Saturday. Safe House, Albuquerque, New Mexico.BRENDEN STARED AT THE dark liquid filling his cup. The groggy sensation wasn't one born from hours spent staring at a ceiling.No.He'd slept.True REM sleep.For hours.And when he'd woken up, it was to find Priscilla using him as a kind of body pillow, her head on his shoulder, their legs tangled up.He wasn't sure what to make of this. It had to be a fluke, obviously. They'd been tired, it was a draining day and then sex on top of it all had become the perfect cocktail to a full eight hours of sleep."Wakey, wakey." Vaughn smacked Brenden's shoulder.A bit of the coffee sloshed onto the counter."Fuck, man." Brenden set the mug down and reached for a napkin."Someone's testy this morning." Vaughn leaned against the counter, far too chipper for Brenden's liking.The hair on the back of his neck rose. His stomach tightened. He pressed his toes down, grounding them to the earth to keep from moving.Priscilla br
Saturday. Safe House, Albuquerque, New Mexico.THESE PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW what they were talking about.Priscilla strode into the bedroom, her one haven, and crossed to the far wall. The curtains were doing their best job of blocking out the mid-morning sun, but enough seeped around the edges she could see.The bedroom door shut.She glanced over her shoulder at Brenden leaning up against the flat surface, his arms crossed over his chest. He was watching her again.Why was it the rest of his team just didn't get it?"They're wrong," she said.Her gut churned, and it felt as if a hundred million ants were skittering over her flesh.Were they?She'd never been fooled into believing that Asclepius was an innocent company. They had the same problems as any other for profit business. The true purpose, the good they should be doing, got lost in shareholders and stocks."There's no way they'd throw me under the bus like that." She whirled to face Brenden. Their rumpled be
Saturday. Safe House, Albuquerque, New Mexico.BRENDEN'S BRAIN WAS MUSHY. Zain had come back to them with leads to explore. The whole day had turned into research, filling hours with internet searches, phone calls and making guesses.They weren't much closer to knowing more than they had. Sure, they had a pool of names a couple dozen long of suspects, but no real way to determine who their culprit was as long as they were stuck here. The digging they needed to do wasn't the kind that could be done from a distance. And no one was willing to touch the issue of past date medications being sold or used in hospitals. There were limits to what Aegis Group could handle. This was something that needed to be turned over to the authorities.What concerned Brenden was time. They were running out of it."I'm turning in," Nolan announced."Me, too." Riley pushed to his feet."Have a good night, guys." Vaughn shuffled his deck of cards, his attention on the TV and whatever current new
Sunday. Safe House, Albuquerque, New Mexico.PRISCILLA DRAGGED HER FINGERS through her hair. Her mouth was dry, her head felt full of cotton. It was like a hangover except she hadn't drank.What the hell?A light tap on the bedroom door had her scrambling off the mattress. Her bra prodded her ribs, a reminder that she'd fallen asleep fully dressed wrapped around Brenden.She opened the door and Brenden slid through the gap, two mugs of coffee in hand. His hair stuck up on one side and there were still wrinkles on his cheek from the pillow. And just like her he'd slept in yesterday's clothes.A laugh bubbled up out of her."What?" He handed her a mug."I can't remember the last time I passed out like that." She cradled her mug, the heat and aroma helped made the morning more real. "What time is it? Is anyone else awake?""Riley's on security." Brenden's hand slid along her back as he passed her to sit on the edge of the mattress.Priscilla joined him, perching on th
Sunday. Safe House, Albuquerque, New Mexico.BRENDEN NEEDED OUT OF this house. He had to think. To process.He took the mugs into the kitchen, his skin still buzzing from Priscilla's touch.Last night did not make sense any way he looked at it. He very rarely had a restful night's sleep. It was something he'd grown accustomed to. When on the job he'd often get up and share surveillance duty, allowing whoever was on to get a break. At home he used that time to do small chores. It was routine. Nothing about his wonky sleep schedule bothered him.What he couldn't wrap his head around was that he'd fallen asleep while talking, fully dressed and weighted down by a warm woman.He'd never been diagnosed with anything. The doctors he'd seen had ruled out PTSD, depression and a whole host of other typical suspects. Did he have guilt that he'd survived and so many hadn't? Yeah, but he never allowed that to rule his life. He just didn't sleep well and sometimes his nightmares brought
Sunday. Albuquerque, New Mexico.PRISCILLA'S TEMPLES THROBBED, CREATING a full body ache thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her. She crouched in the relative shelter of the pantry, Melody kneeling in front of her, holding a gun. The only light came from under the door, but it was enough.The shooting had stopped.Out in the desert she'd heard the gunfire, had even seen it in the beginning, but it had always been at a distance. Far enough away it didn't feel quite real to her.This time she'd felt the vibrations of bullets tearing through drywall. The deafening blasts were close.Priscilla had prepared herself to defend against one or two people. Three if she was lucky. But a small army with guns?This was outside her realm of reality. She'd always told herself she was a badass, but today proved she was all talk when it came to the serious shit.Melody's hand wrapped around Priscilla's wrist. "It's over.""How do you know?" She said in a whisper."Clear," a vo
Sunday. Safe House, Chicago, Illinois.BRENDEN STARED OUT OF the windows of the high-rise apartment. Seeing as the main Aegis headquarters was a ways out of the city, the company owned several properties here. Including this upscale apartment used as both a safe house and guest space for clients. He'd been here more times than he could count.A lot more times than he'd visited his family that was for sure.It was a thought that hadn't bothered him until today.Before moving to Seattle Brenden had made a token effort. He'd show up when he had to, but once he'd relocated from Chicago, he hadn't seen a reason to come back. The distance had always been a good thing.Warmth radiated against his back and he knew without looking that Priscilla was there.His gaze focused on the bit of movement reflected back at him, watching her figure then her features emerge in the glass."Settle in okay?" he asked."Yeah. Man, this is some view, isn't it?""Yeah.""I haven't been to
Monday. Safe House, Chicago, Illinois.PRISCILLA SLICKED ON A little gloss then stood back, giving her reflection a once over.She hadn't slept. Not even a little dozing. She'd been too angry. Then because her body was still recovering from the crash she couldn't go to the gym like she wanted. Midnight yoga then a bath was about as much as she could handle, and even that brought up memories.Baths would forever be ruined for her. She just couldn't sit there and not remember that huge soaker tub and Brenden holding her limp body.Fuck him.She'd thought they were similar. That they were both creating new lives. She'd been wrong.He was happy living in his rut, alienated from family, stuck in a bog, living the same thing day after day.Priscilla wanted more.He'd woken up the desire for companionship in her.Before Brenden she'd accepted that all men were in some form of competition with her. Now she had to wonder if there was someone out there like Brenden who could