“Protection is my job, and I know I blew it before, but I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

Her lashes fluttered against her smooth cheeks. “I wasn’t in any danger when you left me to do another tour.”

“You were in danger of erecting your hard shell again. I’d broken through. I’d made you feel safe and loved, and then I snatched all that away.” He skimmed the pad of his thumb along her jaw. “And I never even said I was sorry.”

“You did what you had to do.” She shrugged, and he put his hands on her raised shoulders.

“Don’t. Don’t pretend it didn’t hurt. Don’t pretend I didn’t betray your trust, your … love.”

Her chest rose and fell as she twisted her fingers in her lap. “Liam, I …”

He held his breath, waiting for the words he’d needed to hear from her two years ago.

Instead an explosion rocked the car and lit up the night sky.

Navy SEAL Spy

Carol Ericson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CAROL ERICSON lives with her husband and two sons in Southern California, home of state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery, wild freeway chases and a million amazing stories. These stories, along with hordes of virile men and feisty women, clamor for release from Carol’s head. It makes for some interesting headaches until she sets them free to fulfill their destinies and her readers’ fantasies. To learn more about Carol, please visit her website, www.carolericson.com, “Where romance flirts with danger.”

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For LRF, my future Navy SEAL

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

A soft footfall outside the door raised the hair on the back of Katie’s neck. With her gaze riveted to the dull silver handle of the door, she watched it go down slowly and then click against the lock.

She spun around on the toes of her low-heeled shoes and launched toward the closet. Good thing she’d mapped out an escape route days ago after studying the layout of the offices. Of course, the closet would be more like a trap than an escape if someone decided to investigate.

Holding her breath, she slipped into the claustrophobic space and crouched behind some boxes. She had a sliced-up view of the office through the slats on the closet door.

The door to the office swung open, and the figure of a man filled the frame. “I didn’t expect to see you here this late.”

Her heart slammed against her chest, and she rocked back on her heels with her rehearsed excuse running through her head.

A woman answered from the hallway. “I forgot some papers in my office and wanted to do some work at home. What’s your excuse?”

The blood rushed to Katie’s head, and she planted her hand against a box to steady herself. She pressed her other hand against her mouth to stifle her panting breath. Of course, nobody could see her through the slats and behind the boxes—yet.

The man, Garrett Patterson, responded. “I thought I’d left my office door unlocked and came back to check it out. I had no intention of doing any more work, unlike some people. You work too hard, Ginger. Do you ever turn off that brain of yours?”

Ginger Spann’s tinkling laugh sounded close. She must’ve entered the room behind Garrett.

“Just like a man to think a woman has to turn off her brain to relax or...enjoy herself.”

The door to the office clicked shut, and the soft sounds of rustling material floated across the room.

Katie swallowed, poked her head out from behind a box and squinted through the slats on the closet door. She couldn’t see heads, only bodies, and those bodies were doing some naughty things to each other.

If she wasn’t in hiding, she could record this encounter and turn it over to Human Resources—if they had an HR department and if she was a snitch. Neither was the case.

As Garrett pushed Ginger against the desk, she groaned, and Katie almost groaned along with her. How long would she be trapped here while these two went at it?

Garrett murmured. “I never thought you were interested before, even though I tried my damnedest to entice you. I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Ginger.”

“Mmm, so have I, Garrett. So have I.”

Someone gasped. Garrett? Who knew cold, uptight Ginger Spann had the moves to bring a man like Garrett to his knees?

Garrett slumped across the desk, and Katie drew back from her peephole as his face appeared in her line of sight. His mouth gaped open, and his eyes bugged out of their sockets.

What was Ginger doing to him, and could she give lessons?

Then Ginger shifted from beneath Garrett’s body and pushed him to the floor, where he fell in a heap, his pale face still turned in Katie’s direction.

Katie drove her fist against her mouth. Garrett looked...dead.

Ginger straightened her pencil skirt and smoothed her hands over the fabric. She crouched next to Garrett’s body, but Katie couldn’t see her face.

Ginger must be in shock. Her movements, slow and deliberate, didn’t look like those of someone who’d just had a guy drop dead on top of her.

Katie watched, her mouth dry, as Ginger felt for his pulse. Then Ginger’s hand plunged into his pocket.

Katie froze, afraid to move one muscle, as Ginger searched Garrett’s body. What the hell was she doing? Why wasn’t she calling 911?

When Ginger rose to her feet, Katie gave a silent sigh of relief. Maybe Ginger was just trying to cover her backside—literally. As far as Katie knew, Garrett was a married man. She knew nothing about Ginger’s marital status, although rumors had been circulating about her and the big boss. The woman was as cold as an icicle.

Katie heard the tones of cell phone buttons, and her stomach dropped. Once the EMTs swarmed this place, what chance would she have of escaping? It could be hours. She could be discovered.

“We’ve got a problem.” Ginger’s sharp tone was a one-eighty from her breathy pillow talk with Garrett. “I got here all right, but Garrett Patterson was here before me.”

Ginger paused and then lashed back. “How the hell am I supposed to know? I couldn’t risk it. He’s dead.”

Katie swallowed.

“This is your problem. You’re the one who lost your badge in his office. Send one of your minions over here to help me out. Now.”

She must’ve ended the call because she’d stopped talking. Ginger moved toward the door and out of Katie’s sight, but Garrett’s dead eyes still stared at her in her hiding place.

Both she and Garrett had stumbled on more than they’d bargained for. Garrett had forgotten to lock his office door when he’d left for the day, and Katie had been careening down the hallway looking for an unlocked door.

Garrett’s action had gotten him killed, and hers had gotten her trapped—but had also confirmed her suspicions about her place of work. Now, if she could only get out of this situation alive.

A soft tap on the door had Katie’s heart hammering again.

The door opened and Ginger whispered. “Did anyone see you?”

“No. Besides, I have an excuse for wandering the halls at this hour.”

“You’re an idiot. How did you manage to lose your badge?”

A pair of legs encased in gray pants with a black stripe up the side came into Katie’s line of vision. Security.

“My plastic badge holder cracked on one side. It must’ve fallen out, but at least I figured out where.”

“Yeah, you’re a real genius. Get a new badge holder. Patterson was already suspicious. Finding your badge in his office would’ve amped up his suspicions even more.”

The security guy whistled and crouched beside Garrett’s lifeless body. A hand with a bird tattooed on the back reached for Garrett’s throat. “How’d you do him?”

“As far as you’re concerned, he had a heart attack.”

“With his fly down?” The security guard chuckled.

“That’s why you’re here. Set it up.”

“Fingerprints?”

“Don’t worry about fingerprints. I have every right to be in Garrett’s office, and nobody’s going to be doing a criminal investigation here if you stage it correctly.”

The guard hoisted Garrett’s body up and dragged him out of Katie’s view. Unfortunately, the two conspirators exchanged very few words as they positioned Garrett at his desk and straightened up the office.

Katie hadn’t noticed a security guard’s badge when she’d first entered Garrett’s office, which seemed like hours ago now, but she hadn’t known what to look for. It was the first time in two weeks of searching that she’d discovered an unlocked office, and she’d meant to take advantage of it.

If she’d found that badge first, there’s no telling what she could’ve discovered about her employer, Tempest...and Sebastian’s suicide.

“That should do it.” The security guard cleared his throat. “Should I close his eyes?”

“Why? People die with their eyes open all the time.”

“I don’t know. He looks kinda...surprised.”

“He was.”

Katie shivered. Why kill Garrett unless she suspected him of returning to his office to get the security guard’s badge? Why would he do that? Was it because he had his own doubts about Tempest?

The security guy’s shoes squeaked as he crossed the floor. “Should I discover him tonight?”

“Let someone else discover him tomorrow morning. Keep a low profile.”

“He’s a married guy. His wife might come looking for him or start calling around.”

“Garrett’s wife is out of town.” Ginger made a clicking noise. “He must’ve told me that ten times this week.”

“Then he’s someone else’s problem.”

Ginger brushed past the closet door, and Katie’s heart stuttered as she caught a whiff of Ginger’s light, citrus perfume.

“I’m leaving first. Wait at least a minute and then get lost.”

“Should I leave the door locked or unlocked?”

“Leave it unlocked—the easier for someone to find him tomorrow morning.”

“I hope this works.”

“Of course it’ll work. I didn’t slit his throat. The drug I gave him mimics a heart attack, and that’s all you need to know.”

The door clicked open and shut, and Katie eased out a short breath. Ginger terrified her—even more now.

The security guard hummed a tuneless song as Katie closed her eyes and counted the seconds until his departure. Her muscles ached with tension.

Just when she thought she’d be holed up in the closet all night, she heard the door open and close and blessed silence descended on the office. Leaning her forehead against the nearest box, she released a noisy sigh.

She shifted her stiff body and pressed her eye against the slat in the door. As far as she could see, the room looked empty, not that she expected Ginger or the security guard to pop out from behind the desk—but she wouldn’t put it past them.

Unlike Ginger, she had no reason to be in Garrett Patterson’s office, so she shrugged out of her sweater and wiped down the boxes and the inside of the closet door. Still using the sweater, she pushed against the door to open it and crawled out.

She straightened up and then immediately swayed to the side when she caught sight of Garrett slumped in his chair, his eyes still open. She crept toward the desk and reached across the body to shuffle through the contents on top of his blotter. The security guard must’ve found his badge.

Like most employees at Tempest, Garrett worked on a laptop that he must’ve already taken home for the evening.

Her fingers tripped across the edge of a notebook shoved beneath the blotter. She pulled it free and thumbed through the pages of what looked like an appointment book.

As she wiped the desk clean with the sweater, it caught on the arm of Garrett’s chair and she yanked it free. She didn’t want to get any closer to him than she had to.

She shoved her arms into the sleeves and tucked Garrett’s spiral notebook into the pocket. Grasping the door handle with the sleeve of the sweater pulled over her hand, she took one last glance at the room. If she’d had her cell phone with her, she could’ve caught the whole scene on video. Of course, if she’d had her phone with her and it’d buzzed, she could be dead right now.

She pushed down on the handle and inched open the door. The hallway stretched to her right toward the stairwell, and she slipped from the office and tiptoed down the hallway. She’d already checked these other doors earlier—all locked.

When she reached the metal door to the stairwell, she pulled the sleeve of the sweater over her hand again. She didn’t think the authorities would be checking for fingerprints out here, but she didn’t want to be connected to this floor in any way. She’d already tampered with the security camera, and she’d fix its footage later.

Anxious to put as much distance between herself and Garrett Patterson, she charged through the door. She took the stairs two at a time on her way down and then stumbled to a screeching halt as a man materialized in front of her.

A scream roared from her lungs and then ended in a squeak on her lips as she looked up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen—or at least the bluest eyes she’d ever seen since the last time she’d locked lips with the man who broke her heart.

Chapter Two

Adrenaline pumped through Liam’s body as he reached out to grab the woman barreling into him. She tipped back her head, her perfect lips forming a perfect O, and his adrenaline kicked up another notch.

He whispered the name of the woman who’d been haunting his dreams for two years. “Katie-O.”

“You!” Her dark eyebrows collided over her nose. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Me?” He didn’t know whether to give her a shake or a kiss, so he settled for smoothing the pads of his thumbs along her collarbone as he still held her by the shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Always answering a question with a question.” She shrugged him off. “I work here.”

His eyes narrowed, and his senses kicked into high alert. “You work for Tempest?”

“Shh. Don’t tell anyone. It’s top secret.” She held her finger to her lips, and her eyes sparkled in the dimness of the stairwell.

He’d never known when to take Katie seriously—that had been one of their many problems during their brief acquaintance. Her dramatic words and gestures were over the top, but they held an ultimate truth. If she did, indeed, work for Tempest, then her work was top secret.

“In what capacity, the recreation adviser?” Last he’d heard, Katie was designing video games.

She removed her finger from her lips and shook it under his nose. “Not so fast. I asked you what you were doing here first.”

He studied her face in the low light. She was angry with him about the way they’d ended things. He couldn’t trust her. Hell, he couldn’t trust anyone.

He lowered his voice and put his lips close to her ear. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

She twitched back from him. “The last time I saw you in San Diego, you had one more tour of duty as a navy SEAL. So, you’re either here as a consultant or you’re training to be an...agent.”

“Brilliant deduction.”

“Which is it?” She wedged her hands on her hips, as feisty as ever.

“It’s top secret.” He winked at her.

The door above them scraped open, and Liam pulled Katie into his arms, lunging for the recessed area between the two sets of stairs. A shaft of light from the hallway crept across the landing above them as the door widened.

A footstep landed on the cement floor, and heavy breathing echoed through the stairwell.

Liam held Katie tighter.

The silky strands of her black hair got caught on the scruff of his beard as he held her head against his chest with one hand. If she wondered why someone’s presence in the stairwell had sent him scrambling for cover, her curiosity didn’t lead her to break away from him or call out to the stranger.

The intruder shuffled onto the landing as if he was peering down the stairs. Then he backtracked and let the fire door slam shut.

Liam remained still for several more seconds, holding Katie, inhaling the sweet fragrance emanating from her skin.

Still in his arms, she tilted her head back, and he could see the pulse in her throat beating wildly. Had his actions frightened her? Aroused her?

Her voice was a low whisper. “Wh-why did you do that?”

“I’m not sure I’m allowed in this building, and I’m bucking for a perfect training score.”

“If you’re not supposed to be here, what are you doing in this stairwell?”

“Are you allowed in this building?”

“I work on the first floor.”

“What are you doing on the fourth floor?”

She pushed away from him and crossed her arms. “Uh, ladies’ room—they’re on the even-numbered floors only, and the one on the second floor is out of order.”

His gaze dropped to her arms crossed over her chest, her fingers biting into her upper arms. She was lying.

“Then maybe we didn’t have to hide. I could’ve said I was visiting you.”

“No!”

The word was out of her mouth before he finished his sentence.

He could almost feel the waves of heat coming from her cheeks as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “I—I just think it’s better if Tempest doesn’t know that we were...acquaintances. Don’t you?”

The minute Katie-O had plowed into him, he’d had no intention of revealing his relationship with her to Tempest, and he never would’ve allowed her to do it, either. The fact that she’d come up with the deception first made his life a lot easier...and made him a lot more suspicious.

He raised his eyes to the ceiling and tapped his chin. “I suppose that’s probably for the best. Tempest is a covert agency that forbids you to tell anyone where you work. Is it that way for you, too?”

“Absolutely.” She puffed out a breath. “I had to sign all sorts of forms and agreements to keep my employment here under wraps—even from my closest family members.”

“Even from Sebastian? He’s like a brother to you. I can’t imagine you’d keep anything from him.”

Her pale skin blanched even more and her huge, dark eyes sparkled with tears. “Sebastian’s dead.”

Without thinking of anything but taking her hurt away, he gathered her in his arms again. “I’m so sorry, Katie. I hadn’t heard.”

He hadn’t heard much of anything in the past two years since he’d seen her. He’d been deployed for another year in Afghanistan and then immediately plucked from the navy for...another assignment.

She sniffled against his chest but didn’t offer up any details. If she didn’t want to talk about Sebastian, he didn’t want to ask her to elaborate on the death of the man who’d been the only person she’d called family.

“Is that why you took a job with Tempest in the middle of Idaho, to get away from everything?”

Stepping back, she grabbed both of his hands, her nails digging into his flesh. “Don’t tell anyone here that you know me.”

He’d be more than happy to keep her secret, since that meant she’d be keeping his. “You have my word, Katie.”

“And don’t—” she flung his hands away from her “—call me Katie.”

He opened his mouth to find out what she wanted him to call her, but she spun around and disappeared down the stairwell.

* * *

KATIE RAN HER TONGUE along the inside of her dry mouth as the announcement from the Giant Voice system blared from the speaker in the corner of the office where she shared cubicle space with other employees from various departments.

“All-hands meeting in the building S cafeteria. Report immediately to the building S cafeteria.”

Katie removed her access card from her computer and grabbed her purse from the desk drawer. Hooking it over her shoulder, she joined her coworker Samantha in the line of people heading for the office door.

Samantha cupped her hand over her mouth and dipped her head toward Katie. “What do you think this is all about?”

“I have no idea.” Katie’s gaze ping-ponged among the faces of her other coworkers filing out of the office into the hallway. Their expressions registered everything from boredom to curiosity to fear. The fearful ones, she’d come to realize, were either total newbies like her or long-termers, but she hadn’t yet figured out what they had to fear.

“Hey.” Samantha tugged on Katie’s purse strap. “Do you think all hands include all the hot guys who are over at the gym training every day?”

“I thought we weren’t allowed over at the gym.”

“Don’t be such a Goody Two-shoes, KC. I told you I’d heard there was hot man meat over there, and I was going to check it out.” Samantha smacked her lips. “And I’m here to tell you the reports didn’t lie.”

“You’re going to get yourself fired, Samantha.” If spying on the agents got Samantha fired, then she couldn’t even imagine her punishment for spying on a murder.

Samantha shrugged. “Whatever. This job sucks, anyway. Too many rules, regulations and restrictions, and not a damned thing to do out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“The pay’s good.”

“That’s about the only perk.” She dropped her voice and moved close to Katie again. “And you can’t tell me you think Mr. Romo is anyone who remotely resembles a normal boss.”

“Quiet.” Katie glanced around at the other Tempest employees streaming into the cafeteria. Maybe Samantha didn’t want to keep this job, but Katie had to keep it—even now that Liam had turned up. Maybe even more so.

How had Liam gotten involved with Tempest? She bit her lip and blinked the tears from her eyes. Probably the same way Sebastian had gotten involved, but she hadn’t come here to save Liam McCabe.

She came to get justice for Sebastian, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to stand in her way—not even Liam.

As she shuffled into the cafeteria, Katie noticed the security guards at each door. She studied their faces, impassive beneath their caps, and wondered which one had helped Ginger last night. If she could get a look at the backs of their hands, she’d know for sure.

“I feel like I should be mooing.” Samantha tossed her hair back and then nudged Katie’s shoulder. “The man parade is here. This must be important.”

Katie jerked her head to the left and watched a line of impressive men, with one woman in their midst, snake through the side door and line up against the wall. Facially, they weren’t all handsome, at least not like Liam, who possessed the classic good looks of a California surfer, but all of them had incredible builds with muscles that went on forever and an air of quiet competence. And these were just the new recruits.

Man meat, indeed.

Had Liam picked her out of the crowd as easily as she had him? As she studied his face across the room, he looked up and met her eyes as if he knew exactly where she’d been standing all along.

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself one delicious shiver as she relived their meeting in the stairwell last night and once again felt Liam’s arms around her. He’d smelled precisely as she remembered—fresh like an ocean breeze, manly and strong.

Her eyelids flew open. And now he was part of Tempest—the enemy.

Pradeep Singh tapped the microphone at the front of the room, and the other managers lined up behind him. Their boss, Mr. Romo, was absent as usual. Ginger took a position to Pradeep’s right, folding her hands loosely in front of her, the business suit, glasses and chignon sending a demure, professional vibe.

But Katie knew better.

“Hello, everyone.” Pradeep waved his hands. “There are some seats up front, but we won’t keep you too long.”

Not many in the crowd took him up on his offer, so he continued.

“I know some of you have been hearing rumors this morning, and some of you early risers heard sirens and may have even seen the ambulance.”

Katie swallowed and hung on to her purse strap. Here it comes.

Pradeep cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to report that one of our own, Garrett Patterson, died at the compound last night.”

A few gasps and oohs and aahs rippled through the room, and Ginger leaned toward Pradeep, covering the mic with her hand as she whispered something in his ear.

Pradeep nodded once. “Garrett had a heart attack in his office last night—in this very building on the fourth floor.”

A wave of sympathetic murmurs swirled through the cafeteria, but Katie felt the air brimming with tension. Was it just the fact that a coworker had died in the building, or did the Tempest employees sense something more? She glanced around the room at the concerned and sad faces—emotions totally in keeping with the announcement.

She continued to scan the crowd and like a magnet, her eyes locked on to Liam’s. Even from this distance she could feel the intensity of his gaze. He’d probably taken note that Garrett had keeled over on the fourth floor—the floor she’d been exiting when she bumped into him on the stairwell. Liam didn’t miss much—except when it came to emotion.

Ginger stepped up to the mic next. “We’ll be taking up a collection for flowers for Garrett’s wife. The memorial service will be back East, so please pay your respects with a little donation.”

Katie clenched her jaw at Ginger’s phony, saccharine tone. Pradeep droned on for a bit more, but she’d tuned out. They’d put the heart attack story out there, and apparently had no trouble selling it to the EMTs who’d responded this morning.

Would that be the end of it? Could she phone in an anonymous tip to the police to check for some sort of heart attack-inducing drug?

“Earth to KC.” Samantha snapped her fingers in front of Katie’s face.

Pradeep had stopped speaking, and the crowd had begun shuffling back to their work areas, talking in low voices.

“Psst.” Samantha pinched her arm. “Let’s exit the same way the agents are exiting.”

“A coworker just died and that’s all you can think about?”

“Between you and me—” Samantha looked both ways “—Garrett had a roving eye. The few times I talked to him, he couldn’t seem to keep his gaze at eye level, if you know what I mean.”

“So he deserves to drop dead at his desk for being a perv?”

“Was he at his desk?” Samantha cocked her head. “I didn’t hear them say where he was.”

Katie shrugged. “Pradeep said he was found in his office, so I just assumed he was at his desk.”

Samantha herded her across the room to the farthest exit door where Liam and the other agents were headed. Would Liam think she was trying to get close to him?

She and Samantha jostled for position, and someone bumped her purse from behind. Gripping the strap, she glanced over her shoulder.

“Sorry.” Liam dropped his eyes to her purse and then stared straight ahead as if she was just another Tempest office worker—not someone who’d shared his bed for eight delicious months two years ago.

As the workers fanned out into the hallway, Samantha poked her in the back. “You see? It worked. One of them actually said something to you.”

“Yeah, he said sorry for bumping into my purse after you pushed me in front of him.”

“Well, that’s a start.”

“Start of some trouble. We’re not supposed to be fraternizing with those guys.” Katie flashed her badge at the reader by the office door, and the red light turned to green.

“I’d like to fraternize one or two of them.” Samantha winked and then ducked into her cubicle.

Katie dropped into her chair and hunched forward to open her bottom desk drawer to put her purse away. As she wedged it into the drawer, she noticed the corner of a white card sticking out of the side pocket.

Pinching it between two fingers, she pulled it free. The words jumped out at her.

Behind the bleachers at noon.

She recognized the writing as Liam’s, and her heart skipped a beat. Should she risk it? She might be able to wheedle some information out of him. She had special ways of handling Liam McCabe—or at least she used to.

She had to find out what he knew. The notebook she’d snatched from Patterson’s office last night had been a bust—just a bunch of abbreviations, a series of numbers and meeting notes.

The rest of the morning crawled by. Samantha popped in to let her know she had to bail on lunch for a meeting with her boss in accounting, which saved Katie from bailing herself.

When the clock on her computer read ten minutes to twelve, Katie grabbed her purse and ducked into the lunchroom to get her sandwich from the fridge. She’d better have some cover for being out at the track on her lunch hour.

Glancing at the gray skies, she turned up the collar of her jacket and crossed the quad. If it started raining, she’d have to abandon the meeting with Liam, and he’d have to reschedule it—or not. What did he want with her, anyway?

She slipped behind the building on the north side of the quad, put her head down and marched toward the gym that had a track behind it. Tempest had taken over an old high school for its compound and had remodeled most of the buildings on campus, even adding dorm-type living quarters for the recruits, but the track and the indoor pool had been maintained.

Employees were allowed to use the gym, but only before and after regular work hours. Tempest wanted to keep the agent recruits and the rest of the employees apart, unless the job directly involved the agents—hers didn’t, not yet, anyway.

A few people were jogging around the track, and she realized one of them was Liam. She settled on the second to last row of the bleachers and pulled out her lunch and a book. Ignoring the runners, she ate her sandwich with her book propped open on her knees.

Liam broke away from the track and started jogging up and down the bleachers. On one of his trips down, his pace slowed as he passed her. He panted. “Underneath the bleachers.”

She wadded up her brown paper bag and stepped down from the second row. She wandered to the trash can at the back of the bleachers, tossed away her trash and then ducked beneath the bleachers, stepping over the bars crisscrossing the open space. She could still hear Liam’s feet as they rang against the metal steps above her.

Less than five minutes later, Liam joined her beneath the bleachers, steam rising from his flesh, damp with sweat. His musky scent pulsed off him in waves, drawing her in, making him seem closer than he was.

His blond hair, away from the sun and surf, had darkened to a burnt gold, but his blue eyes still sparkled like the ocean on a clear day. She curled her hands into fists to squelch the urge to run her fingers through his hair.

“What do you want?” Angry with herself for responding to him in the old familiar ways, her tone came out as harsh as the raw, cold day.

“That guy, Patterson, died in his office on the fourth floor.”

She brushed a speck of dirt from the sleeve of her jacket. “Yeah, I know. I was at the same meeting as you.”

“You—” he leveled a finger at her “—were on the fourth floor of building S last night, flying down the staircase like you’d seen a ghost.”

“Well, I didn’t see Garrett Patterson, if that’s what you’re implying, and if I had, I would’ve reported his...death instead of chatting about old times with you in the stairwell.” She widened her stance and dug her heels into the rubber track beneath her feet.

“Old times? I don’t remember any walk down memory lane. You were too busy telling me to keep my mouth shut about knowing you...KC Locke.”

“Have you been checking me out?”

His eyes flickered. “If we’re going to pull off this pretense, I figured it was best if I knew what you were calling yourself.”

“KC Locke.” She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

He took her hand and circled the inside of her wrist with his thumb. “KC, Kathryn Claire Locke—that’s the name you used when you were in the foster care system. How does Tempest not know that you started calling yourself Katie and changed your last name to your mother’s maiden name, O’Keefe, when you left the system?”

“Shh. I have friends in low places.”

“Yeah, more like you used your mad skills with a computer.” He tightened his grip on her wrist. “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here under an assumed name?”

She leaned in close just to catch another whiff of him. “I’m going to tell you that Garrett Patterson had a heart attack, and I wasn’t there when it happened.”

Dropping her hand, he lifted one shoulder. “Don’t play with fire, Katie.”

“You should’ve warned me about that two years ago in San Diego.” She hunched into her jacket and stepped out from beneath the bleachers.

With her hands stuffed in her pockets and her head down to ward off the chilly wind, she strode toward the track to cross it. Would he come after her? He couldn’t. They couldn’t be seen together out in the open.

She wandered across the track, sniffing back the tingles in her nose. Then a sharp voice interrupted her daydreams.

“Stop right where you are, or I’ll drop you where you stand.”

Chapter Three

All of Liam’s senses ramped up to high alert but instead of charging from beneath the bleachers to defend Katie like he wanted to, he flattened his body against the metal bars that crisscrossed his hiding place. He wouldn’t be doing either one of them any favors by rushing out to protect her. Besides, a Tempest security guard wouldn’t shoot an employee in cold blood...would he?

He peered through the bars, his heart hammering against his chest at the sight of Katie with her arms in the air, a weapon pointed at her back.

A woman’s voice cut through the air. “Meyers, put down that gun.”

The security guard lowered his weapon as he stammered. “I—I—I’m sorry, Ms. Spann, but civilian employees aren’t supposed to be out here on the track.”

Ginger Spann waved her long fingers in the air. “The infraction of that rule is certainly not punishable by death. Turn around, dear.”

Katie turned to face the duo, and Liam had to give her credit. She didn’t shift her gaze once in his direction, although she had to know he was still ensconced beneath the bleachers.

He couldn’t see her expression since the security guard was now blocking her face, but he could feel ice coming off her in waves, making the chilly air even crisper.

“What is going on? I come outside to eat my lunch in the fresh air and I’m held at gunpoint?” She shook her empty sandwich bag, which she’d pulled from her pocket, in the security guard’s face.

“I agree, KC.” Ginger tilted her head to one side. “It is KC, isn’t it? Down in programming?”

Katie worked in programming? That made total sense...and could be useful.

“That’s right, and you’re Ginger Spann. I just saw you at the all-hands meeting.”

“So sad about Garrett Patterson. Maybe that’s why we’re all on edge.” She turned to the security guard. “Meyers, apologize to Ms. Locke.”

Meyers shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s just that we have strict orders about this area of the—”

“That’s enough, Meyers. You can return to whatever it was you were doing before you scared the wits out of Ms. Locke.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Meyers spun around, and Liam caught a glimpse of the man’s tight mouth as he walked toward the gym.

Seems he didn’t care much for Ginger’s tone, but then, who did?

His departure gave Liam a clear view of Katie’s face.

Her wind-tossed, dark hair blew across her face, and she scooped it into a ponytail, holding it over one shoulder. “I’m really sorry about venturing this far. After the news about Garrett, I just wanted to get out of the building for lunch and get some fresh air. I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going, and when I looked up I realized I was way out here, so I just sat on the bleachers to eat my sandwich.”

Ginger raised her suit-clad shoulders. “No harm, no foul. It’s just that we have training going on out here for potential agents. You knew that, right? Everyone knows that, I suppose.”

“That’s the buzz, anyway.”

The wind gusted, and Ginger tugged at the lapels of her suit jacket.

She wasn’t dressed for a turn around the track in this weather. Had the security guard spotted Katie first before calling Ginger? If so, had he seen her emerge from beneath the bleachers?

“It’s chilly out here. Let’s walk back together.”

Liam twisted his lips. That was a less-than-subtle way to get Katie out of this area.

As the two women turned and took the path back to the office buildings, Liam let out a long breath.

What was Katie doing working for Tempest in what amounted to an undercover situation? That was his job.

If she was here in a legitimate position as a programmer, why would she come on under an assumed name? She’d called herself KC when she was a teenager in foster care, had switched to the more formal Kathryn when she became an adult and started working and then settled on Katie, which suited her a lot better than Kathryn or KC.

Now she was KC again.

KC was the wild child, the rebel, the illegal hacker, even though she dressed like an office drone. Did calling herself KC have some significance here?

He narrowed his eyes and peered between the bleachers at the empty track. He’d skipped lunch to run a few miles, so he’d better work up a sweat to bolster his story.

He slipped between the slats and hoisted himself on top of the bleachers. Lifting his knees almost to his chest, he began running the stairs. A few trips up and back and sweat dampened his gray T-shirt and beaded his brow.

As he slung his towel around his neck, he peered at the office buildings in the distance. What kind of game was Katie playing with Tempest?

She had to know that if she lost even one round of that game, it could mean her life.

* * *

KATIE TOOK A deep breath and hunched over the sink in the bathroom. For a minute she thought Ginger was going to follow her in here. The woman gave her the creeps, and that had been before she’d watched her kill a man in cold blood in midcoitus.

Ginger had shown a lot of interest in Katie’s work. Had asked her several questions about programming and what programming languages she knew.

Katie splashed some cold water on her face even though her cheeks still stung from the crisp air outside.

She blotted her face with a paper towel and then crumpled it in her fist. Ginger had no reason to suspect her. Neither she nor the security guard had seen Liam crouching beneath the bleachers.

Meyers—had he been the same guy who’d assisted Ginger last night? He’d been wearing black gloves so if he did have the bird tattoo, she couldn’t see it. The voice sounded similar and besides, how many guards did Ginger have that would willingly be an accomplice to murder?

She tossed the paper towel in the trash and straightened her shoulders. Ginger didn’t scare her. She still planned to gather more evidence against Tempest and then report the agency to...someone. She hadn’t gotten that far in her plan yet.

Her head swiveled back toward the mirror, and she ran her hands through her wind-tossed hair. She’d thought Liam McCabe was the kind of man to turn to in dire straits, but not if he was working with the enemy.

Or was he?

Sebastian certainly hadn’t known what he was getting himself into.

She pushed out of the ladies’ room and turned the corner to catch the elevator down to her floor. The phone rang just as she stepped into her cubicle, and she spent fifteen minutes dealing with a software issue.

“Where did you disappear to for lunch?” Samantha hung on the corner of her cube.

“I wandered around outside for a bit. How was your meeting?”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “A huge waste of time, and Larry didn’t even buy me lunch, the cheap bastard.”

“That’s just wrong.”

“Cute jacket.” Samantha tilted her head. “Do you have the sweater you borrowed from me yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s hanging in the closet.” Katie jerked her thumb at the metal black cabinet behind her that had a bar and a couple of hangers.

Samantha reached past her and opened the door. She shook out the cream-colored sweater she usually kept on the back of her chair for the days when the office got too chilly—like today.

“I hope you sew.”

“What?” Katie clicked on an email reminding her about database maintenance tomorrow night and then deleted it.

“There’s a button missing, and I swear it wasn’t missing when I gave the sweater to you yesterday.”

Katie spun around in her chair. “Really?”

Samantha thrust the sweater at her and a few scraggly threads marked the spot where a square button had been.

“I’m so sorry. Do you have a replacement for it? I can sew it back on.”

Samantha laughed. “I’m just kidding. I might have an extra button for this old thing at home. I’ll sew it back on when I find it.”

“I’ll check my car. I didn’t bring it in to my place last night. I wore it to my car and tossed it in the backseat so I wouldn’t forget it today.”

“Don’t knock yourself out.” She draped the sweater over her shoulders. “It’s just my office sweater. I wouldn’t actually go out in public wearing this thing.”

“The buttons are kind of cute.”

“These?” She plucked at one of the shiny squares. “They’re hideous.”

Samantha retreated to her own cubicle, and Katie dug into her work. She hadn’t figured out a way around the Tempest firewalls yet, but she would. She’d been something of a hacker before she went legitimate, and while changing a few grades didn’t compare to the type of security Tempest had in place, she had confidence in her skills. She’d already figured out how to mess with the security cameras and the access cards.

She stretched and wandered to the window, folding her arms as she rested her forehead against the glass. She couldn’t quite see the track from here, but she could see the edge of the gym, and the movement over there meant the agents were training again.

She knew they slept here. They had living quarters behind the compound out there. Some of them wouldn’t make the cut, and they’d be sent home after signing some nondisclosure agreement. They agreed not to talk about their training, and they walked away with a nice severance bonus—at least that’s what she’d heard.

She had no doubt Liam would pass every physical test they threw at him. When she’d met him in San Diego, he’d been a SEAL—conditioned, primed and at his peak.

From the looks of him today in his T-shirt and running shorts, he was still at his peak. She chewed on her bottom lip. Maybe she should warn him. But warn him about what? She had no idea really what Tempest was up to. She just knew it was no good, and maybe Liam knew that, too.

She couldn’t believe he’d turn on her, but then she wouldn’t have believed he’d leave her stranded, high and dry in San Diego, while he returned to the Middle East for another tour. He’d promised her he was done.

She snorted and squiggled her finger through the mist her breath had left on the window. Men like Liam were never done. Men like Sebastian.

She needed another break. She dipped back into her cubicle and dragged her car keys from her purse. Tapping on the side of Samantha’s cubicle, she said, “I’m going out to my car in case anyone’s looking for me. I’m going to look for that button.”

“I don’t care about the stupid button, KC.”

“I know, but it’s bugging me now, and I need a break, anyway.”

“If you remember, get me a diet cola from the vending machine downstairs. I’m gonna need some caffeine if I’m gonna get through this boring stuff before I leave tonight.”

Katie patted the pocket of her jacket where she had a few dollar bills. “No problem.”

She made her way to the parking structure, where cars still took up the majority of the spaces. Most of the employees took off around five o’clock, except for the diehards, people like Ginger and Garrett and Mr. Romo. Nobody ever saw much of Mr. Romo, and nobody ever called him anything but Mr. Romo, but he presided over Tempest from the top floor of the building like some omniscient being. She’d caught sight of him a few times, and he always seemed to be staring at her, but that was probably because he had the oddest, light-colored eyes.

Katie had her doubts he ever left the compound.

She clicked her remote, and her horn beeped once. She went straight for the backseat, running her palms along the leather. Then she lay on her stomach and scanned the floor for the shiny button. She even slipped her hands between the seat cushions.

Her fingertips skimmed the edge of a long-lost nickel. She pulled it free and tucked it into the pocket of her slacks.

Blowing a wisp of hair from her face, she shimmied out of the backseat and slid behind the wheel of the car. She scooped a fistful of quarters from the cup holder to make sure she had enough money for Samantha’s soda and one for herself.

Then she tilted her head back against the headrest. When had she lost that button? She hadn’t been too many places after borrowing the sweater from Sam at the end of the workday.

She’d worked late in her cubicle after everyone had left to give herself time to do her weekly roaming of the hallways. She’d finally lucked out when she discovered Garrett Patterson’s door unlocked—at least she’d considered herself lucky until Ginger had murdered Garrett.

Could she have lost the button hiding in that closet?

Or was it worse than that? She pressed her fingertips to her lips as she recalled the sweater getting caught on Garrett’s chair as she wiped her prints from his desk.

No point in returning to his office even if she could get in. If she’d lost the button there, it was either hidden or someone had found it and disposed of it. A button was a button, and it could’ve come from anywhere.

She scooted from the car and deposited the rest of the change into her pocket. She slammed the car door and leaned forward to peer at her reflection. This dry weather wasn’t doing her hair any favors—not that she had cared about her appearance here at Tempest one iota until Liam had shown up on the scene. The man still caused her blood to simmer despite her resolve not to let him affect her. She couldn’t afford the distraction.

A movement reflected in the glass caught her eye, and she spun around. The blank headlights on the rows of cars parked in their orderly places stared back at her.

She cocked her head, listening for the beep of a remote or the slamming of a car door. Her own heavy breathing answered her.

Maybe someone had just come back to his car to get something or take a break. Nobody at Tempest had any reason to suspect her of snooping. Sure, Ginger and Meyers had caught her near the track, but she wouldn’t be the first female employee at Tempest to try to get a better look at the buff recruits as they went through their paces.

Wiping her palms on her slacks, she strode toward the parking structure’s elevator and jabbed the button. When the doors closed, she released a sigh and sagged against the wall of the elevator.

It had been a long time since she’d practiced this cloak-and-dagger stuff. She’d stopped hacking shortly after turning eighteen. Sergeant Liz Humphries, the cop who’d taken an interest in Katie while she’d still been in the foster care system, had undertaken the chore of teaching her right from wrong and more important at the time, the difference between a juvenile record and an adult record.

The same woman had encouraged a rebellious Sebastian to enlist in the Marine Corps. Liz had been a surrogate mother to both of them, creating an unbreakable bond between them at the same time—unbreakable until Sebastian’s death.

She blinked back tears as she crossed the courtyard between the parking garage and the office building. As soon as she had proof that Tempest was responsible for Sebastian’s death, she’d blow this organization sky-high. And if Liam was still with Tempest, she’d blow him sky high with it.

She swung by the lunchroom and fed her dollar bills and coins into the soda machine. With a can in each hand, she returned to her office on the first floor. She swiped her card and sailed through the free-standing desks at the front of the office toward the cubicles in the back of the room.

She leaned into Samantha’s empty cubicle and placed the can on the edge of her desk in the only spot not covered with papers.

Something gleamed under the lamp on Samantha’s desk blotter, and Katie reached out and smoothed her fingers along the edges of the square button.

She blew out a breath. Samantha must’ve found it in the office. Maybe it had fallen off the sweater in her cube before Katie had even borrowed it.

She returned to her own cubicle and popped the tab on her soda. She had one bug fix to take care of, and then she planned to do a little digging into Liam’s file if she could get in there. She’d hacked into other recruits’ files but had never found Sebastian’s. Of course, Sebastian had been a full-fledged Tempest agent and not just a recruit. She hadn’t discovered that database yet.

She laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles over her keyboard. “Just give me time.”

A gust of Samantha’s flowery perfume announced her presence. “Thanks for the soda.”

“You’re welcome. I see you have the button. If you want, I’ll sew it on for you.”

Samantha held up her hands, wiggling her fingers, topped with long, blue fingernails. “Despite these nails, I’m rather handy with a needle. Don’t worry about it.”

“Where’d you find it? I bet it was in your cube all along. It had probably come off even before you loaned the sweater to me.”

“No, it didn’t.” Samantha put her lips to the can and took a sip. “Someone found it and returned it to me.”

“Really?” Katie’s hands hovered over her keyboard. “Someone actually found a button and knew it was yours?”

“Said he’d noticed the sweater on me before because his sister had one like it.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’d been checking me out.”

“He?” Katie dropped her hands to her lap, threading her fingers together so tightly the knuckles turned white.

“One of the security guards.”

A muscle ticked in Katie’s jaw. “Which one?”

“The big guy with the tattoo of a bird on his hand—Meyers.”

Chapter Four

Katie took a quick swig of her soda, and the carbonation fizzed against the back of her throat, making her eyes water. “Where’d he find it?”

“Outside the ladies’ room.”

“That’s just weird that he knew it belonged to you.”

“I don’t know. The buttons are kind of distinctive—ugly but distinctive. Like I said, he said his sister had one like it. Whatever, I got the button back and you’re off the hook.” She raised her can and disappeared into her own work area.

Katie closed her eyes and wrapped her hands around the sweating can. Meyers had a tattoo of a bird. He’d been the one helping Ginger in Patterson’s office and the one who had held her at gunpoint on the track. Now he’d found Samantha’s button.

Was he pulling for employee of the month?

Pressing her damp fingers against her cheeks, she let out a long breath. So, Meyers found the button outside the ladies’ room, recognized it as Samantha’s and returned it to her. Nothing odd about that. He’d notice an attractive blonde like Sam, had probably been checking her out and maybe thought this was his chance to talk to her.

If he had found the button in Garrett’s office, would he really run around the company trying to find its owner? Would they be that obvious?

Her computer blipped and an instant message popped up in the lower right-hand corner of her screen.

What r u really doing at Tempest?

A trickle of fear crept down her spine. The usual name that accompanied an instant message read user. This could be anyone testing her. Someone had seen her with Liam at the track.

She typed where the blinking cursor invited.

Who is this?

You have a tattoo of a mermaid just above your right pelvic bone.

Even sitting at her desk, she squirmed at Liam’s reference to her tattoo. The man had gotten to know her body very well during their time together in San Diego.

She typed her response.

R u going to rat me out?

Same stairwell at 8 tonight.

What choice did she have? If she refused to meet him, he just might let her real name drop, and then Tempest would make the connection between her and Sebastian. KC Locke had no history with Sebastian Cole, but Katie O’Keefe did. She’d worked too hard to scrub her background and identity. She didn’t need Liam McCabe to come along and blow it all up.

Not that she really believed Liam would expose her. Even if Liam knew her true purpose here, he’d never do anything to harm her. Although he’d bruised her heart, he’d move heaven and earth to protect her, and she’d do the same by telling him to run as far away from Tempest as he could.

The rest of the afternoon flew by with her joint efforts at doing her real job and continuing her assault on the firewalls Tempest had set up. Whoever had put them in place was damned good.

She jerked her head up and blinked her eyes when Samantha banged on the side of her cubicle. “Whoa, take it easy.”

“I’ve been saying your name and tapping on the edge of your cube for the past minute. It’s quittin’ time, girl. A few of us are going to the Deluxe Bar for a couple of cocktails. Do you want to join us?”

“I’ll pass. I have a problem to work through, so I’m going to stick around until I figure it out.”

Samantha saluted. “Now that’s what I call dedication. If you figure it out quickly, join us. We’ll be there for a few hours.”

“Will do. Have fun.”

When Samantha left at five-twenty, Katie got a bag of chips from the vending machine and returned to her desk, slumping in her chair as she ripped open the bag.

“Are you working late?”

She glanced up, and her heart skipped a beat as Meyers’s form filled the opening to her cubicle, his two hands wedged on either side of the edges as if blocking her exit.

She swallowed her chip and wiped her greasy fingers on a tissue. “I can get more work done when it’s quiet.”

“I just wanted to apologize for this afternoon. Management keeps us on our toes about protecting that area where the recruits are housed.”

“I understand.”

“We’re kind of damned if we do, damned if we don’t. We’re supposed to keep a close eye on it, but then we get in trouble for overreacting.”

“Didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I’ll be more careful where I wander around next time.”

“Yeah, just, sorry.”

“Me, too.”

He scratched the heavy stubble on his chin, causing the bird on his hand to move its wings. “Samantha leave for the day?”

“Uh-huh.” She stuffed another chip in her mouth to end the conversation.

“Does she have a boyfriend?” He stared at his thumb while picking at his cuticle.

Her tense shoulders dropped. So, he had a thing for Samantha and probably did know the button he’d found belonged to her and used it as an excuse to talk to her.

“Nope.” Not that she wanted to give Meyers false hope, but he wasn’t Sam’s type, anyway, and after his complicity in Patterson’s death last night, she sure as hell wouldn’t let Samantha date him.

“She likes those recruits, huh?”

Her spine stiffened again. He sure was keeping tabs on Samantha. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, no more than any other woman around here.”

“I’ll let you get back to work. Just wanted to apologize for drawing my gun on you this afternoon.”

“Thanks.” She swiveled her chair in front of her keyboard and popped another chip into her mouth, listening for the office door to close behind Meyers.

She worked for a few more hours, glancing at the time on her computer every ten minutes, not able to concentrate on anything. She’d never get through Tempest’s firewalls with her mind on Liam.

At ten minutes to eight, she scrubbed the history on her computer, including her instant messages. Then she logged off and snatched her access card from the card reader on her computer. She had a date in a stairwell.

She headed for the elevator like she did every night, but when she got off at the second floor, she entered the stairwell instead of heading to the exit for the parking garage. She jogged up two flights of stairs and ducked beneath the staircase.

A door above her scraped open, and she held her breath until Liam came into view.

He joined her, huddling so close she could smell the fresh scent of his soap and the mint of his toothpaste. He placed his lips close to her ear. “Did you get rid of those instant messages we traded?”

“Of course. I should be asking you that.”

“I had a good teacher show me how to cover my tracks on a computer.” He touched his finger to her nose.

She jerked her head and he dropped his hand. “Would you really blow my cover?”

“To keep you safe and get you away from Tempest? Maybe.”

She caught her breath. Did he realize the danger at Tempest, or was this some kind of trick?

“What are you talking about? We both work for Tempest.”

“Under somewhat assumed identities.”

“Are you telling me they don’t know you’re Liam McCabe, former navy SEAL and all-around badass?” She narrowed her eyes.

“I like that description. Maybe I’ll put it on my next business card.”

She punched his arm, her fist meeting rock-solid muscle. “Be serious.”

“They know I’m Liam McCabe, former navy SEAL, and they know about my badassery.” He raised an eyebrow. “But that’s where my identity ends as far as Tempest is concerned.”

“What does that mean? What else is there?”

“What happened last night in Patterson’s office? Why were you up here?”

She sighed. Maybe if she started answering some of his questions, he’d start answering some of hers.

“I’ve been searching Tempest at night, trying to find unlocked offices, looking for evidence. Patterson had left his office unlocked last night, and I slipped inside.”

Liam pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “And you found him dead?”

“Worse than that. He came into the office while I was there, and I had to hide in the closet. Ginger Spann followed him, and...and she murdered him.”

His body stiffened. “Are you sure? How?”

“She injected him with something that mimicked a heart attack. I heard the whole thing, Liam. Then she got some security guard in there to help her—the same security guard who pulled a gun on me at the track.”

“They didn’t see you?”

“No.”

He took her by the shoulders and squeezed. “Why are you doing this, Katie? What’s Tempest to you? And I want the truth. Tempest isn’t some high school or hapless government agency that you can hack into for fun and games.”

Staring into Liam’s blue eyes, she felt safe for the first time since arriving at Tempest. He didn’t seem that surprised about the murder, and he was obviously hiding something from Tempest. She could trust him. She could always trust Liam, except when it came to staying by her side.

She closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath. “It’s Sebastian.”

“Sebastian? You told me he was dead.”

“He is—and Tempest killed him.”

“What? How? You have proof of this?”

“One question at a time.” She placed her hands against his chest, and his heart thundered beneath her palm.

“He killed himself, Liam.” Her nose stung, and she sniffled back the tears.

Liam’s touch on her shoulders turned into a caress, and he pulled her snug against his body. “I’m so sorry, Katie. Was it the drugs again?”

She wrenched away from him. “Absolutely not. He’d been clean and sober for years. It was Tempest.”

“You keep saying that, but how was Tempest responsible for his suicide?”

“They recruited him to be an agent—just like you—and after he’d made the grade and had worked for them for just over a year, he killed himself.”

Her words slammed against his brain, and he blinked to clear the fog. Sebastian Cole was the Tempest agent who’d killed himself? He’d known about the agent but didn’t know his name...until now. He didn’t want to color Katie’s perceptions or lead her on, so he kept his tone as neutral as he could.

“Why are you laying his suicide at Tempest’s gates?”

She threw up her hands and took a half turn in the small space. “Because I saw him before and after. He was in a good place. He was thrilled Tempest wanted him. While he was in the marines, he’d heard rumors about the covert agencies and how much good they accomplished under the radar.”

Liam pressed his lips into a thin line. As a SEAL he’d heard the rumors, too, but it was Prospero, not Tempest, who ruled the shadow operations. Tempest had always been second best, and then the agency had turned to the dark side, but no one knew to what extent.

“Then what? He came here?”

She nodded. “Yes, he came here as a recruit. I saw him once after he completed the training and already there was something off about him, but he seemed happy so I was happy.”

A pulse danced in his jaw and he rubbed it into submission. Did Tempest start in with the recruits while they were still in training? “What was off about him?”

“He seemed a little detached, distant. I chalked it up to the covert nature of his training and work.” She fluttered her lashes. “R-reminded me of you when you first got back from a mission.”

Great. If she’d thought him detached and distant when he’d been a SEAL, what would she think of him as a covert ops agent?

“You saw him again?”

“It was worse the next time, the last time I saw him.” Her bottom lip trembled, and he wanted to kiss away her pain. “He was angry, cold, closed up. He pushed me away.”

God, just like he’d done when he’d decided to do another tour of duty while she’d been busy planning a life with him. Katie-O deserved so much more. This fearless woman at least deserved the truth.

He looked her straight in the eyes. “And then he shot himself in France while he was on an assignment.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she took a step back. “How do you know that?”

“That’s what I’m doing here, Katie.”

“You’re here because of Sebastian’s death?”

“Partly.”

Crossing her arms across her chest, she tilted her head to one side. “You’re not a navy SEAL anymore, are you?”

“I’m working for another covert agency.”

She snorted before he could finish. “That’s swell. So you’re over here, what? Stealing their secrets to success?”

“Katie.” He grabbed her fidgeting hands. “Tempest is bad news. It’s not just Sebastian’s suicide we’re investigating, and no, I didn’t realize the dead agent was Sebastian Cole. Another Tempest agent went on a rampage and had to be stopped. Another agent is on the run.”

“What is Tempest doing to them? What’s going on?”

“Drugs, brainwashing, mind control.”

“I suspected as much.” She sagged against him. “Why? What’s their goal?”

“Their overall goal? We’re not sure yet, but their goal for the agents is just that—mind control.”

“To turn them into robots that’ll do whatever they’re told, no matter how unscrupulous.” Her dark eyes widened. “That’s what Sebastian was, some kind of robot.”

Tears streamed silently down her cheeks, and she did nothing to stop them or wipe them away.

He cupped her face with his hands and smoothed his thumbs across the wet trails on her flushed skin. “I’m sorry, Katie. I know how much Sebastian meant to you.”

Her body jerked, and she grabbed two handfuls of his jacket. “And what are you? Some kind of canary in the coal mine? If your...agency already knows what Tempest is doing to its agents, why do you need to be here to experience it firsthand?”

“We know what Tempest is doing, but we don’t exactly know how, and we don’t know when it all starts. It was important for someone to infiltrate the compound.”

“Why does it have to be you?” Her voice rose, almost on a wail. “Why does it always have to be you?”

He put two fingers to her soft lips. “Shh. It’s going to be okay. What’s not okay is your presence here. You need to quit and leave as soon as possible.”

“You need me.” She wiped her sleeve across her nose. “I’m getting close to hacking through Tempest’s firewalls. When I do, I can bring them down financially. I can hit them where it hurts. I’ll make them pay for what they did to Sebastian.”

The fire in Katie’s eyes practically lit up the dim stairwell, and a thrill zapped his body. This was exactly why he’d fallen in love with this woman, exactly why she terrified him.

He pressed his lips to her hot forehead. “The computer stuff would be great but not necessary right now, not worth your safety.”

“I am safe. I went through a lot of trouble to get this gig, and I’m not giving it up—for anyone. Did you give up your job for me?”

A flash of heat claimed his chest and crawled up his neck. He hadn’t. He’d done what he believed was his last mission for his SEAL team, was ready to settle down with Katie when he got the call. They’d needed him, needed him more than Katie with her prickly, standoffish attitude.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Exactly.” She pushed the hair from her face, pushing his hands away at the same time. “I have a job to do here. I have to avenge Sebastian’s death, and I’m gonna do it with or without you.”

How the hell could anyone resist a woman like Katie?

“Then we work together. You keep me posted and I’ll keep—”

Katie grabbed his wrist and dug her fingernails into his flesh, while pointing at the ceiling.

Then he heard it—someone jiggling the handle on the metal door on the floor above. Good thing he’d rigged it.

Katie dragged at his arm and whispered. “We need to get out of here.”

“He won’t be able to get in for several minutes because I jammed the door. Let’s go downstairs.”

Placing his hand on the small of Katie’s back, he propelled her down the stairs ahead of him. They passed the third floor and headed to the second, which was on the same level as the bridge to the parking garage.

He jerked his thumb at the door.

She shook her head and pointed down. Then she leaned in close, her hair tickling his chin, and whispered, “I have to do some cleanup on the security camera footage and my access badge.”

Katie had a brain that wouldn’t quit and a body to match.

“What time are you leaving? It’s probably not safe in that parking structure after hours.”

“Are you kidding? Nobody can get on and off this compound with the tight security Tempest has. Only employees are allowed in the parking structure.”

“That’s what worries me.”

They jogged down one more flight. Placing his hands against the metal door, he cocked his head and listened. He inched the door open and peered through the resulting crack. All clear.

He grabbed Katie around the waist and turned her toward him. “Be careful. This ain’t no video game, Katie. This is life and death.”

“I know that.” She touched his face with her fingertips. “Don’t let them do anything to you, Liam. Don’t let them change you.”

“Don’t worry.” And then he did something he’d been dreaming about for the past two years. He kissed Katie O’Keefe, intrepid sleuth, hacker extraordinaire, woman of his dreams, on the mouth.

Chapter Five

Katie slipped back up to her cubicle and dropped to her chair, her fingers pressed to her buzzing lips. Even a quick, hard kiss in a cold stairwell from Liam McCabe beat any other lip-lock she’d experienced in the past few years.

She squared her shoulders and stuck her card into the card reader on her computer. The kiss didn’t mean anything—just his way of sealing the deal that they’d work together on this thing. She didn’t want to jump back into a relationship with Liam, anyway. She had life-and-death matters to take care of now.

She logged on to her computer, and her fingers flew across the keyboard. She’d broken into the security cameras weeks ago, which allowed her to freeze the cameras and erase certain inconvenient images. That capability allowed her to wander around the facility at night, as long as she stayed a few steps ahead of security.

Would security make anything of the jammed door? Given the high level of paranoia around here, most likely. She and Liam would probably have to find another secure meeting place. She’d check out the online map of the buildings and the surrounding area to look for something.

Once she adjusted the footage from the security cameras, she got into the access badge area, located her badge code and erased the recorded swipes of her leaving and entering her office area. If the rigged stairwell door sent someone on a quest to identify late workers and trace their movements, she’d be safe. According to the computer codes, she’d never left her office.

Liam didn’t seem to have an access badge, so how he managed to wander around the compound at night, she didn’t have a clue. But Liam could do just about anything he put his mind to, and the thought of working with him excited her.

She wrapped up her work and headed to the parking garage. As she strode across the quad to the structure, her nose twitched at the smell of a cigarette. Her steps slowed as she picked out two figures lurking near the entrance to the garage and a pinpoint of light glowing in the dark.

Tensing her muscles, she drew closer, and one of the men turned his head in profile. She instantly recognized Liam. He’d been worried about her leaving late, but who was smoking the cigarette next to him?

She cleared her throat and clutched her purse under her arm.

The cigarette smoker spoke first. “It’s okay, ma’am. It’s just us recruits from across campus.”

“Oh, I was wondering who was out here so late.” She pointed at the cigarette, ignoring Liam. “I don’t think smoking is allowed on the facility grounds.”

The man threw back his head and laughed. “If it’s not even allowed on the facility grounds, can you imagine the consequences if the powers-that-be found out a recruit was smoking?”

“Is that what you two are doing over here? Sneaking smokes?”

He crushed the cigarette against the side of the parking structure. “Kinda like middle school, huh? That’s what I’m doing out here, anyway. I’m Dustin, by the way, and this is Liam, and I don’t know what the hell he was doing here.”

“I’m KC, and I really don’t think we’re supposed to be fraternizing.”

Dustin snorted. “You mean like the school dance in the gym? The employees stand on one side and the recruits stand on the other like a bunch of wallflowers? Just like middle school.”

He held up the butt of his extinguished cigarette. “You won’t tell the principal, will you? Principal Romo, or worse yet, Vice Principal Spann?”

She shrugged her shoulders, made stiff by Dustin and his irreverent comments. Was he trying to trap her? Trap Liam?

Liam had obviously been lurking around the parking garage to keep an eye on her as she left the property, and Dustin had discovered him. Or had he followed him?

“Whatever you do is your business.”

He held out the butt. “You wanna take this with you? Destroy the evidence? Help a brother out?”

She folded her arms, tucking her hands beneath her armpits. “I—I...”

“Let’s go, man.” Liam took the cigarette from Dustin’s fingers and plowed his toe into the loose rocks on the ground. He dropped the butt onto the rocks and with his boot, covered it with more rocks. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and you still need to rinse that tobacco smell out of your mouth.”

“Okay, okay.” Dustin held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just messin’ with you, KC. If you don’t rat me out, I won’t rat you out.”

She forced a laugh and regretted the fake tone. “I won’t rat you out, but all I’m doing is leaving work after a long day.”

“If you say so.” Dustin’s eyes shifted from her to Liam.

Liam nudged Dustin’s arm. “Let’s get back before lights out.”

As she passed them, Liam said, “Have a nice evening, ma’am.”

She put her head down and scurried to her car, looking neither right nor left. She didn’t want to run into anyone else.

Liam had taken a big risk hanging around to see her off. Was Dustin even a smoker or was it all a ploy to get them in his confidence? She had no intention of playing that game.

She trusted no one here—no one except Liam.

As soon as she dropped onto the seat of her car and closed the door, she sank against the backrest and relaxed her muscles. She had to pick up the pace on her efforts to hack through Tempest’s computer system. She couldn’t take much more of this stress. She’d much rather be in San Diego with her chocolate lab, Mario, working on the newest video game.

Of course, Liam’s appearance on the scene and knowing they were on the same team had just brightened the situation considerably.

She’d have to show him some pictures of Mario. They’d been looking for a dog together before he’d up and decided to abandon her. And then in the dark days after Liam had left, Mario had found her. They’d found each other. Figured one lost soul would seek out another.

God, she missed that little guy.

She sighed and cranked on the engine. Her tires squealed on the cement as she wound her way down the parking structure. She followed the long road out toward the guard shack and waved to the attendant on duty as he raised the parking arm for her.

Tempest’s facility was located about five miles from a small town on one of the many lakes up here. The residential area, where most of the Tempest employees lived, fanned out from the town with the more expensive homes farther afield and situated at the lake’s edge. Tempest employees, retirees and ski resort workers populated the town and environs since the logging company had closed down several years ago.

As she sped down the highway, she glanced at the illuminated numbers on her dashboard clock. It had been over three hours since Samantha had left the office. She and the others had probably deserted the Deluxe by now. Thankfully, she still had a half a bottle of wine in her fridge. After the day she had, she could use a glass or two. She needed two just to turn off her brain.

She took the turnoff for the town, anyway, and rolled through the quiet streets. A couple of cars were parked in front of the bar—not enough to make it worth her while.

She swung out of town and hit the highway again. She lived in an apartment complex peopled with a few Tempest employees and a gaggle of retirees from California—more functional than fancy, but private.

A set of taillights up ahead had her tapping her brakes. Traffic often clogged this road, the only one into and out of town, but not usually at this time of night. As she crested the hill behind two other cars, a flood of lights illuminated the night sky.

Red-and-orange emergency lights revolved, looking almost festive. The cars ahead of her blocked her view of the accident, and she slowed to a crawl as the cops directed single-file traffic to the left.

She drew abreast of the scene and rubber-necked just like everyone else. A single car sat smashed and battered at the side of the road. Looked like a tow truck had dragged it up from the ravine.

As she inched past, she shivered at the back window with cracks running from one side to the other. Then her heart stopped and she slammed on her brakes. The car behind her honked, but she barely noticed.

A large, yellow O on the back of the windshield had caught her attention. Samantha had gone to the University of Oregon and had proudly displayed her alma mater’s sticker on the back of her blue sedan. Was that car blue? She couldn’t tell in the lights.

She swerved to the right, just ahead of the accident scene and threw her car into Park. She scrambled from the car, flinging out her arms to catch her balance. Her heels crunched against the gravel as she made her way toward the crumpled car.

A police officer stopped her progress. “Hold on, miss. You need to stay back.”

“I think I know that car. Is it a woman? Is she okay?”

“It was a woman, but I can’t tell you any more, miss. You’ll have to get back in your car and move along.”

Standing on her tiptoes, she peered over his shoulder, her heart pounding a mile a minute. “Is it a blue sedan? Was a blonde driving the car? Is she okay?”

“Miss—” he spread his arms out “—you’re going to have to move along now.”

“Okay, okay.” She plowed a hand through her hair, her gaze shifting across the street. If she dashed across the highway, she could sneak around the perimeter the back way.

She spun around and walked back to her car. When the cop’s attention had returned to directing traffic, she scurried across the road, dodging between the creeping cars all slowing down to get a better look.

She stumbled back down the highway on the other side of the street. Once clear of the accident scene, she ran back across the road.

She slipped past a tow truck driver and zeroed in on the crippled car. Her knees weakened as she recognized Samantha’s blue sedan. Her gaze tracked to the stretcher beside the ambulance. An EMT was securing a strap around a form tucked beneath a white sheet.

In a daze she walked toward the stretcher, shaking off someone’s grasp. When she reached the side of the stretcher, she saw silky locks of blond hair, streaked with blood, hanging over the side.

She gulped for a breath but it wasn’t enough. The night grew darker around her, and she sank to her knees.

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