Savvy tookthe hand that Patch offered and slipped from the passenger side of his Jeep. A woman stepped from her brother’s small home just on the outskirts of the bayou, but not quite in town. The nearest neighbor was at least two miles away. However, McGuire’s home wasn’t a shack. It had paint and shutters and a nice porch that didn’t look as though it was sagging in the middle. The sunrays danced over the roof, and the murky water was far enough away that it didn’t seep close to the floorboards at high tide.
Savvy glanced between the paved driveway and Patch. “My brother lives like this and you live like a Neanderthal?”
He chuckled. “I have everything I could possibly need, including built in surround sound.”
“Your cricket, frog, and alligator noises don’t constitute a band, much less a stereo system.” She eyed the pretty woman who approached them.
She was a tall, slender woman with a pretty smile. She’d known McGuire had fallen hard for Riven, the woman who'd helped save him and his team. The woman who Savvy had quietly snuck into the bayou because that's where she'd puther brother and what better way to secretly protect the woman who'd saved them.
“Hey, Riven,” Patch said. “This is Savvy.”
Savvy smiled. This was the woman who gave her brother—and Patch—a fighting chance. If it hadn’t been for Riven—McGuire, Patch, and the rest of the team—they’d probably be dead, not ghosts.
Patch squeezed Savvy’s hand as if to say he understood.
Riven inched closer. “I’m so glad to meet you finally and put a face to the voice. You’re all your brother talks about sometimes.”
“You as well.” Savvy nodded, suddenly feeling naked. She glanced around, scanning the area. As much as she missed the comforts of home, Patch had been right. His place out in the swamp was a good spot to hide out. Her brother’s house was too close to civilization. There were too many chances that someone might see her or ask questions about who she was and why she was there.
“Where are you off to?” Patch asked. “Aren’t you staying for the briefing?”
“Chasing down some intel for McGuire. The guys are in the office. You know the way.”
“Thanks.”
Patch led Savvy into her brother’s home. It felt strange to be there. Surreal. She’d spoken to her brother many times during the last year and even had a few video chats, but it was always in the hush of night on a secure line. To the world, her brother was dead. Even now, even though he didn’t have to be, most people still believed McGuire, Stone, Cross, and Patch hadn’t ever made it home.
“Are you okay?” Patch paused in the family room just near the hallway that led to two doors.
“I don’t know what I am, and you haven’t bombarded me with a million questions about the op, so that makes me nervous.”
“I told you we’d talk about it after we heard what Darius learned.”
“You and my brother were hell-bent on being in the know before this. Why the change?”
He pressed the palm of his hand against her cheek. “You need a little more time to process what’s happening, and I need to know what the outside world believes.”
“Or is it because you don’t trust that I’ll tell you the truth?”
Patch sighed. “I know you’ll feed me what you think I need to know in chunks. I’m trying to be patient while playing the hand I’m dealt.”
“As in, you’re going to use information to manipulate me or extract intel, because you’re really good at that.” She pushed his hand away.
“You’re here because you know being a secret keeper with me… and the rest of the team… won’t help. But you’ve been an island for the last few years, and your brother and I—we get that—we really do. One thing at a time.”
He was right about that. There were so many unspoken truths between the three of them. Secrets that weren’t really secrets, but they’d never openly discussed them—because if they had—heads would roll. But for the first time in her career, she had no idea who she could trust inside her own organization, and that was a predicament she’d never faced. It frightened her in ways she couldn’t put into words.
He guided her down the hallway and through the door into McGuire’s office, a converted back room with mismatched chairs, exposed beams, and a battered desk that looked like it had been dragged in off a military base three wars ago. The walls were lined with gear, maps, and a big whiteboard. Stone andCross were already seated in the far corner, coffee cups in hand, murmuring quietly about the incoming feed.
McGuire leaned against his desk, near the back monitor, arms folded, brow furrowed, like he’d done a million times when waiting for intel he knew he wouldn’t be happy about. “Darius is booting up now,” he said without looking away from the screen. “His wife’s joining too. Says she might have insight on how the agency’s spinning this on the inside. Riven is chasing down some intel. Not sure if it's connected or not, but if anyone can connect the dots, it's her.”
Patch took two folding chairs, opened them, and practically pushed Savvy to a seat beside him just as the screen flickered and a video window opened.
“Hey, team,” came the smooth voice of Darius Ford, tech mastermind of the Colorado Brotherhood office. Or at least that’s who she was told Darius was by both her brother and Patch.
Darius popped into view. He was a handsome man. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a smirk that said he’d been up all night breaking into places he shouldn’t. She knew the type and her job couldn’t be done without them, though watching someone like Darius work always made her wonder who was hacking into her system.
Beside him was his wife, Fenmore Ford, all calm confidence and sharp eyes, her long braid swept over one shoulder. She wore a fitted blazer and the air of someone who used to carry a badge and hadn’t forgotten how to stare someone down.
