Arden’s eyes drifted shut for what seemed like the fifteenth time in as many minutes. She forced them open again and got to her feet. It was now or never. If she didn’t make her escape, she’d accidentally fall asleep and lose the opportunity.
She strapped on Sebastian’s carrier, then slipped into her coat. Shrugging the straps of the pack onto her shoulders, she glanced at the antique clock sitting on the dresser. Nearly three in the morning. The house had been quiet for almost an hour.
Time to go, but she really didn’t want to.
Being part of a team working to take down GeoArray seemed so much easier than going it alone. But Kane’s parents were now in the equation. Two people were already dead. She couldn’t risk more lives.
Arden plucked Sebastian from his cozy spot between the pillows and deposited him in the carrier.
She crossed the room in darkness, cracked open the door. Head cocked, she strained to hear signs that her movement had disturbed anyone. Hearing nothing, she stepped into the hallway, keeping close to the walls and praying she could avoid the groans and creaks from the old, worn floor.
At the top of the stairwell, she paused and peered down into the darkness below. With Kane’s room toward the rear of the house, the front door gave her the highest probability of slipping out unheard. Of course, once she got the truck started, he’d wake up.
If she got it started.
She’d read about hot-wiring cars. So she had all the steps memorized, but she’d never done it.
She crept silently down the steps, crossed the foyer and fumbled with the lock on the front door. Turning the handle, she slowly eased the door open and looked out into the dark morning. It would be hours before the sun rose. That gave her time to make her way back through town and out onto the interstate again before the town woke. The less people who knew she’d been there, the safer it would be for Kane’s parents.
She’d find a place somewhere far away, she’d decrypt the files, and then she’d pass the information to Grayson and let him take it from there.
First, though, she had to get the truck started.
She scanned the yard and the street beyond it. Everything looked just like it had when they’d arrived—pristine snow blanketing grass and driveway. Across the street, a pretty little cottage was tucked away from the road, the lights off, the driveway empty. There was an SUV parked on the street in front of it. Had it been there when they’d arrived?
She couldn’t remember seeing any vehicles on the street, but she’d been tired and distracted. She leaned farther out the door, staring hard at the SUV and the shadowed driver’s window.
Was someone in there?
The vehicle’s door swung open and a man got out. He stood near the driver’s door, looking in her direction.
There were no streetlights, no moonglow, nothing to illuminate his face or eyes. But she was absolutely sure he was looking right at her. And she was absolutely positive he was about to head her way.
He took the first step, and she jumped back into the house, knocking into something firm and warm.
A hand slammed over her mouth.
She screamed.
Or tried. All that came out was a muffled squeak. An arm slid around her waist, and Sebastian—traitor that he was—started purring.
“Not a good idea, Arden,” Kane said quietly.
Because, of course, it was Kane.
He’d set her up. He’d known she was going to try to leave, and he’d given her the opportunity.
She shoved his hand away, whirling to face him. Angry that he’d made her look like a fool. Terrified that guy who’d been crossing the street was still coming.
“There’s someone out there,” she managed to say, her voice shaking with emotion.
“I know,” he said simply. “That’s Silas Blackwater. He’s Jace’s and my business partner.”
“You could have warned me about him before I opened the door. It would have saved my heart some effort,” she snapped, and he frowned.
“You’re angry.”
“Of course I am. You made a fool out of me.” She was angry. She’d lost count of the number of times Randy had made her feel the fool. “You pretended you believed me, made a big show about your nighttime routine, then sneaked down here and basically lay in wait for me when all you needed to do was—”
“Stop,” he interrupted, pressing three fingers gently to her lips. “First of all, I only found out an hour ago that Silas decided to head to the Cape rather than New Hampshire. Second, it would be impossible to make you look like a fool. You’re too intelligent to ever be mistaken for one.” He dropped his hand from her mouth, stepped closer and removed Sebastian from his carrier. The little Judas purred loudly as Kane scratched behind his ears.
“And lastly, I didn’t tell you I was onto you because that wouldn’t have stopped you from hatching your next plan. You’re too determined. You know what you’re up against and you don’t want to put anyone else in danger. Not Juniper, my parents or me. That’s one of the things I admire about you. But I needed you to understand that you won’t be able to slip away from me. We’re in this together. Whether you like it or not.”
He set Sebastian on the floor. The cat wove between her legs, then Kane’s, before climbing the stairs toward the yellow room without so much as a backward glance.
Arden’s anger started to melt away. He’d just spent an entire night up close and personal with all her little foibles, yet he thought it would be impossible for her to look like a fool?
The door clicked shut softly behind her. Arden whirled around with a startled yelp and found herself face to chest with Kane’s associate, his arms laden with kitty litter and a plastic shopping bag brimming with supplies. She was touched by Kane’s thoughtfulness.
She took a step back, looked up into a pair of heavy-lidded green eyes. He was easily over six feet tall with straight black hair tied in a short, low ponytail. Lean and muscular, his swarthy skin, high cheekbones and aquiline nose all spoke to his Native American heritage.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you come up behind me,” Arden said.
“You weren’t supposed to,” he said simply.
“This is Silas Blackwater. He’s with us from now on.” Kane’s tone left no room for argument. He reached around Arden and took the shopping bag from Silas. “Now let’s come up with a plan of action we can all agree on.” He turned toward the kitchen, clearly expecting Arden to follow. With Silas behind her blocking the front door, she didn’t have much choice.
If she was honest with herself, she was warming up to the idea of being part of a team. Maybe it was time she stopped relying on herself and started taking advantage of the resources God placed in front of her. And she couldn’t deny that Kane made her feel safe. Like it was okay for her to be her. Like he wouldn’t have it any other way.
She shrugged out of her pack and followed Kane into the kitchen. She’d give the whole team thing a shot, but first she needed to break the code that protected those files, and that was something she’d have to do alone.
* * *
Kane placed the bag on the table and started unloading the supplies. In addition to a plastic litter pan and a bag of cat food, he’d asked Silas to bring some breakfast food. He was pretty sure Arden must be starved. He knew he was. Kane pulled the last item from the bag, held it up and looked at Silas. “Hershey’s Kisses?”
“Don’t all girls like chocolate?” Silas shrugged.
“This one does,” Arden piped up, snatching the bag of assorted chocolate kisses from Kane’s hand and ripping into it. “And I can definitely use the sugar right about now.” She popped one in her mouth. “Mmm. So good. Thanks, Silas.”
“No problem.” Silas had the decency not to gloat as he placed the box of kitty litter on the floor. “Dutch is in the yard taking care of business,” he said, walking toward the back door. “Do you mind if I let him in?”
“Go for it,” Kane responded.
“Dutch?” Arden booted up her laptop and reached for another chocolate.
“My dog.” Silas opened the back door and gave a piercing whistle. “He served in combat with us.”
“He’s retired?” Arden asked, typing on her keyboard.
“By default,” Kane explained. “When Silas decided to get out, Dutch was supposed to be placed with another handler, but no one could get the Sioux commands quite right.”
“At least that’s the theory.” Silas grinned. Dutch crossed the threshold into the kitchen. Silas shut the door behind him.
“Are you sure he’s a dog?” Arden pulled her earbuds from her bag, eyeing Dutch from her seat at the kitchen table.
“He’s a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, to be exact.” Silas gave a command in Sioux. The dog immediately lay on the rug by the back door.
“Looks like more wolf than dog to me,” Arden mused before shoving the earbuds into her ears. “The chocolate’s given me a renewed burst of energy. I’m going to see if I can get this algorithm working before dawn.”
“I’m not sure if my parents had time to call and get the Wi-Fi switched on yet, but you can use my cell phone as a hot spot if you’d like.”
“The Wi-Fi’s active,” she responded, popping another chocolate into her mouth.
“Great, let me know if you need the password for it,” Kane said.
“No need. I’m in already.”
“How’d you get around the password?”
She met his eyes across the table. “Have you forgotten what I do for a living?”
Silas snickered.
“I just didn’t realize you could hack in so quickly. You’ve only been sitting there for a few minutes.”
“It’s a known fact that people tend to choose passwords that are easy to remember and mean something to them. In this case, your last name, the word home and the house number were used. You should probably consider changing it.”
“I’ll do that,” Kane responded drily, but Arden didn’t seem to hear him. She was lost in her work, her jet-black, shoulder-length hair tucked casually behind her ear, thick-lashed eyes focused on the screen in front of her.
She was the exact opposite of every woman that had even remotely attracted him in the past, but he found himself drawn to her. She was extremely intelligent, but that was only part of the person she was.
Truth be told, she drew him in from the first time he met her, but his friendship with Jace and Arden’s ever-present jerk of a boyfriend gave him plenty of reasons to tamp those feelings down. One of those reasons was now out of the picture. His friendship with Jace, on the other hand, would not be easy to get around.
Jace knew Kane before he became a Christian. He’d accepted him for all his past mistakes and helped him find his faith. But that didn’t mean Jace would ever see Kane as good enough for his little sister. Kane wouldn’t blame him there.
A rapid succession of buzzing tones came from Arden’s laptop.
“That didn’t sound promising,” Kane commented.
“It’s not great news, but on the plus side, I got past the first level of encryption. It’s only a matter of time before I break the last.”
He admired her confidence.
* * *
Nearly an hour later, Kane had filled Silas in on the events of the evening while making some breakfast sandwiches. Arden had scarfed down her food with a quick thanks, barely taking her eyes from the computer screen. Kane wondered about the progress she was making but didn’t want to distract her from her task.
“Yes! Thank You, God!” Arden exclaimed happily.
“What?” Kane and Silas both came around the table and peered over her shoulder.
“My decryption application is loaded and ready to test.” She stretched her arms and yawned. “We’ll know in a few moments if it works.” Her fingers ran over the keyboard. “Here goes nothing,” she said and pressed Enter to launch the program.
“Is it working?” Silas asked.
“Yes. Yes. Yes!”
Kane tried to focus on the rows of code that scrolled quickly across the dark screen. He had no idea what he was looking at, but judging by her enthusiasm, he predicted success. “How long will it take to run?”
“It’s almost complete.” As if on cue, a tune erupted from the computer—a tune that sounded suspiciously like the fanfare in one of his retro video games that signaled a player had found an important item. Typical Arden. Kane couldn’t help but smile.
Arden pulled up the first of the decrypted files and began reading. Kane and Silas attempted to read over her shoulder.
“I can’t keep up. She’s reading way too fast,” Silas commented.
“I’m in the same boat,” Kane said, still trying to skim the contents of the files as Arden clicked from page to page.
“Houston, we have a problem.” Arden focused on the screen in front of her, still scrolling through documents.
“What is it?” Kane asked.
“Oh, no,” she said flatly. She leveled her gaze on him and shut her laptop. “It’s worse than I thought. Marcus Emory is not just selling research—he’s planning to sell the code for the prototype of the self-improving weapons control program that GeoArray developed for the Department of Defense.”
“To who?” Kane asked.
“It’s not clear, but my guess is it’s a foreign buyer. The first payment was wired to an offshore account about a month ago. The rest will be paid on delivery of the weapons control system. The trade is scheduled for two days from now. We don’t have much time.”
Kane thought Arden was probably spot-on. She’d been right to this point, so it was likely Marcus Emory was planning to sell United States secrets to the highest bidder. Likely a nation-state entity that could threaten world peace.
A low growl sounded from the corner. Dutch was standing alert by the back door. “Someone’s out there,” Silas whispered.
“Let’s check it out.”
Arden started to get up from the table.
“You stay here, Arden, and keep away from the windows,” Kane said. “Silas and I will handle this.”
For a moment, Arden looked ready to argue the point, but Kane decided to beat her to the punch. “Someone needs to remain here and be ready to warn my parents if needed.”
“You’re right, of course.” She sat back down, began to pack her computer. “But just be careful.”
* * *
Kane and Silas left through the front door.
“You take the left and I’ll take the right.” Kane was only slightly mollified by Arden’s promise to stay put. He’d hated to leave her alone in the kitchen, but nothing else could be done.
Silas headed toward the front corner of the house, Dutch at his heels. Kane didn’t bother to warn him to keep quiet. If Silas didn’t want you to hear him coming, you wouldn’t.
Kane saw fresh footprints in the snow leading to the back of the house. Someone was here.
He slipped around the corner, saw a shadowy figure advancing toward the kitchen window, something dark in his hand. A gun?
Kane rushed forward and tackled him, the impact sending them both reeling into the side of the house. Something black fell from the man’s hand. Kane jumped up and grabbed for it. A tactical flashlight? Oh, boy.
Within seconds, Silas and Dutch were at his side. Kane shined his light on the man who was still sprawled facedown in the snow.
Silas turned him over. Snow coated the man’s uniform and stuck to his face. “You just knocked out a cop, bro.”
Kane looked at the nametag on the man’s department-issued jacket. Deputy C. Moran. Great.
“Deputy Moran, this is dispatch. Please report findings from the Walker place. Over.” A woman’s voice crackled through the radio holstered to the officer’s belt. Kane looked at Silas, whose expression likely mirrored Kane’s thoughts. Not good. “Deputy Moran, do you copy? Over.”
“We need to get your girl and book it before dispatch sends backup. I’m guessing that the local cops are checking out the place as a favor to the FBI. It probably won’t be long before either GeoArray or the FBI show up.”
Kane had been thinking the same thing. The FBI had somehow connected him to the plane. The Cape was no longer safe for any of them. He handed the flashlight to Silas and hoisted the deputy on his shoulder.
“What are we going to do with him?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead, but we can’t just leave him here in below-freezing temperatures. Let’s get him to the house.”