“Yes?”

  “Change of plans.”

  “I need to know if my daughter is okay.”

  “You’ll get a full report when we get full information. If you want it, you will do two things immediately. First, take a picture of the crime scene with the bodies.”

  “I don’t know if they’re still here.”

  “You better see to that first, then. And second, what are EM Security’s plans to rescue Kimber Edgington? We need details.”

  “I haven’t seen the family in days. They’re planning elsewhere and not saying anything to the staff.” At least that’s what Tessa thought. Or had they been telling Zy something he wasn’t supposed to share? “B-but I’ll ask some of the operatives, see if they know something I don’t.”

  “You do that. I want some answers in half an hour or less.”

  Then the caller was gone.

  Tessa dragged in a ragged breath and told herself to keep it together. She couldn’t take a few minutes to herself. She couldn’t go to the ladies’ room and have a cry. She had to suck it up and get busy. Her breakdown would have to wait until she’d gotten some word about Hallie.

  Gripping her cell, she opened the camera app and cracked the door. She encountered a female officer, who turned to her with a scowl.

  “Ma’am, you can’t be out here.”

  She nodded, not looking at the crime scene as she pointed her phone in that direction and pressed the button a few times, hoping she caught a usable shot. “I-I left something in my car.”

  “It will have to wait. I’m sorry.”

  “Of course.” Tessa tried to smile as she ducked back inside.

  Quickly, she opened her photos and scanned the five she’d taken. Yes, there were three bodies visible. Some pictures were better than others, but she wasn’t looking at details. She couldn’t do that again.

  Trembling, she turned on the recorder on her phone and tucked it in her pocket, then headed for the conference room. On the way, she saw One-Mile and Matt, who watched her expectantly. Shit, she’d forgotten to get the cowboy a laptop.

  With a harried smile, she held up a finger, silently asking them to give her just a minute.

  They nodded, and she let out a shaky breath while trying to collect her wits. She wasn’t sure how she was going to ask Zy for information he wasn’t at liberty to give—if he even knew—but she needed to come up with something quick.

  Pressing a hand to her knotted belly, she knocked softly, then pushed her way inside. Zy sat in the big chair at the head of the table, feet crossed on the massive wooden slab, and replied to the speakerphone. “I think you’re right, and we need to think about all the possible angles. What’s up, Tessa?”

  She shut the door behind her—and was still blank. She masked the moment by clearing her throat and smoothing down her skirt. “Am I interrupting something important?”

  “Talking to Trees. Did you need something?”

  “Actually…yes. Can I bug you for a minute?”

  “Sure.” He gestured to the seat beside him. “I’ll call you back, buddy.”

  “Yeah. It’s gotten too quiet here. I should see what the fuck is going on.”

  Zy chuckled. “I think it would be wise not to let that…situation get out of hand.”

  “I don’t know that you should be laughing, man. Just remember that. Talk to you later.”

  Tessa frowned. “What was that about?”

  He smiled smooth as silk. “Rodent problem.”

  What? She’d never heard either of them talk about mice or squirrels, but whatever. They seemed to have a million inside jokes, and this was probably one of them.

  “I wanted to talk to you.” She folded her hands on the table in front of her and stalled for time to gather her thoughts.

  “About?”

  Then the most obvious tactic occurred to her. “Kimber. She’s my friend. She didn’t do anything to make a drug cartel mad. And I worry…if they came after her, what’s to stop them from coming after any of us?”

  Her question took Zy down a notch. He lowered his feet to the floor and leaned in, slowly putting his hands around hers. “I won’t lie and say I wasn’t shocked by what happened to Kimber.”

  “Why her? Just because she’s Hunter and Logan’s sister? They wanted to hit low?”

  Zy shook his head. “It’s a lot more complicated than that. This mess started when the colonel, Hunter, Logan, and another contractor all went into Mexico to rescue Kendra Waxman from Emilo Montilla. Remember her? The bride at the wedding we worked last June?”

  “I remember.”

  “At the same time, they rescued Valeria Montilla. She was pregnant. I guess Emilo didn’t appreciate it.”

  “But he’s not alive to care anymore. He’s been gone for weeks, and they only took Kimber a few days ago. So who would do this?”

  Zy sighed. “That’s part of the difficulty here, knowing who to go after. Emilo’s death left a power vacuum in that splinter of the cartel. We think there are two factions vying for control. We just don’t know which is responsible for abducting Kimber.”

  Tessa tore her hands free and sat back in her seat, her mind racing. Whichever side had taken Kimber, the other side had taken Hallie to force her to spy.

  Oh, my god…

  “Either way”—he went on—“they took Kimber because she’s important to all the players. Hunter and Logan because she’s their sister and they continued to dog Emilo to his dying day and one of their team members took the asshole out. But they struck at the colonel, taking his only daughter as punishment for leading the mission to rescue Valeria in the first place. And they hit at Deke, taking his wife, because they’ve been working a separate op that involves Tierra Caliente. The message is…you take one of ours, and we’ll take one of yours.”

  She didn’t have to pretend to tremble as she lifted her hand to her mouth. “What are we going to do? These aren’t good people. We need to get Kimber back. I’ve tried not to panic for days, but—”

  “Panic doesn’t serve any of us. I promise you, the bosses are doing everything they can. Matt is here to help. They’re running down every single clue.”

  “But what if it’s not enough?” Tessa demanded, realizing that she was talking about her daughter more than she was asking about her friend. “Tell me they have some plan.”

  Zy shook his head. “I’m sure they’re working on it, but…”

  She almost came out of her seat. “But?”

  He gripped her hands again. “But I’m not supposed to tell you anything. There’s a plan, absolutely. It’s going down soon. You know they’re not the kind of men to do nothing, right?”

  “Right.” And once they did, what would that mean for Hallie? “Can you tell me anything? I’m so worried. It’s part of the reason I’ve been acting so crazy. All this danger… I’m not used to it. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I’m a mess.”

  Slowly, Zy nodded. “Tell you what. Yeah, there’s a plan. I’m going to head out early today, visit the bosses. They want to bump heads before plans are final. I should know more tonight.”

  Tonight? That was forever away. “Can we talk once you know?”

  “Absolutely, baby. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to tell you, though…” He looked her up and down with eyes so blue she almost lost herself in them. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too,” she said in total sincerity. She missed his smiles during the day. She missed his kisses as they left the office. She missed his possessive touches when he tumbled her into her bed, tore her panties away, and shoved himself deep. But most of all, she missed just being close to him.

  Then Tessa had to look away to think again so she could start plotting how to make him tell her everything. She’d never felt so alone.

  Somehow, she held herself together as she rose to her feet. “Let me know as soon as you know something.”

  “The minute I do,” he promised. “Any chance you’re rethinking moving in with me?”

  “All the time.” Her voice broke on the lie.

  “Good. We’ll talk about it later, too. I gotta get back to it.” He nodded at the speakerphone.

  “Okay.” Tessa hated to leave. She didn’t have the information the kidnapper wanted, but she could certainly go back with something. Maybe that would be good enough for now. “Talk to you soon.”

  Zy nodded as she let herself out. On the other side of the door, she turned the recorder off, then raced to the storeroom where the spare computers were stored. She pulled the most updated from the pile. Cutter’s machine, she thought. Trees had already gone over it with a fine-tooth comb. It should get the job done.

  She took it to Matt with a stiff smile and an apology. “Sorry for the wait. Oh, here’s the power cord.”

  “It’s no problem. Thank you, ma’am.” Matt tipped his hat.

  If she hadn’t been falling apart and already in love with Zy, she would have better appreciated just how damn hot he was, gray eyes surrounded by a thick fringe of dark lashes and a sly smile.

  Instead, she shook her head. “I’m not ma’am, just Tessa.”

  “Tessa is a pretty name.”

  She swallowed. He was flirting. She couldn’t handle this right now.

  “Thank you. I should get back to work.”

  “My friend is too polite to ask you something,” One-Mile butted in.

  She frowned. “What’s that?”

  “Walker…” he growled in warning.

  “He thinks you’re hot and wants to know if you’re down to have drinks tonight. Or sex. He’s up for both.”

  Matt backhanded his buddy in the chest, then sent him a killing glare. “I apologize for my former friend’s terrible manners. I’d just like to get to know you.”

  He seemed like a really nice guy, but now wasn’t the time and he wasn’t her man. “Sorry. I’m…involved.”

  “So you and Zy kissed and made up?” One-Mile asked.

  Was that how everyone else saw their relationship? As having fallen apart over the past few days? “There was never a fight to start with.” Then she turned to Matt. “If you want to get to know a really sweet girl, I know someone I could introduce you to. Madison is—”

  “Thanks.” Matt looked distinctly embarrassed. “I’ve spent a Friday night alone before. I’ll be fine.”

  With an apologetic nod, she walked away, then glanced at her phone. She still had ten minutes left on the kidnapper’s clock.

  Making her way to her desk, Tessa glanced over her shoulder to ensure no one was following or watching, then she opened the device and tapped out an email, attaching the pictures she’d taken and advising them that something would probably be happening soon, but the plan was still forming and she’d know something more later tonight. Then she sent it off and prayed.

  A few minutes later, she received a message in return. It contained no words, just a still image of Hallie, looking clean and pink-cheeked. She wore a too-large gray shirt and sat on a shag carpet some soft beige shade, holding a plastic banana, laughing at a cat jumping in the air. It was date- and time-stamped less than five minutes ago.

  Her heart soared.

  Tessa kept scrolling, hoping there was more, especially instructions on when and how they might release her daughter. Instead she found two additional demands.

  Advise us the minute you know the plan. Email may no longer be secure. Download the Abuzz app and await further instructions.

  She did it immediately. Of course she was going to. But she couldn’t keep living like this. Every day without Hallie was excruciating, but at least she’d had work to occupy her. This weekend, she would have nothing. And if she couldn’t tell Zy that she wanted to move in with him, she would have no one. How would she make it until Monday with her sanity intact? She wouldn’t. She was going to have to do something else and get creative—now.

  The day dragged on for-fucking-ever. The police finally cleared out about midday. Tessa was eating her lunch at her desk, seemingly fixated on her phone when Zy came by to ask her out. Instead, he just kept walking, pushing his way out the door before he hopped on his bike.

  God, this sucked, but Trees had put everything into perspective on their last call.

  Listen, if she’s not guilty, then lying to her about this fake op won’t mean anything. You’ll just say later that it fizzled due to new intel. She won’t question it. And if she’s guilty of passing on information…well, you’ll find that out—and who she’s telling—if some shit goes down that matches your BS. You just gotta hang tough until then.

  As much as Zy didn’t want to think Tessa could be guilty, he was starting to realize she might be. He’d known for a while that she needed money, but always believed she was the kind of person far too loyal to stab her friends and lovers in the back.

  It might be time to rip off his rose-colored glasses.

  The second half of the afternoon proved as excruciating as the first. Matt and One-Mile scooted out a little before quitting time to find the cowboy another place to hang his hat while he stayed in Lafayette. Apparently, Matt cramped Walker’s style because he couldn’t fuck Brea on the kitchen counters whenever he wanted. That was a direct quote.

  Leave it to One-Mile to blurt the unvarnished truth.

  Once they’d gone, he was alone with Tessa. So he sauntered to the front of the office, stopping beside her desk. If he was going to go all in on this ruse, he was going to do it right and leave no room for error.

  “You all done with everything the bosses asked for?”

  Tessa jerked her stare from her phone and quickly darkened the screen, setting the device upside down on her desk. If he didn’t know her at all, if he’d been evaluating someone he wasn’t in love with and trying to decide whether she was up to no good, that kind of furtive shit would move her into his mental guilty column.

  “Yes. A while ago. I got Matt everything he needed, too. He’s got a log-in and I put him at Cutter’s old desk, hooked him up to the printer… He’s set.”

  “It’s almost quitting time. Why don’t you get Hallie and get out of here?”

  Normally, she would have grabbed her things and run to pick up her baby girl and start the weekend early. Now, she blinked, seemingly reluctant. “That’s okay. I’ll wait the last half hour. Have you heard anything else about the plan to rescue Kimber?”

  Her response made him downright suspicious. “Nope. I’ve got to go visit the bosses after I leave here. So if you’ll slide out, I’ll head there now and holler when I’m done.”

  “Oh.” She seemed frozen for a minute before she suddenly gathered her things, scooped up her computer, and stood. “I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  “It shouldn’t be too long. Afterward, maybe I can take you and Hallie to dinner as an early birthday celebration since I might still be out of town—or out of the country—on her big day Wednesday.”

  Zy saw instantly she was wholly unprepared for that offer. “Um, well… I can’t do that tonight. I just remembered. Cash’s father wanted to take us to dinner. For her birthday. It was kind of spur-of-the-moment. But, um…if you’ll come by after nine, I’m sure we’ll be home.”

  It wasn’t what Tessa said that convinced him she was lying. It was the halting way she said it. Still, he played along.

  “Sure. I can swing by then.”

  “Great.” She sent him a stilted smile and tried to make her way past him.

  Zy didn’t budge, forcing her to wedge herself between him and the corner of her desk to escape. The tactic flustered her. Her hands shook as she sidled free and tucked a blond strand behind her ear.

  “I’ll see you then, baby.”

  With a too-quick nod, she shoved out the door and all but dashed across the parking lot.

  Oh, yeah. Something was definitely up with her. Granted, that didn’t automatically mean she was EM’s mole, but it did mean she was hiding something.

  He intended to find out what.

  Zy gave her about five minutes’ head start, then powered down the lights in the office, locked up, and headed out. She should have enough time to pick Hallie up from daycare, but in case she was a little slow or had to make another stop, he took his time, cruising the backstreets on his bike to avoid her catching sight of him as he made his way to her neighborhood.

  She was just closing her garage door behind her as he turned onto her street. Perfect timing. Then he parked behind the camper the neighbors were loading up, presumably for their weekend getaway. As the sun set, he strolled across the street to the duplex, settling onto the porch of the unit for sale, in a rocker someone had left so the house would seem homier to prospective buyers. And he waited.

  Six o’clock rolled around. No sign of Cash’s father, and Tessa didn’t leave to meet him. Same with seven. He took a call from Joaquin, but it only lasted a few minutes. Matt was already working the Kimber case, and they hoped to have more information soon. In the meantime, he’d been told to give the cowboy whatever support he needed in the office. Zy assured the man he would and that everything was under control before ending the call. His stare never left Tessa’s door.

  By eight o’clock, it became clear that she was neither coming nor going tonight. It was possible, of course, that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree and Cash’s dad was as flaky as his son. Or maybe she had decided she couldn’t maintain her chipper facade and cancelled. But he played his part and waited, withdrawing his phone to order a hot sub and a bottle of water delivered to his current location. After he devoured that and took a leak around the shadowy side of the vacant house, it was straight-up nine o’clock.

  Time to get some answers.

  Tessa opened the door, greeting him in a robe and a smile, looking as if she’d just curled her hair and retouched her makeup. She also seemed nervous as hell.

  “Hi.” She stepped back. “Come in. How was the meeting with the bosses?”

  She wanted to get right to the point? Too bad. He was going to make her wait.

  Zy shrugged. “Intense. It’s a lot of details to work out, especially since we have new information. How was dinner with Cash’s dad?”