Technical Risk

by Sidney Bristol

“You’re serious?”

  “Very.” He pocketed his phone. “The informant said it’s so our guy can see us. We send someone else in and you do your magic to figure out where Valentino really is during all of this. Think you can do it?”

  “Five? Tomorrow?” Her eyes were impossibly large now. “I can’t wait that long.”

  He pushed her laptop back and slid over to stand in front of her, both of her hands in his. “We need a break. This is our break. Let’s get a nice meal, watch a movie and make use of that big, comfortable bed.”

  The way he saw it, this was an excellent opportunity to focus on them with the purpose of distracting themselves.

  “I should say no, but you’re so good at convincing me otherwise when you look at me like that. It’s unreal.”

  “So, yes?”

  “Okay. Yes. Distract me, but only after I talk to Cat. I really hope she has something from that drive. And I’ll want her there tomorrow. Especially if the guys are still in prison, I need her with me.” Diha pulled her hands from his and reached past him, closing the laptop.

  “That sounds reasonable.”

  Her phone made a chime sound. Not quite a ring, but it kept going.

  “Oh, no,” Diha groaned.

  “What?”

  “Will you leave? Shut the door?” She cradled her phone to her chest.

  Curious, Miles got up and closed the door, but didn’t leave.

  “Miles.” Her face creased.

  What didn’t she want him to overhear?

  He leaned against the wall.

  “You suck.” She huffed and tapped the phone, holding it up in front of her. “Hi, Priya.”

  “Sister.” Priya said the word like an order.

  Diha cringed through her grin.

  “I just got off the phone with Felecia,” Priya continued.

  Diha’s gaze jumped to Miles. “O-oh? Um, can we maybe talk about this later?”

  “I knew there was a reason why you wanted my help packing. Your work trip excuse was lame, and now I know you lied to me.” Priya’s tone was outraged.

  Meanwhile, Diha was wilting. “Please, can we not talk about this right now?”

  “Why?” Priya asked sweetly.

  Miles had a good idea why Diha was squirming. She’d told him that she wanted him to notice her, and she’d succeeded.

  “Because.” Diha leaned her elbows on the desk and focused on her sister. “I want to come home and share things with my family in my own words. If Mom and Dad find things out from you, you know how they’ll react.”

  “I’m not Mom and Dad!”

  Diha groaned. “Why, Felecia? Why?”

  Miles decided to take pity. Or maybe he was digging the hole deeper. Either way, he circled the desk and stood behind her. Bending, he saw his face in the preview frame just over Diha’s shoulder. The Priya looking back at him was nearly identical to the image Diha had shown him. Her make-up was smoky, accentuating her eyes, and her face glistened. She looked like a doll. He understood Diha’s worry about comparing herself to her younger sister physically. But it wasn’t the packaging that had drawn him to her beyond that moment in the lobby. It was everything that made Diha unique.

  “Hi, Priya,” he said.

  Priya gasped, one hand over her mouth.

  “I’m afraid I need to borrow your sister.” He narrowed his gaze. “Official MI5 business.”

  That statement seemed to shock Priya out of it. She leaned toward the screen and something funny happened.

  “And who are you?” she asked.

  “Stop taking pictures,” Diha ordered.

  “Then smile and I’ll only take one more.”

  Miles grinned. The familiar banter of siblings made him think about his own.

  Diha tilted her head toward him and smiled.

  The screen did the odd blip thing again.

  Priya wagged her finger at the camera. “Okay. Fine. You can have her. But I expect a phone call, unless you want me to mention—”

  Diha sat up a bit straighter. “Don’t you threaten me. You mention anything to them and I’ll stop covering for you.”

  “Fine. Don’t tell me anything. You don’t really love me.”

  “Oh, shut up.” Diha smiled fondly at the camera. “I love you. And I will talk to you later. Before Mom and Dad, but not right now. I’m starving.”

  “Starving, hm?” Priya smiled mischievously at the camera.

  “No,” Diha snapped, but it was too late. The call had ended. “My sister sucks.”

  Miles took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Where do you want to eat?”

  He was looking forward to a few hours without the job at the forefront of their minds.

  SATURDAY. HOSTEL. LONDON, United Kingdom.

  Valentino counted out the cash again. It was all there. Both her down payments had come through without a problem.

  Ten grand wasn’t enough.

  The doc wanted more.

  She really was going to have to go through with one of these jobs.

  Oh, she’d do them both because the Eros name was too good to tarnish and she didn’t need more trouble on her plate. She just wished she didn’t have to do this.

  If only she’d planned better.

  Even just having a dinner Viggo would have been happy with would have prevented them from being ambushed at the door. They’d have been forced to move again, but at least he wouldn’t be recovering from surgery.

  There was no sense bemoaning the past. If she was going to do that, there were a lot worse things to cry about.

  She pocketed the money and gathered her things. She wouldn’t be coming back here.

  There was a stop to make and then she’d get the ball rolling. With any luck, in a few days both she and Viggo would be off this accursed island and headed into anonymity where Skilton wouldn’t find them. Ever.

  SATURDAY. POLICE STATION. Brighton, United Kingdom.

  Diha stared at the doors. Her lungs ached from holding her breath. She was scared if she so much as batted an eyelash, everything would fall apart.

  Instead, the minutes dragged on.

  Officers strode about, doing their job.

  Miles stared at his phone, checking more messages, coordinating people for later today.

  “How much longer?” she finally asked.

  “Not sure,” he said without glancing up.

  She blew out a breath and looked at her phone.

  Diha had spent most of the evening talking to her sister and then her parents. Ultimately, Priya was too excited about the possibility of Diha dating someone to keep her mouth shut. Priya had even posted the screen shot she’d taken to her social media. At least she knew better than to make it public. Even then Diha didn’t like it, but no amount of pleading had worked. And Diha couldn’t come right out and say why, so they were at a stand-off.

  There were a dozen messages.

  Half were from Priya and Felecia, as expected. The rest were family friends who wanted to know who the handsome man was.

  This was so much more than Diha was prepared to deal with.

  She pocketed the phone without answering any of the messages.

  At that moment a buzzer sounded and the door on the other side of the room swung open.

  Five tall, imposing men wearing black stepped out, followed by three men in suits she recognized from the news.

  Harper was the first to turn and grin at her. “Diha, there’s my girl.”

  Relief washed through her.

  They were out. They really were being let go.

  She’d believed in their innocence, but the deck had been stacked against them. Finally, something was going right.

  Miles crossed to join the men in suits. He shook hands and spoke with them, his face back to that serious mask of his.

  Harper wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a friendly side-hug. She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment and sighed.

  The gang was back together.

 
“I’m so glad you’re all okay,” she said.

  “Us?” Harper frowned down at her and stared pointedly at the bandage on her forehead. “We’ve been doing jack shit. What about you? No one’s told us anything.”

  “We’ll get caught up on the drive back to London.” She glanced around the room with all the police and those in custody.

  Valentino could have eyes and ears here. They just didn’t know how far his reach went.

  Harper seemed to read her clearly. He just nodded and turned to where Jamie and Evan were digging into plastic bags, pulling out their phones.

  Diha felt a pang of guilt. Felecia had been worried about Evan, and Diha hadn’t spent much time talking her off the ledge. It was the one thing she’d do differently if she could go back. Given Felecia’s history of being locked up herself, this had been tough on her.

  “Gentlemen?” Miles addressed the guys. “We have a lot to cover. If you don’t mind following me?”

  Harper glanced at her, as if looking for some direction.

  She mustered a smile for him and turned, following Miles out of the building.

  Given the discussions they needed to have, taking the train back to London wasn’t an option. First thing that morning, after finding out the guys were being released, Miles had rented a large SUV. It wasn’t going be the most comfortable accommodations for six large men, but it would get them from one place to the next.

  In short order they loaded up with Miles driving and Logan sitting shotgun. Harper, Jamie, and Evan filed into the rear seat before she could lay claim to it, leaving her sitting in one of the two more comfortable middle row seats next to Tucker.

  “How’s everyone else?” Tucker asked as they buckled up.

  She glanced at the others, all too occupied to pay them any mind.

  Diha knew what Tucker was really asking. She might not know the particulars surrounding how Tucker and Zora had first met, but it was clear they weren’t strangers. There were even times when Zora seemed to lean on him when she didn’t lean on anyone.

  “Good. Zora’s been out-of-town handling other things, but she’s gotten us everything we’ve needed.”

  Tucker nodded his head and eased back into the seat.

  “Okay, so spill. What’s been going on?” Harper called out as Miles navigated them onto the road and pointed them toward London.

  “A lot.” Diha turned so she could speak to the whole vehicle.

  Miles had suggested she take point with the team since they responded better to her. She was one of them. Miles was part of the system that had been duped into arresting them.

  Diha gave the guys a brief rundown of the events that had led them to today’s potentially game changing meet.

  “Okay, but it’s not like anyone in this vehicle can go to that,” Harper said not a beat after she’d finished.

  “Correct.” She glanced at Miles. “We’re headed to London now to meet with the people who will be meeting with Eros.”

  “Who we believe is actually Valentino?” Jamie asked.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  Harper tilted his head to the side, regarding her in an odd way she couldn’t interpret. “And this whole time you’ve been out in the field?”

  “Miles and I—”

  “Miles? Oh, Mr. Green, right.” Harper’s gaze slid from her to the back of Miles’ head.

  “There is one more piece of news.” She braced herself before delivering the bad stuff. “Joon and Baker should be in London by now, which means the entire task force likely knows where we are and something of what we’re doing.”

  “Shit,” she heard Logan mutter.

  She knew Joon and Baker were doing their job. As key members of the team when they’d first begun, those two wanted to be part of every move they made. Unfortunately, no matter how much Diha’s gut told her the mole wasn’t either of those two, she couldn’t clear them. Not well enough to trust them with everything.

  She glanced at the rearview mirror, meeting Miles’ gaze. “I took the liberty of giving Miles a brief account of what we’re dealing with internally.”

  “We need a second, controlled command center,” Logan said. “Put me in there with Joon and Baker. Show us everything on a five second delay. You can’t let Eros, who might be Valentino, see us, but we can keep an eye on them.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Miles said.

  Warm breath fanned the side of Diha’s head. She jumped as Harper whispered, “Miles, huh?”

  SATURDAY. UNITED KINGDOM.

  Ramon imagined ramming his stolen vehicle into the SUV, forcing it from the road and down a steep incline. He could practically hear the crunch of mental and glass in his head.

  It was beautiful.

  He gripped the steering wheel tighter and blew out a breath.

  Skilton had promised to give him more information today. Something about Valentino being somewhere specific and meeting these idiots. If Ramon could somehow manage to kill Valentino and the task force, it would go a long way in improving his standing. Not to mention it would feel damn good.

  Valentino.

  That was a puzzle that stuck in his head.

  People were predictable. It was a rule.

  A hacker attacking people wasn’t predictable. It didn’t make sense, no matter what the guy’s jobs had been in the past. And yet, smarter people than Ramon had said they’d met this Valentino guy. That he was a big, imposing figure.

  The pieces still didn’t click in his head.

  Something wasn’t right, and he had to figure it out. He wasn’t going to turn up empty handed. He would get this job done.

  SATURDAY. STAGING LOCATION. London, United Kingdom.

  Miles went over the equipment list again. His two agents that would be playing the part of the customers were going over all the details of their story for the meet. Which left the rest of them making up work to do.

  Like going over all the equipment.

  Again.

  They had three trucks that would move into position once they had a location. Each truck had a different look so as to arouse as little suspicion as possible for the surveillance team.

  One of those trucks would be the one for Logan, Joon, and Baker.

  Miles had briefly met the two and had no real opinion on either.

  Joon was a serious man. Baker a woman who gave off a slight grandmotherly air in the way she spoke to people. Neither had pushed their way into the heart of the investigation, which made pushing them off on their own easier.

  How was Diha making out?

  Cat had met them upon their arrival, frazzled and hauling some equipment with her. The two women had taken over one of the vans, making use of the meager desk space to do their magic. Which left the rest of them cooling their heels in the garage.

  He’d started this period with one goal.

  Don’t hover around Diha.

  She had work to do, and he didn’t want to distract her. He also didn’t want to give her any reason to be stressed or draw attention.

  Would one peak in be so bad?

  He glanced toward the van and found Harper walking toward him. The man radiated purpose.

  Miles wasn’t sure what to think about Diha’s relationship with Harper. Nothing that had been said or done indicated they were anything besides friends. At least not on Diha’s side.

  Did Harper see Diha as more than just a coworker?

  “Green.” Harper’s gaze narrowed as he stopped facing Miles.

  The other man, Jamie, followed along behind Harper. Jamie glanced nervously at Harper before fixing a glare on Miles.

  “Gentlemen.” He slid his phone into his pocket. “What can I do for you?”

  “What’s going on with Diha?” Harper demanded, jumping into it with no finesse.

  “What’s going on with her?” Miles glanced toward the van. “I assume she’s working.”

  Harper crossed his arms over his chest. The move was likely supposed to be intimidating. “What’s goin
g on between you two?”

  Miles shrugged. “I don’t see that it’s any of your business.”

  “She’s on our team. It’s our business.”

  Our.

  Not his.

  Our.

  “Are you romantically involved with Diha?” Miles asked.

  Harper’s scowl deepened. “No.”

  “Do you want to be?”

  “She’s part of our team,” Harper said.

  Miles nodded. While the possessive side of him hadn’t liked seeing the woman he wanted be so close with this man, he could also appreciate the familiarity that came with being part of a team. It was, in some ways, as close as family connections.

  “Let me make sure I understand this clearly.” Miles held up a hand to forestall Harper talking over him. “You have no romantic inclinations toward Diha. Neither does your friend here. You and your team observed me working with Diha and have made conclusions about the nature of our relationship. Does that cover it?”

  Harper narrowed his gaze. “I don’t think I like you.”

  “And would Diha like hearing about this little display?” Miles gestured at the two men, then himself. “I don’t think so. So, why don’t you say what’s really on your mind, hm?”

  Harper dropped his hands, eyes blazing.

  “Harper, stop it.” Jamie grabbed the man’s arm, holding him back. Jamie glanced at Miles. “Look, we’re all a little protective of Diha.”

  Harper pulled out of Jamie’s grasp, still glaring at Miles.

  Miles wasn’t fond of this Harper. The man was a little too much of a loose cannon. But Miles also knew that Diha had a special relationship with him. She’d said Harper was like a brother. And a brother would likewise be protective of his sister, so Miles would cut the man some slack.

  “Diha and I are adults.” He looked from Harper to Jamie and back again. “I’m not going to explain our relationship to anyone. What I will do you the courtesy of saying is that, I respect her.”

  Harper’s gaze narrowed. “You sound like a blow hard.”

  And you sound like an idiot.

  Miles chose to smile instead.

  He doubted Harper would ever count him as a friend. They were different kinds of people. But one thing Miles could appreciate was that Diha had people in her life who cared about her. And he wanted to be part of that life. Which meant figuring out a way to coexist with Harper.