, but I expect you all to work hard. Working harder than you did with Gary, but working better, truer. If you don’t understand what I mean now, you soon will.” She raised a glass of change to the crowd. “Upward and onward, brothers and sisters.”

She waited for the applause to end before taking a drink, savoring the crisp coolness of victory. The room had gone silent, everyone tasting a little bit of it. Holly made a solemn promise to herself that they would taste more and more.

Her personnel would begin to understand this, starting after the long weekend.

She needed at least a weekend to recoup.

Surviving the insanity that was Andrei Godev, and the work insanity of the last few months, especially when Gary had made it clear he was taking over, had all built up, taking a toll on her body. Lack of sleep from haunting dreams. Physical memories like the marks on her body from where they’d engaged.

Some marks from Logan, too. Those were the good memories.

She had some good memories from it all.

But there were more bad.

Holly hoped Logan could help fix that balance over the weekend.

They had planned a little getaway, a drive across to Ocean City. A drive away from the madness that was the nation’s capital. A drive away from anyone who ever knew her. A drive with Logan, driving toward more of him, more of their future. A drive toward happiness.

That was what she wanted and needed. God, did she ever need it . . .

* * *

“I figured you’d want me to drive,” Logan said, outside her building, opening the passenger side door and closing it behind her.

She watched him walk around the car. She was happy to sit back and do nothing for the next few hours. “Well, you know where we’re going.”

“I definitely know that,” he said, sitting next to her and then pulling away.

“I mean, the physical location,” she said. “Your family’s cabin. Not just what room or bed.”

“No,” he said, “you’re not safe anywhere.”

“Anywhere?”

“You’re not even safe in this car,” Logan said, reaching over and squeezing her thigh as they pulled onto a busy street. It was a manual-transmission car, so he had to take his hand away. Or else . . . who knows how far he would have gone.

“Patience,” she told him.

“Oh, I know patience. I’ve gone, what, seven years?”

“Have some patience, and you’ll have another.”

“Another seven years?”

“Maybe more,” she said.

“Maybe a lot more now that I’m not such an idiot.”

“I told you,” she said, “I’m not going to judge you for past mistakes. And me, too.”

“You, too?”

A car honk rattled him. Logan had forgotten to check his blind spot. “Let’s focus on not making any present mistakes,” he said.

A buzzing on her tablet startled Holly. She wasn’t expecting any calls. She’d done her best to wrap up work at the company, at least for the weekend—despite the monumental shift in her job. She’d done the best she could to clear her schedule for two and a half days with Logan. She’d do anything for those two and a half days. She’d do anything for peace and quiet. And love.

Holly’s aunt was on the other end of the call, her face nearly completely covering the screen of her tablet.

“Am I using this thing right?”

“Yes,” Holly said. “You’re coming through loud and clear.”

“Yeah? Can you hear me?”

“Yep. Can you hear me?”

Her aunt squinted. “Can you see me?”

Holly chuckled. How she had come from this family, she’d never know. “I can hear and see you,” Holly said. “Where are you? The hotel still?”

The background to her call looked a little too plush and opulent to be her aunt’s normal confines. Jackson had been so generous . . .

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna leave,” her aunt said.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, make it count. You and Beth deserve it. Is she there still?”

“She’s here,” her aunt said, wrapping her arm around someone off-screen and then dragging her in. Dragging into the frame the halcyon smile of Beth. An almost drugged smile. Holly figured she’d look the same way for a while after so many days of captivity.

Holly said, “Girls, you’re looking great.”

“We’re looking alive,” Beth said. “That’s the best I can say, at least for myself.”

“Oh, no, your mom, too.”

Holly’s cousin laughed. “No, I’m looking just barely alive as well.”

“Not barely,” Holly said, “Come on. How are you guys doing? How’re you?”

“We’re still in Chez Jacksonian.”

“So,” Holly said, “The Hyatt funded by DARC Ops?”

“Well, it’s sure not funded by me,” her aunt said, waving a bottle in front of the camera. She’d obviously had a few already.

“Well,” Holly said, “I’m glad you two are having fun. Life’s short.”

Logan said something, mumbling, “Life is short,” as he merged onto the highway.

She so agreed with him. Finally.

After the video call ended, he reiterated his point.

“This is why I’m doing this,” Logan said. “This is why I believe.”

“Do you believe me in me?”

“That’s all I have,” Logan said, dodging out of traffic then speeding through the passing lane. He seemed to be in quite the hurry.

“What you have is your need for me?”

“My need is to finish what we’ve started,” he said.

“We’ve started a lot,” she said.

“Yeah. And we haven’t finished enough.”

Holly looked over to her man, her weekend, her future.

“I’m also a little curious. Do you think you can finally relax and enjoy yourself?” he said.

Holly grinned. “I’ll do my best if you do the same.”

Imagine that—the CIA and DARC playing nice. . .

“I promise,” he said.

She kept smiling at him.

Logan quirked an eyebrow. “But nothing I’ve got planned for this weekend is remotely nice.”

He wore a dangerous smile. But there was more danger in her anticipation. Her hunger.

“That’s fine,” she said. She folded her hands in her lap to stop their slight quiver at his words. That didn’t stop the hunger from racing through her.

Things were about to go quite bad before they’d be good again.

“That’s totally fine,” she said, watching him drive away from an old, tired, loveless life.

Logan smiled and then turned back to look ahead. “We’re almost there.”

Thank you so much for reading Holly and Logan’s story. to be the first to know when the next DARC Ops books is published.