Page 43 of Until the End

Tough didn’t skim the surface.

Castle salted the boiling water, added the pasta, and tossed a can of crushed tomatoes into a pan along with seasoning.

“Kyle, my brother…he lost his fight. Senior year of college.”

He met her glassy eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Battling his PTSD and the guilt over leaving one of his teammates behind had been the hardest fight of Castle’s life. Bad shit had festered in his soul like an infected wound.

I’m the lucky one. For years, he’d repeated the mantra until he finally felt that being alive was a blessing and not a burden. But the ache never went away.

“Losing my brother—and then my mom a year later—left a hole.”

He understood the devastation of not being able to save those you cared about, but she was left with no one. He had his mother, Maddox, the Gray Box and the family it provided. All of whom he kept at arm’s length because when shit happened—as it was always bound to—he could lose them in a blink.

Kit was a kind soul with a big heart. He wished he could ease her grief.

“Is that why you formed the Outliers, to fill the void?”

“Partly. It was also to keep others, gifted like my brother, from being isolated. They spend so much time on their computers, sometimes they forget how important a physical connection is until it’s too late.”

He’d denied himself any kind of real connection for so long he didn’t remember the last time he’d even accepted a hug instead of retreating from one.

“There’s something I haven’t been able to figure out that’s bugging me,” she said. “How did you guys find out about Ever Shield?”

“You must’ve used it, maybe a testing phase. The NSA reported…” He hesitated, not knowing if she was aware Ever Shield had crashed three major surveillance systems, affecting the entire intelligence community. “One of their programs—”

“Boundless Informant?”

He deliberated and made a split-second decision. “Yes. I don’t know the technical jargon. A communications black hole was detected in a digital field they were monitoring. Willow dug into it and found your Outliers in an online forum, bragging about Ever Shield.”

A sadness fell across her face. “I warned them not to breathe a word about the program.” She clicked her tongue. “I don’t know if I love Willow or hate her.”

“You had them create Ever Shield?” After she nodded, he asked, “Why?”

“The government shouldn’t have the right or the ability to invade the privacy of citizens and violate constitutional rights without a warrant. I wanted to do something about it. My guys were brilliant. Ever Shield ended up being bigger and more powerful than I imagined possible.”

She had no idea.

“Until I knew how to use it responsibly,” she said, “I thought it best if we sat on it. Despite what you and your boss might think, I love my country. I’m a patriot, not a terrorist.”

From what he knew of her, everything she said made sense.

Kit went to the fridge and opened it. “Domestic beer. Not surprising.” Bending over, she inspected his produce drawer.

His gaze inched up her long, bare legs—over her surprisingly nice ass—but his vision snagged on a purple bruise on her hip.

She glanced back at him as if to see whether he was staring. Busted!

“See something you like?”

“Please.” He shrugged. “I’m a man. We’re wired to look. Besides, it was your bruise that held my attention. Don’t worry, you’re not my type.”

“And what type is that? A vegetarian?” Kit pursed her sensuous mouth in a pout.

It was a crime against nature to have such an attractive woman in his home and not be able to kiss her. “No. A POI.” He faced the stove. “How did you get all banged up?”

“I fell down the stairs running out of the Lair.”