An old scar I’d stopped noticing suddenly aches again.
“That’s … incredible.” My voice comes out low, raw. “Really incredible, Kira.”
Her pretty pink lips have drawn together. She’s still smiling, but not as broadly. “It makes everything feel more urgent. And more hopeful,” she says. “Both at once, if that makes any sense.”
Hope.It isn’t a word I use anymore, but she says it like she believes it.
My body sits heavy with loss, regret, and darkness.
Kira isn’t even thirty. She’s young, soft, and open.
She’s full of hope and promise, and I’m something old and wizened, whittled out of grief and duty, like a creation from Grizz’s shop.
A long-buried part of me would like to give this woman what she’s been missing and show her how she should be treated by a man. The better part of me knows I’m not what she wants or needs.
I’m too old. Too set in my ways. And hope is something that ran through my fingers long ago.
But the way she’s looking at me, with her cheeks flushed from the firelight, is hitting me somewhere deep.
God help me, she seems like something special.
I take a swig of cider, then clear my throat. “You should get some rest. Viper will be working ‘til dawn, and he’ll steal your breakfast if you’re not down here in time.”
She blinks as if breaking a spell, then gets to her feet. “Thanks for talking with me.”
“Anytime.” I mean it more than I should.
She takes her mug to the sink and rinses it before walking to the stairs. At the bottom, she pauses and turns back to me. “Atlas?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad I’m here. With you. With all of you. It feels safe here.”
My throat’s suddenly thick. “Good. That’s what we want.”
She smiles and slowly climbs the staircase, and I watch her go. With every sway of her curvy hips, I tell myself to look away, but I keep watching until she’s out of sight.
Then I stare into the fire like there’s meaning to be found there. Its warmth brushes against the cold corners inside me.
I won’t let attraction compromise a mission. Not now, not ever.
But the truth sparks in the flames and echoes in the room around me.
She’s getting under my skin.
CHAPTER 12
VIPER
I never lose track of time, but during the second week of Kira’s stay, I realize I’ve been at my desk for nearly sixteen hours.
My monitors are cluttered with strings of encrypted messages, procurement memos, and digital breadcrumbs. There’s a dull ache behind my eyes and my back is stiff, but the pieces are finally starting to form a picture.
The web I’ve been unraveling is revealing its ugly, sprawling shape, and it’s more dangerous than the three of us assumed.
I lean back and flex my fingers.Dark ops. Of course it is.
Something worse than a clean federal conspiracy or a rogue politician.
