ALEC TWISTED IN HIS seat to watch Vara walk back to the galley. She's done this on their other flights. Tight, confined spaces with no way out clearly weren't her thing. He'd try and distract her when she came back."Hey," Zain mumbled. He shifted to his left but didn't glance up."Yeah?" Alec leaned toward his boss and toyed with Vara's screen."Guy two rows back, aisle seat?""You noticed him, too?" Alec had tagged the guy as an odd duck the moment they got on the plane. He'd noticed the looks he tossed Vara's way enough that Alec had a habit of keeping the guy on the edge of his peripheral vision.The man was of average build with thick, black-rimmed glasses. He wore a polo shirt, jeans and a sport coat, but his shoes were dirty old sneakers. His sandy colored hair hadn't been washed lately either.Vara continued to nervous-pace, stretch and mutter to herself. It was cute. She was a creature of action, always needing an activity. She couldn't just sit and do nothing.He'd hav
VARA'S IMPRESSION OF ALEC'S ranch-style house was that it was large and had some nice trees around it. Anything else was hard to make out in the darkness with the ongoing drizzle.She was ready to be done with travel.Her hands burned, and she had a few blisters on her forehead, but other than that she was fine. The topical ointment made them barely noticeable. Still, another close call had her rattled and ready to hide. She wasn't that strong. She wasn't that much of a badass. She was just a woman with a big heart."Come on, I've got you." Alec wrapped his arm around her, lifting his jacket over her head to shield her.She wasn't worried about the rain, but she wanted to stay close to him. They darted up the drive and across the path to the front door.Music and laughter sounded from inside.Alec glanced down at her."You don't have to hang out. My room's down the hall on the left, second door on the right, okay?""I'm fine," she said.He bent and kissed the top of her head.
ALEC CURSED UNDER HIS breath. He'd hoped for a phone call, an easy explanation for the assassination attempt. If Zain was showing up in person, this wasn't good news."Have a seat?" Alec toed a chair away from the table."Thanks." Zain said and laid his tablet on the table.Paxton followed, but remained standing. Ryan stood at the end of the table, hands braced on the corners."Our dead guy from the plane is Russian. No surprise there." Zain brought up a New York driver's license, naming Vara's attacker as Igor Somethingshecouldntpronounce. "He was a chemist. Got bounced from several jobs due to a number of violations. He was on a couple watch lists and a suspected supplier. He wasn't an assassin. This was a lab rat.""But we know who he is and that he's connected to the Russian mob?" Alec reached over and placed his hand on Vara's knee. He wanted to hold her hands, but the chemical burns were still fresh."We do." Zain's frown deepened."What?" Alec didn't like that frown."Th
WYATT STARED AT THE gray house with the small army of cars and trucks in the driveway and lined along the curb. All the other homes had maybe one vehicle visible. Not this one.How many people were inside?Was this Vara's other team? Had she been working with these guys all along? Who was Vara Price, really?They'd met through a military contact. He'd been hesitant at first. Syria was in the grips of a civil war, but there was money to be had. Vara took the right risks, she knew how to get around. It had made for a good partnership.Had he been a fool this whole time?What else was Vara doing?In the end she'd used him and left their team on the ground die.Ivan muttered and smacked the side of the tablet."What?" Wyatt whispered.Ivan jabbed his finger in his ear then spat a curse and tossed the ear buds in the floorboard."The signal is gone," he said."She wasn't on the phone, was she?" Wyatt frowned."No." Ivan glared at the front of the house. "We know where she is. Wh
ALEC PULLED OUT A chair for Vara and held it while she sat with her coffee and bagel.The instructions for this morning had them meeting in the central command room. The space was the second secure room in the building, the other being Zain's personal office. From this room they could handle any number of sensitive tasks, like facial recognition and real-time digital tracking. But most of all, for this morning's purposes, their communication feed was encrypted. Someone was joining them remotely and Alec was curious who that person might be.Today was going to be a long day of figuring out how the hell they were going to handle this threat. Someone was after his girl and he wasn't going to let that happen on his watch.What was worse, there would be people out there who would think she was Djinn even once this blew over. That came with its own set of dangers they'd have to sort out.For now, the Russian mob boss and whatever the hell the Russian intelligence community was up to was
WYATT SLOWED, ALLOWING ANOTHER two vehicles between him and the SUV Vara was traveling in. This close to the residence she'd stayed in, it was safe to say she was going home for the night.They'd barely glimpsed her at all this morning and never once could Ivan or Wyatt get a clear shot."We should just take them all out. Tonight. While they're sleeping." Wyatt didn't care how much security the house had or how skilled the men were, a surprise attack in the dead of night was a good call."No," Ivan said."You want to keep following her around like this?" Wyatt shook his head. "Sending that guy after her on the plane was a bad move.""No one asked for your opinion." Ivan frowned at his phone."What was the point?""If you need me to spell it out for you-""I do," Wyatt snapped."She is afraid. She is making decisions out of fear," Ivan said slowly, as though he were talking to a child."You don't know Vara Price that well." Wyatt grit his teeth and pulled the car to a stop aro
ALEC CROSSED HIS ARMS over his chest and watched Paxton lace up his shoes."I'm leaving, dad. No need to make sure I get out in time." He pushed to his feet and flipped the hood of his sweatshirt up over his ball cap."And you're going to-""Dude, we all agreed to give you the run of the house today, get off my case, okay?" He grabbed the bag of workout gear and ambled toward the front door. "Have fun with your girlfriend."Alec remained standing in the arch until Paxton had locked the door from outside.Finally.Alec turned and strained to hear any movement from the bedroom. Carson had kept Vara up later than he'd realized chitchatting otherwise there was no way he'd have pulled this off. The guys were going to bust his nuts, but he didn't care.They had time to kill while waiting for the bad guys to take the bait and nowhere to go.He grabbed the plates from the oven, inhaling the aroma of the hot breakfast he'd made. It was a wonder Paxton or Silas hadn't stolen some.Alec
VARA PACED THE WIDTH of Alec's room while the two men yelled at each other.Her insides were molten hot, and it felt as though a swarm of hornets were stinging her nerves. Her chest was hot. Her legs were cold. Her head pounded. The smell of soap from the basket of clean laundry was nearly overpowering.He said he loved her.Alec loved her.She hadn't expected that.Stay in Seattle, do the relationship thing. Those she'd been expecting. But love?It wasn't just her. She wasn't the only one in love.They loved each other. What did that mean? What could it mean? How did this change their lives? What were they going to do with this knowledge? Why did she love him? Why this man?A dozen memories flitted through his brain.That laugh. The way he cared for her. His protective nature, not just for her but others. The way he threw himself into things. He'd sacrifice himself for others. He was selfless that way. Deep down, under that bravado, he was a decent, good man. When they were t