When I reach the second floor, I see Kynan in his office. All the perimeter offices are partitioned with glass, and the interior of the floor houses a collaborative design with the desks arranged near each other for easy communication.

  I knock on the doorjamb and Kynan’s head pops up. His expression is grim, and it puts me on edge.

  “Malik said you were looking for me?” I ask, standing just inside the entrance but moving no farther.

  Kynan nods to one of the guest chairs opposite his desk. I take a seat, placing my bagel on a table beside me.

  “Night before last, some Vecindario 18 gang members broke into Greer’s house and tried to kill her,” he says without preamble or lead-in.

  The news is shocking and distressing. “Is she okay?”

  Kynan nods. “She’s here—”

  My head whips around, and my ass rises from the seat until Kynan clarifies. “Not here in the building. She’s in a hotel right now, but I met with her last night.”

  Turning back to face him, I frown. “Last night? She’s here in Pittsburgh? She didn’t call me.”

  “She called me,” Kynan says, and that pisses me off. Why wouldn’t she call me? I’m the one who went in and got her out of El Salvador.

  You’re the one who made love to her and then walked out.

  A heavy sigh escapes and I rub my hand over my jaw. “What happened?”

  Kynan fills me in, every detail tightening my jaw until I’m gritting my teeth so hard, my head hurts.

  “The police confirmed the two dead men are Vecindario 18,” Kynan continues after he explains the details of the break-in, Greer’s takedown of those bastards, and the subsequent investigation. “They wanted to put her into protective custody, but she insisted on coming here. Once they finished interviewing her at the station, she hopped the first flight east.”

  “And she called you because…?”

  “Because she wants to hire me to help her end this,” Kynan replies calmly.

  “But not me,” I press.

  “Not you,” he affirms. “She specifically asked for me.”

  “And you told her…?”

  “That I couldn’t handle it because of a conflict. I told her if she wants Jameson’s help, it will have to be you.”

  It pisses me off she wouldn’t ask for me first, but I suspect she’s making a point. That she’s here for business and nothing more. And yet, I’m relieved that I’m going to be the one to help her.

  “It has to be Mejia. He’s ordered a hit on her,” I mull out loud, my gaze drifting in thought.

  “Retaliation for the death of his son and for stealing info that’s surely sent him on the run.”

  Kynan’s grim tone has me focusing back on him. We stare at each other, neither of us voicing what we both know to be true. Mejia could only order a hit on Greer if he knew where she was, and the only way he’d know where she’s located is with information as to her real identity, which was never known. When the Salvadorian press outed her, it was her face in the papers, but the name and credentials were fake.

  The only way for him to know her true name and that she was at her parents’ house in Ramona was if they were fed that information by an insider.

  Understanding where my thoughts have gone, Kynan says, “Greer thinks it was Gayla Newman who fed the tip out there.”

  I nod in agreement, my brain whirring, trying to figure out just how far Gayla Newman is willing to go in her vendetta against Greer.

  Apparently all the way.

  “Not sure how we can prove it,” I mutter.

  “There might be an electronic trail,” Kynan points out. “I’ll get Bebe working on it. But for now, what will your play be?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m thinking until Mejia is taken out, the threat to Greer will remain. For now, she’s safe here in Pittsburgh. She would have had a fake identity to travel domestically as part of her go bag, so they shouldn’t know she’s here. But we don’t know how far Newman will go to use resources to find her.”

  “Want me to call Greer and have her come in to start planning?” Kynan asks.

  I shake my head, pushing up from the chair. “I’ll go see her.”

  Kynan raises an eyebrow, but I don’t satisfy his curiosity. The most anyone here knows is we were engaged for a time. In my debriefing after I came back to Jameson earlier this week, I reported the basic facts of how I rescued her and what went down at Langley when the Company advised her she would remain disavowed.

  He has no clue of what went down after that, but he probably suspects I’ve got some continued ties with her. I could fill him in on everything, because it’s not a secret. I just don’t have the time right now.

  Kynan provides me Greer’s hotel information, and we make plans to meet back here. He’ll assemble Dozer and Bebe as well as Cruce to develop a game plan. I have no clue what the right course of action is, but with all these brilliant minds working together, we’ll figure it out.

  I dump the bagel in the garbage on the way to the underground parking, and it takes me twenty minutes to make it to the Fairmont. I use the valet, not wanting to fuck around with finding a place to park, and within three minutes I’m at her room and knocking.

  The door swings open, and she doesn’t look surprised to see me.

  Her eyebrows rise slightly when I say, “Get your stuff. You’re staying with me until this is over.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Greer

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” I say, and turn away from the door. I don’t bother closing it in his face because I know his reflexes are faster than mine and he’ll never leave willingly. Luckily, Kynan gave me a heads-up via text that Ladd was on his way, so I’ve been fortifying myself mentally for this confrontation.

  I have no intention of leaving my cozy hotel room with its amazing views.

  I move into the room and hear Ladd close the door. I sit at the table near the window, which might appear a subservient position, but I’m portraying steady calm—I’m not going to engage in an argument.

  A discussion, yes.

  But that is all this will be, and I know the outcome because I’m very stubborn.

  “You should have called me the minute the police secured you,” he growls. He’s referring to the attack by the Vecindario 18 gang members two nights ago.

  “Why would I have called you?” His patronizing tone instantly riles, and I can’t help but stand up from my chair. With Ladd glowering at me, I’m no longer able to have a calm discussion. “This is none of your business. You have no stake in this.”

  Ladd moves fast, comes toe to toe with me, and bends down as he snarls, “I planted my stake in the ground the minute I stepped foot on Salvadorian soil to rescue your ass.”

  Ladd tops me by a good seven inches, and he’s trying to intimidate me. I push past him and move to the center of the room to create space. Turning to face him, I say, “That mission is complete. You rescued me and I’m thankful, but it’s over.”

  Ladd huffs in frustration. “It’s not over. Not when you have an active hit on you. You and I both know that Hugo Mejia was tipped, most likely by Gayla Newman. And if she tipped him off about you, then she also told him I was the one who came in for your rescue. He has just as much reason to suspect I killed his son as he does you, which we know is what’s driving his vendetta. So you can damn sure believe it’s only a matter of time before they come after me, now that you’re in the wind.”

  I’m not quite sure what my expression reflects, but if it matches the horror flushing through me at this realization, Ladd will surely understand that had not crossed my mind. “Your son.”

  I don’t need to say anything more, but he nods in agreement. Ladd can take care of himself. He has all the resources he needs to ensure he remains untouchable until this is figured out. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he is worried sick about his son, and that’s why he’s angry right now.

  The tightening around Ladd’s eyes that speaks to his anxiety lessens slightly by the acknowledgment that I understand his concern. His tone is calmer when he says, “I have agents posted outside his school. They’re going to pick him up when classes are finished and bring him to my house and then I’m going to make other arrangements for him.”

  Other arrangements?

  Until this moment, I had not realized Ladd’s son lived with him. I don’t know why I just assumed he would be with his mother.

  “Ethan splits his time between me and my ex-wife,” Ladd continues. I blink and focus back on him. “She happens to be very pregnant with her new husband. The game plan had been for Ethan to stay with me until after she gives birth so they wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with him if she went into labor in the middle of the night.”

  “Your son’s name is Ethan?” I ask softly. It’s a beautiful name… strong. Ladd hadn’t told me anything about him.

  I’ve just learned that his ex-wife is remarried. And they obviously live here in Pittsburgh.

  “What will you do with Ethan?” I’m now in battle mode, realizing that my life and Ladd’s life are irrelevant at this point. His son needs protection.

  Ladd moves to the bay window overlooking the downtown area. If you look off to the left, you can see PNC Park across the river. “I’m going to have Ethan stay with Britney and her husband Ben. And if she happens to go into labor late at night, I’ve arranged for Anna and Malik to get Ethan. They live close to Britney and Ben so they’ll be at the ready if needed. Kynan is also going to put rotating agents to stand duty outside their door, just as an added precaution.”

  “Is that the same Anna who works for Kynan?” I ask. She met me when I came to see him at their headquarters last night and was very nice.

  Ladd looks over his shoulder at me. “Yeah. She works at Jameson along with her boyfriend, Malik, who’s an agent.”

  I think back to my time with the CIA—all those years facing life-and-death situations with partners—and I don’t know that I was friendly enough with any of them to ask for help with personal matters.

  “Your workplace sounds very family friendly,” I say with a forced smile—forced because I never had that type of camaraderie with the CIA, and in fact, it appears one of them is trying to get me killed.

  Ladd smiles fondly. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had. Best career move I ever made.”

  Something about that seems like a veiled statement. Had Ladd stayed with me, had I not pushed him away because I could not give him the things he wanted, to this day he might be in a career that ultimately did not fulfill him. Another way to look at it is that by my actions, I pushed him into a happier life. His marriage may not have worked out, but he has a son and an extended family now. His life sounds very complete, and I hate I’m not the one currently responsible for it. I lost my chance.

  “Get packed up,” Ladd says, and while it is still an order, his tone is less commanding. But I don’t have any reason to argue now that he’s pointed out he’s in as much danger as I am.

  Ladd is putting his son where he’ll be safe, and it’s going to be up to the two of us to end this nightmare.

  ♦

  Regardless of whether Ladd is going to be involved in my current predicament, it was absolutely the right decision to come to Pittsburgh and hire Jameson. Hire might be a loose word, though. As soon as Ladd brought me back to their headquarters, we had a brief meeting with Kynan. He told me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t take my money. “Ladd is family, and we protect our own.”

  So it seems I have all the might of Jameson behind me as well as Ladd beside me.

  We’re currently sitting in a large conference room. Present at this meeting are Kynan’s assistant Anna, who seems to be the administrative glue for this company, a woman named Bebe, who looks wicked smart, and two other men, Dozer and Cruce. Ladd sits across the table from me.

  We work to formulate a game plan, focusing first on the suspected original source of our present danger.

  “Why don’t we just go to the director of the CIA?” Dozer suggests as he leans back in his chair.

  Cruce, I’ve learned, is the one married to the president’s niece. He chimes in. “Or better yet, let’s go to the president. We can have her in custody by the end of the day.”

  Ladd shakes his head, and I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing I am. “We need proof first. All we have is our instinct that she’s behind this, and that’s not going to be enough to take her down.”

  Cruce drums his fingers on the table thoughtfully. “We could at least get an investigation started.”

  Given that I am the foremost authority sitting at this table on today’s modern CIA, I shake my head. “An internal investigation like that would likely last months. And it would have to be done covertly so as not to alert her. She’d stay in power the entire time. It’s better if we can be stealthy about it.”

  The woman who was introduced as Bebe Grimshaw leans forward in her chair, crossing her forearms on the table. “I’ll find a backdoor and see if there’s any digital trail between Newman and Mejia. But given that she’s CIA, she has to know how good the current technology is and that it’s difficult to obliterate traces of calls, texts, and email. Even on encrypted servers. So if she was communicating with Mejia, it was most likely via a third party or done face-to-face.”

  I like this woman. There’s something special about her, and I wonder what her background is. It’s clear she knows her way around cyberspace backdoors, and I have a feeling she’s got a good story.

  Kynan, who’s the only one not sitting but rather standing at the head of the table, looks to Cruce. “What else do you have other than the president?”

  I want to laugh, because it’s ridiculous he’s asking what else Cruce has to offer when having a direct line to the president is about as good as anything anybody could have.

  Tipping back further in his seat, Cruce replies, “There are some former CIA folks in the Secret Service that I still keep in contact with. I’m talking about people I implicitly trust. I’ll do some very low-key poking around and see what the inside word is on Gayla Newman.”

  Kynan crosses his arms over his chest, expression thoughtful. “Not much we can do about Newman at this point. The real question is what we do about Mejia. Until he’s taken down, both Ladd and Greer are in danger.”

  “We take Mejia out. Eliminate him,” says Ladd with a tone I’ve never heard from him before.

  Ice-cold and hard.

  His meaning is clear, and I’m slightly shocked. “You can’t mean that. It’s murder, Ladd.”

  He swivels his head my way. “You would have killed him in El Salvador.”

  I shake my head, frowning. “Only if there was no other way. I wasn’t there to kill him, only gather intel.”

  Kynan interrupts us by stating very adamantly. “He has to be taken into custody. You can’t have murder on your hands, Ladd.”

  Ladd doesn’t acknowledge the truth of that but merely says, “We’ll go back to El Salvador. Knowing he was in league with Newman means he probably has no incentive to leave the area. He knows the intel that Greer stole was bogus.”

  Dozer speaks up for the first time. He sits beside Bebe, and I’ve been told they both run the technology and research division. Dozer’s eyes shine with keen intelligence. “I’ll work on locating Mejia. I’ll confirm his current whereabouts and get as much information as I can for you.”

  Ladd lifts his chin to Dozer, then nods to the laptop opened before him. “Track down a man by the name of Frankie Orellana. He’s a snitch for Vecindario 18 in San Salvador, and I was hooked up with him via a CIA intermediary. We can’t go that route again because no telling who’s on Newman’s payroll, but I’m going to need to meet with him. He’s our best source of information on Mejia.”

  Ladd’s eyes then slide to Kynan. “Which means I’m going to need cash. I’m most likely going to have to buy some information.”

  “Have it for you by the end of the day,” Kynan replies, and I have to wonder how he has access to the type of money that would be offered as a bribe to a gang snitch. It’s going to have to be a lot because they know it’s not only death they would face if caught, but a whole lot of painful torture prior to.

  “We don’t need your money.” All eyes come to me, but it’s Kynan I’m speaking to. “I withdrew a substantial amount of cash from my accounts before I came here. I have everything we need.”

  No one argues with me on that front. Had Kynan used his own company’s money, I would’ve reimbursed him, or rather, it’s likely the government would reimburse him once everything is said and done and we’re able to take down Gayla Newman.

  At least for now, I feel like I’m having a direct impact on bringing this to an end.

  “We’ll go in with at least eight agents,” Kynan says, finally taking a seat.

  “Count me in,” Cruce says.

  “No,” I exclaim, shaking my head adamantly. “I’m not putting any of your folks at risk.”

  “You can’t go in just the two of you,” Kynan counters. “It’s suicide.”

  “Wrong,” I argue. “This is exactly what Ladd and I trained for. How to slide in, get the job done, and slide out again. Just like Ladd did in rescuing me.”

  I can see it on Kynan’s face that he’s irritated by this stance. He turns to Ladd, an eyebrow cocked.

  Ladd is quiet for a moment, and then says, “I agree with Greer. The two of us, easy in, easy out.”

  “Not going to be easy,” Kynan growls. “I’ll send in two others with you.”

  An argument ensues, but Ladd and I remain united in our position. I came to Jameson with the idea of asking for one person’s help, and that was Kynan. That’s off the table, and it’s Ladd who will be my partner. And that’s probably the way it should be since he’s as much a target as I am and has the same incentive to end this. But I’m not willing for any other person at this company to risk themselves for me. Kynan refused my money and wants to help because Ladd is part of their family.

  But they’re not my family, and I don’t want them on my conscience. I’m glad Ladd concurs, and in the end, Kynan reluctantly agrees to let us handle this with only remote support from Jameson.