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She narrows her eyes at me. “I don’t even know the man, but I know he pulled a gun on you, so I say better him than me.”

“You’re so heartless,” I tsk, “Hand me my phone, I’ll call Liam.”

Maddie reaches into my bag and digs around.

“You don’t need him,” a deep voice grunts from the backseat.

The hair on my neck stands on end. Maddie screams, and I grip the steering wheel, barely avoiding a collision with pedestrians on the sidewalk.

I glance in the rearview mirror at the man who just sat up in my back seat. “Thane!”

“Hello again.” Thane grins.

“Thane?” Maddie screams again. “As in Caleb’s dad, the criminal?”

“One and the same,” he replies.

“Oh my gosh, he has to get out now.” Maddie covers her face with her hands. “If we knowingly transport him, it could be considered harboring a fugitive and we could go to jail. I’m going to lose my job again.”

“I’m not running from the law,” Thane says, “at least not right now.”

I study the road for a spot to pull off but we are in the thick of traffic. “What are you doing in my car?”

“I needed a ride.”

“How did you know which car was mine?”

“I’m a people reader, I literally do this kind of thing for a living.”

“Squat in people’s cars?”

“Find a mark, and con them.” He leans over the seat, his warm breath hitting the top of my shoulders and making me shiver. How do I get rid of this man? “After our lively discussion, I determined that the vehicle with the bumper stickerblondes have more funand the thrift store bags littering the back seat was yours. Most women have cars, and you have pink bedazzled dogs around your license plate. You strike me as a dog person. Wasn’t that hard.”

The fact that he was able to piece that together from our brief interaction frightens me.

“You need to get out!” Maddie yells at him.

“Can’t. You have something I need.” He grins eerily at me.

“Finders keepers.” I stick my tongue out at him. “You don’t need it. Caleb does, and I’m going to make sure he gets it.”

Thane laughs. “You stupid girl. You have no idea what you have, do you?”

I shrug. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, it does. Because it has every U.S. government agency listed on it. The names of every agent and every ongoing mission. If you’re found with it, you’re dead.”

He’s right. I had no idea what was on that tiny drive, and I’m sufficiently frightened. Because whoever has it knows about Caleb and Serena, two people I love. Which only makes me want to protect it more. “And what wereyouplanning on doing with it?”

“Selling it and finally retiring.”

“How selfless of you,” I deadpan.

“I’ve been tracking this thing for months! It’s mine,” he yells, then seems to cool off and shoves a hand through his graying hair. “Look, this has been a riveting adventure with my son’s girlfriend. We’ll call it a family reunion no one wanted to attend and agree to never see each other again. But now I need you to turn it over. I have a flight out of here in one hour.”

“Don’t give it to him,” Maddie says.

“Not planning on it,” I say, especially since I don’t have it. She does. I saw her tuck it into her bra when she pretended to find chapstick in my purse.