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Oz headed downstairs. He’d brought Ayla and her suitcase to the spare bedroom—or as the Big Dog referred to it, the Paladin League guest room—but now he needed to talk to the captain.

He found BD seated at the desk in the makeshift office on the first floor.

The door was open, but he knocked lightly and waited for the signal to enter.

“Where’s our guest?” Captain Nguyen asked, gesturing for Oz to take the other chair.

“She’s napping. She’s had a hell of a day. I’m kind of surprised it took this long for her to crash.”

BD nodded. “I talked to Archer. Ayla was telling the truth. She doesn’t work for him, but he’s aware of her position in Public Relations at the foundation. But surprise, surprise, her sister, Iona Desmond, is one of his people. The donor magazine job is her cover story.”

Desmond. Oz had Ayla’s full name now. “Did he say anything else about Ayla?”

“He suggested returning her to LA until he learned about Ivanov’s men. We agreed she’d be safer if we looked after her for a while. Other than that, no.”

Oz read between the lines. “What did he have to say about Iona?”

“More than I expected. I think he even told the truth.” Captain Nguyen leaned back in his chair. “He’s worried. He didn’t admit that, but there was an edge in his tone. She missed a check-in on Wednesday, and he hasn’t spoken to her in six days.”

“Six days? Shit. She could be anywhere now.”

“I pointed that out.”

“Why didn’t Archer call you days ago? He hasn’t been shy about ordering the team around.”

BD shrugged. “We didn’t have that conversation, but I have a theory.

Iona doesn’t operate in the same capacity as the other Paladin League women we’ve run into.

She doesn’t hold a master’s degree in library science.

She isn’t working on a PhD in archaeology.

Her job is to gather intelligence while presumably writing feature stories for the League’s magazine. ”

He went still as his brain whirled. “And if Archer called us for help, it would reveal a piece of his network that he didn’t want us to be aware of,” Oz guessed.

“Exactly. We know he runs the equivalent of a covert team, but Iona is more hidden than the rest of his people.”

Oz nodded. Not even Ayla knew her sister worked for Archer. It begged the question of how many other undercover operators existed at the Paladin League, but there was only one that mattered right now. “What was Iona’s assignment? To find the treasure that your Nerd is here to locate?”

Shaking his head, BD said, “No.”

The captain didn’t say anymore, but Oz remained quiet and waited.

“It seems,” the Big Dog said after a long pause, “that we have yet another player looking for the treasure. The only intel Archer has is a name—Fuentes—and that he calls Trujillo his home base. He referred to the man as an enigma. Iona was sent to identify who this was and learn everything else she could about him.”

It was Oz’s turn to sit quietly as he digested this information. He stared out the window as the ramifications sorted themselves out in his mind. He brought his focus back to the captain.

“We have two tracks to find Iona. The weapons and the treasure,” he said at last.

Captain Nguyen shook his head. “Those are the likely tracks, but we can’t narrow down anything yet. She could have run into something completely unrelated while she investigated. We look at everything until we have evidence to cross it off the list.”

A thought occurred to Oz. “You don’t think Fuentes is an alias for Petrova, do you? Lurch said that the treasure and the arms dealing were getting tangled together. Maybe they’re mixed up even more than he knew.”

“We can’t rule it out.” The Big Dog scowled. “We can’t rule anything out, but let’s lean toward Fuentes being a new player. With Archer’s connections, I think he would have been able to ID Petrova or Ivanov.”

Oz nodded. “And the same would apply to Vargas and Torres.”

“Given their high profiles in narcotics and weapons, it seems likely, but we can’t assume.”

“Archer is interesting,” Oz said.

“Archer is a pain in the ass,” the captain growled.

“What do we know about him?”

“Not enough. Searches for his background hit a wall.”

“Shit.” That meant he’d likely worked in intelligence in the past. Nothing Oz heard about the man suggested Special Forces, another career where searches hit dead ends.

“Enough about Archer. The important thing is finding Ms. Desmond. If she can give us intel about an arms deal, it might help us end Torres’s empire. A sale to Ivanov would be large enough for the boss to consider handling it personally.”

Oz didn’t think they’d get that lucky. Torres was a slippery son of a bitch, and this was the third time they’d been sent to Puerto Jardin to stop his arms dealing.

The problem was the man seldom left his compound, not even for big arms deals, but maybe things had changed.

His second in command went down on their previous op and there were questions on how much trust he had in his remaining lieutenants.

Oz kept it to himself. The captain knew all this already. “Baggs was here before you came in and he met Ayla. He offered to help. If you okay it, we can start looking for Iona as soon as he gets back.”

“That works. Baggs isn’t tied up on anything. You two look for Iona and I’ll babysit Ayla while you search.”

The gasp from the hallway had Oz stiffening. There was only one person who would react this way. Ayla.

Ayla woke disoriented. The cotton-candy pink walls jarred her back to reality. She was in Puerto Jardin. Sitting up, she looked around but couldn’t see Oz anywhere.

She checked the time. It hadn’t even been twenty minutes since she fell asleep.

Ayla expected to be out longer than that, especially given how exhausted she’d become when Oz had shown her the guest room.

Despite the nap, her emotions felt like they were all over the place.

She hated not having complete control of herself.

“Hello?” she called out, but she heard nothing, not even the sound of someone moving around.

Standing, she went to the door, opened it, and stuck her head into the hallway, checking both directions.

It was empty. As much as she wanted to hide out in the bedroom, she couldn’t. Her sister needed help.

The upper floor was dead silent. Ayla headed for the stairs. This house was as bad as she remembered, but better this ramshackle mess than being at risk from the mob. Even in her own head, that sounded dramatic, but it was the truth. The Russian mafia actually wanted her twin.

She crept down the stairs, but they seemed sturdy, without as much as a creak. The room at the bottom was also empty. There was a TV, so she called it the family room. Ayla turned the way she was familiar with, toward the dining room. No one was there and Oz wasn’t in the kitchen either.

That left the part of the house she hadn’t seen yet. She walked through the family room and headed down the opposite hallway. A low murmur of male voices told her she was on the right track. She couldn’t make out the words, but she knew one of them was Oz.

Ayla slowed as she got closer, uncertain if she should interrupt. But she was near enough now to hear what was being said.

“Baggs was here before you came in, and he met Ayla. He offered to help. If you okay it, we can start looking for Iona as soon as he gets back.”

Oz was going to help her. Her relief was short-lived.

“That works. Baggs isn’t tied up on anything. You two look for Iona and I’ll babysit Ayla while you search.”

Babysit?

She stalked the remaining distance and entered what distinctly was an office. “What do you mean babysit?” she demanded, hands on her hips. She glared at both men, but especially at Oz. She’d trusted him.

“Ayla,” Oz said as he stood to face her, “the Russian mafia wants your sister, and they can’t tell you apart. You’re not safe outside these walls.”

His tone of voice stoked her temper. “No one can tell us apart, and I understand there’s a risk, but don’t you get it?

Iona isn’t only my sister, she’s my twin.

We’ve always been a team, and we always will be a team.

If the situation were reversed, Io wouldn’t be cowering inside this ugly-ass house.

She’d be out looking for me. I refuse to do less for my sister than she would do for me. ”

The two men glanced at each other, and Ayla knew they believed she was being unreasonable. Did they think she wanted to be running around Trujillo, trying to avoid anyone who appeared to be a criminal?

“I’m the best chance of finding Io.” She looked at the Asian man who remained seated. He appeared to be in charge. “You don’t know her. Oz and his friend don’t know her. I do. I know her better than anyone else.”

That didn’t seem to sway the men.

Ayla wished she could walk out of this house and look for her sister without trying to win over Oz and this man he called BD. Unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared to handle the situation outside these walls. She needed their help, like it or not.

Inspiration struck. “You said maybe Io overheard something about an arms deal. You said you wanted to find out what she knows. That means there’s a finite period before the sale happens.

If it takes you too long to locate her, you don’t get the information you need in time to do—” Ayla waved a hand— “whatever.”

Now BD stood, standing shoulder to shoulder with Oz. “We’d lose time if you’re searching. We’d have to disguise you. That means shopping for a wig, buying clothes you normally wouldn’t wear, different makeup, everything.”

He was trying to make it sound as if it would take a ridiculously long time to disguise her, but he was wrong. “The wig, yes, but the idea is for me to not look like my sister. Io and I already dress differently from each other. We wear our makeup differently. I can wear my own clothes and makeup.”

“It didn’t work today,” Oz pointed out. “They thought you were Iona immediately upon seeing you.”

Ayla gave Oz a glare. “That was without a wig.”

“Ms. Desmond,” BD said. Her gasp stopped him short.

“How did you know my last name?” She felt the blood drain from her face.

“I called Archer. Your VP of Strategy and Systems is in my contacts. He gave me your surname.”

Confusion drove away the fear. “How does he know who I am?”

“He knows who your sister is,” BD said. “He’s aware of you because of her.”

That didn’t clear anything up. She knew who Archer was because someone working in PR needed to be familiar with all the League’s officers.

There was no reason for a VP to be aware of her sister, or even if he somehow knew of Iona, why he should care about Ayla.

She looked at Oz. “But he shouldn’t know who my sister is either. ”

“Archer said he was responsible for your sister being assigned to come to Puerto Jardin,” BD said.

That could happen. Maybe Archer had heard about the ruins and decided they’d be the perfect feature for the donor’s magazine.

All he’d need to do was pick up the phone and call Io’s department head.

It sounded logical, yet Ayla had a sense that Oz’s…

boss?…wasn’t being honest. She thought about pushing but decided it ultimately didn’t matter.

The only important thing was locating her sister and arguing about some VP didn’t further her goal.

Returning to the original topic, she said, “I can wear a wig. Light brown hair should look natural with my skin tone. Then we can search for Io.”

Another glance between the two men, and then Oz said, “Ayla?—”

“No. I’m going to help. It will take you much longer to find her without me. Maybe too long. I won’t let my sister’s life be at risk because you want to shelter me.”

“If your sister is as street smart as you told me she is,” Oz snapped, “then she’s in hiding, and if we’re not careful, we could lead Petrova right to her.”

“She’s not hiding. She’s in trouble and she needs to be rescued now.” Ayla leaned forward and glared up at Oz.

“That’s bullshit. You’ve let your anxiety about Iona blow this situation completely out of proportion.”

“I did no such thing.” Ayla was furious. How dare he discount the danger her twin was in because he thought she was a hysterical woman? “My sister is in real trouble. I know it.”

“Really? You know it? How?”

He leaned down to return her glare. Between that and his tone, she reached a boiling point. “Because my sister and I have a connection. She communicated she was in danger, and I can feel she’s still in danger. That’s how.”

As the words came out of her mouth, Ayla regained a modicum of control. She hadn’t meant to share that. Psychologists said the twin bond was nothing more than familiarity and observation. No one believed there was a psychic connection.

Except for the twins who actually shared a telepathic link.