by Linzi Baxter
Brock's fingers were flying across the laptop. “Five minutes at the most. They are coming in fast.”
“Sophie, come here.” I ushered Sophie and my brother down the hall. I needed to get them into the safe room. We weren’t entirely certain who was showing up or what they wanted.
Zack looked like he wanted to protest. He knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t listen. At the end of the hall, I removed a picture frame from the wall to expose a keypad. After punching in the ten-digit code, I heard the click of the panic room door latch. I escorted them into the adjoining bedroom. A door in the back of the bedroom closet stood ajar. I pushed them through the door before either of them had time to protest.
Needing to see what Brock and Antonio had found out, I headed back toward the living room. Antonio gave me a nod, and we got in place to take out the men coming for us.
4
Sophie
This day was getting to me. I had been taken into custody, forced into a job I didn’t want, and had run from the Director of the CIA. Now, we were under attack.
“I absolutely hate being stuck in these rooms. I miss the days of taking down the bad guy,” Zack grumbled. He was pacing back and forth, which was ridiculous since the room was four feet by four feet. He only took two strides before he hit the wall.
I had no clue what to talk about with the president. I gazed around the room for any form of computer or security system. I needed to see what was happening outside the panic room. The room had enough food for days. One side of the room was all shelf space lined with water bottles and canned food. I twisted to see what was behind me and saw a laptop.
Not wasting any time, I booted it up. A couple minutes later, I bypassed the password, and the welcome display flashed.
“Did you hack my brother's computer?”
“Yes”
“Hmmm.”
I didn’t have time to figure out what “hmmm” meant. I needed to see if everyone was okay. Antonio had become like an older brother who doesn’t talk much, and Jessica would kill me if anything happened to Brock. It only took a couple minutes to get video of Brock watching from his computer. Zane had his gun pulled and was standing next to the front door. Antonio was by the back door with his weapon drawn.
The outside video showed the helicopter landing. Then a small figure stepped out. The sun was shining into the camera, so it was hard to see the person’s face. When another little figure stepped out, I looked back at the other feed to see Brock running for the door with a panic-stricken look.
“What’s going on? Who is that?” Zack demanded.
“I can’t tell. The… oh, fuck.”
The two shadowy figures came into full view. When I saw their faces, I immediately knew why Brock was panicking. It was his fiancée, Jessica, and my boss, Bridget. Then three beefy men stepped off the helicopter—Alex, Bridget's husband; Asher, Antonio's twin brother; and CJ. CJ and Asher had been dating for the past year and a half. I panned back to the cameras to make sure Antonio and Zane had lowered their guns. They had, but they looked angry.
I jumped up and headed for the door.
“We have to wait for them to release us from the outside. Zane has never given me the code.”
Zane was probably worried Zack would leave after being placed in a safe house. “Well, I’m getting out of here. You can stay if you want.” It took a couple seconds to retype the code I saw Zane type earlier. The light turned green. When the door swept open, Zane was there, reaching to put in the code. The look on his face said he was not happy.
“You want to tell me why you opened this door without waiting for us to clear the area?” Zane pointed at Zack. “How could you put yourself in danger like that?”
Zane needed to understand who was in charge. It sure as hell wasn’t him. “I pulled up the video surveillance cameras, and we saw who was in the helicopter. Put your ego back in check.” I dipped under his arm and headed toward the voices.
I could hear laughter in the kitchen. When I rounded the corner, Bridget saw me and ran over to wrap her arms around me. “I was so worried we wouldn’t be able to get you back. Alex said he knew Agent Asshole and you would be okay. I couldn’t handle losing you, so I had Jessica help me.”
I heard Brock grunt from the other side of the room. “Jessica, why you are here? I told you we had everything under control.”
Jessica’s face turned a light shade of pink.
Alex pointed at Bridget. “I bet my wife is the one behind this. When I got word from my secretary that Bridget was taking my helicopter, Asher and CJ were in my office. So, we raced to the airport and boarded before they took off.”
All eyes turned to Bridget. “I traced the IP back when you contacted Jessica.” Bridget shrugged like it was no big deal.
Zane cleared his throat. “There is no way you traced the IP back to here. I have it looped around the world, and it would take even the best hacker a day to narrow down where we are.”
For the first time in my life, I saw Bridget pale and look scared. She turned toward me. “You have to understand that I think of you like family.”
I knew I wouldn’t like the next words that came out of her mouth.
“When you said people would come after you because of the information you pulled on Jessica’s family, I wanted to make sure you were okay. The necklace I gave you for your birthday has a tracker in it.”
Before I had time to process her statement, Zack walked around the corner with his Secret Service agents.
Bridget elbowed me in the side. “Sophie, why is the President of the United States here?”
“Zack is Agent Asshole’s brother.”
“Well, I guess the plot to digitally destroy Agent Asshole should be postponed.” Bridget seemed disappointed at not being able to destroy Zane.
Alex stepped forward and one-arm hugged the president. “It’s been too long. Bridget, come here and meet Zack, a family friend.”
Bridget went to the impressive men standing next to each other. “So, you are the lovely Bridget I’ve heard so much about.”
Bridget gave her husband a questioning look. “Sorry, I can't say the same. Alex never mentioned knowing you before.”
Zack let out a deep chuckle. “That’s because it was Martha talking about her new daughter in-law and grandbaby.” Zack stepped back, walked over to Asher, and gave him a hug. Then he reached out his hand toward CJ. “And you must be CJ. About time someone tamed Asher.”
The next half hour was spent getting caught up.
“Well, I think it’s time for me to head back to DC. Zane, stay safe, and take him down. I’m counting on you.” With a wave of his hand, Zack left followed by his agents.
Everyone had migrated toward the living room. Somehow, I ended up sitting next to Zane on the couch. Bridget was sitting on Alex’s lap in the chair next to the sofa.
“You finally going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Bridget demanded.
How was I going to tell my two best friends that I had kept something so big from them? Zane must have noticed I was having issues. He reached over and squeezed my leg.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“How about the beginning?” CJ replied.
I spent the next hour going over how my parents were killed and my sister kidnapped and how the Director of the CIA recruited me a few years later, saying he’d help me find my sister.
Bridget couldn’t believe I had been working for the director all these years without telling her. I could tell she was hurt that I’d hid it from her. But, I had never trusted Director Sanchez and didn’t want to bring Bridget or CJ into the mess. I had dreamed that, one day, they would get to meet my sister. But from the info I saw earlier, I didn’t know who my sister had turned into.
“Zane is going to help me find my sister.”
“I will, Sophie, but I think Antonio needs to tell everyone how he is also tied into the mess.”
Antonio looked pissed. If Zane hadn’t ca
lled him out, he probably would have kept his secret with him until the day he died or had to tell everyone.
“Sophie’s sister is my dead wife.”
Alex had just taken a drink of beer and spit it out in surprise. Asher started laughing so hard that he had to grab his side in pain.
“I’m sorry. I could have sworn you said you had a wife, and she is dead. You better explain, or I will send a text to Dad, and then you will really need to explain what the fuck is going on.” Alex looked hurt by the information.
“Kat and I married when we were on an assignment together. Right when we were heading home, she was killed in a café shooting. I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Not even to me? How could you not tell me this? We tell each other everything,” Asher said.
“Really? You want to go there? About telling each other everything?” Antonio didn’t wait for a response. He got up and headed toward the kitchen. Asher hadn’t told the family he was gay until he had started to date CJ.
The silence was thick in the room. So many secrets were coming to the surface, secrets that were put in place to keep people safe. Now that they were out, they seemed to hurt people, anyway.
“Sophie and I will head to another safe house.” He pointed to the necklace around my neck. “Someone can take that with them until this case is over. I don’t want any trackers on us. This time, we are going somewhere my brother doesn’t even know about. Once we make it to the safe house, we will look into Yermushin and prepare ourselves for the fundraiser.”
“You are not going anywhere without me.” I hadn’t even see Antonio reenter the room.
Zane ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. It had been a long day, and I could tell it was getting to him. It seemed like he was close to losing his temper. Not even realizing what I was doing, I reached over and squeezed his hand.
“Antonio, when we head to New York, we will contact you. We’ll work with your office. You, Asher, and Brock, pull all the information you can, and we will contact you tomorrow. We have little time. I have a feeling Director Sanchez already has people heading this way. Sophie and I are leaving in ten minutes.”
Alex nodded. “I have to agree with Zane. You need to come with us. You were the last one to have contact with Kat. You can help us pull as much information as possible, so we can give it to Sophie and Zane. I also think we have something to talk about.”
Jessica was the first to wrap me in a hug before they left. “I owe you my life. If there is anything, you need, let me know. Look on the positive side—seventy-five percent of kidnapping victims are killed within three hours. Your sister is still alive, and you will get her back.”
Once everyone had left and it was only me and Zane, the house seemed to shrink.
5
Zane
The sound of Sophie's stomach was a reminder that we hadn’t eaten a meal today. Since I had collected her from the office this morning, we had been on the go. We needed food.
I looked over at Sophie. She was breathtaking. Her red hair was falling from her bun. Her white T-shirt was tight and accented her curves.
“In about ten miles, we’ll stop and have dinner. I don’t have food at the house we are heading to. We’ll run out tomorrow and grab some groceries.”
Sophie shifted in her seat. “If we stop at a store to pick up food, I can grab clothes and other things. It’s been a long day.”
“No.”
“I need more than ‘no.’”
“We have both had a long day. I need food, and from the sound of your stomach, you also need something to eat. I have clothes at the house you can wear, and then tomorrow, we can run to the store.” I turned the SUV into the Greasy Spoon Diner.
The diner was showing its age. When Zack and I were kids, we spent summers up at the lake, and we would eat at the restaurant. Zack doesn’t know I bought the cabin we used to go to when we were kids. It’s the one place that reminds me of our mother.
The bell to the diner dinged when we opened the door. With one step into the diner, a tall, leggy blonde had me wrapped in her arms. “It’s been too long, little Z.”
I could feel Sophie stiffen behind me and heard her clear her throat. I stepped back from Georgia.
“Sophie, this is Georgia. Georgia, this is Sophie.” Sophie reached out her hand to shake Georgia’s. Georgia ignored her hand and engulfed her in a hug.
“Take a seat at the counter. Travis's flight landed a few minutes ago, and he’s on his way here. It’s been too long.”
When we sat down at the counter, Sophie leaned into me. “I thought we were going into hiding at a safe house, not to find your ex-girlfriend.” Sophie's knuckles were white from the grip she had on her fork. She looked close to using the fork to take Georgia out.
I would have let her stew in her jealousy for a few minutes, but Georgia was not having it. She must have overheard. She set a cup of coffee in front of Sophie and me. “Honey, you have nothing to worry about. We might live in the back hills of Virginia, but I’m not into incest. I married the man of my dreams. No need to marry my brother.”
Sophie choked on her coffee. “Brother? I thought the president only had one sibling, according to the newspaper, and nobody ever sees that brother.”
“Georgia’s mom and my dad have had a relationship since my mother passed. Mary raised us, but she didn’t like all the publicity that came with being married to the governor. We offered to go public and announce Georgia as our sister.”
Georgia shook her head. “I love my life. The media was always in my brothers’ lives. This one here somehow dropped off their radar years ago. I know who my brothers are. I don't need the media to tell me. Zack said you were in trouble and I wouldn’t hear from you for a while. I take it you still haven’t told him?”
I could tell Georgia didn't like that I was keeping things from Zack, but I disappeared to the cabin to escape the world. “I will tell him when he retires.”
Before Georgia had a chance to respond, the bell dinged. At the sight of her husband, her face lit up with pure joy. Georgia had married one of my Navy SEAL friends. Travis had come to the cabin with me one summer, and they hit it off. Travis worked for a private security firm. I knew that if Sophie and I needed him, we could call.
Travis walked around the counter and wrapped Georgia in a hug and kiss that made my stomach roll. Sophie sighed. I looked over to see her staring at them. She looked lost in thought.
“Paying customers shouldn't have to watch you make out like your teenagers,” I chided before Sophie elbowed me in the side.
Travis pulled back, and a grin spread across his face. “When you pay, I will listen to your demands. I don’t think you or your brother have ever dropped a dime in here.”
He was more than likely right. Zack and I had bought the house they lived in for their wedding gift. They both knew that if they ever needed a dime, we would do anything to help them.
Sophie reached out her hand to shake Travis’s. “It’s nice to meet you, Travis.” He brought her hand to his lips and gave it a kiss. I might have growled at his antics, but I knew it was dumb since he was my sister’s husband. He was testing to see what Sophie meant to me.
Sophie gave me a puzzled look. I didn’t tell her I planned to murder him later for giving me crap.
While Travis and I were getting caught up, Georgia brought us our food. We had both ordered her chicken and waffles. Nobody could beat her cooking.
The noises coming out of Sophie’s mouth were making my dick hard.
“Do you like it?”
“This is the best food I’ve ever had.” She put another forkful of food into her mouth and closed her eyes to savor it. I had to look away before I embarrassed myself.
“Travis, do you still have cameras on the entrance leading out to the cabin?”
“Yes. I’ve added perimeter sensors to your cabin too.”
Travis took care of the cabin when I wasn’t around. With the missions we’d worked i
n the past, we both had people who would love to see us dead. He made sure no one could get to us.
Georgia had packed us a couple days’ worth of food and an apple pie. We said our goodbyes to my sister and brother in-law. The cabin was a quick ten-minute drive from the diner.
“Zane, do you have a burner phone I can use?”
“Who do you need to call? Your boss and best friend already tracked you down.” I wondered if she had a boyfriend she needed to contact.
Sophie shifted so she was facing me. “I need to call my landlord and ask her to take care of my cat, Jinx.”
The tension in my back released. I tossed her one of my many burner phones.
Sophie
My landlord, Betty, would worry if she didn’t see me come home for more than a couple of days. She would call the cops and have them put out a missing person report on me. I needed to heed this before it became something. On the fifth ring, she finally picked up.
I informed her that I was out of town with a friend and wouldn’t be back for a week and asked if she would take care of Jinx. Betty said someone had been there earlier asking if she had seen me. She was worried and had already grabbed Jinx out of my apartment. She told me she had planned to call the cops if I hadn’t come home by tonight.
“What's going on?” Zane asked. His voice was deep and rich. It made my insides melt when he talked.
I knew I needed to be straight with Zane because Director Sanchez was coming after both of us. I wasn’t used to sharing this part of my life with anyone. For the last twenty-five years, I had dealt with Sanchez alone and hid it from everyone I knew because he asked me to. “Betty said someone scary was looking for me.”
Zane shook his head. We turned down a gravel driveway lined with evergreen trees, and the smell of pine was refreshing. The SUV rolled to a stop in front of a small cabin. It was a complete contrast to the mansion we were at a few hours ago. When I went to get out, Zane grabbed my arm.