Risky Love

by Stacey Kennedy

  Wait, his firm gaze told Rowan.

  So, he did.

  Rowan crossed his arms and stared at the back of Alex’s head, knowing she was onto something and feeling the impulse to act. To do something. To do his job and catch the killer.

  A minute later, she hit enter on her keyboard and said, “I’ve got him.”

  No one moved or said a word. Except for Jeff, he cursed under his breath and stretched, obviously displeased she got a hit first. Rowan realized they’d done this a thousand times before now, and they knew to wait for her to acknowledge them. Rowan wanted to know that too. What made her tick. Christ, what even made her happy.

  Alex finally turned around, her eyes bright and alert on Rowan, even if she had to be tired. “Lewis has a storage unit. One that he does not want people to know he has. He buried the storage unit’s existence, along with invoices and such, in an encrypted file. It wasn’t easy for me to get into.” She turned back to her monitor, and soon on the big screens on the wall was an image of the storage units.

  Rowan studied the location. “But Mia said she was held underground.” Even as he said it, he realized an obvious truth. “Maybe he’s dug into a sewer system there.”

  Alex nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Ryder stepped up next to Jeff and said, “Find out everything about that storage unit. I’ll gather the team.” To Rowan and Alex, he said, “You two need a break. Go get something to eat.”

  Alex rose, and even Rowan noticed the way she kept her fingers on the table to keep herself steady.

  Before she could object, Rowan interjected, “He’s right. We need a break to breathe and refuel.”

  Ryder nodded at Rowan, then said to Alex, “I won’t send a team in there unaware. Not up against Lewis, who has every type of security device imaginable at his fingertips. We need to get a good look at this location. I’ll call you when we’re ready to move in.”

  Alex resigned herself with a sigh. “All right, a few hours will be good for us.” She pointed at Ryder. “Do not make a move without us.”

  Ryder smiled. “I wouldn’t dare think of it.”

  “Good,” she said to him. Then she pointed at Jeff. “And you owe me twenty bucks. I expect that when I come back.”

  Jeff cursed again and grumbled something incoherent.

  Rowan might have laughed if he hadn’t gotten stuck on one thing she said. Do not make a move without us. Not me, but us.

  She turned to Rowan and gave him a smile that damn near melted his bones. “Ready, Hawke?”

  For what was the question. “I’m always ready, McCoy.”

  Her breath hitched at whatever crossed his expression, and her cheeks flushed with color all the way down to her chest.

  Rowan took her hand and led her toward the door.

  “Get food,” Ryder called after them, voice amused. “Don’t forget that part.”

  CHAPTER 7

  An hour and a half later, Rowan held the door open for Alex as they left the restaurant, where she’d introduced him to the Joe’s Special. The well-known dish was a staple in San Francisco, consisting of spinach, onions, mushrooms, ground beef, and eggs, and she figured she needed to show him a little of her hometown’s cuisine, like he’d shown her New York City’s crème brûlée danish a few days ago. The bright day caused her to squint as she glanced down at her phone. No text from Ryder. She considered going back to headquarters, but with the sun warming her face and the laughter around her, she knew she needed all this for a little longer. Probably why Ryder sent them out. Too much time in the darkness could suffocate a soul, and everyone needed a break to clear their head, including her. “Where to now?” she asked, turning back to Rowan.

  He watched her with those intense eyes of his. “Show me the place that’s most important to you here.”

  She nibbled her lip, studying him while the streetcar whizzed by. Maybe he wanted to know more about her, and she realized she wanted that too. Well, minus her home and the command center, there was only one place that meant anything to her in this city. Her childhood home had been bulldozed years back and was now where an apartment building stood. But there was one other place. Her place. Not saying a word, she took his hand and hailed a taxi.

  When the taxi stopped next to them, she got in first and called out the address.

  As Rowan slipped into the seat next to her, he asked, “Going to tell me where we’re going?”

  She shook her head. “You’ll see.”

  He watched her a moment then gave up and nodded, glancing out the window toward the Golden Gate Bridge over the San Francisco Bay off in the distance, obviously having far more patience than she would have.

  Fifteen minutes went by, and when the taxi drove up to the cemetery, awareness washed over Rowan’s face. He slid a hand across her thigh and held, without saying a word, and somehow that felt like exactly what she needed him to do.

  She waited for the taxi driver to drive up the hill before she said, “Here’s good.”

  Before Alex could fetch her credit card from her purse, Rowan handed the driver his. “Thanks,” she said with a smile at Rowan, noting the flexing of his jaw muscles.

  Maybe he anticipated the conversation ahead wasn’t going to be an easy one. She felt the same tightness roll over her when she exited the taxi, slamming the door behind her. A moment later, she heard Rowan following her, telling the guy to wait for them, while she headed toward the big shade tree in the middle of the cemetery along the gravel pathway. Three headstones away from that tree was her sister: Lena McCoy. Love is holding on to the memories only the heart can see.

  Rowan settled next to her and his fingers brushed gently over hers. She glanced up into the warmth of his eyes, not regretting her decision to bring him there. He wanted to know her, and this was one thing she never shared with anyone. “You’re thinking this spot is most important to me because my sister is buried here, aren’t you?”

  He nodded, grazing his fingers along hers again. “Am I wrong?”

  She considered that and then shrugged. “Well, I guess it is part of the reason. I mean, I know Lena’s not here, and I’ve never really been a spiritual person, but I like having a place to see her. Helps me remember her. Sometimes, it even makes me feel a little less alone. But the reason this spot means something to me is because here is where my life changed.”

  His head cocked, eyes becoming inquisitive. “Changed how?”

  She stared at her sister’s headstone, seeing the dead flowers laying there since the last time she visited, but she turned to him, wanting to gauge his reaction. “This is where I met Mickey Finch.”

  Rowan’s brow slowly arched. “The Mickey Finch?”

  She laughed softly, not surprised he recognized the name. “Yeah, that Mickey Finch. Legendary hacker. I take it you know his story, then?”

  Rowan examined her, reassessing, then nodded. “Back in the nineties, Mickey had nearly gone to jail for hacking into the CIA, but of course, the charges were dropped.”

  “Yup,” Alex agreed. “Mickey never made the same kind of deal I did. He was just too good to ever get caught. No matter what they got on him, he always made the charges go away.”

  She glanced over her shoulder as another car drove by, then refocused on Rowan as he chuckled and said, “Mickey’s picture is up in the cybercrime department to remind those working there what people can do.” The amusement faded from his eyes, and his head cocked in question. “Did you know him before he met you here?”

  “No, we had never met.” She stared back at her sister’s tombstone, feeling a lot less lonely than she felt the last time she was there. Being with Rowan had a lot to do with that, and Alex felt the constraints around her heart tighten. “I’d heard about him, of course, but at that time, I had learned what I knew from others that I’d met along the way, and had picked up things on my own. But that’s why I got caught when I hacked into the CIA. I was stupid and reckless and made mistakes.” She drew in a deep breath, glancing up into
Rowan’s tender eyes. “When the CIA released me after my arrest, I came here, and that’s when Mickey showed up.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He offered to mentor me,” she explained as the slight breeze rustled the leaves on the big shade tree. “He told me that he had too much heat on him, and that he wanted to do right by the world while he was still here.”

  It didn’t surprise her Rowan picked up on the most important thing she said. “Was he planning to leave?”

  She nodded, swallowing the thick lump that suddenly made its way into her throat. “Mickey had cancer. He was dying, and he wanted to pass on his knowledge to someone else.”

  “I take it that was you.”

  Alex still couldn’t really say why he’d found her. “For some reason, he picked me. I’ll never know why. He never told me.”

  “Talent.”

  She shrugged. “I guess, but I think it had more to do with what I’d been through. What I’d do with the knowledge that he taught me.” She was never into hacking for herself. Never wanted to shut anything down or cause havoc. She wanted to save lives. “When I wasn’t working for Ryder, or the Feds and the CIA, I was with Mickey. I spent every minute learning from him.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He died two years after I met him.” She inhaled again, feeling like her chest just couldn’t get enough air. Rowan took her hand then, lacing his fingers with hers as she went on. “For a long time when I came here, I only thought of what I lost. But then over time, I started to see what I gained. Yes, Lena died. Yes, I can’t ever change that. But here is where my life changed and I found my purpose. I realized that it didn’t matter where I came from, or the demons I had run from. Anyone has the power to choose to better their life and themselves and to do the right thing.” She hesitated, emotion filling her throat, but she pushed past it, feeling like she needed Rowan to know this about her. “I’ve never brought anyone here, or told them about Mickey.”

  “Not even Ryder?”

  She glanced up into the warmth of Rowan’s eyes. “Not even Ryder.”

  The air suddenly felt red-hot around her, the ground unsteady, as she had no doubt that Rowan realized she’d told him something that the CIA would clamor to get their hands on. To know more about Mickey Finch, and who he worked with—that kind of intel was right up the CIA’s alley. “So, what do you think about all that?” she asked, shifting on her feet, feeling like she stood there naked in front of him.

  He slowly looked into her eyes and held her gaze. “I think you’re an amazing woman, Alex, and I’m damn glad I know you.” He took her into his arms then, pulling her in close against his strength and warmth. Every worry she had that if she let him in, he’d disappoint her, vanished. “Thank you for sharing that with me,” he murmured.

  She shut her eyes and leaned into him, wondering…maybe, just maybe…this would be the second time her life changed right at this very spot. She opened her eyes and leaned away, catching Rowan’s intense gaze watching her carefully. “Rowan, I…I want you to…” Her cell phone beeped and startled her out of his arms. She glanced at the screen and then back at Rowan. “It’s Ryder. We need to go.”

  Rowan captured her chin and kissed her. Not a fast kiss that made her feel urgent and needy. No, this was a slow, savoring kiss that made heat tingle in the tips of her toes right up to the top of her head. A kiss that no one had ever given her in her life. One that made her move closer without thought and that had her reaching for him. One that made her whimper when he backed away.

  He pressed his forehead against hers. “There will be a time when there is no killer to catch, no missing woman to save, and then we can talk about all the things sitting on the tips of our tongues.”

  She nodded, but as she looked into his strained eyes, she wondered if they would keep that promise.

  CHAPTER 8

  They made it back to Blackwood Security in record time, but when Rowan followed Alex into the command center, his mind stayed in the cemetery. The more he learned about her, the more he kept coming back to the same truth: She had no reason to trust anyone. She’d had a terrible childhood. She’d lost the only family she’d had. And her greatest mentor had been a hacker on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. A man who clearly passed away without the Feds ever hearing about it.

  All she knew was a life of abuse, loss, and crime, and yet, somehow through all of that, she’d come out fighting for the good guys. Rowan knew he had something special with Alex. He’d known it from the second he set his eyes on her. At first, his thoughts were lust-filled. Five years after their week in Paris, that same lust remained, but hovering below that simmering heat was a warm spot in his chest for her. She made his cold, dead heart beat again, and he couldn’t ignore that anymore.

  “Good, you’re back,” Ryder said, breaking into Rowan’s thoughts. “We’re just about ready to go here.”

  “Any new developments?” Alex asked, taking her seat at her desk.

  Rowan settled just off to the side of her, trying not to hover, as Ryder reported, “Nothing seems out of sorts at the storage unit, but we’ve cleared the area anyway. We’re not seeing any heat signatures on the drone’s thermal camera or explosive devices.”

  Rowan considered and then asked, “Did the owners of the business have anything to say about the unit?”

  Ryder shook his head. “No one is on site. Anyone can gain access to their unit using their keycard, and the unit is paid for by cash that is left in the business’s secured mailbox every month.”

  “A perfect set-up for a criminal,” Rowan grumbled, and heard everyone agree with him as he moved closer to the monitor that showed the storage unit. “Get a look into this security footage?” he asked, pointing to the camera across from Lewis’s unit.

  “Not yet,” Ryder said, stepping in between Alex and Jeff’s desk, crossing his arms. “I want to see what’s in that unit before we spend hours combing through any of those videos.” He glanced at his team, first to Alex then to Jeff. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” they said in unison.

  Rowan sensed the united front in the room, the adrenaline rushing through the air, and at the center of all that was Ryder, a leader with a plan. Rowan turned, catching Alex’s stare. She gave him a little smile that was like a punch to his chest. All she’d done to help him find Mia. All she’d done to catch Lewis. She amazed him, and he knew he wouldn’t be anywhere near this close without her help. The moment they’d been working hard for was right there, nearly within their grasp.

  He returned her smile, hoping she understood his gratitude, as Ryder clicked a button on the telephone next to Jeff. “Durango team, are you in position?”

  “Ready, sir,” a deep voice replied.

  A body cam suddenly sprang to life on one of the monitors on the wall.

  “Proceed,” Ryder ordered then hit the button on the phone, cutting off his communication with his team, letting them do what he likely trained them to do.

  Rowan had seen men in power need to be in the center of it, even from a distance. Rowan had never witnessed the level of trust Ryder had for his team. Not like this. Not for himself when he always worked alone. A team. He’d been a rogue soldier for so long, the thought of working as a unit enticed him. The seconds drew on as Rowan watched through the body camera as the team moved closer to the unit, the television screen looking more like a video game, with the AK-47 out in front. A game he wanted to be a part of. Rowan felt the steady rise of his heartbeat when he moved back into position next to Ryder. “I want to be out there,” he admitted.

  Ryder chuckled, leaning against the table behind him, but his focus was glued to the monitor. “It takes time to get used to being behind the camera, instead of in the action.”

  “You don’t miss it?”

  “Not when I have a wife and child who need me.”

  Those words lingered deep into Rowan’s chest as Ryder stepped farther into the command center, placing himself directly in front of the rows
of monitors. Silence sank heavily into the room as the team closed in on the storage unit. The team clearly did many missions together, they moved and worked as a unit. Flawless. Stealthy. In minutes, they had a small camera beneath the storage door and on the right side of the storage unit on the monitor, the camera’s view popped up.

  “Oh, my pretties,” Alex purred, slowly rising from her seat at the computer set-up in the storage unit.

  “You seeing this, boss?” the deep voice asked.

  Alex said, “Hold.”

  Ryder clicked the button on the telephone. “Yes. Hold.” He left the communication open.

  Alex moved closer to the monitor, and as inappropriate as it was, Rowan hardened watching her. She was gorgeous and powerful, and damn, he wanted her. “He’s got quite the set-up here.”

  Jeff moved in next to her. “Video feed?”

  “That’s what I’m seeing too,” Alex said, examining the four monitors and the three computers beneath the table. She glanced over at Ryder. “I need to get my hands on those computers.” She looked at Rowan. “We need those files.”

  Rowan nodded, his gut churning to take Lewis down.

  The deep voice through the phone said, “Looks clear on our end to enter.”

  Ryder studied the monitor then glanced at Alex and Jeff. “Anything of concern?”

  “Clear,” Alex said.

  Jeff nodded, returning to his seat. “Clear.”

  Ryder arched an eyebrow at Rowan. “Anything we’re missing?”

  “Clear,” Rowan said after studying the monitors himself.

  “You’re clear to enter,” Ryder ordered, moving back to his spot in between Alex and Jeff.

  Everything slowed after that. Rowan’s breath mirrored what he imagined the teams did. Calm and easy, something every soldier learned. Steady. Through the body camera, another team member approached with a bolt cutter. When the lock clanged to the ground, the seconds felt a minute long as the door was lifted.