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“Hacker. I don’t know her real name. She was young, late twenties. It would likely be associated with something innocuous, like the theft of computer equipment. Have you seen anything like that, today?” he asked urgently.

“No. Nothing,” she replied, alarmed. “They haven’t reported on any women being murdered or dying in some sort of accident. They’re talking mostly about the hurricane heading into the Caribbean.”

He swore under his breath.

“What’s going on? Who was she? You’re scaring me.”

“They’re covering up her death. Which speaks volumes about who killed her.”

They who ? What wasn’t he telling her? “Volumes about who?” she demanded.

“They’re powerful. Connected. Probably government.”

“Our government? You’re saying an American citizen was killed right here in Washington by our government and it’s being covered up?” Holy crap .

“You really have to get over the whole mom and apple pie thing when it comes to the United States, Katie. All governments work for their own best interest by whatever means they have at their disposal. None of them are nice about it.”

Sometimes she forgot what a cynic he was. The uncomfortable thing was that he might be right. Still, her patriotic upbringing ran deep. “Hey. You work for the U.S., too.”

He scowled and muttered, “Don’t remind me.”

True alarm speared through her. He was having second thoughts about hitching his fate to CIA and not to his father’s FSB? She shuddered to think what hell would be unleashed at them if he changed his mind about working for Uncle Sam at this late date. No way was she raising Dawn in Moscow.

Alex was speaking again. “…and we’ll need to leave town before whoever shot at you tries again. Stay inside for now.” He continued, “I have a few things to take care of before I can go. My errands will take about an hour. Can you and Dawn be ready to leave in that amount of time?”

“Of course.”

A threat to Dawn’s safety rubbed at her psyche until she felt raw and exposed. If they were back in the crosshairs, the baby needed to get away from her and Alex. Again .

It nigh killed her to leave Dawn hidden in an orphanage when they first got back to the States. Indeed, a would-be killer had staged a break-in at the orphanage to draw her out of hiding and get her to go check on Dawn. It had nearly worked.

Failure burned in her gut like acid as she packed.

What kind of mother was she if she couldn’t even keep their baby out of mortal danger?

Where were they taking Dawn, anyway? She needed to know so she could pack the right kinds of clothes for them both.

She headed for Alex’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

He swiveled in his desk to face her. A glance over his shoulder revealed his right hand closing his laptop screen. He was hiding whatever he was working on from her. Why? The question exploded across her brain, rife with suspicion.

“If you don’t have any better idea, I was thinking we could take Dawn to stay with my folks until we figure out who’s shooting at us.”

Alex’s eyes clouded with what looked like genuine regret. It was genuine, right? God, it sucked not knowing if she could trust him or not. If only she could shake the feeling he was up to no good.

Although, truth be told, she was working behind his back, too.

He nodded once, grimly. “Sure. We can drive up to Pittsburgh, tonight.” He looked impatient, and she took the hint, merely nodding and backing out of his office.

Anxiety prodded her. In the past, when he got all secretive like this, his father usually had something to do with it.

What was Roman Koronov up to, now? The man just couldn’t leave his son alone.

It was an obsession between the two of them.

They were locked in some sort of mortal struggle neither one could let go of.

So unlike her big, happy-go-lucky family.

Who she got to see tonight! She made a call to her mother, who was delighted to take Dawn for a few days while she and Alex took care of a few things.

Not that she thought her mother was fooled for a second that there wasn’t some sort of problem.

The woman had raised five soldiers and cops.

She could smell trouble a mile away. Mom just knew not to ask about it.

Her loved ones would tell her what was going on in their own time. Strong woman, her mother.

Katie busied herself packing the copious gear a well-spoiled baby required for any self-respecting road trip. It took the full hour Alex had given her to make trips to the underground parking garage and cram the BMW’s trunk to the gills.

Just as she finished, he emerged from his office, grabbed a pre-packed bag, for which she hated him a little, and was ready to go.

Traffic was heavy until they cleared the Washington suburbs, and then they made good time to Pittsburgh.

It was about a two-hundred-fifty-mile trip and took a little over four hours.

By early evening, they arrived at her folks’ house.

In time-honored ritual, her brothers and dad were gathered in front of the big TV in the family room yelling at each other and armchair coaching.

Alex joined the men but sat off to one side sipping the beer her father poured for him.

He looked misplaced among her burly brothers, although he had more in common with them than most people would guess at a glance.

They were all lethal men who took care of their own.

Dawn would be perfectly safe ensconced among the McCloud men.

Katie was just retreating to the kitchen for some girl talk with her mother when her cell phone rang. She was lifting it to her ear when Alex’s went off as well. Their gazes met grimly as they took the calls.

“Hi, Katie. This is Ashley Osborne from Doctors Unlimited.”

André Fortinay’s admin assistant? What did she want?

“I’m calling to ask if you’re available for an emergency deployment.”

“Where to?”

“Miami, for now.”

“I thought D.U. didn’t work in the United States. What happened to all the doctors in Florida?” Kaite responded.

“We’re pre-positioning a team to insert into Cuba after Hurricane Giselle strikes.”

She frowned. “It’s going to get that bad?” Her knee jerk reaction was to say no and hang up the phone. She and Alex were done with dangerous missions to deadly places, right?

“We’re being told this will go Category Five and cause heavy damage. A lot of casualties,” André’s assistant explained.

“Huh. Who all’s going?”

“Just you two. Obviously, we’re hoping to send you and Alex together.”

What was so obvious about her and Alex going together? Was it her job to keep an eye on him? Make sure he didn’t stray off the CIA reservation?

Ashley was speaking again, a little more urgently. “Can you be ready to leave first thing in the morning?”

Come to think of it, why was a low-level admin type calling to send her on this mission that everyone knew she wouldn’t want to go on? Katie’s antennae went up and started to wiggle. In her experience as a nurse, she’d learned to sense lies and evasion from patients, and she was sensing some, now.

“I’m not in D.C., actually. I can’t really give you an answer, tonight.”

The girl’s reply was perky. A smidge too pushy. “No problem. You can fly out of the airport nearest to wherever you are now.”

Alarm exploded in her chest. No! She couldn’t just drop everything and race off to parts unknown on a dangerous adventure! She had a baby to take care of. A fragile relationship with Alex to nurture into something more stable and permanent.

For all she knew, she needed to talk him down off whatever emotional bridge the CIA had forced him to climb this year. The last thing either of them needed was to dive headlong into life threatening danger.

She asked cautiously, “Is someone talking to Alex, now?”

“André’s on the phone with him.”

Katie glanced across the family room. Alex had turned his back on everyone and was in the corner having a quiet, intense-looking conversation with his boss. And it was taking longer than, “Hey, Alex. You wanna go to Cuba?”

Dammit, what were they whispering about? Alex turned slightly, and she caught sight of his face. It was more alive than it had been in weeks. His eyes were bright, his entire body vibrating with tension. Excitement.

Dismay crushed her. She’d known as soon as he got home that Alex had been changed by the past year, but there had been more to it than just that.

Something had been missing, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it.

Not until now. Not until this dangerous, electric side of him awoke and showed itself. This was what had been absent.

Was the prospect of domestic bliss with her and Dawn so stifling, then? Apparently, so.

Who was she trying to kid? She would never tame the tiger within him.

Not without killing that part of him. He would never be happy without living on the edge.

Heck, he’d spent his entire life walking a high wire without a net.

What made her think that clumping around in the mud of average life with her would be enough for him?

Racing off to a dangerous place like Cuba was more than what Alex did. It defined who he was. If she gave half a damn about him, she wouldn’t stand in his way. Except she wasn’t ready to let go of him, yet. Even if her dream of a life with him was doomed.

All that was left for them was a swan song. One last adventure. How, when it was over, would she ever find a way to let him go?

“Let me talk with Alex,” she mumbled into her phone. “We’ll let you know.”

Ashley replied too brightly, “Send me your location, and I’ll set up your itinerary and flight reservations.”

Were they not being given any choice in the matter, then? Was that what was taking so long between Alex and André? She ended her call, frowning.