King considered his words. “Maybe. After what happened at the bunker, maybe whoever was working with them bailed, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk.”

  “You don’t believe that,” Leo said. “I know you don’t want me to worry, but I’d rather know the truth, no matter how ugly.”

  King swallowed hard, then nodded. “You’re right. I don’t think they gave up. I don’t have the answers to your questions, but we need to remain vigilant. I’ll call Bowers and let him know what’s happening with Colton. It might not be connected, but I’d rather him and his men be on alert.” He removed his phone from his pocket and frowned. “I have no signal.”

  Just as King said the words, a shrill alarm went off, and Leo spun his chair toward his desk.

  “What the hell is that?” King asked, his hand on Leo’s shoulder.

  “That’s my security system. It’s been breached.”

  “What? How the hell is that even possible?”

  Leo brought up his security system interface, feeling sick to his stomach at the sight of intrusive code wreaking havoc. He felt like he’d been violated. Someone had come into his safe space, into what was his, a part of him, without permission. No one should be in here. Leo tried his best to regain control, but there were so many damned things going wrong at the same time, too many fires to put out. Where the hell was it coming from? First things first, focus on the most important part. It looked like they were making their way through his defenses, one piece at a time. If he could just head them off…. He went into the admin area and gasped. The little piece of coding jumped out at him. The ears, the whiskers….

  “Oh my God, it’s them.”

  “Who?”

  “Codey Cat. The coder I told you about. The one who disappeared. But… how? Why? This makes no sense.” Sense or not, he had to try to stop them. “They’ve disabled all my fail switches. They’re… in everything. Oh my God, they’re in the AC vents.” Leo shot away from his desk, a chill traveling up his spine. “King, they’ve taken over the whole building. It’s too late to stop it.” Whoever was doing this had gotten in way before the alarm went off, discreetly deactivating one section at a time without alerting him. It was only because they’d tripped the alarm connected to the elevator that he’d been alerted, but why? If they’d been so careful before? Whoever had done this was good, really good, and now someone was on their way up. “King, someone’s coming.”

  “Okay, we’re getting you out of here.” King grabbed his hand, and they turned in time to see Heather reach the top of the stairs, a small army of men behind her.

  Leo froze. “Heather?” Wait…. “You’re Codey Cat?”

  Heather shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Leo.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she moved to one side as men flooded the room; none of them were Bowers’s agents or soldiers.

  The ventilation system. If Bowers and his men weren’t up here, it meant they were out for the count. Oh God, Jack and Red. Please let them be okay. They had to be okay.

  “What did you do to them?” Leo demanded, trying to get around King, who’d pulled Leo behind him and was moving them farther back into the room.

  “They’re alive,” Heather said with a sniff. “Just out. Except for him.” She motioned toward King. “I’m so sorry, King, but he said you’d get in the way.”

  Leo’s heart jumped into his throat. “No.”

  “Leo, stay back,” King ordered, removing his gun from the holster he always wore as half a dozen men wearing military-style uniforms with no insignias charged King. One of them grabbed Heather and put a gun to her head, shouting at King in Russian and motioning for him to put his gun down.

  “King, you have to do what he says,” Leo said, flinching at Heather’s cry.

  “You’re my priority,” King replied through his teeth, his eyes on the approaching men.

  “Please don’t let him kill me,” Heather begged.

  Leo grabbed King’s arm. “King.”

  “They’re not going to kill her, Leo. They need her. Why do you think they brought her up here? Get behind the futon.” King fired at the men in the room, and Leo ducked behind the futon like King asked. King was right. The guy holding a gun to Heather pushed her behind the kitchen counter. King didn’t miss, but the problem wasn’t his marksmanship—it was his lack of ammunition and the army of men that continued to flood through the doorway.

  Leo felt helpless. Each guy was twice his size and obviously trained. King had taught Leo some self-defense but nothing that would be enough to take down any of these men. What the hell could he do? Do what you do best, Leo. Think. Come on. He couldn’t leave King in their hands.

  King used everything in his arsenal to take his enemies down. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t pause to take a breath or even blink, grabbing everything within reach and turning it into a weapon, from a book sitting on the coffee table that he slammed into one man’s windpipe, to one of the hand weights he swiped up off the floor to swing into another man’s face. Leo cringed at the sound of breaking bones. Blood splattered across his furniture and walls. One man jumped onto King’s back, and King flipped the guy over his shoulder onto the coffee table, smashing it to pieces, before he spun and slammed a fist into another man’s face. One, two, three hooks into another guy until he collapsed, King’s knuckles bloodied and bruised. The fifth guy hit the floor in a heap, and four more men launched themselves at King.

  “No!” Leo tried to think, but how could he when the man he loved was being viciously attacked by a small army? There were too many of them. Not even King could fend them all off. The floor was littered with bodies, some lifeless, others out cold. Three huge men rushed King from behind, another four from the front, the hideous sound of fists pounding into flesh echoing through the room as King roared, determined to smash through his attackers, ignoring the hits he received in the process. A punch landed across his jaw while he was busy throwing another guy across the room. King staggered but quickly recovered, ducking under another fist, rolling, and popping up behind the man. He kicked at the side of the guy’s knee with his boot, followed by a punch to the side of the head.

  “Take him out! For fuck’s sake, it’s one guy!”

  Bowers stormed into the room, and the truth of who had betrayed them momentarily caught King off guard, enough for someone to shoot him in the leg.

  “No!” Leo screamed and fought furiously against the men who rushed him. “King!”

  “Leo,” King growled, pushing himself to his feet. He stumbled but managed to take two more men down before another shot rang out, and then another. King stumbled toward Leo, only to have Bowers kick the back of his injured leg before grabbing a fistful of his hair.

  “No!” Leo shook his head, tears filling his eyes. “Don’t! Please!”

  King grabbed Bowers’s wrist and threw his elbow back at the same time, twisting, and taking advantage of Bowers doubling over from the pain in his groin. King growled, punching Bowers in the stomach and pushing himself to his feet, but he was rushed by two men, and slammed into the wall, his pained scream shaking Leo down to his core. King held on to his side as his legs gave out and he hit the floor, his leg, side, and shoulder bleeding. The same two men rushed toward him, and King got to his feet again, pushing away from the wall, and fighting despite his injuries. If he kept this up, he was going to bleed to death. A fierce punch to the jaw and another kick to his injured leg had King down on one knee. Several men attacked at once, punching and kicking.

  “Please, stop!” Leo shouted. They were going to kill King. He looked around, frantic to find something, do anything. He’d never been more terrified in his life, but King needed him. Bowers shouted at the men to finish King off as he marched over to Leo, grabbed his arm, and dragged him toward his desk. Leo swiped up his bag of snacks and held it out to Bowers.

  “Goldfish cracker?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me with this right no—”

  Throwing the bag in Bowers’s face, Leo used the maneuver King had taught him and snatched Bowers’s gun. He spun on his heels and faced Bowers—gun aimed at his own temple.

  “Stop!” Bowers threw up his hands. “Everyone, stop!”

  The room stilled.

  “Get away from him,” Leo spat out at the men crowding King. He felt sick to his stomach, and it took everything he had to keep his hand from shaking.

  “Leo, don’t,” King wheezed, sucking in a sharp breath and wincing. His gorgeous face was bloodied, one eye shut, the other showing ugly splotches of red from the popped blood vessels. He was battered, bruised, and bleeding, yet he was trying to push himself to his feet, his boots sliding on the puddles of blood beneath him. His blood.

  Bowers held his hands up in front of Leo as he edged closer. “Leo—”

  “Don’t come any closer!” Leo removed the safety, and Bowers’s eyes went huge. “My father is a General, asshole. You think I don’t know how to use a gun?”

  “Okay, all right,” Bowers soothed. “Come on, you’re not going to do this.”

  “Fix him,” Leo demanded, pointing at King with his free hand.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Bowers replied, and Leo’s heart slammed in his chest when King started sinking farther to the floor. He was on the verge of passing out.

  “You’re not listening,” Leo shouted. “If he dies, you get nothing! And my guess is, if you get nothing, the men you’re working for will make sure you die.” He knew how this worked. Human lives meant nothing to the kind of people who were after the program.

  “Look, I know he’s your friend—”

  “He’s more than my friend,” Leo growled.

  Bowers squinted at him. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  Bowers looked from Leo to King and back. “Shit.”

  “Yeah. You’ve fucked yourself over. Now. Fix. Him.”

  “Leo, no,” King wheezed. He coughed, sputtering blood, and a tear rolled down Leo’s cheek. Leo wanted nothing more than to go to King, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Bowers, not until he got King medical attention.

  “You want me to do this? You fix him up and you don’t lay another finger on him.”

  Bowers cursed under his breath. “Fine.” He nodded to a small group of men, and they carefully lifted King. One of them opened the futon, and they laid King down.

  Two of the men left, and Leo figured they’d be coming back with medical supplies. Leo edged closer to King.

  “What are you doing?” Bowers demanded. “You’re getting what you want. Now give me the gun.”

  Leo placed the gun in the waistband of his pants. “This is my insurance policy.”

  “You think I’m going to let you get near him with a gun?”

  “Look at him,” Leo spat, throwing a hand in King’s direction. “He’s barely conscious. You really think he’s going to do something?”

  “Yes. It’s what he’s fucking trained to do! He’ll die protecting you.”

  “Just give me a minute! Okay?”

  Bowers threw up his arms but motioned for Leo to go ahead. Leo knelt by King’s side, needing to touch him, but not sure where he could so it wouldn’t hurt King. He took King’s hand in his and brought it to his lips for a kiss.

  “We’re going to be okay, Ward. I promise.”

  King nodded. He murmured something, but it was too quiet for Leo to hear, so he leaned in, his ear close to King’s lips.

  “Get us out of this.”

  Leo pulled back, his eyes filling once more. “Me?”

  King nodded again. This time when he spoke, the words were clear as day. “I trust you, and… I love you.”

  Calm. Keep him safe. Calm. Keep him safe. King….

  Leo wanted to sob, but he wouldn’t give in to his emotions in front of that bastard Bowers. This was only for them, for him and King. “I love you too, Ward,” Leo said, then kissed King, promising him without words that he would be strong for the both of them, that he’d take the trust King had in him and find a way to get them out of this. King no longer had to be the strongest man in the room. He had Leo. With King’s muscle and Leo’s brain, they’d be a force to be reckoned with. King’s head lulled to the side, and Leo cupped his face. “Ward. Stay with me. Please.”

  Bowers appeared and checked King’s pulse. Leo wanted to hiss and claw at him like a feral cat, or better yet, fire a couple of rounds into him, see how he liked it. How dare he lay a hand on King?

  “He’s alive.”

  Leo glared at Bowers, venom dripping from his words when he spoke. “Lucky for you.”

  “My, my, haven’t we grown a spine. Green Beret rub off on you, did he? Well, he certainly rubbed something,” Bowers said with a snort.

  Leo stood and headed for his desk, pretending for all the world that he was in control and calm. He kept his hands balled into fists so Bowers couldn’t see them shake. “Tell your guys to wait downstairs.”

  Bowers laughed. “Yeah, fuck no.”

  The men Bowers had sent for medical supplies returned, and at his okay, went over to King, but not before Bowers took one of their guns and holstered it. The men got to work on King, cutting through his clothes to get to his wounds.

  Leo took a seat in his chair and motioned around him. “Where the fuck am I going to go? And I sure as hell am not leaving without King, so your goons can wait downstairs. How do you say, ‘don’t touch my shit’ in Russian?”

  Bowers peered at him. “You’ve gotten mouthy, too. I don’t think I like it.”

  “I don’t think I give a shit,” Leo ground out. He narrowed his eyes at one of the men pulling on surgical gloves. “You better know what you’re doing.”

  “Relax, Juliet. Romeo’s in good hands. Lyosha was a medic for the Russian Army. You have my word.”

  “You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little underwhelmed by your assurances, given the circumstances.” Leo glanced over at Heather, who was sobbing quietly. Whatever her involvement, she either never expected things to take the turn they had or she was being forced into this. Time to find out.

  “Why is she here?”

  “To make sure you do what you’re supposed to do.” Bowers turned to his men. “You, bring me the laptop. The rest of you wait downstairs.” They did as Bowers ordered, and he handed the laptop to Heather, who set it on the kitchen counter. She stood behind it so she was facing Leo.

  “How is she supposed to check my work without Jarvis?”

  Bowers frowned. “Who?”

  Leo rolled his eyes. “Jarvis. My coding software. I created it specifically for this program. She needs Jarvis to access what I’m coding. What, you thought I’d create a top-secret government program on Windows?”

  “He can install it on my computer,” Heather said. “It’s secure.”

  “Then get to it. Fucking nerds and their comic book bullshit. Just get it fucking done,” Bowers growled.

  “There’s one little problem,” Heather said. “I need to reopen the connection.”

  “Absolutely not.” Bowers shook his head. “You open a connection, and he sends an encrypted message out to his boyfriend’s Green Beret buddies.”

  “Oh, you mean the ones you sent four hours away to Ponte Vedra?” Leo snorted. “Yeah, that’s really going to help. Nice tactic, by the way, getting the guys out of here. But without an internet connection, I can’t upload the software onto her computer.”

  “Can’t you stick it on a USB drive or something?”

  Leo stared at him. “Um, no. Sorry, Agent Smith, but we can’t transfer the Matrix onto a USB stick. It’s a highly sophisticated AI program. We’re not backing up your documents folder.” If looks could kill, Leo would have vanished in a puff of smoke. Leo turned to meet Heather’s gaze. “I won’t let anyone else get hurt. I promise. I want to end this.”

  “Jesus Christ. Fine.” Bowers studied Heather before moving his hard gaze to Leo. “She’s going to get you back online. If I catch even a whiff of you calling the cavalry, I’ll make sure they slowly bleed your boyfriend to death. Then they’ll chop him up into little pieces and mail him to his family.”

  “I know what’s at stake,” Leo spat. “Let me do my fucking job.” He nodded to Heather. “Get me online, and let’s get this over with.” While Heather typed away at her computer, getting his system back up and running, Leo focused on Bowers. He couldn’t watch them working on King, on the way they dug around in his open wounds to remove the bullets. All he could do was be thankful King was out cold and couldn’t feel pain. It suddenly dawned on Leo. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t pieced it together sooner, but how could he, without knowing Bowers was the one who’d betrayed them?

  “The breach at the bunker wasn’t an attempt to kidnap me. You wanted to compromise the location.”

  Bowers leaned against the counter next to Heather, his grin smug. “Figured it out, did you? I thought you were supposed to be a genius?”

  Leo gritted his teeth but didn’t reply. He was pretty sure his “fuck off and die” face said it all.

  “I needed to get you somewhere less secure. What better way to do that than a security breach?”

  “Which is why you didn’t put up much of a fight when King suggested bringing me here.”

  “You boys made it too easy, Leo. I mean, really.”

  “Let me guess, when they come looking, you’ll have your scapegoat.”

  Bowers shrugged and looked over at Heather. “We had a good run, sweetheart, but someone’s gotta go down for this, and it won’t be me. Hurry it up. I don’t have all day.” Heather glared at him but kept her mouth shut. “Harold was supposed to take the fall, but he started to become a pain in my ass, always sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Guy had a hard-on for you. Must be the glasses. The gay boys really dig that geek chic look, huh? I don’t see it, but what the hell do I know about why you people like anything.”

  “Wow, you actually went there with the whole ‘you people.’ Guess I know who you voted for.”

  “You’re a funny guy, de Loughrey. You’re online. Get to it.”

  Man, he wanted to stab the guy in the eyeball with a spork.

  “So with no Harold,” Leo prompted, “that’s where Heather comes in.”