How had Juliet never really noticed how ripped Evan was?

His black T-shirt didn’t do much to hide the muscles of his biceps, pecs or abs. Thank God.

Evan turned to the fridge for a couple of water bottles.

“You want?” Evan held up a bottle, his dimple showing with his smile.

Looking at him, Juliet realized she did indeed want.

Evan. Right now. Tonight.

She knew he wanted her, too. This wasn’t just an undercover op for Evan. She wasn’t just an undercover op for Evan.

This time she didn’t plan to take no for an answer. She had let the attack steal too many months of her life. She didn’t plan to let it have even one more day. She wanted Evan and she knew he wanted her.

What was that saying? Leap and the net will appear.

Juliet leaped.

She slid her own jacket off and walked over to him. “Yeah, I want.”

Untraceable

Janie Crouch

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JANIE CROUCH has loved to read romance her whole life. She cut her teeth on Mills & Boon® romance novels as a pre-teen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children overseas. Janie enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie-watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at www.janiecrouch.com.

To my Stephanie: it never ceases to amaze me that you call me your friend. You are a tireless source of support, inspiration and encouragement not just to me but to so many others. Here’s some #nofilter for you: you are a treasure, a beauty, and someone who radiates God’s love and kindness in everything you do. I adore you.

Contents

Cover

Excerpt

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

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Evan Karcz woke up the same way he had almost every day for the past year and a half: with Juliet Branson’s terrified sobs echoing through his dreams.

Evan didn’t jump out of bed and grab his Glock as he had in the early days. Nor did he have to rush to the bathroom before he lost the contents of his stomach.

Now he just breathed in and out slowly, calming his pounding heart, staring up at the ceiling. He threw the covers off his body in an effort to chill down, even though it was early spring and the temperatures were still cool here in southern Maryland, near Washington, DC. Evan wiped with his arm the small amount of sweat that beaded on his forehead.

He didn’t lie there long. It was early, not even close to 5:00 a.m., but the possibility of going back to sleep was pretty much nonexistent. He might as well get up and start moving. He slipped on shorts and sweats and packed a gym bag with clothes for the rest of his day.

He’d head in to Omega Sector Headquarters and get in a workout before work officially started. Exercise in order to exorcise, Evan thought, and smiled grimly. Anything would be better than staying in that big bed by himself with nothing surrounding him but his own guilt.

Given the day ahead and all it had in store, he shouldn’t be surprised that the dream had resurfaced with such vividness. Today he’d be unable to avoid seeing the subject of his troubled dreams—his ex-partner, Juliet Branson. Although avoid wasn’t really accurate. Evan never tried to avoid seeing Juliet; the opposite, in fact. He’d been trying to talk to her for eighteen months, with no real success. Today, Juliet would be unable to avoid seeing him.

Evan drove to Omega Headquarters, thankful that the early hour at least helped shorten the notoriously ugly commute. He pulled into the secure parking garage of the nondescript building that housed Omega Sector—a covert interagency task force made up of the best personnel the country had to offer. Evan had worked here for eight years, ever since his recruitment out of the FBI when he was twenty-seven.

The heaviness from this morning’s dream lingered as he walked through the doors of Omega’s main building. Strange how these halls had once thrilled him, how he had loved everything about his job as an undercover agent. But since Juliet’s...incident he couldn’t seem to find the same passion he’d once had for the work.

Passionate or not, he was going back under. And he wasn’t looking forward to the team meeting that would take place later today, when Juliet would learn the details of the assignment. Evan rubbed a hand over his face. He knew Bob Sinclair, his undercover persona, was a name Juliet would never want to hear again. Nobody blamed her for that.

Omega Headquarters stood largely empty at this hour except for the security personnel. Evan passed through the extensive checks to confirm his identity, then jogged down the stairs into the large gym area. State-of-the-art workout equipment stood side by side with old-school metal weights, a fitting metaphor for Omega: the best blend of new and old techniques, working in unison. There were also rooms for sparring, for yoga, and a full-size track for running. Evan left his gym bag in the locker room and walked into the main workout area.

Sparring definitely topped the agenda for this morning. Evan decided he might as well take his aggression out on the almost-human plastic dummies and leather punching bags, since the individuals he really wanted to take his aggression out on were well beyond his reach.

He grabbed a pair of gloves meant to save his knuckles from the worst of the damage, and was reaching for the doorknob of the sparring room when he heard noises from someone already in there. Who the hell would be up and going at this hour?

Evan let the door shut and walked around the corner so he could see through the small window of the room. Juliet Branson...

Evidently he hadn’t been the only one with nightmares this morning.

Evan couldn’t help but watch, enthralled, as she danced among the targets with grace and precision. The black tank and tight workout pants she wore gave her the freedom to move as she wanted, stopping sometimes midair and pivoting in a different direction. Her five-foot-four-inch frame was average in height—at six-one Evan was a full head taller than her—but the way she fought belied her smaller stature, the litheness of her muscles evident. Her long blond hair was pulled tightly back in a ponytail, so as not to impede her actions.

The power behind her kicks and punches was impressive. Had these dummies been live people, each would’ve fallen to the ground, gasping for air. She showed them, and herself, no mercy. Rapid-fire strikes. Over and over, at a punishing speed and rhythm. Sweat dripped and flew with each of her assaults. You’d never be able to tell she’d been out of the field for the past eighteen months.

Evan watched from the shadows of the hallway, where she wouldn’t be able to see him. As a trained operative, he recognized and appreciated Juliet’s talent in close-quarter fighting like this, although admittedly, fighting dummy targets was completely different than fighting a real opponent.

She attacked the dummies as if she were warding off a demon army from hell. Evan’s arms hung at his sides and his shoulders slumped. Fighting demons was probably an apt description for her actions.

He wished he could fight them for her. Or at least with her, but Juliet had no interest in being anywhere near him. Not that he could blame her. A partner was supposed to have your back, to protect you, even in dire circumstances. Evan had failed her in the worst possible way. And Juliet had paid a horrible price for his failure.

He turned and walked the other way, leaving her to her battle. Entering the room would just cause her to tense up and rapidly vacate, anyway. But not before fear and distrust suffused her features when the door first opened. It wasn’t just him she distrusted, Evan knew, but he hated the look, anyway.

Plus, he’d be seeing it soon enough, later today in the conference room, when he mentioned Bob Sinclair.

Evan headed up the stairs to the indoor track. It seemed as if he would be trying to outrun his own demons today rather than fighting them. But no matter how fast he ran, he knew they’d still be there when he finished.

* * *

JULIET SWUNG HER LEG around in a powerful round-house kick, hitting the target one last time. She took satisfaction in how hard the dummy fell to the ground before its weighted bottom slowly brought it back to a vertical position.

Yeah, she could take down a target dummy like a champ. Too bad that didn’t really do anybody much good. In a fight with a real person these days, she was damn near useless.

Of course, Juliet wasn’t an active agent anymore, so it wasn’t as if she was going to use her hand-to-hand fighting skills anytime soon. But it would be nice to know she’d have them if she needed them, rather than freezing up or cowering in a corner if a real person came at her.

Juliet backhanded the dummy again for good measure.

She grabbed a towel and mopped up her sweat from the past hour of pounding everything in sight. It was now just before 5:00 a.m., and there’d be other people around soon, if not already. Dedicated Omega workers—agents and otherwise—would come in to get a good workout before going upstairs to their jobs.

Juliet would like to think that was what she was doing, too. That she was here at Omega HQ sometimes eighteen or twenty hours a day because of her dedication to an important job and stellar organization. That she worked long hours because she wanted to do her part in keeping her country safe from criminals and terrorists.

Not because of the fear that seemed to pour over her like some sort of suffocating ooze every time she left this place.

It was so much easier to stay here at Omega than to go home alone to her house. Juliet felt safe here, even when she was by herself. There was no chance someone was going to throw a sack over her head and drag her out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Of course, there was very little chance that would happen at her home, but Juliet couldn’t quite seem to convince her mind of that as she lay awake at night, terrified, remembering. So she stayed here at Omega as much as possible.

It had been eighteen months since her attack. Things should be getting better, not worse. But that wasn’t the case.

She glanced down at her phone, which had begun vibrating in her hand as she walked toward the locker room. Her stomach rolled when she saw the screen.

A new email. Not for Juliet Branson, but for Lisa Sinclair, an undercover role Juliet had played in her last mission as an active operative. The one where she’d lost nearly everything.

Sweetheart, I’ve been thinking about you all night. Soon we’ll be together, just the two of us. Sooner than you think.

As usual, no signature or notification of who’d sent it. Juliet leaned against the wall for support and brought her hand up to her suddenly aching head. This email was benign compared to the graphic nature of some of the others. She closed her eyes briefly, pushing those thoughts away. She couldn’t let this overwhelm her, not today.

But she knew she’d be thinking about the message all day. And the fact that the emails were starting to come more frequently and become more personal.

Juliet had given the emails to Omega tech support, of course, but they hadn’t been able to provide any insight about where or from whom they were coming. Never the same IP address—it seemed to bounce around all over the world.

And she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone about how much the emails upset her. She knew there were people here who cared about her. Two of her three brothers worked at Omega, for goodness’ sake; she saw them almost every day. But they were the last people she wanted to talk to about this. Being the only daughter in the family, Juliet had always been surrounded by overprotective, alpha-male testosterone.

Talking to her brothers about residual issues from her attack and rape? Um, no. Not in this lifetime.

Nor did she want to talk to them about creepy emails. Her siblings had work to do, real cases to worry about.

“Hey, Jules, you okay?”

Juliet pushed herself away from the wall at the sound of Evan Karcz’s voice. He, like her brothers, always called her Jules. She mashed the button to delete the email notification and turn her phone screen black. She didn’t want to have to explain it to Evan.

“Um, yeah, I’m fine. Just going in to clean up after my workout. You’re here early.”

“I was about to run, but I forgot my headphones and was coming back to grab them. You sure you’re okay? You look a little pale. And you must have been sparring because you have something in your—”

Evan moved toward her, hand upraised, and before Juliet could stop herself she took a step back, flinching. He froze, then dropped his arm to his side, shoulders drooping.

“Evan, I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s okay. Um, you just have some lint or something in your hair.” He backed up another step. “I’ll see you.” He turned and walked off, away from the locker room. So much for getting headphones.

Juliet wanted to hit something, even though she’d just spent over an hour doing just that. She hadn’t meant to flinch, especially not from Evan; she’d just been in a particularly vulnerable state of mind because of that email. It didn’t take a genius to figure out her reaction had hurt him.

She and Evan had worked together for years. She’d known him most of her life. He was her brothers’ best friend. Hell, he was one of her best friends—more, if she was honest. Or had potentially been more. It seemed so long ago that she and Evan used to flirt with each other, secure in the knowledge of someday.

But someday never came.

Now whenever she thought of Evan all Juliet could recall was that moment when he’d found her. Of how he’d covered her broken, mostly naked body with his own clothes, actually crying as he had radioed in for an ambulance.

Juliet knew it was unfair to keep Evan frozen in that moment. To keep herself frozen there. But she couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

So she’d basically avoided him for the past year and a half.

Which hadn’t been too difficult, considering her cowardly choice to leave active work and stick herself behind a desk instead. Part handler, part analyst, part strategist. A little too good to be any of them, but not fit to be back out in the field. Juliet couldn’t see a time when she would ever be ready for agent work again.

Her job might not be thrilling, but it was safe. And safe was the most important thing to her right now. Although she wished those job changes hadn’t hurt Evan.

Juliet made her way to the locker room, showering and changing into her work clothes of black pants and a matching black blazer over a white blouse. The jacket was specially fitted to hold her shoulder holster and firearm. Although Juliet wasn’t an agent and wasn’t required to be armed at all times, she was rarely without her Glock 9 mm.

Normally she wouldn’t be dressed this way. Unlike the FBI, with their daily suits and loafers, Omega tended to be a more casually dressed workforce. But today Juliet had an important operational-specifications meeting. Her boss, Dennis Burgamy, would be there, which made her a little uneasy. Burgamy did not tend to dirty his hands with the day-to-day planning of undercover operations. Thus her more professional suit: armor for battle.

Something was up; she knew it. Juliet was going to need as much armor as she could get.

Chapter Two

Juliet already sat in the conference room between her brothers Cameron and Sawyer, chatting with both, when Evan arrived at the meeting. He wasn’t surprised to find the two men flanking Juliet. If Cameron and Sawyer had their way, she’d be wrapped in cotton wool and hidden away somewhere.

The Branson men were brothers to Evan in every way but blood. He’d known them most of his life—Sawyer, Cameron, and their older brother, Dylan, who no longer worked at Omega—and would do anything for any of them. But their overprotectiveness when it came to Juliet frustrated Evan.

Juliet had strength none of the Branson family wanted to admit, including herself. Right now it lay hidden under layers of fear and regret. But the strength resided inside her. He’d seen it multiple times during their tenure as partners in the field. He wished Juliet would trust him to help her find that strength again, but he couldn’t force it to happen. Could only wait and hope.

Evan deliberately took the seat directly across from Juliet. She nodded at him and gave him a polite smile before looking away. He decided to engage her brothers instead.

“What’s up, Tweedledum and Tweedledummer?”

Neither brother was up to his normal speed. Both were recovering from gunshot wounds received in action over the past few months, Cameron from an undercover operation gone wrong, and Sawyer from an attempt to fix that. They would recover fully, but were manning desks until they were cleared for field duty.

Not that either seemed to mind desk duty right now. It gave them each more time to spend at home with the loves-of-their-lives, also recently acquired in the cases. Having met Cameron’s Sophia and Sawyer’s Megan, Evan wholeheartedly supported his friends wanting to stick close to home.

“Watch it there, shorty. I can still kick your butt even with my arm in this sling,” Sawyer told him. The “shorty” barb had been around since they were all teenagers and Evan had been the last to hit his growth spurt, so he’d been a head shorter than the Branson boys for a time. Even though they now were all around the same height—each over six feet— Evan still got called shorty from time to time. But it brought the slightest of smiles to Juliet’s lips, so he let it slide.

“Yeah, I’d hate to put your other arm in a sling,” Evan retorted.

“Why are we having a big powwow with Burgamy?” Cameron cut in, referring to their boss, Dennis Burgamy. “Since when does he sit in on normal op-specification meetings?”

“I was wondering the same thing myself.” Juliet glanced briefly at Evan before turning away.

Evan knew he had to tell her about him going back undercover as Sinclair. He didn’t want her to hear it for the first time in the middle of the meeting.

“I don’t know why Burgamy wants to be in the meeting exactly,” Evan said. “But you guys should know that I’m going back under as Bob Sinclair.”

Cameron muttered a curse. Sawyer didn’t say anything. He’d already been aware that the Sinclair persona had been resurrected a few weeks ago. Evan had posed as Bob Sinclair to help Sawyer out in a case.

The color washed out of Juliet’s face and she stood, her chair rolling back from the table forcefully. All three men stood, as well.

“Excuse me,” she murmured.

“Jules—” Sawyer reached for her, but stopped when she flinched away.

“No, I’m all right. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Evan watched as she all but fled from the room. He gave a heavy sigh and sat back down.

“Should one of us go after her?” Cameron asked.

“No, let her go,” Evan said. “She just needs to pull herself together.”

Sawyer and Cameron looked as though they might argue, but decided against it. Evan knew he was right. Juliet would not want any of them coming after her, crowding her space. She’d be back when she was ready, which would probably be sooner than either of her overprotective brothers suspected.

Evan hated Juliet hearing about the Bob Sinclair situation this way, but knew it would have upset her no matter when or how she heard about it. There was no way around that.

Dennis Burgamy, head of operations at Omega, entered the room along with his assistant, Chantelle DiMuzio, who looked harried. Of course, poor Chantelle always looked harried. Anybody who worked that closely with their boss day in and day out couldn’t help it.

Burgamy took the seat at the head of the table, glanced around, and turned to Evan. “Where’s Juliet?”

“She had to step out. She’ll be back soon.”

Burgamy, dressed impeccably in a dark suit, sighed impatiently. Everyone knew there was no love lost between him and the Branson family. Each side tolerated the other, but only barely. Usually Burgamy didn’t have much problem with Juliet, however. Why had he even asked about her?

“Well, I don’t have much spare time, so we’ll need to start without her,” Burgamy barked.

“Okay, to get everyone up to speed,” Evan began, trying to stall to give Juliet time to return. “In the midst of Sawyer’s operation last month with Dr. Megan Fuller and DS-13, we weren’t sure if the Ghost Shell hardware system was going to be sold on the black market. Or if we would have the means of stopping it if it was sold.”

“A disaster on all counts,” Burgamy said.

Everyone nodded. Evan continued. “We were in a time crunch so I put feelers out on the street using some past covers, in case I needed to infiltrate any black market weapons groups.”

Evan looked over at Sawyer. “Fortunately, Sawyer was able to acquire Ghost Shell and arrest or eliminate most of DS-13, whom we are considering permanently disbanded.”

Sawyer raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t exactly how the whole thing had gone down, but whatever. Close enough.

Evan looked up, his attention caught by Juliet coming back through the door.

“Sorry,” she murmured to Burgamy, before taking her seat between her brothers once again.

Her features were still a little pinched, but she seemed otherwise well composed. As Evan knew, she was stronger than she thought.

“I was just explaining the situation with Sawyer and DS-13 last month,” he said to her. “You already know all of that.”

Juliet nodded. She did know it. As a matter of fact, she was the reason Sawyer and his fiancé, Megan Fuller, had gotten out alive at all.

“In the midst of that operation, one of my feelers got a lot of response—Bob Sinclair.” Juliet flinched as Evan said it, but he continued. “First, it was DS-13 who expressed interest, but since then someone from Vince Cady’s group has made contact.”

That got everyone’s attention. Vince Cady was a crime boss with his fingers in almost every piece of ugliness you could find: weapons, technology, blackmail. On the surface he looked clean, and did a good job of covering his tracks. Omega had never found anything that could be used to indict Cady, but they knew he was dirty. And even more, he was key to a number of larger groups and sellers. If Omega could get dirt on Cady, they could take down a lot of other bad guys.

Vince Cady was known as a grade-A bastard. Smooth, but with a cruel edge. And very, very smart. Which was why he’d never been arrested.

Cady initiating contact with Bob Sinclair provided a huge break for Omega. Having an undercover foothold in his group would be measurable progress, bringing Omega much closer to taking Cady and his network down.

“That’s excellent,” Cameron said. “It gives Bob Sinclair instant credibility. Cady came to you, not the other way around.”

Evan nodded. “Yes, I plan to use that fact to my advantage as much as possible.”

“Did he contact you for a specific buy?” Burgamy asked.

Juliet spoke up. “Our most recent intel about Cady suggests that he may have acquired some surface-to-air missiles to sell on the black market. That would be a perfect fit for Bob Sinclair.”

Juliet’s voice wavered only the slightest bit when she said it.

Evan nodded in encouragement. “I agree,” he told the group. “Bob and Lisa Sinclair’s reputation is as entrepreneurs. They...” Evan looked over and saw Juliet’s pinched features as well as Sawyer and Cameron’s thunderous looks, so changed his pronoun choice. “Bob, I mean, is known as a jack-of-all-trades, dabbling in weapons, pharmaceutical drugs, technology, information. He’s the type of guy who can help Vince Cady out, so I’m not surprised by the contact.”

“Okay, good,” Burgamy said. Chantelle, sitting next to him, kept clicking away, taking notes on her tablet the entire time. “What’s the timetable for this op?”

Evan still didn’t know why Burgamy was even here. Yes, Cady was a pretty big fish and infiltrating his group would be a huge coup, but why the boss would sit in on an early planning meeting like this was beyond Evan.

“I have a meeting scheduled with Cady tomorrow in Baltimore, his base of operation. Since Bob Sinclair is an old cover, I’m just going to pull and use all the old info, IDs, etc. Prep is relatively minimal. I can go under immediately, depending on how the meeting with Cady goes.”

“Eighteen months absence isn’t going to be a problem?” Burgamy asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure it will come up. I’ll make certain I have something to say.” Evan didn’t know what that would be yet. The truth wasn’t an option, and the whole situation with Lisa Sinclair was quite complicated. Evan would have multiple answers rehearsed, depending on exactly what questions were asked, how they were asked, and the climate of the conversation.

That’s what a good undercover agent did: constantly took stock of the situation and adapted.

“And what about Lisa Sinclair, Bob’s ‘wife’?” Burgamy asked.

And there it was, the announcement of the elephant in the room. Evan didn’t look over at Juliet to see her reaction. She didn’t need anyone gawking at her.

“What about her?” Evan responded, keeping his tone neutral.

“Bob and Lisa Sinclair were a couple. A tight couple.” Burgamy leaned more of his weight on his arms, which were folded on the conference table. “The cover worked so well because the criminal groups you infiltrated bought into the whole Bonnie and Clyde, can’t-live-without-each-other vibe the two of you gave off.”

Evan didn’t want to admit it, but Burgamy was right. Going in without Juliet would make this mission more difficult. But the alternative wasn’t an option, so Evan wasn’t even entertaining it as such. He glanced briefly over at Juliet, who was looking intently down at her notes.

“I’ll make it work, as Bob Sinclair alone. I’ve certainly done my share of undercover work with no partner.” Evan could see the Branson brothers nodding, backing him up. Cameron in particular knew about long-term solo undercover work, having recently come off a life-changing operation himself.

But Burgamy wasn’t willing to let it go. “Isn’t Cady going to wonder about Lisa? Her absence will certainly make suspicions higher, perhaps even jeopardize the entire mission.”

Evan sat up straighter in his chair, then leaned toward Burgamy. He could see Juliet’s brothers mirroring his actions, tension evident. Evan didn’t like where this was going.

“I’m a trained, experienced operative, Burgamy. I’ll handle it.”

The boss’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I have every confidence in your abilities, Karcz. But the facts are the facts.”

Burgamy leaned back in the chair in a relaxed pose that belied the words he’d said. Suddenly the entire meeting became clear to Evan, the purpose of Burgamy’s attendance and his endgame. And Evan had played right into his hands. He knew what Burgamy was going to say before his boss even said it, but there was nothing he could do.

Burgamy turned to Juliet. “Juliet needs to go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair to ensure the success of this operation.”

Chapter Three

Juliet heard the words that came out of Burgamy’s mouth as if from far away. She searched for a response inside herself—knew she should have some sort of explosive negative comment—but could find only silence.

She couldn’t go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair. She wasn’t ready. It would be a disaster.

It ended up she didn’t have to give an answer, anyway. Her brothers took care of the explosive negative comments for her.

“There’s no way in hell, Burgamy,” Sawyer, her normally laid-back younger brother, said grimly.

The expletive that came from Cameron should’ve had her smacking his arm or at least telling him to chill out. But Juliet still could find only silence.

Both brothers stood, now in an open argument with Burgamy, listing the reasons Juliet couldn’t go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair. She wasn’t ready, Burgamy couldn’t force her, she hadn’t had the needed prep time... Juliet just tuned them out as they continued.

She knew her weaknesses, knew she was a coward. She didn’t need to listen to an active discussion of those facts.

Juliet looked up from her folded hands to find Evan staring at her across the table.

She could find no pity in his gaze. Nor disappointment. He actually shrugged and rolled his eyes, gesturing casually with his hand to all the chaos. As if the yelling currently reverberating through the conference room came from preschoolers throwing temper tantrums about sharing their favorite toys, rather than Juliet’s boss asking her to do something that would probably get both her and Evan killed.

How could Evan take it so lightly?

Juliet rubbed a hand over her face. There was no point in letting her brothers get in trouble with Burgamy—again—over this. The choice belonged to her and she already knew her answer.

She stood up, but didn’t try to yell over her brothers, just waited for them to realize she had something to say. Over the years she had perfected that practice.

Eventually everyone grew silent and looked at her.

“No. I won’t do it.” Juliet said it plainly, not raising her voice in any way.

“Juliet,” Burgamy began in his nasally tone, “it’s evident that the mission has a greater chance for success if you are part of it.”

“I disagree,” she said.

Burgamy had no intention of giving up so easily. “But Vince Cady and his people will be expecting you to be with Evan. Bob and Lisa Sinclair are a known couple.”

Juliet held up a hand to silence her boss. “My initial presence might be an asset, I concur. But for any longer term I would just be a liability. Evan can’t babysit me and successfully complete the mission.”

Now it was Evan who spoke up. “Jules—”

She turned to him, could see the anguish in his eyes. “No, Evan. I’m not of any use to anybody in the field right now. Trust me.”

Burgamy was determined to continue his argument. “But—”

Juliet decided to put a stop to it right now and save them all the trouble. “Respectfully, Burgamy, I’m not an agent anymore. You can’t force me to do this. So let’s not pretend like you can, okay? I’m not going back in the field as Lisa Sinclair.” She turned to Evan. “I won’t risk your life that way.”

Burgamy wisely didn’t say anything further. He knew Juliet’s words were true. After what had happened to her the last time, no one at Omega would ever try to force her into an undercover assignment. If she ever went under again, it would be her own choice.

Juliet didn’t see that happening anytime soon, say, for the next twenty years.

She noticed both her brothers sitting down, evidently accepting the battle was over. Which it was.

“I’ll help Evan in any way I can,” Juliet said. “I’m willing to be the support team leader, so I can use my experience to assist him.”

She spoke to Burgamy as she said it, but saw Evan’s surprised look out of the corner of her eye. It was no wonder; for the year that she’d been working as a handler, she’d never volunteered to oversee any of his cases. She’d done some strategy and analysis support for him, but never anything that would keep them in daily contact.

Working as Evan’s handler would definitely bring the two of them in regular contact. She’d just have to deal with that. Juliet frowned and rubbed the back of her neck. Maybe she was too much of a coward to go back out in the field, but she could at least help him from the safety of Omega Headquarters. She knew staff support wasn’t what Evan really needed from her. Plenty of people were qualified to act as his handler, her two wounded brothers being prime examples. What Evan needed from her was in the field.

Disgust with herself pitted her stomach.

Burgamy, having evidently failed in his purpose for being at the meeting, excused himself and left. His assistant trailed after him. With them gone, some of the tension left the room, and quiet conversations started up.

Juliet looked over at Evan’s handsome face as he spoke to Sawyer about Vince Cady. Evan’s brown hair, cut short and stylishly, and his beautiful hazel eyes, were in sharp contrast to her brother’s darker looks. A small scar marred Evan’s cheek, hardly a centimeter from his left eye. He’d gotten it during a case they’d worked on together, three years ago.

Evan had fought the bodyguard of a drug lord they’d been investigating. The huge, muscular guard, having found out the two of them were law enforcement, had decided Evan needed only one eye. The thug would’ve been successful in that little venture if Juliet hadn’t helped wrestle the knife away.

She still smiled a little whenever she thought of that case. Evan had joked a few weeks later, at a Branson family barbecue, that the scar was okay because it finally made him as ugly as her brothers. As if any of them could be called ugly.

It had been a long time since Juliet had been to one of her family’s barbecues. She wondered if Evan still went, even without her there for the past year and a half. Probably. Her brothers were his best friends.

The next couple hours were spent discussing details of the case. Evan would meet Vince Cady two days from now, at a place yet to be determined by Cady in Baltimore, which was less than an hour away from DC. There were a lot of unknowns in the case, things Evan would have to figure out on the fly, not unusual in undercover work.

The primary objective of the case wasn’t the arrest of Vince Cady. Leaving him in play in order to get information on his other contacts and pipelines took precedence. So, although they’d all like to see him behind bars as soon as possible, that wouldn’t happen immediately. Instead, recovery of the surface-to-air missiles—the SAMs—that Cady wanted to sell would be the primary objective. Omega couldn’t allow them to be sold to enemies of the United States.

And Evan would be the sole person stopping that from happening.

Juliet ignored the tiny voice inside her that said this mission was too much for one person, even someone as capable as Evan, to handle on his own. Evan would be just fine. And he wouldn’t be alone; he’d have plenty of support from the team here at Omega.

Juliet pretended that was enough. Because what else could she do?

Eventually, the meeting wound down as they worked out as many details as they could. The team trickled out one by one, each sure of his or her own assignments. Sawyer and Cameron both hugged her as they left to go back to their own cases, wishing Evan luck, offering their support whenever it was needed.

Juliet grabbed her own items, preparing to go to her office. She had a lot to do before Evan’s meeting with Vince Cady.

“Can I walk with you?” Evan asked her.

“Sure.” They stepped out of the conference room together and down the hall. It had been a long time since Juliet had talked to Evan, just the two of them. It felt...weird. But not as awkward as she would’ve expected.

“I just wanted to let you know I had no idea Burgamy was going to say all that junk,” Evan told her. Juliet noticed he was careful to keep a distance from her and not touch or crowd her in any way as they were walking. “I mean, I knew I would be resuming the role of Bob Sinclair, but I didn’t think Burgamy would suggest you go back under as Lisa.”

Juliet swallowed and tried to make light of it. “You know Burgamy, always willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

“More like, always willing to do whatever it takes to get credit and recognition from his superior officers.”

Juliet nodded. Burgamy definitely had his eye on a position much higher than the one he currently held.

They arrived at Juliet’s office, one of the few perks of working as an analyst was having an office rather than just a desk like active operatives, and she entered. She thought Evan would say his goodbyes and head out, but he followed her in. She placed the case files on her desk and turned to him.

“You look very nice today,” Evan said, leaning against the wall near the door. “Professional.”

Compared to the jeans and sweater she normally wore, that was probably true. “Thanks.” Juliet half smiled. “I wanted to put in an effort, since Burgamy was attending the meeting. Although if I had known why, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

Evan grimaced. “I don’t blame you.”

“So you feel ready to take on Bob Sinclair again?” As soon as Juliet uttered the words she wished she could take them back. She didn’t want to talk about Evan’s feelings regarding Sinclair any more than she would want to talk about hers if she was resuming the role of Lisa.

“Yeah, sure.” Evan shrugged. “Can’t miss an opportunity like this with someone like Vince Cady.”

“Good.” Juliet didn’t know what else to say.

“Look, Jules...” Evan took a step from the wall. “I just wanted you to know, make sure you know, that nobody, even Burgamy, expects you to resume Lisa Sinclair. Burgamy wanted to try, had to try just in case, but he didn’t really expect you to do it.”

Juliet appreciated the sentiment from Evan, although she wasn’t sure if he was correct.

“I know your brothers want to protect you, which is why they were so adamant in there this morning,” he continued. “They love you and don’t want anything bad to happen to you again.”

“Thanks, Evan.” Juliet was tentative, not sure what his point was.

“And, of course, I never...” Evan ran his hands through his hair, seeming to need a moment to gather himself. “I never want you to go through anything like that again.”

Anguish was evident in his face. Juliet hurt for him. Ironic, since he was hurting for her.

“Evan—”

“But I want you to know something, Jules,” he added. “Although I would never try to talk you into going undercover against your will, you are capable of much more than you give yourself credit for. You can be a good agent again, if you decide to be.”

He said it with so much conviction that, somewhere deep inside, Juliet wished it were true.

Thought maybe, just for a second, that it could be.

But then she thought of this morning, how she’d gotten another of those stupid emails and had let it completely derail her again. How she arrived every day at Omega Headquarters at 4:00 a.m. because she was too scared to stay in her own house alone. She thought of the overwhelming panic that occurred whenever someone, however innocently, touched her from behind. She thought of all the ways she had screwed up the last mission, and the price she had paid for it.

And she thought of Evan and how he would be the one to suffer, or worse, if she went back out in the field and couldn’t perform her duties.

Evan wanted to support her, and Juliet appreciated his kind words, but he didn’t know all the facts. No matter what he said, Juliet would never again be a good agent.

“I’m sorry I’m sending you out there alone, Evan. I know it’s a sucky thing to do.”

“No.” He shook his head. “This isn’t about me or Bob Sinclair or this case at all. I’ll be fine. The case will be fine. I just wanted you to know that I think—that I know—you can do it. When you’re ready.”

Chapter Four

Evan watched as Juliet shuffled some papers, made a flimsy excuse about needing to be somewhere, and all but fled out the door. She didn’t make eye contact with him the entire time. Of course, she didn’t have to, for him to know what she was thinking.

That there was no way she’d ever be a good agent again.

Evan walked out of Juliet’s now empty office and down the hall to his own desk. There was no point going after her to convince her of his opinion, even if he knew he was right. Juliet still wasn’t ready to hear or accept the truth—that she could still do this job if she’d just give herself a chance.

Not that Evan expected her to do it immediately. She wasn’t ready to take those first steps back into active fieldwork, and that was fine. She should take all the time she needed to recover from what had happened to her.

He sat at his desk, pushing away the thoughts attempting to crowd into his mind. Images of Juliet lying bleeding on a warehouse floor, feebly trying to fend Evan off before she realized it was him and not the man who had attacked her.

In the middle of an undercover buy, the leader of a rival group, who didn’t like that Bob and Lisa Sinclair were cutting in on his share of black-market profits, had forcefully taken Juliet in the middle of the night. Before Evan even knew what had happened, and could get to her, she had been horribly beaten and raped.

Every muscle in his body tensed. Even now, eighteen months later, Evan had a hard time just forming the words in his mind.

And that was part of the problem, wasn’t it? They all—Evan, the Branson brothers, even Juliet herself—just tiptoed around it. Nobody ever really talked about it. He knew Juliet saw a shrink every once in a while, and was glad she did, but she never talked to anyone else about what had happened. Even though things didn’t seem to be getting better for her, and maybe getting worse.

Evan sighed and leaned back in his chair. In order to make things easier for Juliet, they’d all agreed to her unspoken request not to talk about the attack. To give her time. But now, a year and a half later, they were doing the same thing: just agreeing and protecting and sheltering her. For example, supporting her in the choice to leave active field duty and embrace a desk job.

Honestly, that just made Evan mad, because he’d never known people less suited for a desk job than any member of the Branson family, Juliet included.

Juliet especially.

Evan had worked with her for years in the field and knew her instincts were unparalleled. She could read an undercover situation and formulate a plan—sometimes multiple plans—almost instantaneously. She could pinpoint the weakness of an organization or a person’s individual psyche with frightening speed and accuracy.

More than once while undercover with her, Evan had been thankful she was a good guy, on his team, rather than vice versa. To say she was wasted as an analyst/handler wasn’t exactly true; she was good at that, too. But she could be so much more.

Evan had no problem with Juliet taking the time she needed to heal from the physical and psychological wounds she had suffered last time she’d been undercover. As far as he was concerned she could take the rest of her life, if that’s what she needed, and never set foot in the field again. He would be the first one to back her up in that decision. To hold her hand. To do more if she’d let him.

But what Evan couldn’t stomach was that Juliet thought of herself as a failure as an undercover operative because of what had happened to her. That because she hadn’t been able to escape her attacker, she’d failed.

Evan had tried multiple times to tell her what he had written in his official report of the incident. Even under the worst of possible circumstances, Juliet hadn’t broken cover.

She’d saved multiple lives, his included, because of that. No one could’ve asked for more from her. Seasoned agents had broken under much less duress than Juliet had endured. But despite everything that happened to her even through the rape, Juliet hadn’t told anyone she was law enforcement.

She was the furthest thing from a failure as an agent as possible. Evan wished he could make her understand that.

But Juliet no longer trusted herself. No longer considered becoming reinstated even a possibility. Because she believed she was—and always would be—a failure as an agent.

Evan knew he walked a fine line. He didn’t want to push her for more than she was ready to take on, but knew that without some sort of push she might never move forward at all. Either way, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t ready right now, despite what he or anybody else said. Evan would just keep encouraging her, and hopefully, they’d find some way to ease her back in a few months from now.

Baby steps.

He needed to try to get Juliet to open up and talk about what was going on in her head, see if he could figure out a way to help her make some progress.

Of course, Evan couldn’t throw stones too far while sitting in his glass house. He hadn’t told anybody about the dreams that had been plaguing him for the past year and a half. Hadn’t told anyone about how he sometimes sat in his car in front of Juliet’s house at night, just to make sure she was safe.

In case she needed him to protect her. The way he hadn’t been able to do on that last mission. The way that had haunted him ever since.

So maybe Juliet wasn’t the only one who needed to make forward progress. Baby steps for him, too.

But right now he needed to get ready for his meeting with Vince Cady. He flipped through the files on his desk one more time.

Cady was a vicious bastard. Evan was delighted at the opportunity to slip inside his organization and wreak as much havoc as possible. He was a little mad that arresting Cady wasn’t a priority for this operation, but understood why it wasn’t. Omega always kept the big picture in mind.

A chair creaking at the desk across from his drew Evan’s focus. Sawyer Branson winced a little as he took his arm out of the sling it had resided in for the past few weeks, and stretched it gently. “Ready for everything with Cady tomorrow?” he asked, rotating his shoulder.

Evan closed the files. “Yep. As much as I can be with this sort of thing. How’s the arm?”

His friend grimaced. “Let’s just say I don’t recommend getting shot. Even a flesh wound hurts like hell and takes a long time to heal. But it could’ve been much worse.”

“And with pretty Dr. Megan now working right upstairs, I’ll bet you’re not even itching to get back out in the field.” Evan tried not to snicker as he said it, but wasn’t entirely successful.

Sawyer got that goofy smile at the mention of Megan Fuller, the same smile his brother Cameron got at the mention of his fiancée, Sophia Reardon.

Branson men were falling like flies around here. Evan couldn’t help but grin.

“I’m not rushing the healing process, let’s just say that,” Sawyer said, stretching his arm out again. “Wouldn’t want to have any permanent damage.”

“Well, don’t worry. I’ll handle all the heavy lifting out in the field while you and Cameron play lover boys to your respective ladies.”

Sawyer got serious. “You sure you feel all right about going in with Cady? Cam and I both feel we’ve left you on your own. Especially without Juliet available in this situation.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing most ops on my own for the past year now.”

Neither of them mentioned why. Neither had to.

“Where are you meeting Cady tomorrow?” Sawyer asked after a moment’s pause that held a novel’s worth of unsaid words.

“Undetermined as of yet. I’m going to try to get him somewhere neutral. We’ll see how it plays out.”

“All right.” Sawyer got up and put his arm back into the sling. “Keep us all posted.”

“Yeah, it will be good to have Juliet as team leader on this one. She sees things nobody else does, sometimes.”

Her brother nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, maybe. I hope so.”

“She’ll be fine, Sawyer. Safe here at Omega, as always.”

Sawyer looked as if he might say something else, but didn’t. He just nodded again, then began walking down the hall. “Hey, family barbecue next weekend. My mom says you better be there for this one or she’s coming after you personally,” he called over his shoulder.

“Yeah, okay, tell her I’ll be there unless this case dictates otherwise.” And the case would dictate otherwise; Evan would make sure of that. He loved the Branson family and their get-togethers. But until things were more comfortable between him and Juliet, he wouldn’t be going. Juliet needed to know that her family was hers. Evan would never want to take that from her.

Evan read through the files one more time, familiarizing himself with every part of Vince Cady’s operation. He would never let the drug lord know he had this sort of knowledge, of course. To Cady, Bob Sinclair would be a midlevel criminal: smart, but not too clever; industrious, but still a little lazy. Someone useful and nonthreatening.

Evan could admit it was easier when he’d had Juliet playing his wife. He’d just pretended to be in awe of her and head over heels in love. Nobody had ever had any difficulty buying that cover. Bob and Lisa Sinclair had made a good team. Everybody had accepted that Lisa was the brains of the couple and Bob was willing to do anything she asked. It made them seem appealing and adept, but not threatening.

Not threatening except to Robert Avilo, another midlevel criminal who didn’t like how successful the Sinclairs had become in black-market buying and selling on what he considered to be his turf. In an attempt to get rid of the competition, to scare off the Sinclairs, Avilo had attacked Juliet.

Such a pity Avilo had died a few days after the attack while resisting arrest. An arrest made based on an “anonymous” tip. Evan wished he could’ve killed the bastard himself. But he still took a little comfort knowing the man was dead and that Juliet would never have to see his face again.

And though she never broke cover even when raped by Avilo, Evan and Juliet had completely pulled out of the case after the attack. Juliet had been in the hospital and Evan had refused to leave her side. He had no idea what the word was on the street about why the Sinclairs hadn’t been around for the past year and a half. Their disappearance had been pretty abrupt. But Evan took comfort in knowing that rumors floating about the Sinclairs would not be whispers that they were law enforcement.

Juliet, in her bravery and her silence, had seen to that.

But DS-13, the crime syndicate group, hadn’t had any problems with Bob Sinclair’s sudden reappearance when they’d contacted him last month. Neither had Vince Cady. Evan just hoped it stayed that way tomorrow, but knew he’d have to be ready for some questions.

He dumped onto his desk the contents of a large envelope he’d gotten from his filing cabinet earlier today. It contained items that had belonged to Bob Sinclair, and would help reestablish Evan’s cover. A driver’s license, of course. It had to be a real one that linked back to Bob Sinclair. There were too many online sites that, for a reasonable fee, could let Cady know if an ID was fake. So Bob Sinclair’s license was real, complete with links to several unpaid parking tickets, and even arrests, when Bob had been younger. If a local cop ran his license or social security number—and it wasn’t unreasonable to think that someone of Vince Cady’s criminal caliber would have at least one police officer on his payroll—it would look real.

So would the credit cards in Sinclair’s name, another way a cover could be easily blown if an operative wasn’t careful. In today’s technologically savvy world, credit cards that had never been used, or a social security number that could be traced back only a couple of years, were easily found and red-flagged. Bob Sinclair’s credit cards had purchases and statements dating back ten years. It was some analyst’s job at Omega to make sure all these electronically trackable items looked as real as possible. Whoever that person was did a damn good job.

The other items from the envelope included business cards for exporting companies and banks around the Baltimore and DC area. Even Sinclair’s library card, randomly placed in his wallet. Plus two photographs. The first was of Bob and Lisa’s wedding day. Evan and Juliet had posed outside a church, in wedding garb, hand in hand and smiling. Rice showered them in the picture, the perfect way to make it look as if a large crowd of people surrounded them. In actuality it had just been a few other agents, who had enjoyed pelting them with rice from every angle.

Evan picked up the other picture and studied it longer. He remembered that day from two years ago with crystal clarity. The photo had been taken in front of the Cape Henry Lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, during the winter. He and Juliet had driven there for the express purpose of getting this memento from the Sinclairs’ secluded “honeymoon” so they could both have a copy in their wallet. A couple who posed as being in love with each other as much as Bob and Lisa did would definitely have pictures of each other with them at all times. Plus, it gave them added history, a more firm timeline.

Details like that could be the difference between life and death in an undercover operation.

For the photo, Evan had scooped Juliet up and cradled her in his arms. They’d asked a stranger to take their picture with their little disposable camera, explaining they were on their honeymoon. The stranger had gladly obliged, but had insisted Evan and Juliet seal the moment with a kiss.

The kiss had started out brief, just a staged moment for a picture. But then Evan had found he hadn’t wanted to stop kissing Juliet. And judging by the way she clung to him, she hadn’t wanted to stop, either. Her soft lips and warm mouth had been so different from the cold air that had surrounded them.

They had both totally forgotten about the stranger taking their picture, who evidently at some point had just left the camera on a nearby step and walked away, giving the “newlyweds” their privacy. When Evan and Juliet had finally broken apart, they’d both been breathing heavily. And had been confused as hell about what had just happened between them—so unexpected, but so perfectly right at the same time.

They’d been about to go undercover on a critical operation, however, so both of them had pushed whatever had just happened between them aside. Something to deal with later.

Of course, if Evan had known what would happen later, he would’ve made very different choices that day. He would have driven to the nearest hotel and made love with Juliet until neither of them could walk.

Evan took the credit cards and pictures and put them back into the wallet. Maybe it would’ve changed everything, maybe it would’ve changed nothing. He’d never know.

He took Bob Sinclair’s wedding ring and slipped it on his finger. He might as well start getting used to its weight. He picked up the Saint Christopher necklace—Bob and Lisa had matching ones—and placed the chain around his neck. He kissed the medallion as Bob Sinclair had always done.

Evan stood and began packing everything away, straightening up his desk a little. If everything went the way they hoped, he wouldn’t be here in Omega HQ very often over the next few days, for it would be too dangerous. He had done all he could do here at the office. He grabbed the keys to the SUV he’d be driving until the case was over.

It was time to slip on the Bob Sinclair persona. To think like him, walk like him, become him.

Chapter Five

Juliet found herself back at Omega Headquarters the next morning, early again. But for once her early arrival wasn’t due to unreasonable fears and memories driving her from her home. Today she was in because she wanted to be, in order to provide Evan with any support he would need while meeting with Vince Cady.

She didn’t expect there would be a whole lot she could do. Evan wouldn’t be wearing a wire or transmitting device. No agent would take something like that to a first meeting with a perpetrator when he or she was sure to be searched; it would be a quick way to get killed. But if Evan needed any info, or advice Juliet could provide, she wanted to be there for his call.

She felt guilty enough for sending him in alone, but determined not to rehash all that again today. She would just do what she could from this end.

She stopped at the coffee shop down the block from Omega, ordered a cup of her favorite brew and made her way to the nondescript front doors of Sector Headquarters. The lobby of Omega could be mistaken for any financial or business building on the outskirts of Washington, DC. A security desk sat in front of the elevators. Everyone had to show their badges to get by. Nothing unusual.

But it was inside the elevators where the true security started. A retinal and fingerprint scan, as well as an individualized code, were required before a passenger was taken to any secure floor. Nobody just walked off the streets and got into Omega.

It was the reason Juliet felt safe here, when she didn’t anywhere else.

The morning ended up being as uneventful as she had hoped. She sat at her desk, monitoring all calls and electronic submissions that might be coming from Evan. But except for a brief text stating the meeting was confirmed for 11:00 a.m. near the Baltimore Pier, they hadn’t heard anything from him. No news wasn’t necessarily good news in this business, but it wasn’t necessarily bad news, either.

Juliet forced herself to relax. She’d feel better once Evan’s initial meeting with Vince Cady was complete. So much rode on this one event.

Her brother Sawyer stuck his head in the door. “Heard from Karcz?”

“A couple of hours ago. Everything seemed good. Meeting scheduled for eleven.” Juliet looked down at the clock on one of the computer screens she had open. Five minutes to eleven. Moment of truth.

“Cam and I are headed into DC proper. Bomb threat issue and the Bureau needs some extra hands. All available agents are headed in.”

Juliet nodded. “Okay. Well, I’ve definitely got it covered here. Just waiting for Evan to check in after the meeting. Nothing I can really do except wait. But in case he needs any emergency info I want to be standing by.”

“Okay, sis. We’ll be on cell phone silence because of the bomb threat. FBI on the scene is concerned that the perps might be using a cell to detonate, so they’re jamming all frequencies.”

“I’ll figure something out if I need you. I’m expecting a boring day.”

Sawyer left and Juliet went back to her work. One computer actively monitored the Baltimore Police Department. They had no idea what was going on with this case, so could actually stumble in and do harm if she wasn’t careful. She’d give them info on a need-to-know basis, if it looked as if they might interfere with the case somehow. She’d also been reading through the files of Vince Cady’s known associates all morning. Nothing terribly interesting there, either, but Juliet wanted to make sure she was up to speed on all the names and faces.

She almost missed it. Amid the chaos of the monitors and files, hypervigilant in her effort to make sure she could provide any support Evan might need—overcompensating for guilt much?—Juliet almost missed the single communiqué that could bring the entire operation crashing down.

It was an automated email from the Omega system. It had filtered through the Virginia courts and correction system, and provided a list of three people who had been released from a Richmond jail on bond this morning at eight o’clock. Omega’s system only red-flagged info concerning criminals or suspects in their database—people Omega had caught, were currently trying to catch, or planned to catch in the future.

The system listed one of the releases, a low-level hired thug named Mark Bolick, because of the agent who had apprehended the suspect: Evan Karcz. At first Juliet didn’t pay the communiqué any attention. As an analyst, she had multiple lists like this come across her computer screen every day.

Mark Bolick had been arrested last month during an altercation between the crime group DS-13 and some Omega agents, a situation that had almost left her brother Sawyer dead. Most of the members of DS-13, including the dirty ex-FBI agent running the crime ring, had been killed. But some had been arrested, including Bolick. Evan had been undercover, not directly involved in the case. But because Sawyer, the agent in charge, had been in critical condition, Evan had arrested the remaining bad guys. Not common practice in undercover work.

Mark Bolick in and of himself wasn’t much of a problem. Juliet didn’t know why he was getting out on bail so early and didn’t really care. The problem was Bolick had ties to Vince Cady, based on information she’d read in the files this morning. Although he didn’t seem to be a big part of Cady’s organization, he was dating Cady’s niece.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Bolick, after sitting in jail for over a month, would be heading up to Baltimore as soon as possible, probably to see his girlfriend. But it wasn’t a stretch to think he might check in with Cady immediately.

And he’d be sure to remember the man posing as Bob Sinclair as the one who had arrested him just a few weeks before. That would mean the end of the case for Evan.

And probably his life, especially if they’d already discussed any details about anything. Or maybe just because Cady or one of his men would see it as an opportunity to get rid of an undercover cop.

Juliet immediately speed dialed Evan’s phone. A call was risky, but at least produced immediate communication. Evan would be able to talk his way out of it, make up some excuse to Cady about why he was taking the call.

But he didn’t answer.

Juliet immediately sent a text from her computer to the same number. Aunt Suzie had a heart attack. Mom needs you to come home right away.

Aunt Suzie was the signal for general emergency. Come home right away meant to get out of there now. Evan wouldn’t have any details, but he would know what the message meant.

Juliet sat staring at her computer, waiting for the screen to give a received message. All Omega-issued phones had the capacity to show if a message had been received. Helpful, but not foolproof, since it couldn’t notify the handler if the agent was the one who had actually read the text. Just that it had been accessed.

Juliet didn’t necessarily expect Evan to respond, depending on what was going on in the meeting with Cady, but she did want to know the warning had been received.

But nothing. She sent the text again, just to be sure. Still nothing.

Multiple scenarios ran through her head ranging from the benign—Evan was in a momentary situation where he couldn’t access his phone or didn’t have a signal—to the catastrophic—he had already been exposed as an undercover agent and executed by Vince Cady.

Juliet gave it five more minutes, sending the message three more times.

Nothing.

She looked at her watch and did some quick calculations. Eleven-fifteen. Evan should definitely already be meeting with Cady by now. And it was a hundred fifty miles from Richmond to Baltimore, so it was conceivable that Mark Bolick could’ve already made it there, too. She needed to find out where Evan was and get in touch with him.

Juliet opened the program that allowed her to use Evan’s phone as a tracker. She entered in the code for it and waited.

Device not found.

Juliet entered in the code one more time to be sure. Nothing again. Now she really began to worry. There were too many unknowns in this situation. She had to make a decision. She didn’t want to blow the operation for nothing, but neither was she willing to risk Evan’s life.

She called the contact number she had for the Baltimore PD. Quickly she explained the situation to a ranking officer there, asking him to send out a unit to check the location of Evan’s meeting with Cady near the Baltimore Pier, explaining the need for speed but also stealth, if possible. The officer assured her of their cooperation and that he would call back shortly.

It didn’t take long, about fifteen minutes—although it felt much longer—for the officer to call her back. His response had Juliet immediately running down the hall to Burgamy’s office.

“Dennis, we have a problem with Evan in the undercover op,” she told her supervisor, without any preamble. She explained about Mark Bolick.

“Have you contacted Baltimore PD and GPS for his phone?”

“Yes, for both. I’m not getting any GPS location reading for his phone at all. BPD sent a unit to the location I provided, where Evan reported the meeting with Vince Cady would be held, but no one was there. They said it was completely empty, with no sign of any sort of struggle or foul play.”

Burgamy stood. “Okay, that’s both good and bad.”

Juliet knew what he meant. Evan wasn’t lying in a pool of blood somewhere, so that was good. But they had no idea where he was, and no way of contacting him. That was bad.

Very bad.

“It’s just a matter of time before Mark Bolick shows up while Evan is there.” Juliet tried not to pace around Burgamy’s office, but it was difficult.

“Have Baltimore put out an APB on Bolick. Maybe we can catch him before he meets up with Cady and Evan. If he’s in Baltimore, he’s breaking his bond agreement, anyway, by being out of state.”

Juliet had her phone out to make the call.

Burgamy stopped her. “Juliet, you worked with Evan as this persona before. Do you know of any places he might have suggested to Cady? Neutral places that would make the guy more comfortable? Obviously, the meeting wasn’t going as well as Evan hoped if they aren’t at the location they agreed to, and his phone is completely offline.”

This probably wouldn’t have happened if you’d gone undercover with him.

Burgamy didn’t say the words out loud, and may not have even been thinking them. But Juliet could feel them floating in the air. Maybe it was just her own guilt talking.

“I don’t know. Yeah. Maybe a couple of places.” Juliet could picture a few.

“I don’t have any agents to send out. Everybody has gone into DC to help with this bomb issue. Until we know for sure Evan is in trouble, the bomb has to be my priority.”

Juliet nodded. Burgamy was right; he couldn’t pull men off a known crisis for something that was only a possible one. “Okay, I’ll work with Baltimore PD. Hopefully this is just some sort of fluke thing and Evan will be in touch soon.”

But her gut told her the opposite.

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