Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Four Weeks Later

The Soldier’s Assassin

Dominique Hughes

be reproduced in any form without permission from
the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright
law.

For permissions contact:
DominiqueHughesBooks@Gmail.Com

Cover by Les
ISBN: 9781980390848
Imprint: Independently published

This book is dedicated to my incredibly supportive

husband. My best friend, the one who never allowed me to

stop believing in this dream.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1

s Graydon King sat with his legs bound, a silk tie

stuffed firmly into his mouth and his hands zip-tied
together; he had to admit that this was not how he
imagined his date going.

His eyes narrowed as he watched the woman

who had put him in this predicament move around
the room. Every step intentional, every movement
calculated.

She was as quick as a whip, reminding him of

shadow and smoke as she ran her fingers along the
surfaces of his desk. She left nothing untouched;
nothing escaping the scrutiny of her gaze. As he
watched her, he couldn't help but think about the
events leading up to this night.

✽✽✽

Graydon got coffee per his usual spot at the

corner shop in front of the produce market. The

type of place that made you pay a little more than
the commercial joints, but offered coffee that
warmed your soul.

When he was a soldier, he used to criticize

targets for having a routine. Routines made his job
easy. He supposed there was something innately
human about having a scheduled set of patterns
each day to be followed. However, when the wrong
people discovered those practices, that comfort
could quickly turn into cruelty.

He had been a soldier for most of his life. He

was raised as a ward of the state; he didn't have
family or anything else to tie him down, so joining
the military had been a smart option.

The pay was decent and there was a certain

camaraderie that came with it. It was as close to a
family as he had gotten in all of his eighteen years
before joining.

Graydon had even discovered he had a knack

for the work that most didn't enjoy. He could do
things others couldn't, find his way into places that
he shouldn't.

He could keep a calm edge of steel when most

men crumbled. It had seemed his street smarts just
needed to be honed. He needed to be given skills

and pressure to become something only a rare few
achieved.

When Graydon was first recruited for the

special ops division, it had dealt with hands-on
security breaching and extracting information from
targets. The times had changed though, and towards
the end of his twenties, he specialized in
cybersecurity.

He enjoyed the job. He could work with his

hands, be creative, and play an ultimate game of
cat and mouse. The job wasn't always roses, but
when it was done correctly, there was no other
feeling in the world.

He had enjoyed his job, taken pride in securing

assets and eliminating problems; although half of
the awards he received would never make it to the
public's eye.

He had spent over twelve years in the military

before his thirty-first birthday had arrived. It was
the birthday that changed everything.

It had been a routine raid; a special ops team

had been sent in to retrieve two hostages, and he
was sent in with them to extract information from
the group’s head leader.

A rebel group had made threats that the United

States wasn't willing to leak to the American people
yet. Threats that needed to be neutralized in the
quietest way possible.

The mission had looked from the beginning like

it would be successful. The team had secured the
hostages, and within mere moments the three
targets were neutralized.

Graydon had made his way through the enemy

compound on his own; seeking out the head of the
organization as the threats were neutralized one by
one.

He had made it to the room where his target

should have been, only to find it empty. Graydon
had spoken into his radio, clarifying the target’s
position, when he was attacked.

It was an unknown, a rogue that slipped through

their net. The intelligence had failed them, and it
was that fourth man that almost cost Graydon his
life. Graydon had made it out of that mission on the
doorsteps of death. The special ops team had been
quick in their recovery and actions, but it hadn't
been quick enough.

The dark-haired male had received a shattered

tibia, four fractured ribs, and enough internal

bleeding to warrant a year of mandatory cognitive
behavioral therapy; with the bonus of an honorary
discharge from the military.

The discharge had been a blow. Graydon was

used to getting roughed up, it was commonplace in
his line of work to bleed, but it had seemed the
brass in higher command thought differently.

He spent weeks in and out of surgery, followed

by intense physical therapy that sometimes was
more frustrating than the wounds had been.

He had been angry and though he would have

never admitted it; he had been scared. A life in the
military was all he had known; all he ever planned
for.

When he petitioned to have his discharge be

reviewed, it had been turned away and further
denied.

They marked it up as an honorary physical

discharge though he knew he could pass the
physical fitness test better than most of the recruits
they were getting in.

They were angling for new blood, and he was

old news. That was the way of things sometimes
and he understood that, but it hadn’t made it any

easier.

He could still remember the day he collected his

things and left the base. Graydon had been bitter
and convinced he would make them change their
mind. He had been sure they would swear him in
for service after the first time they needed someone
with his particular skill set. The months had gone
on however and Graydon learned the hard way that
anyone could be replaced.

Graydon paid the woman at the counter as a

young man walked over holding two coffee cups
out to him; one black with one packet of sugar, and
the vanilla latte that went with it.

Graydon made his way to the faded brick

building he went to every Tuesday. He liked to
think of this chore as less of a routine and more of a
requisite. The Broadholder and Young Wellness
Center was located in an artsy part of town.

A part of town that made a guy who looked like

him stick out like a sore thumb. Most of the
inhabitants of the area wore trendy hairstyles,
colorful clothes, and friendly attitudes. They
greeting one another as if they were all related.

Graydon, in contrast, wore his hair buzzed and

his clothes muted. He kept to himself though that

was due to lacking social skills more than not being
friendly.

He made this walk every Tuesday for the past

51 weeks and today would be the last. He would be
officially finished with his enforced therapy. That
thought was enough to bring a smile to his face as
he walked through the double doors of the center.

Graydon checked in and followed the older

lady who he knew to be Amanda down the hallway
to Dr. Brenna Klien's office.

He had to admit that he would not miss the

smell; the light lavender that trailed the office with
the lingering stench of disinfectant following
closely behind.

He would not miss the boring classical notes

that played imperceptibly over the speakers; it was
always the same few sonatas repeated over and
over. He would surely not miss the sad look most of
the patients who walked in and out of the doors of
the building had, but he would miss her.

Dr. Brenna Klein had taken over for Dr. Peter

Copelheld from Graydon's second visit on. Dr.
Copelheld had a sick child and Dr. Klien had been
newly appointed to the office.

He sometimes mused if her getting him as a

patient was their way to throw her to the wolves;
test her mettle before giving her one of the good
patients. Graydon had been resistant at first to the
whole idea of therapy.

He was a soldier; he was trained to shove

emotions and feelings deep down inside himself.
There could be no room for feelings on a
battlefield.

Sharing, communicating, and voicing his

thoughts to a total stranger railed against everything
he believed in and knew. He had given only the
bare minimum for the first few visits.

That was until she had arrived late one day.

Graydon had been shown into her office and told
by Amanda that Dr. Klein would be there soon. The
minutes had ticked by, and as he thumbed his way
through a fishing magazine, the door had flown
open.

Dr. Klein was there, gripping her briefcase in

one hand; her other hand clutching stacks of wet
papers and her muddied purse.

She ran in apologizing, her red hair falling from

the immaculate bun she always wore; wobbling on
the shoes she had worn with one broken heel.

Without giving it a second thought, he jumped up
and relieved her hands of the wet papers and
briefcase.

He could see the coffee stain on her usually

spotless top, and as she slipped out of the broken
shoes, he noticed the run in her pantyhose. If it
hadn’t been for the look of utter misery, he thought
she would have looked comical.

She then proceeded in one great breath to tell

the story of her awful morning. It began with spilled
coffee and broken shoes and had ended with
dropping her study papers into a muddy puddle of
street water.

He listened, fetching the jacket she kept at her

chair and handing it to her while she put her papers
and case together. She gave him grateful eyes as
she took it and before he could muster up any
speech from his lips; she began crying.

Graydon had never known what to do when

females cried. They always seemed so fragile in
those moments to him. It was like holding a
newborn. He didn’t want to breathe any heavier,
much less do or say anything to make matters
worse.

Awkwardly, he stuffed his hands in his pocket

and became interested in a spot on the floor. She
had grabbed tissues, but the tears kept coming. Her
speech was a mix of apologies and embarrassment.
He debated on leaving when he looked up from the
spot on the floor he had been staring at; his eyes
finding hers.

There was a pause and before she could say

anything, he did. A smile playing on his lips as he
asked, "If I fix your shoes will you give me credit
for two days?"

She laughed, the sound of her voice filling the

room and soothing a place he hadn't known had
been aching. It had been like he unlocked
something hidden that day.

They were no longer the stuffy therapist and

mandated ex-soldier. They were more like friends.
He agreed to be less resistant to her questions, and
she agreed to share snippets of herself.

She lamented over the spilled coffee she would

never get to enjoy. From the next visit on, he had
shown up with her favorite vanilla latte in hand
before every session, just in case. It was a
beneficial balance of give and take that worked out
better than he could have hoped.

There was nothing romantic about it. They

talked about his adjustment, skimming over the
heavy and dark talk, but there was a friendship
there that neither could deny.

Graydon followed Amanda down the small

hallway and stepped inside of the familiar office.
Dr. Klein was writing something in a notebook,
extending her open hand to the latte he held out
towards her.

She finished writing in the book and pressed her

lips to the cup. Her eyes closed as she grinned
broadly after tasting the first sip. “You are the
best,” she replied.

He once made fun of her for the way she

always indulged in that first sip of coffee. When
she pointed out that he never indulged in anything,
he gave it a rest.

Her red hair caught the light from a nearby

window. She was beautiful, stunningly so, but he
had known early on there would never be a future
between the two of them.

She was quiet, precise. In the first few sessions,

she would sometimes just stare at him; waiting for
his resolve to break and answer her questions. Her
eyes could pin him to the couch.

He could practically see the thoughts that

constantly ran through her brain. She was quiet, but
he knew her brain was loud. She was always
working towards figuring out whatever puzzle she
had before her.

He knew from past conversations that she

enjoyed reading and had even thought about
becoming a librarian at one time. He always
imagined her as the quiet, shy girl in school who
was pretty but never knew it.

She was the perfect woman for any man that

wasn’t like him. He was the direct opposite of her.
Graydon, even in his early life had known he
wasn’t meant to be one of those normal, happy
people. He was a soldier, and that was what he was
good at.

He didn’t have any hobbies unless you counted

cleaning his weapons. He couldn’t stand to be in
the company of most people long enough to
develop any kind of friendship.

The people he spoke to throughout his day

always seemed to be typical, common. How could
he expect a civilian to understand why he did what
he had to do?

How could he explain why he loved the feel of

his gun in his hands in a way that didn't sound like a
murderous psychopath? He couldn’t expect a
woman to give up a normal life for someone like
him, much less a woman like Brenna.

Graydon took his normal place on the couch,

opposite her chair and sipped his coffee. He took a
moment to enjoy the silence and appreciate the
rich, nutty flavor of the warm beverage.

It was usually himself that spoke up first to start

their session, but this time Dr. Klein spoke first.

She tucked her feet underneath herself as she

sat in the chair, gazing at him. "Did you see the big
game last night?" Brenna asked.

Graydon raised an eyebrow, he knew Brenna

didn’t watch sports. He asked her about her
favorite team during an earlier visit to make small
talk and she had laughed. She then said if she
wanted to watch kids chase a ball she'd go to the
park. "I did...did you?"Graydon asked skeptically.

She shook her head. "Definitely not. That's all

anyone has talked about all morning though."

Graydon chuckled before replying, "Culbert

scored five touchdowns in a single game, which is
huge. That's a record actually, it's not like - " He

watched her wave his words off dismissively and
grinned before he dropped it.

There was no point in him trying to convince

her to like sports any more than she could convince
him to like ballet.

They sipped their coffee and spoke about the

weather. She got her pen ready to take notes when
he glanced over at her, "You know, I'm going to
miss this a lot more than I thought I would."

A flash of confusion filled her features before

she scrunched her eyebrows and asked him what he
meant.

"I mean today, this. It’s my last day. I'll miss it

more than I thought I would," he said as he
shrugged.

Graydon watched as she stilled. Her face was

unreadable as she glanced at the calendar on the
wall. Brenna sat up straighter before turning her
attention back to him.

Her voice was inquisitive as she spoke, "I

thought you would continue? We talked about
stretching it out for a week or two until you get
adjusted."

He shook his head, "No. We mentioned it, but I

think it'd be best if I just jumped in. I'd say you did
your job. I feel confident I can assimilate."

Graydon grinned before asking, "Isn't that what

they want to hear? That I'm capable of assimilating
into civilian life?"

The grin was still on his face as his eyes found

hers. She didn't look relieved or happy to be rid of
him; in fact, he thought he saw the ghost of regret
on her face.

Brenna shook it off, nodding her head as she

spoke. "Oh, yes. You're ready. It would be
ridiculous to go on. Let's wrap this up, shall we?"
she asked, her voice more formal.

The session began and Graydon couldn't tell if it

was just his imagination or if she was being quick
with him. She was asking short, clipped questions
and no matter how many times he tried to make her
laugh, she didn't give him the ghost of a smile.

Moving to the door after she handed him the

final paperwork, he hesitated and looked back at
her. "Dr. Klein are you - are you mad at me?" he
asked timidly.

He felt embarrassed for asking the question at

all. He was not here to be her friend. This was her
job and his requirement, feelings had no business
here.

Still, he felt his chest catch when she looked up

at him. Her eyebrow was a perfect arch as she
spoke, "Why would I be mad at you Mr. King? You
fulfilled all of your requirements."

He laughed at her reply. "Mr. King? Since when

do you call me that?"

Shrugging, she moved a few papers around on

her desk before looking up at him. "Would you
prefer I called you Major King? Is that what you
would like? And here I thought we had made
progress," she replied bitterly.

It was his turn to raise his eyebrow. He

surveyed her, her emerald eyes meeting his. He
made a living out of watching and reading people.
She wasn't hostile. There wasn't any trace of anger
in her features.

Her warm and open demeanor was no longer

there though, it was like a wall had closed between
them. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her
hands hugging herself slightly as if in protection.

No, she wasn't angry at him, she was hurt, he

realized with surprise. The realization hit him like a
ton of bricks. Graydon found the urge to clear his
throat, his mouth suddenly becoming dry.

It seemed to him like Brenna hadn’t wanted

their time to end yet. He hadn’t imagined she would
miss him hanging around, but the signs were all
there.

Graydon shifted his weight, pushing himself to say
the words before he could talk himself out of it.

"What I would like is for you to call me

Graydon. So I can call you Brenna, and we can
have dinner together like normal people."

The words falling out of his mouth and

sounding more certain than he was actually feeling.

Her eyebrows rose at the question he laid out

before her. Brenna's mouth parted in surprise and
he felt a moment of horror as he wondered if he
had read everything wrong; if maybe she had no
interest in getting dinner with him.

It had been a long time since Graydon asked a

woman out and he was fairly confident he messed it
up. While she took her precious time answering
him, he spoke quickly, backtracking.

"I mean as friends...nothing...like...I mean, not a

date or anything," he stammered. She watched him
flounder a moment more before she gave him a
sideways smile.

"I'd like that," Brenna replied softly. Her reply

sending a small shiver of satisfaction down him.

"Then it’s a date,” he said with a grin.

Chapter 2

raydon walked out of the Wellness Center with a

lighter spring in his step. It wasn't every day he
asked out a woman, and it certainly wasn't every
day that the woman said yes. It wasn't just any
woman either. Brenna was gorgeous, well above
anything he thought he would ever deserve.

Although his blundering had ensured this wasn’t

a date in the romantic sense, there was no telling
what this could be.

There was a world of possibilities stretching

before him. He couldn't quite see one that ended
with them in anything serious, but it would be nice
to have a friend. Brenna was kind and smart. She
excelled in all the areas he was lacking. An ex-
grunt could use a friend like that.

Graydon had a car waiting outside for him. The

driver, Jonah, was absorbed in his phone and only
put it down once Graydon slid inside the car.

"Afternoon Mr. King, happy to be a free man

again?" Jonah asked.

Jonah started the car up and Graydon buckled

his seat belt, shrugging casually before replying,
"I've always been a free man Jonah."

"Yeah, I guess, but now you're a free man with

a cleared bill of health." The young man continued
speaking, his voice now in an exaggerated tone.
"We, the valued therapist at the cry-me-a-river
wellness center, are pleased to inform you that
Graydon King is not a crazy, murderous, ex-soldier
for hire."

Graydon smirked from the backseat, "I don't

think that's exactly how they'd classify everything."

Jonah shrugged, "Maybe not, but I guess it's

good they have it in writing."

"That I'm not a murderous, ex-soldier bent on

vengeance?" Graydon asked with amusement.

"Yea, I mean, I'd want it in writing. You don't

look like a lamb if you get my point. Plus, if they
have it in writing, no one could go after them
whenever you snapped," he said, his voice matter
of fact.

"When? Not if? I appreciate the support."

Graydon chuckled. Jonah was barely out of college,
and despite falling head-first into such a well-
paying position, the kid was as snarky and sarcastic
as they came.

The first day they met was when Jonah had to

pick up an important client from the airport.
Graydon had ridden along to oversee the pickup
and provide extra security. All had gone well until
Jonah grabbed the man's satchel and asked where
he needed to put the man purse.

It had taken some smooth talking to convince

his boss not to fire the kid the minute they got back.
However, aside from being outspoken and arrogant,
he was quick, and he got the job done. Graydon
liked him. It wasn't every day you met someone
who told the truth and spared no feelings.

The ride to work wasn't long and if he had it his

way, it wouldn't happen at all. His boss, Hart
Druvell had insisted. The first time he turned the
offer down he had to ignore Jonah driving at a
snail's pace next to him while he walked along the
sidewalk.

Since that embarrassing day, he had given up

the fight over it. There wasn't much Druvell didn’t
get his way on. Harvell Tech was founded by Hart
Druvell. He took the small processing and software
company he started in his grandmother's basement
and built it into the monster it was now.

Harvell Tech was responsible for most of the

good toys the government liked to brag about, most
of the bad ones too, but no one talked about that
too much. It was one of the leading agencies the
government contracted out.

It was handy with developing and researching

new toys they didn't want to divulge information on
to the media.

Graydon had gotten a security position there a

few weeks after being back from his medical PT. It
had been a small stroke of luck for him to have
even gotten the job.

A full year in and he was Hart's right-hand man

for security. Graydon took the job seriously, but he
found there was something boring in guarding
secrets as opposed to wrenching them out of
people.

The car pulled up to the enormous building.

Graydon gave Jonah a quick wave before shoving
out of the car and heading towards the doors to

Harvell Tech.

The tech company was every bit as impressive

as their resume of clients. The large steel frame
towered over the neighboring high-rises. The glass
paneling of the windows aligned perfectly, so it
always shined like the inside of a diamond.

It was impressive, but more importantly, it was

impenetrable. There were perks to hiring a person
who made his living getting into places he shouldn't
be and exploiting those weaknesses.

Walking through the doors, he moved past the

line of people shuffling through the metal detectors
and security pat-downs.

Graydon stopped a minute to check in with two

of his guards overseeing the entrance. They
monitored the throng of visitors and employees
who made their way in and out of the building
daily.

"How's it going, guys? Anything I need to know

about?" Graydon asked as he made it to the
security desk.

The taller of the two guards handed Graydon a

clipboard detailing the morning report before
speaking up, "One employee triggered an alarm

when she went through without proper ID. Her ID
was then verified and re-entered into the system
and cleared. Two packages were dropped off and
marked for Mr. Druvell, scanned and checked out.
Box contents seem to be various sized metal parts
for one and the other contains threaded plastic
rings."

Graydon nodded to the security officer, signed

off on the report and handed it back to him. It was
always frustrating when assistants ordered parts
and

components

without

labeling

which

departments they were supposed to go to. He took
the packages with him on his way up to his office.

Graydon liked to keep his office on the higher

level of the building with the executives and CEO.
It wasn't a power play move; he couldn't care less
what anyone in the company thought about him. It
was all about strategy.

Since the dawn of mankind, men have been

killing each other. The smart ones knew one of the
biggest elements of a successful battle was the
layout. If you had the high ground, you were solid.
If you didn't, well...you had better have numbers on
your side.

Being on top wasn't just a euphemism for

winning wars, it was an ingredient. While a building

was a different beast than a mountainside, it still
held the same principle for many of the same
reasons.

Graydon also oversaw almost everyone who

went in and out of Druvell's office. Hart's office
was where most of the valuable and untested
prototypes were stored.

Graydon walked into his office and sat down at

his desk, putting the two packages on top of it. He
made a mental note to sort them out before leaving
for the day.

He checked emails and scanned over the

various bumps and flags their system recorded,
both online and in the building. Graydon wondered
what his commanders would say about him having
a desk job.

While he occasionally outfitted a new security

system or followed around the execs when
someone flashy came to visit, the main part of his
job was sitting behind a desk.

He had never imagined his life would be that

way. He always figured he would die at the hands
of an enemy who was just a little faster. Lately, he
had wondered if he would die among the blue glow
of a screen, sitting comfortably in a chair that was

ergonomically fit for him. No, this wasn't what he
ever imagined for himself.

Graydon had an uneventful rest of the day. The

only thing needing his immediate attention being a
call from one of their clients, verifying information
for their visit.

Graydon had taken his time with the client's

coordinating team, ensuring full security measures
would be in place to accommodate the visiting
dignitary. Before he knew it, the end of the day was
near and he stood in Mr. Druvell's office.

Graydon put away the latest design plan for

something they dubbed the Gordian Project. It was
secured behind a safe, triggered only by both he
and Mr. Druvell pressing in a sequence of numbers,
putting their fingerprints on a scanner and verifying
a code word.

The prototype was also barricaded behind two

inches of bulletproof glass in the unlikely event the
system was breached. The security measures had
been updated and overseen personally by
Graydon.

As the small door closed over the safe, Druvell

grinned. "I can see it now, this will be a big one,"
he said, excitement filling his voice.

The two men walked out of the chamber

together. Graydon keyed in the last of the security
codes into his tablet. They both watched as the
door sealed off the room they were in, giving off
the appearance of a solid wall.

"That's what you say about all the things we

lock away in there," Graydon said with
indifference. Mr. Druvell laughed, a great booming
laugh that always made Graydon internally cringe.
The older man ran his hands through his receding
hair and moved to sit behind his large desk.

"Yes, that might be true, but that one is the only

one I meant. You wait...you'll see," he said, his
voice holding promise.

Graydon tucked his hands behind his back in a

relaxed at-rest form. It was an old habit he still had
a hard time kicking. "Yes sir," he replied, his voice
uninterested.

Mr. Druvell leaned back in his chair as his

assistant walked into the room holding out notes
and bringing in foul smelling hot tea. Graydon
hated the stuff, but it was something his boss was
passionate about.

He liked to think it had something to do with

money. He hadn't met a rich guy yet that wasn't

obsessed with some type of odd drink. Water was
never good enough, it was as if they all needed to
prove they were better, even with the most basic
needs of life.

Graydon waved off the offer of whatever his

assistant was holding toward him in small, delicate
cups before speaking.

"Sir, the security system update is running as

planned and there are no issues or flags to date. It's
been a solid 28 hours since implementing it into the
program. I'll keep monitoring the system throughout
the night, but we should have no problems."

His boss nodded before waving him out in a

form akin to a man who couldn't be bothered. "I'm
sure it will be fine Mr. King, I didn’t hire the best
for nothing."

Graydon nodded in return and took his leave

after promising a full report by the 9:00 am
meeting. He then went back to his office, checking
the last of his messages before shutting everything
off for the night.

Graydon lived a mere eight-minute walk away

from the Harvell Tech building. It was a quiet
apartment complex, nestled near the side of town
that had yet to be built up by developers.

This side of the town held historical townhomes

and small businesses that still closed up shop early.
The kind of places that were still run by the same
families since their openings.

The apartment building was on the edge of that

tranquil world and the world that demanded
renovations

and

modernization.

The

newly

designed shops and buildings that stayed up all
night and featured contemporary furniture and
patrons alike.

He wondered sometimes how long the old

building could hold out. How long before the right
property king came along with an amount the
owners couldn't refuse.

Modernization didn't happen overnight. No, it

was bought piece by piece until only the person
with the deepest pockets got to see their vision
come alive for the city.

Graydon walked up the steps of the apartment

and checked his mail in the small, metal box inside
the foyer. He nodded a brief hello to a passing
neighbor as he put his key in, pulling a few pieces
of mail out and shuffling through them.

There was nothing important, there never was

when it came to his mail. He had no family to send

cards to or from and he paid all of his bills online.

The only thing he could regularly count on was

an advertisement. Graydon threw the pieces of mail
into the trash before shuffling his way up the stairs,
turning the corner onto the fourth floor.

He walked five spaces down to the one that

marked his current home. Turning the key in the
lock, he stepped inside and pressed the security
code into the keypad on the wall.

It wasn't anything fancy; he wasn't anyone

important anymore. There wasn't a need for a high-
tech system and he was in a decent enough part of
town that he would've probably been fine without
one altogether. That wasn't who he was though.

He needed some level of security, some small

virtual watchdog. Even if the only thing it deterred
was kids looking for extra cash or a gaming system
to steal.

He checked his phone before getting in the

shower to see if Brenna had sent him a cancellation
message. He felt a mixture of relief and slight panic
when he noted that she hadn't.

They texted back and forth earlier that

afternoon about their night’s plans and he had been

calm. As the date edged closer, however, his nerves
started getting the best of him.

It had been over five years since Graydon had

been on a date. The last time he did anything close
to asking someone out was flirting with a girl at a
bar he and his battalion had been stationed near
years ago. That had been ego and confidence all
rolled up into a whiskey-induced package,
complete with a camouflage bow on top.

Before that, he had only gone on a handful of

dates. His relationships tended to end shortly after
the first night. He was not what someone would call
successful in the dating world.

That was not this, whatever this was, he

reminded himself. Brenna knew him. As he walked
to his closet, running his hand through his wet hair
he realized she knew everything about him.

She knew his history, his years in the military.

She knew about the worst day of his life, and she
knew all about his weaknesses and faults.

He, in turn, knew she didn't like sports, her

favorite color was green and that she liked romantic
comedies. This, he mused, was like going on a date
with the priest you confessed your deepest sins to.

There was no backing out of it now. He

supposed he should take it as a compliment if she
knew all of those things about him and still wanted
to be seen in public with him.

However, even as he buttoned up his light blue

collared shirt, he couldn't help but feel like he was
at a disadvantage. His fingers slipped on the last
button. For a brief moment, for perhaps the first
time in his life, he felt a genuine fear that he might
not be wearing aesthetically pleasing shoes.

Graydon mentally cursed himself for being this

nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about,
historically, for him. Tonight there was no one
shooting at him, there were no state secrets he
needed to pull out of someone. There was almost a
zero percent chance this would end with any spilled
blood. No, there was just a girl. Somehow that was
worse.

Graydon looked into the mirror, tugging and

pulling various places of his shirt until he willed
himself to settle down.

His dark brown hair was fine, there wasn't

much styling that could be done to a buzz cut. His
blue eyes seemed brighter with the blue shirt he had
on, although there was nothing he could do about

the dark circles that remained under his eyes.

His face had a hint of stubble, but he didn't trust

his hands enough to shave at the moment so he
resigned that it would have to do.

The man took a deep steadying breath before

sliding his keys, wallet and cell phone into his
jacket pocket. This would be all right, it was
Brenna; she was a friend he reminded himself.

Graydon looked into the mirror, giving himself a

reassuring nod before keying the alarm system and
walking out of the door.

Chapter 3

raydon arrived early to the restaurant. It was a

habit he had for as long as he could remember. If
there was a time when Graydon King was running
over five minutes late, something was wrong. It was
a habit that was useful for a soldier, but one that
proved frustrating as a civilian. The restaurant was
already packed, even at the modest time he picked
for their dinner.

Already, there were people waiting to be sat

down. Noise and laughter spilled from the building
anytime someone opened the door. Watching the
people waiting made him thankful he made the
reservation early in the day.

The restaurant was downtown. It was a quiet

Italian place, with an open terrace to people-watch
and view the cars that passed by. It was one of his
favorite places to eat, and it had been an easy
choice when Brenna requested that he picked the

place they dined at.

He waited outside for her, stuffing his hands in

his jacket to hide his anxious energy. He wavered
somewhere between scanning the streets for her,
and appearing as if he wasn't interested when she
would appear at all. It was exhausting.

He hadn't needed to worry about missing her

however. As Brenna Klein made her way towards
him, it was as if his world stilled. She wore her hair
down, and in soft curls; the streetlight catching the
rich, red hue and stopping his heart.

She wore a pastel dress with a white cardigan

over it, something utterly soft and feminine. When
she saw him, her face broke out into a smile he had
never seen her show before.

She was gorgeous. No, gorgeous didn't do her

justice, but he wasn't functioning properly enough
to find the words that could accurately describe
her.

She lifted her hand up in a friendly wave, and

he knew at that moment that any pretense of them
being just friends was out the window.

Graydon wasn't sure how he had overlooked it

for so long. How he could be so blind to her. He

didn’t know if he would ever be lucky enough to
call her his own, but he knew he would try.

She made it to him. Her eyes were alight with

what he hoped was happiness. As she gazed up at
him, she gave him that heart-stopping smile again.
Graydon noticed for the first time that she had the
barest of dimples at the corners of her mouth.

He felt the dryness return to his throat almost

instantly, and he prayed he didn't outwardly look as
dumbstruck as he felt. If he looked like the fool he
imagined himself to be, she never hinted it.

Clearing his throat, he found his voice. "You

look beautiful," he said, the words spoken softly.
Brenna self-consciously looked away, and he was
pleased to note the tiniest reddening of her cheeks.

He felt his heart quicken at that small reaction.

This woman was causing a stirring of feelings he
hadn't thought was even possible in a guy like him.

Graydon King was clearly in over his head. He

was a soldier, he memorized and followed plans to
perfection. If the first plan fell through, there was
always a second, a clear guideline of protocol and
direction.

When he made Brenna blush, he realized just

how far into uncharted territory he was. She met his
gaze for just a moment before glancing him over in
an exaggerating way, a pleased look of surprise on
her face.

"I have to admit, you clean up nice yourself. I

didn't recognize you at first without all the olive
green on," she teased.

His brow furrowed and the hint of a smile

appeared on his lips. "What's wrong with green?
Green is a neutral, it goes with everything," he
remarked.

"There's nothing wrong with green, but eight

different shirts in various shades of green might hint
at a problem. Do you have some odd obsession I
need to know about?" Brenna questioned, a smile
on her lips.

"Wouldn't you know already? I mean you are

my shrink." Graydon said smirking back at her.
Graydon crossed his arms as she pointed a finger at
him.

"Was. Past Tense. I was your shrink and don't

call me that. It's offensive," she said, one hand on
her hip. He laughed before replying.

"The only thing offensive is your distaste in my

wardrobe. It's difficult I'll have you know. I'm used
to wearing a slightly modified version of the same
outfit every day since the age of eighteen. That
habit is hard to break ma'am."

She met his eyes, and he thought he saw a flash

of hesitation. Her lips pursed as if she wanted to
say something to him. However, it was gone as
quickly as he thought it appeared.

"Do I need to take you shopping? Are you

hinting at a makeover because I-" Brenna wasn't
able to finish her sentence as someone ran into
them, slightly knocking into him and bowling her
over.

Brenna gave a surprised yelp as she was shoved

forward, her foot slipping and body pitching
forward. He reacted in a heartbeat, leaning forward
and catching her in his arms before she could fall.

She looked up at him with large, surprised eyes

and all he could think about was how right it felt to
have her in his arms.

Her perfume filled the surrounding air,

something floral and delicate he couldn’t recognize
if his life depended on it; other than knowing it

smelled like what he imagined heaven to be. He
stayed there a moment, her face so close to his he
had to force himself not to kiss her.

That moment only slightly ruined by a man

apologizing for his friend who had obviously had
too much to drink. The two of them eyed the
apologetic man before he took off down the
sidewalk towards the stumbling drunk. Brenna
cleared her throat before uttering a thank-you, and
he nodded in reply.

Graydon righted her, noticing how the cool air

and absence of her felt more wrong than it had
been before. Gesturing to the restaurant next to
them he found his voice. "We should head inside,
I'm sure our table's ready."

Graydon glanced at the watch on his arm as

they moved towards the restaurant. They were
almost seven minutes late to the reservation he set.
He could count on one hand the number of times he
had been late in his entire life. Here he was mere
moments with her and already losing track of time.
The odd thing about the whole situation was that he
didn't care.

He held the door open and followed her inside,

pausing in the doorway to look at his phone. The

small device had gone off in his pocket, alerting
him immediately.

Graydon had gotten a new phone when he took

the job at Harvell Tech, and he had to admit it was
the most underutilised piece of equipment he
owned. There was no one he cared to text with, no
family who needed to reach him at all hours of the
day.

The man mainly used the small device to set

alarms and call his boss. When he received the
small ping of an incoming notification, he knew
instantly something was wrong.

Pressing his finger to unlock the device, he read

the message that was sent to him from the
automated security server at Harvell Tech.

Automated Response//Disturbance Noted In

ESO 703//No Current Active Disturbances
Detected//

Press

Authorize

Police

Response//Press 2 To Notify Base Security//Press 3
To Record Event In ASIC With No Further
Action//

Graydon paused, reading and re-reading the

message. ESO was their Executive Suites Floor and
office 703 was his. There was no one allowed

clearance into his office, period. There wasn't a
single person other than his boss who even had a
key.

It made little sense that there would be any

disturbance, and it was even more puzzling that
there wasn't any current movement.

His mind began running through the various

scenarios that might have triggered a disturbance
when he felt Brenna place her hand on his arm.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her brows pulled

together in worry.

He pursed his lips in thought, reading over the

message one more time before his finger pressed
the 3 key. "Yea, it's fine. I just got an odd message
from work," he explained.

He glanced over the automated message that

was sent in confirmation of his action.

The hostess then motioned for them to follow.

He took one step before sighing and turning to face
her, his voice dejected. "I'm sorry Brenna, but I
should go check something out at work."

He watched her face fall, disappointment filling

her features. She smiled tightly though and brushed
it off, nodding with a smile.

"It's fine, work is important. You go. We can

always meet up another time," she said, waving
him off.

Graydon tapped his phone against the palm of

his hand before speaking, his words rushing out.
"Would you want to come with me? I mean it's
nothing special or anything like that, but it shouldn't
take long. After, we could still get a bite to eat? If
you want to I mean."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise and that smile he

was becoming all too dependent on lit up her face
before she shook her head. "It's ok. You don’t have
to do that. I wouldn't want to be in the way," she
said as she turned her face from his.

Graydon caught her eyes, the fear of not having

this chance with her again embedding in his chest.
"You wouldn't, I promise. It'll be in and out," he
replied.

Graydon watched as she took a moment to

think about his offer; feeling as if the chance to
have something special was hanging in the air in
front of him like a carrot on a string.

He was close, so close, to having an actual,

meaningful date that held real possibility. If not for
his work being the invisible force that hoisted the
carrot higher up and out of his reach.

The moment hung between them with a

pregnant pause before she finally spoke. He almost
let out an audible sigh when she agreed, a small
smile on her lips.

"All right. If it's something you have to stay for

though; and I have to do the lonely walk out of
there you have to bring me dessert tomorrow at the
office," she demanded. Brenna adjusted her purse
strap before eyeing him. "It'll be something
expensive too."

He chuckled before extending his hand out to

her. "Deal," he replied. She placed her hand in his
and he shook it before they both walked out of the
restaurant and back out into the cold.

They decided to walk; the night was brisk, but it

wasn't too cold. They were in that spell of seasons
when Fall was coming to a close and Winter was
just arriving. It was one of his favorite times of the
year.

The air had the crisp scent of fall and the

crunch of leaves still sounded underfoot, but it held
something more magical the closer it got to Winter.
Winter air always seemed to arrive with something
enchanting in it, the chance of snow, the holidays
approaching.

It was as if nature was saving her best moment

for last. The combination of them both, one season
blending into the next, always made him happy.
They walked along the sidewalk, taking the first
few moments of their walk in a comfortable silence.

It was Brenna who spoke first, looking over at

him quizzically. "Don't you work as a security
guard? You're not going to get me shot are you?"
she asked with mock suspicion.

He laughed lightly. There tended to be romantic

notions to being in the security field. Whenever he
needed to share his job title people usually related it
to something out of a spy thriller. He imagined they
pictured him talking into an earpiece; gunning
down a thief who was dangling from a suspended
rope over jewels.

In reality, he sat behind a desk and looked at

numbers and figures all day. It was usually a
letdown when he went into detail, and he tried not

to take it too personally when they always looked
disappointed.

"I'm the Chief Security Officer, and no, you will

not get shot. I just need to check something in my
office. It will be boring, I promise," Graydon
replied.

She gave him a sideways smile before threading

her arm in his. He tried to ignore the hammering
that was going on in his chest as a result.

"What about you? Do you like being a

therapist?" he asked, looking over at her. Graydon
watched as she seemed to mull the question over in
her mind before she replied.

"Usually. I enjoy uncovering layers that people

like to keep hidden, seeing past the masks that
people like to wear. I like helping them work
through problems, but it can be frustrating at times
too," she said before elaborating, "Not everyone is
easy to work with. I've met some really stubborn
people. One guy in particular was awful. Ex-
military. Answered my questions in yes or no
format."

Brenna rolled her eyes playfully, nudging him

with her elbow. He chuckled. He hadn't been easy
to get along with in those initial days, but at least he

was willing to admit it. When he first arrived to the
center, he had been filled with anger and
frustration.

He hadn’t thought it was their business to

demand he see a therapist. Especially when they
weren’t willing to give him his job back when it was
through.

He was trying to come to terms with this new

life, all while re-imagining a future that seemed
foreign and bizarre to him.

He always imagined himself as a soldier. He

didn't think he'd be able to do the physical parts of
the job all of his life; but he certainly never
imagined a future out of the service.

That had been the good thing about the military,

the notion of it being solid. He always thought if he
followed protocol, and did what was asked, he'd
always have a home.

Even if that home was sometimes a barrack in

the middle of nowhere, it was still familiar. He
knew exactly what was needed of himself and the
guys he'd be working with. That was before he
almost died and was shoved out of there faster than
he could blink.

He could remember being in his new apartment

for the first time, sitting on the kitchen island
counter because he had no furniture yet. His laptop
resting on his knees, the light blue glow from the
screen being his only companion.

He combed through job listings and typed up his

resume, but it hadn't looked superb. The benefit of
having the same role in the military was that it
showed discipline, loyalty.

The disadvantage about having that same role

showed you were happy around things he figured
normal people weren't comfortable being around.

His marketable skills ran the gamut from

espionage to interrogations; with a particular knack
for breaking and entering. There weren't many
businesses keen to hire a guy like him. Graydon
spent two weeks combing through ads before
deciding to try his hand out in law enforcement.

He had been on his way to the precinct with his

application in hand when a movement caught his
eye. A guy was moving through the crowd, weaving
in and out of people. The man slid in next to
another taller man, matching his pace instantly.

He watched as the first guy slipped his hand in

the other man's coat pocket, pulling out his wallet

with ease. Graydon had yelled hey to get the man's
attention, but the thief was already making his
escape.

Graydon leaped into a chase, tackling the thief

to the ground. He received a swift blow to the jaw
as the two of them wrangled on the dirty walkway
before Graydon pinned him down.

The guy was quickly subdued and Graydon

handed over the wallet to the man who had then
introduced himself as Brantley Marshall. Graydon
stood up, hauling the thief who couldn’t be any
older than nineteen to his feet.

Brantley dismissed the young thief away, not

bothering to press charges. Graydon had wanted to
escort the guy to the police station. However if the
man, Brantley, was fine with letting him go; he
figured he might as well be fine with it too. As
Graydon dusted himself off, the man asked who he
was.

Graydon introduced himself, looking for the

papers he had been carrying. He bent over to
retrieve them as Brantly picked up the cover sheet,
asking if he was looking for a job. Brantley inquired
about his job experiences and his skills.

The man was beaming with happiness when

Graydon gave him a brief rundown of his work
history. Brantley had been the Chief Security
Officer at Harvell Tech before he took over.

He had been looking to retire and Graydon,

with his particular set of skills, had been an answer
to his prayers.

Graydon rarely believed in fate, but he believed

someone or something had been smiling in his favor
that day.

As they continued walking along the city street

Graydon glanced over at Brenna. With her arm
linked in his, he couldn't help but think maybe that
same someone or something was watching out for
him again.

He looked ahead, his eyes roaming over an

older couple walking hand-in-hand under the
streetlight as they passed by.

"So where are you from? I know you had just

taken on the job at Broadholder and Young when I
got there," he asked her.

She nodded before speaking. "Yea, I've been

here just under two years. I was originally from
Delaware, but I came here for college at the

University of Virginia. I fell in love with the state."

She smiled over at him before continuing, "I

went back home after graduating and got a job out
of college at a small psych center. It never felt right
though. I missed the mountains and the people.
When I heard about an opening back in Virginia I
jumped on it."

"What about your family? Don't you miss

them?" he asked curiously.

He couldn’t imagine having a family and

making the decision to leave them. There was
something to be said about independence, but
having people who loved and cared for you wasn't
a guarantee in this life. The corners of her mouth
smiled sadly before she answered him.

"I do sometimes, but I never felt like I belonged

there. My mom is a business lawyer and my dad is
an accountant. They never liked the idea of me
becoming a psychologist. They viewed it as a waste
of time. My mother liked to say it was the lazy way
out of becoming a real doctor."

He gave a sympathetic smile before she spoke

up again. "I had a younger sister, but she passed
away in a car accident when I was still in high

school. So it's only been my Mom and Dad for a
long time."

He murmured he was sorry to hear that, and she

nudged him. "Don't be. It happened a long time ago
and don't forget that I know your background. I'm
not the only one here who's lost someone," she said
softly.

He glanced over at her, her emerald eyes

meeting his with an understanding look. In that
moment he was thankful they were walking down
the street; his attention being forced to move from
her eyes and back to the sidewalk. If he hadn't been
required to look away, he didn't know if he could
have ever torn his gaze from hers.

There was something so different about seeing

her like this. It felt to him like Brenna was a
different person when she wasn't looking at him as
a client.

Where before she was inquisitorial and stoic,

here, with him tonight she was a brightness, a
beacon of hope and happiness. She was the light
and laughter that offered to push away any hurt he
had, remove any bit of darkness.

He saw the familiar edge of the Harvell Tech

building approach and he took out his badge and

swipe card. "We'll go in through the underground
access. No need to bother the security team at the
front," he said.

The officers who kept duty at night were

basically there for show. The building was armed to
the teeth with various security systems; each
monitoring every aspect of the building, from the
computer hardware, to the building itself.

If one system went down, an alert was sent out

with two other systems waiting in the wings as a
back-up. The only time the system was vulnerable
was during forced shutdowns, and those did not
happen, at least not on his watch.

He had personally ensured the company was a

fortress, but desperate people did stupid things. The
guards were there to deter any small-time thieves
looking for something easy to pawn. They patrolled
the front area and first-floor at night, with
occasional rounds of the perimeter of the building.

He could tell she was watching him as he got

everything together. Finally, she spoke up, wiggling
her hands in exaggerated awe, a smirking grin on
her face.
"Ooh underground access. Is that for the secret
government clients to use when they can't be seen
by lowly peasants?" Brenna asked mockingly.

He paused a second, looking over at her before

retorting, "Yes, actually."

A satisfying smile coming to his lips as he watched
the look that came across her face at the small
revelation. Graydon walked to the side of the
building, pressing the seven-digit code into the
keypad.

He waited for the right number of blinks to light

up the screen before sliding his swipe card in the
slot and putting his key in the door. "Welcome to
Harvell Tech Miss Klein," he said as he held the
door open for her.

Chapter 4

raydon and Brenna walked through the

underground area, following an access path that
bordered the building's car garage. He led her along
until they came to an elevator. Graydon authorized
a code before he turned a key on the panel at the
elevator wall. They stepped inside and Brenna
looked around. "I didn’t realize how intimidating
this place was," she said with awe.

He grinned before replying. "They work on a

multitude of projects for the military and wealthy
civilian sector. It's got to be secure, I'd be out of a
job if it wasn't."

Graydon watched the numbers tick off one by

one as they climbed higher and higher. He couldn't
help but feel self-conscious with just the two of
them in the small space.

He was suddenly all too aware of her perfume

again. The small brush of her hand against his that

sent shivers down him. He wondered if she knew
what her presence was doing to him. He never
thought he would willingly let anyone have as much
control over him as Brenna currently had.

With one smile, one look, she had slid into his

being. She made her way into a part of him he
hadn’t known was there, a part that was usually a
dark and empty place.

He forced himself to study the numbers

counting off instead of at the beautiful woman
sharing his space.

The elevator signaled they were at their

destination and the doors opened. Graydon stepped
out, grabbing a walkie-talkie off the nearby wall
and speaking into it.

"Knight, this is Rook, security code 1031-0523,

do you copy?" Graydon asked before he paused,
waiting for the response.

A voice came back to him in mere seconds with

a reply, "Copy Rook, Knight is Code 2."

Graydon replied, pressing the button again on

the talkie. "Copy. Proceed."

He then slipped the device into his coat pocket

and looked over at Brenna. She was watching him
with a mixture of amusement and what he hoped
was awe, but might have been mockery.

"Chess codes, huh? I didn't pin you for the

sort." Brenna mused, curiosity lighting her
features.

He feigned insult at her words. "Because I'm a

soldier? That's rude Brenna. Not nice." Graydon
replied incredulously.

Brenna laughed. "No, not because you're a

soldier. Because you don't have the patience for the
unknown. I think I know you pretty well Graydon
King. I don't think you're the type that likes to leave
things open to chance." Brenna explained before
adding, "You like to know what's coming. You like
being prepared. Now if chess involved tormenting
the plans out of your opponent, then you might do
all right."

She laughed lightly as he forced a grin. Every

word she said resonating with him. It seemed he
had been right; she knew quite a bit about him.

It was more than the superficial things she

needed to identify and help heal for her job. No,
she knew him deeper than that. He was beginning
to suspect Brenna knew a lot more about him than

he ever would have imagined.

There was a difference in knowing someone's

history and knowing how that history transformed
and shaped them. The latter took time; it took a
certain care he hadn’t realized she had for him.

"Ok," he began, " You got me. I don't like chess.

It was the last security chief's lingo, and it stuck.
We changed the codes, but the names stayed the
same. Less for the crew to remember."

She nodded in satisfaction as they walked

along. "So your boss is the King I'm assuming?"
Brenna asked.

Chuckling, he nodded. "I'm sure his next wife

will take the Queen code like the last one did."
Graydon replied with a hint of amusement.

"Wow, is that a tone of mockery I hear? I'm

shocked." Brenna said with a grin.

"No, not mockery. I'm just stating a fact. He's

had two wives in the little time that I've been here.
I think he's at six marriages total. We better not stay
too long or he'll try to make you his seventh."

Graydon pressed the button on the second

elevator. Brenna stepped in before him and he

followed her inside; pushing the button to the
executive's floor. "Is he actually going to be here? I
thought the whole point of being a CEO was that
you didn't have to spend all of your time in the
office." Brenna asked.

The corner of his mouth ticked up before

replying, "Are you going to be disappointed if I say
no?"

She laughed at that. The laugh that sent his

heart hammering in his chest, the happiness it
brought with it creeping into his soul. She was like a
drug, something blissfully deadly that he wasn't
sure he could handle. He couldn’t understand how
such a small person could consume so much of his
attention and thoughts.

She waved her hands dismissively before

replying, " No, of course not." A smile forming as
she added, "Though a girl should always keep her
options open." She replied audaciously before
winking at him. Graydon rolled his eyes, smirking
back at her.

The elevator signaled and then opened, the two

of them stepping out into the darkened hallway. He
flipped a small switch pad on the wall and lights
turned on, illuminating their way. The Executive
floor was impressive, he couldn't lie about that.

Everything was immaculate and garishly too

modern for his taste, but it did the job of wowing
visiting clients well enough. The walls between the
departments were clear; with sleek lines etched into
them, minimal and yet opulent. The walls held
paintings from Warhol to Koons.

During working hours there were four flat-

screen televisions that played the news in the
waiting area where plush leather chairs and
couches were arranged together. It was a place he
never imagined himself fitting in at.

Oddly enough however, the transition had been

a smooth one. The security agents under his
command did their job well, and he hadn’t had to
interact with many other coworkers in the building.
Mostly, Graydon could keep to himself and not
have to worry about the office politics he was
certain ran wild in this place.

"Wow." Brenna murmured in awe as they

passed by a Jackson Pollock piece. She stopped and
faced the painting fully, her head tilted slightly to
the side. Graydon paused, watching how she
marveled at the artwork.

She looked as if the art was speaking something

only her ears had the pleasure of hearing; her eyes
filled with a wonderment he wasn't sure he had

ever experienced in his thirty-something years of
life.

The piece she was looking at was one he passed

by many times a day. He never liked it. He wasn't
into modern art and thought the painting looked
like something a child could do.

"If you'd like, I can show you some of the

better pieces we have, when we're open. Druvell is
obsessed with modern and abstract artwork. The
whole place is covered in it." Graydon offered
quietly.

She blinked, turning her attention back to him.

A faint smile was on her lips as she replied, "I'd
like that a lot, thank you."

He nodded to her before he began to walk

again. The two moving at a leisurely pace through
the hallway. When he stopped in front of his office
door, she spoke up. "From your tone, I take it you
aren't a fan of art?" she asked.

Shaking his head, he fished the security card

and keys back out of his coat before replying,
"That's where you're wrong. I like art. I've been to
the Louvre and the Prado in Spain. I enjoy real art,
but I hate all of that abstract mess. I like paintings
that depict life and passion, that capture a moment

in time, not make you squint."

She laughed and looked over at him with an

expression he couldn’t quite place.

Graydon pulled his gaze from Brenna as her

eyes fixed on his, turning instead to the door at his
office. He always had a firm grasp on what those
around him were thinking or feeling; it was
something that had always come naturally to him.
He found people said more with their expressions
and movements than anything they actually spoke.

The slightest twitch or pull of someone's lips

could sometimes give you more information than
any blade could. With Brenna, it was like grasping
at straws in the night.

He wanted to take her face in his and ask her

what she needed, ask her what she wanted. He
wanted to ask her if there was anything he could
give her because he would run himself to the ends
of the Earth to make it happen.

Graydon pressed a code into the panel on the

wall in front of his office door. He waited before
pushing in his key and sliding his card through the
scanner. There were variations in the sequence.
Everything, or sometimes just the tiniest of details,
changed at each security checkpoint.

Some secure access areas required no key at all

or the code combinations in reverse. Everything
was a small puzzle. The throng of protocol and
procedure might have been intimidating to other
people, but it brought him comfort. There was a
certain calm assurance that came with all of those
methods of operation and security.

Graydon's door clicked open, and he made a

silent motion for her to remain in the hallway
before slipping into his office. Graydon’s eyes
scanned the area, taking in every surface and
searching for anything amiss.

He knew within a heartbeat as he glanced inside

that no one else was in the room. He had picked the
corner space for that specific reason: there was
nowhere to hide. The minimalist design kept
everything clean and simple. There were no vents
capable of allowing a body to enter. His desk was
clear and there weren't any knick-knacks around to
keep clutter.

It was the type of office space that prevented

anything from being awry. The only thing that was
not precisely how it should be was a small, brown
box on the floor.

The box had been sitting on top of his desk. It,

along with the other one he brought in from

downstairs had been left there earlier. He meant to
bring it to the proper departments, but the client's
call had taken longer than he anticipated. Graydon
had left them for tomorrow.

Walking towards the box he stopped only when

he caught movement from the corner of his eye.

He glanced in the direction to see Brenna

hesitantly peek her head in the door, her voice
barely above a whisper. "Is everything ok in here?"
she asked cautiously. She glanced around his office,
looking as if she would get mugged if she wasn't
careful.

He chuckled, unable to stop himself. She looked

like every ironic hero he had seen in an action
comedy movie. As she tiptoed her way into his
office, his chuckling turned into outright laughter.
Graydon could barely get the words out between
breaths, "What are you doing?" he asked. Brenna's
lips pursed before she made an exasperated gesture.
"I don't know, I don't do this every day. Excuse me
for exercising caution here," she said defensively.

She made her way to him and playfully hit his

shoulder. "You shouldn't make fun; most people
don't know the proper procedure for a late-night
security check thank-you-very-much," she hissed at
him before adjusting her purse. He was grinning ear

to ear.

"Oh c'mon, you know I wouldn't put you in any

harm." Graydon replied.

"And why is that?" she asked, her voice still

holding an edge.

"Well for one, because you're a civilian. Also,

because you're my friend. Then of course because -
"

His grin dropped, and he felt his heart rate

quicken. Graydon wasn't sure if this was the right
thing to do and he was more than certain this was
terrible timing; but he couldn't stop himself as he
blurted out, "Because I like you, Brenna."

He thought that sounded a little too childish for

what he had been feeling all night, but he didn't
know what else to say. He never read the manual
on how to tell your previous therapist and current
hopeful friend you had fallen for them. Brenna's
eyebrows raised, and he noticed her lips parted as
she began to say something, but didn't.

The silence of the surrounding office seemed to

suffocate him as he waited for her to say
something, anything, back. She looked surprised,
but other than that her face was unreadable. He

mused for a moment that she probably made one
hell of a poker player.

Graydon was about to turn away and lock up

the office. He was ready to forget this whole
moment, this whole night had happened; when in
one motion she leaned up and pressed her lips to
his.

Graydon was the one with eyebrows raised as

he felt her soft lips on his. He closed his eyes and
brought his hand to her head, her fiery red hair
falling over it. Her body was close to his. Her
perfume wrapped around him like an invisible drug,
demanding he give himself over, thrilling him with
an indulgence he didn't want to let go of.

She pulled away gently, and he broke the kiss,

staring at her face a few inches away. Brenna was
the one searching him for answers now. As a smile
spread across his lips, she matched it, both coming
together in another kiss.

His lips parted and her tongue found his, teasing

and torturing a part of him he was ready to let go
control of. Graydon's heart raced as one hand
remained on the side of her head, pressing her
closer, her hair getting tangled in his hands.

He was hungry for her. Every touch of hers,

every taste, was a jolt of electricity; life-giving and
deadly. He slowly slid his other hand down the side
of her body, wrapping around her waist and urging
her closer. Brenna softly moved into him, her body
gently pressing against his. He kissed her jawline in
a trail to her neck.

Graydon took his time kissing her delicate skin

before sucking, a small moan escaping her lips. The
noise resonated in his body and he forced himself
to move patiently, to resist taking her right there on
his desk.

Brenna timidly trailed a hand down his chest to

the hardness pushing against her, forcing a moan
from deep inside of him. He moved his lips from
her soft neck back to her hungry mouth. Graydon
slowly moved his other hand to the curve of her
breast, thumbing her peaked nipple.

She gasped in pleasure and tilted her head back,

presenting her body for him to devour. He resisted
the urge to rip everything off of her as his hands
palmed and thumbed her breast. Graydon was
panting, heavy and ready for her; ready to feel her
skin against his. He was ready to be inside of her.

Graydon King however, was not ready to

receive 50,000 volts of electricity to his side. His
body locked up, his mind struggling to process the

hard switch from pleasure to pain.

He hit the ground, his muscles tense and rigid.

Brenna was there in an instant, her eyes as focused
as a laser. She took out a syringe, tapping the small
needle a second before sticking him in the neck.

He fought to speak, but his body was getting

warm. A pins and needles feeling covering every
inch of him like a heavy blanket, forcing his body
to relax. He thought she might have said something
but before he could process anymore, the world
went dark and Graydon lost consciousness.

Chapter 5

raydon didn't dream in his drug-induced sleep,

which should have been his first clue that
something was wrong. The man always had
nightmares. He couldn't remember the last time he
didn’t wake up slick with sweat, rousing from sleep
with his heart thundering in his chest.

He knew the nightmares. He could paint them

vividly if he had any artistic talent, but knowing
them changed nothing.

Graydon had done research on the topic. He

read that confronting them was key, and discussing
them would take away their subconscious power.
All of that was crap.

Graydon couldn't shake them, and he had

resolved to be content with what few hours a night
he got. Brenna had once suggested sleep aides, but
the soldier in him wasn't ready to release that much
awareness at night.

His eyelids fluttered as his eyes opened slowly.

His mouth was uncomfortably forced open, stuffed
with fabric. Graydon tried swallowing, his mouth
painfully dry from whatever he was taken down
with, triggering a gag reflex when he couldn't.

"Don't vomit. Trust me when I say that is not

something you'll enjoy," a voice said.

The voice was familiar, yet foreign. Graydon

looked over at the source and saw her, Brenna,
though he now doubted that was actually her name.
His hands flexed against the zip ties that held him
bound. He could feel pressure at his legs where he
assumed a rope was wrapped around his feet.

The sluggish effect of the drug was almost gone,

his senses snapping into place. Graydon lunged his
body to the side, trying to get the chair to tip over,
only to realize it was tied to his desk.

Brenna chuckled. "Do you think I'd be so

careless?" she asked.

Graydon's reply was muffled through the fabric

in his mouth as he tried to retort. He gave her a
glare as she turned her attention to him, a smug
smile on her lips.

"Don't give me that look. You should have seen

this coming. The man running spec ops missions ten
years ago would have seen it," she replied.

Brenna walked over to him, kneeling so her

face was even with his. "You got lazy Graydon. You
stopped looking for the danger. Trust me when I say
there is always danger."

She stood up and began running her gloved

hands over items, pressing and moving things as she
went through the room.

He watched her and felt the anger rise. It was

like going home, only to realize a new family was
living there. She was only the Brenna he knew in
name, everything else was different. The way she
moved was more cat-like, ready, and poised to
strike.

Her small and hesitant facial expressions were

replaced by a woman sure of herself, a woman
oozing with a deadly confidence. Her voice was the
worst part, it was much harder and cold. There was
no softness, no care in the voice that was now
speaking to him. None of the soft, lilting sound that
came from the lips he had moments ago been
kissing.

She was steel and fire. Whatever meekness and

blushing she had shown before was only a part of a
well-performed show, with Graydon as her
unknowing audience. Seeing past the masks indeed,
he thought bitterly to himself.

"Ok Graydon, I need you to cooperate." Brenna

stated. She picked up the small, brown box that had
been lying on the floor; taking a small device from
inside its contents and putting it in her pocket.

He could have kicked himself. She had been the

one that triggered the security alert. She had put
something in there that made the box move, but
how she had known it would be in his office was
beyond him.

Brenna kicked the box away from them and

walked back over to where he was, pulling out
what he now saw was a silk tie.

He cleared his throat, swallowing before

replying sarcastically, "I would applaud the
excellent acting job, but my hands are tied."
Graydon knew better than to yell. His office was
soundproof, and anything that carried wouldn't
make it the twenty flights down to where the only
other two people in the building were.

She smirked, "I need to know where the special

projects are kept Graydon."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're going to play that card? I'm

unimpressed, I've got to say."

"We work on computers, Brenna, I'm not aware

of any special projects."

"We both know you're lying. Save us all some

time and tell me where they're kept. This can all be
over in a snap," she said, her voice holding an edge
of irritation.

"When you say this, do you mean you and I, or

your failed mission? Because I've got to say, I liked
you a lot better as a shy therapist."

"Cute. Really cute," she replied sarcastically

before she glanced at her watch. "You've got five
minutes and counting. Tell me where it is," her
voice humorless.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" he asked doubtfully.

Brenna shook her head, a small laugh coming

from her.

"No. I think I've grown a little too partial to that

handsome face of yours, but other people...well
they might."

Graydon's face remained impartial as his mind

worked through everything she said. Harvell Tech
was a leader in development. While other
companies might have tried to steal plans, he
couldn't imagine them being so bold as to send in a
hired gun undercover for a year.

This felt more strategic, more military. He

couldn’t imagine who would take this big of a risk,
but he didn’t doubt what she said. She wasn't
working alone, she almost couldn’t be.

It was clear they did their research, whoever

they were. They had known about his background,
known about his weaknesses. These people had
taken it a step further to then take those
weaknesses, and garnish his trust with a doe-eyed
therapist act. He didn’t want to think about all the
personal details and information he had willingly
told to this woman.

"Oh, well now you really have me scared," he

replied with an eye roll.

"Two more minutes Graydon. Tell me where it

is." Brenna said, her voice revealing an urgency
despite her calm demeanor.

"I told you, Brenna, I have no idea what you're

talking about."

"A loyal soldier to the end huh? Do you even

know what they design here? Have you ever
thought for a single moment about just what exactly
you're guarding? Or are you content with guarding
whatever they tell you to, like a trained puppy?"

He gave her a bored look. "Are you going to

move along to the torturing part yet, or do we have
more of this riveting conversation ahead of us?
Because if it's more conversation, I think I'll just
nap."

She pursed her lips, glancing at her watch

before replying. "Fine. Have it your way, but you
can't say I didn't try."

Brenna walked to the door and propped it open

with the other box he had on his desk. Walking
back into the room, she leaned against the wall,
waiting. A heartbeat later a shadow appeared on
the door. The shadow moving rapidly down the
hallway towards them.

"How?" he uttered the question as his eyes

focused on the door.

There was no way anyone could have made it

through his security checkpoints without alerting
his guards, or the system itself. The process had
taken him two full days to memorize alone, just to

get the exact pattern and combination for each
checkpoint down. There was no way someone
could have just came in and gotten it right.

Brenna shrugged. "You made it easy when you

let me in through the unguarded basement. All I
had to do was leave something in the doorway to
jam the lock from securing. We have a team for the
rest."

Graydon felt nauseous. There was no use in

securing the hen house when you walked the fox
inside and invited it in for a meal. She had played
him, with a precision he couldn't have imagined.
She guided him into doing exactly what she wanted,
how she wanted.

He wanted to speak, wanted to protest, and

argue, but the shadow made its way to his office.
When the figure stepped inside he felt his jaw
slacken.

Amanda, her assistant from Broadholder and

Young, walked inside the room. She kicked the box
out of the way, shutting the door behind her. There
was a grin of satisfaction on her face as she crossed
her arms, taking him in.

"Mr. King. I've got to say, I'm surprised to see

you like this," she said, her voice every bit as cold

as Brenna's.

Graydon gave a sarcastic laugh. "You think

you're surprised?"

The older lady smiled back, her face betraying

no emotion. She looked identical to the way she
always looked in the office. Professional attire,
garish jewelry he had always hated. He always
imagined her as some divorcee who caught her
husband cheating and ended up with his fortune.

Now that he was watching her smile like a

Cheshire cat, he imagined her as more of a widow
whose husband ended up with a mysterious death
no one saw coming.

"You've turned out to be less of a challenge

than we expected. It seems forced retirement has
turned you both soft, and stupid," she replied, her
words adding further insult to his situation.

Graydon didn't reply, silently flexing his hands

against the ties that still bound him. Her attention
moved from Graydon to Brenna. "Brenna, please
tell me what is taking so long in this matter. We do
not have all night, lest I remind you."

"No ma'am, I am aware, but Mr. King does not

seem to have possession of the asset. I've searched

the room and I don't believe it's here."

"His apartment was clear. Has reconnaissance

reported back any other containment areas?" she
asked.

It didn't surprise him that these people already

searched his home. He imagined their enjoyment in
having discovered it was secured by a system so
basic a kid could have disarmed it. He was more
surprised that they bothered to break in at all when
they could've just bugged the place weeks ago.

"Yes ma'am, I've been told there is a secure area

in Mr. Druvell's office that was not listed in the
blueprint of the building. We think that is where the
asset is being contained." Brenna replied to the
other woman.

Graydon heard something to the left of him

vibrate, and he tried glancing over as Brenna
walked to where the noise had gone off. She picked
up a small cell phone.

"Recon says they cannot gain entry without

proper coding. It's well encrypted and one mistake
will shut the floor down." Brenna replied, reading
from the small phone.

The older woman looked at Graydon, and he

couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. It seemed not
every secret was compromised.

Amanda walked over, pulling her hand back in

a quick movement, and slapping him hard enough
for it to turn his face. The sharp, stinging pain
spreading across his cheek.

"I'm glad you find your situation amusing Mr.

King, you'll need to hold onto that humor in the
coming hours," she glanced back at Brenna, her
voice commanding as she spoke, "Initiate Code 2."

Brenna talked into the phone, and Amanda

walked out of his office. The older woman spoke
something he couldn't make out, but knew to be
Russian in the hallway. His eyebrows knit together,
his mind quickly trying to figure the situation out.

He couldn’t fathom why Russians would want

anything related to Harvell Tech. He made it a point
not to care about anything they were creating in
their labs, but surely it wasn't something warranting
this.

When Graydon first started the job, he asked

one of the labs what they were working on. A
technician had then spent thirty minutes droning on
about the differences in each type of processing
system available, using more acronyms than

should've been humanly possible. It left him with
more of a headache than an understanding. He had
zero interest in finding anything more out since
then.
He couldn't imagine anything they made in the
building to be a threat to a governing nation. They
were just a contractor for Heaven's sake, he
thought incredulously to himself. Government
officials came in to see if something was possible,
to create ways to make things faster, not plan world
domination. If it was anything like that he would be
paid more.

Graydon brought his attention back to Brenna,

who was packing her things back into her purse. He
watched as she jammed his talkie, security cards,
and cell phone in with her belongings before
moving back to where he was.

She pulled out a case and took out a syringe,
tapping it once before piercing his neck. He winced
as he spoke up, his voice demanding.

"Seriously? Do you think you'll just carry me

out of here without being noticed? Brenna, think
this through, just let me go and I can-" Graydon's
voice wavered, his limbs feeling the warming
sensation spread through his body. "I, Brenna...you-
"

The room faded as the drowsiness took over, his

mind barely registering more figures coming into
the room. He tried fighting it, forcing his eyes to
resist the medicine, but it was no use. The dark
pressed in slowly before it took him over, knocking
him out yet again.

Chapter 6

raydon's senses awoke to the smell of bacon.

With his eyes still closed, his brain might have
imagined happy thoughts of breakfast in bed, with
Brenna tangled in the sheets next to him.

However, as his eyes slowly opened, he

remembered. A Russian team had taken him
captive. His security work was threatened, and as
for Brenna...well, Brenna was a traitor.

Graydon sat up, looking around the windowless
room he was occupying. His hands were free, but
his legs were chained to the bed he had been put
on. Leaning over he noticed that the bed was bolted
to the floor. There was a toilet and sink, but nothing
else.

The bed didn’t have sheets on it and he didn't

have a pillow, which was lucky for his captors. He
could think of five ways off the top of his head a
pillow could have helped him escape, another three

if it had a pillowcase. Whoever designed this space
put time into ensuring he wouldn't be able to cause
much trouble.

His eyes made it to the door with fixtures that

locked from the outside. His eyes then fell on the
plate of food that laid a few feet from the door. It
contained the source of the bacon smell that made
his mouth water and his stomach tighten with
hunger.

He wondered if it was morning yet. He assumed

so, from the array of bacon and scrambled eggs on
his plate, but they could also just be messing with
him.

Graydon got up from the bed, stretching his

muscles that protested against the less than subpar
sleeping arrangements. It had been a long time
since he had to deal with uncomfortable beds and
tight spaces. He wondered if maybe these people
were right, he had gone soft.

Graydon walked over to the plate of food,

testing just how far his constraints would allow him
to reach. He could make it to the plate, but he
stopped short three feet from the door.

He walked the full length of the chain around

the room, noting dryly that he could at least reach
the toilet and sink. Making his way back to the
plate, he picked it up. Graydon walked back to the
bed with it, and a glass of water they had left for
him.

The food smelled good, and he knew better

than to turn away food in hostage situations. He
had seen too many people waste precious energy
and miss chances at freedom due to pride and ego
of not eating the food they had been given.

It made little sense for them to poison him with

it either. Brenna herself proved that there were
easier ways to take him out. As he dug into the
meal, he thought the eggs could use more
seasoning, but as for prison food he supposed it did
well enough.

As he was eating, the latches on the door slid

and the door opened. Graydon leaned his back
against the wall while still on his bed, not bothering
to get up.

It was Brenna who entered, a bemused look on

her face as she crossed her arms. "Well, it seems
you're making yourself right at home. How do you
like the accommodations? Can I get you some extra
towels?" she asked sarcastically, a grin on her face.

Graydon was irritated at himself for wanting to

grin back. He almost couldn’t help it. She was
sharper, this version of his Brenna he was now
meeting. The Brenna he knew was rarely sarcastic,
she was quiet, and contemplative. The woman
standing in front of him was like seeing an evil twin
of that Brenna.

He took another bite, stretching his legs out on

the small bed before shrugging.

"Nope. Don't have a shower in case you haven't

noticed. If you're taking down request though
inform the cook the eggs need more salt, and I'd
like a western omelet tomorrow; heavy on the
salsa."

She rolled her eyes and leaned against the

doorway. "We will get the Gordian project
Graydon. If you want any chance at a life after we
do, I suggest you cooperate."

He set the plate down. "Is that so? And how do

you think you'll accomplish that? Do you think I'd
give you any real information that would help you
access it? Do you think you have enough of a
bargaining chip to trade me in for it? I would love
to hear how you think you're going to win because
I'm telling you: you won't."

He was watching her as a smile broke across

her face. It almost looked like the kind, caring smile
his Brenna had once worn, but now he knew
better. Now he knew that smile meant she had a
secret she was hiding.

"Oh, I know we are. Because in two days any

piece of equipment you ever touched will be
deactivated and shut down. Especially all the
security measures you put in place," she said with a
satisfactory smile.

His eyebrows furrowed and he was speaking

before he could stop himself, "Why would they do
that? That doesn't make any sense."

Brenna replied, her voice like ice. "It does

when they find out you've become unhinged. When
your therapist calls your boss in a panic, telling him
you showed up at her office angry and belligerent.
When she says you were spouting hateful things
about Harvell Tech. When they call your phone and
you don't answer; when they show up to your
apartment to find you've demolished it. They'll
think their good soldier snapped," she paused
before adding, "You'll be a liability, a loose end that
will need to be tied."

His eyes narrowed and his knuckles whitened

as he clenched his fist. They would tarnish his
name, his character. This group would make it seem

like he had lost his mind, an ex-soldier who couldn't
cope with life anymore.

They would ruin any chance he had at a future,

and everyone would believe them. They wouldn't
have a reason not to. He had been in counseling a
year, he made no other friends who could vouch for
his sanity. He hadn't become close enough to
anyone who would look for him.

He would go down in flames, in all the lies they

were spinning. Harvell Tech would have no choice
but to distance themselves.

He knew the procedure, he knew it would cause

a lock-down and total switch-over. They would
completely re-do his old security codes just on the
simple chance that he might show up again seeking
retribution for God only knows. That's when they
would do it, that's when they would strike. It would
be when Harvell Tech was at their weakest.

He snapped out of his thoughts that were

quickly spinning out of control, and demanded
himself to focus on her. Graydon was a soldier, and
this was just another mission; he could get out of
here. He could stop all of this in time if he forced
himself to focus and figure out what he needed to
do.

"Why is the Gordian Project so important? Is it

worth all of this?" Graydon asked, anger edging his
voice.

She watched him calmly, her eyes taking in his

anger before nodding. "Yes. It is."

Graydon rolled his eyes before meeting her now

narrowed eyes in return. Silence filling the room
with the two of them at a stand-still. He wouldn't
give in, and after spending a year in therapy with
her pointed silence, he figured they would stay like
this for a long while to come.

Graydon didn’t know how much of her

personality she had let slip through the Brenna
Klein mask, but somehow he figured she was every
bit as stubborn as she had portrayed. A solid fifteen
minutes passed between them in silence until she
spoke, her voice softer than it had been before.

"Do you genuinely not know what you keep so

protected?"

"Look, I had a job, and I did that job.

Obviously, I did it well. I didn't need to ask
questions that didn't pertain to it."

"So they could've given you a nuclear warhead

and you would have guarded it without so much as

a question?"

"Well, yeah. It's a nuclear war head. Of course I

would guard it. What would you have done? Ask
them to show you their plans, how to operate it,
and for the access codes?"

She made an exasperated noise before firing

back, "Well I at least would find out why I was
guarding a device capable of obliterating half the
continent."

"Look, whoever theoretically paid me to keep a

warhead safe, probably had perfectly reasonable
reasons for having said theoretical nuclear
warhead."

She pursed her lips and he watched her clench

and unclench her fists. He thought for half a second
she might walk over and take a swing at him.
Instead, she took a deep breath in and out before
speaking in her therapist voice to him. "Graydon,
I'm trying to help you, but you're not helping
yourself."

He laughed at that. "Oh, I'm sorry Dr. Klein. I'll

try to be more open, more...what was it you always
said? Oh, yeah..." he mimicked her therapist voice
as he continued speaking, "Be accessible to the
broad horizon that is change, because possibility

can only come through change."

She marched closer to where he was and he was

off the bed in a second, the two of them a foot
away from each other. He knew he couldn't reach
her, but if she made one mistake, one slip in his
direction, he certainly could.

"Fine," she said with her hands on her hips,

"You want to die in this room, be my guest. I'm
done trying to help you."

Graydon laughed bitterly before responding.

"You say you're trying to help me, but you've done
nothing to show me that. I don't even know who
you work for, or what's so important about this
thing, or your real name."

She met his eyes, her voice set. "Brenna is good

enough."

She crossed her arms as he shook his head.

"No. It's not," his voice demanding.

Her eyebrows knit together, "Why? Why can't

that be enough?" she asked.

"Because, if I'm going to trust you I need to

know who it is that I'm supposed to be trusting. It

isn't Brenna Klein the therapist from Delaware now
is it?"

She sighed in annoyance before uttering,

"Stacy."

"Wrong," he crossed his arms, mimicking her

guarded pose.

She snickered before asking, "Why is that

wrong?"

"Because it's a lie, I'm not kidding. If you're not

going to give me the truth, you might as well put a
bullet in me because I'm done being a puppet in
your show."

She watched him and he thought for a moment

there was a flash of sympathy in her features, but it
was gone before he could be sure. He was almost
certain he imagined it.

She didn't seem capable of sympathy or

remorse. She had taken him, planned to besmirch
his name and steal from the company he had
worked hard to keep secure. She was clearly not
capable of human emotion. He was ready to tell her
to leave his cell when she spoke, her voice thick
with a Russian accent.

"My name is Alena Vasiliev," she replied.

He regarded her a second, not sure of what to

say. Her voice was beautiful, annoyingly so. Her
accent was soft and light when she spoke, her name
sounding like something cherished on her lips.

The woman he knew as Amanda had sounded

harsh and unforgiving when he heard her speak in
her native tongue, but Brenna, Alena, was
different. There was a richness, a soft reverence
that her voice held that the other woman’s did not.

"You're Russian?" he asked levelly.

She nodded before replying, "Yes."

"This group is Russian based?" he asked

cautiously, unsure if she'd give him anything more.

"Yes," She replied firmly.

"This group has ties to the RAF?"

The Russian Armed Forces was like the Army,

except the Russians still enforced conscription to
their male citizens. It was a practice that he
believed had failed their nation in more ways than
one. "No," she replied.

He tilted his head to the side, a bemused look

on his face. "Are you going to answer everything
with either a yes or a no?"

She gave him a sideways grin before

replying, "No."

Graydon opened his mouth to ask another

question about what, or rather, who he had had
been taken by. She spoke, her hand pausing in the
air to stop him. "That’s enough about us. I promise
I'll tell you more, but right now I can't."

He watched her a moment more, debating on

whether to push the questions. He decided there
wouldn't be a point to it. Graydon knew by now
that she was stubborn, and once she made her
mind up that was all there was.

He instead focused his attention back to

her, "Did you have that bad day all those months
ago or was it an act? That day where we finally
talked in therapy?" he asked, the question shoving
to the forefront of his mind.

He watched dumbstruck as her cheeks

reddened, a small, genuine smile tugging at the
corners of her lips. "Yes, that was real," she
murmured before turning back towards the door.

She was out the door quickly, the solid hunk of

metal securing tightly. The sound of a lock turning
in place before the room was filled with silence. He
stood there a moment unsure of what to do.

She had blushed. She had given an actual,

physical response to that memory. He didn't know
why that revelation shook him up so badly, but it
did.

She had shown something for him, even if it

was something small. The soldier side of him knew
there was a way he could use this small amount of
affection she had shown him to his advantage; but
he couldn't bring himself to give that side over.

Instead, he was thinking that Alena might not

have been pretending about everything. If her
feelings for him weren't all an act, how much did
she really care? Was the woman whose lips he had
tasted, whose skin he had caressed, still there? How
much of his Brenna was actually Alena?

He knew he shouldn't care. He hated that she

could still slide into his mind, interrupt his system
with no defenses, but there it was. Her small
blushing had sent him reeling.

Graydon walked back to where he had eaten,

picking up the empty plate and sliding it across the

floor so it would be closer to the door. He then
walked back to the bed and laid down, staring up at
the ceiling.

He was awakened by the door opening; the

metal scraping on the floor as it opened. Graydon
instantly shot up from the bed, his eyes searching
for the person who entered. He wasn't sure when he
had fallen asleep.

His mind had wandered from ways to escape,

how his job would handle his absence, and then
back to Alena. Sometime during that chase he must
have fallen asleep.

A man entered without saying a word and was

gone again, leaving only a fresh glass of water. He
had to give them credit for at least remembering he
was still in here, and needed things like water and
food to live. Graydon mused that he would give
them three stars on Yelp.

He walked over and took a sip of the water,

moving back to his selected spot at the foot of the
bed with the drink in hand.

Graydon closed his eyes and began reciting the

things he knew to be true silently in his mind. It was
a tactic he was taught to keep sane during things
like this.

He knew his name was Graydon King; he knew

he was alive. He knew Harvell Tech had something
that this group wanted, and he knew this group had
spent a lot of time getting close to him. He knew he
wasn’t a soldier, but he was trained as one, and he
could figure this out. He knew if he could keep his
focus on the situation, his odds were higher for
survival.

He knew he needed to stop thinking about her.

He knew he needed to act more like a soldier and
less like a civilian. He knew she had slid her way
into his thoughts, but the more he seemed to resist
her, the stronger the thoughts became.

He didn't have time to think anything else over

as Alena walked inside his holding cell, throwing
his mind off course.

It took a second for Graydon to realize it was

actually her. His eyes scanning her over before
recognizing her features. Her fiery red hair that he
had gone crazy for was gone, replaced by raven
hair so dark it looked like night incarnate. The
darkness of her hair made her eyes stand out more,
deep orbs of emerald staring back at him. Her lips
were colored red and for a second, he was sure his
heart stopped. She was striking. Her features
seemed to come alive, her skin shining brighter
against her dark hair.

He wanted to make her smile; he wanted to

take her in his arms. For a second, he forgot who
they each were and why he was here. For a
moment all he wanted in the world was to have her
lips to his again.

She spoke first. "Don't stare. The red was

annoying," she said in a dismissive tone.

He cleared his throat and found the ability to

shrug. "I don't care. I'm only staring because you
look like a vampire now," he said, hoping his voice
sounded more solid than he felt.

She laughed at his comment. "Oh, really?

Because you looked like you were ready to take me
to bed."

It was his turn to blush now, "If I did, it would

only be to smother you. Oh, wait that's right, I don't
even have a pillow. I guess you got lucky."

She smirked before replying, "You'll get a pillow

when you can prove you're ready to cooperate."

Graydon shrugged before sipping water. His

throat had been dry since he had woken up; he
assumed it was a side-effect from the drug they had
given him. That, or wherever they were keeping

him had terrible ventilation.

He wished they would have left his watch on.

Graydon hated not knowing how much time had
passed, and he was confident they intentionally
messed with his meal times to throw off his grip of
the situation.

"So, where did you find a place in Virginia that

came with its own torture room?" he asked
curiously.

She gave him a pointed look. "I'm not telling

you where we are, but I can say it's very secure."
She looked around the room a second before
adding, "You would be proud if, you know...you
weren't the one we were keeping under wraps."

"Funny. That's a real funny one Alena," he

replied humorlessly.

Graydon looked around the room, taking in the

foam padding that was attached to the walls, the
various textures in the different foam overlapping
in some places but not others.

"It's too big to be a closet or storage space.

Initial guess would have been a basement of course,
but the temperature is too mild for that. My guess is
a novice sound studio."

He watched her intently. Her face gave an

appreciative look for a brief moment before she
replied, "If you only used your talents for good and
not evil, Graydon."

He laughed before arguing, "Me evil? You're the

one tearing my reputation apart and taking me
hostage."

Graydon watched as Alena walked outside of

his cell, walking back in with a metal chair in her
hands. She carried it into his room and set it down,
well into the safe zone where he couldn’t reach.

Alena sat rigidly down in the chair and crossed

her legs before she spoke. "Ok. You want
information? We'll talk."

Graydon crossed his arms silently and watched

her as she began speaking.

"The Gordian project is essentially a smart

virus. It's named after Gordian worms, a type of
parasitic worm found in nature. The parasite slips
into a grasshopper's body undetected and grows.
When it's ready, it sends neurotransmitters to the
grasshopper's brain causing it to kill itself willingly.
Then the cycle can continue into another host. Are
you following me so far?" she asked.

"So there's a virus they created that was

inspired by a voodoo worm?" he asked hesitantly.

She nodded, "Yes, in a simple form, yes.

Though not voodoo, it manipulates the signals in
the grasshopper's brain," she said as her eyes met
his doubtful stare in complete seriousness.

His eyebrows pinched together as he tried to

understand the correlation between a worm, and
whatever he was guarding. He motioned silently for
her to continue on. She tucked a rogue strand of her
raven hair behind her ear before speaking.

"The virus itself is undetectable, completely

untraceable. There's no way to disarm it. That alone
would be a valuable tool, as I'm sure you're well
aware of how hard it is to gather information
without being detected."

Graydon remained silent, his arms still crossed,

taking in everything she was saying.

"This virus, once unleashed, can travel from

every virtual, telecommunication system to another.
Think about everything from your smart television
to the phone in your pocket getting infected. Once
it infiltrates these devices, it collects information
from every one of those infected sources. It
automatically records and stores conversations and

phone calls. It tracks websites visited and stores
emails."

She paused, letting the information settle

between them before adding, "Imagine never
having another private conversation again. What's
worse is that it then has the ability to run algorithms
based on anything the user wants to know. It would
be the end of privacy, the end of freedom. The user
would have effective control of whoever and
whatever they wanted," she said as she held his
stare.

He in turn kept silent as his mind ran with

possibility, taking everything in that she was saying.
He replied after a moment, his mind working to
keep up. "Who was this designed for? You said the
user, who would that be?"

"They plan on inciting a bidding war and if the

US Government doesn't win, it will fall to someone
else. Believe me when I say they will have absolute
control. They might not have your figurehead
presidential post, but your president will be more
useless than the Queen of England."

He looked at her dubiously. "That won't

happen, the American people would fight it. That’s
not even considering the tech engineers the military
has on their payroll. It may take time to figure out a

patch, but they could stop it."

She leaned forward then. Her face holding his

as she spoke, every muscle rigid.

"This

virus

completely

untraceable

remember? Your government wouldn’t know if it
was there or not until it was too late. It would be
downloaded into every virtual system there is. The
brilliant part of this virus is that once it's sent out,
you can't stop it. There isn’t a patch, choosing to
not open a link or click a download button will not
keep it away. Once they unleash this, it will run and
it will destroy."

Alena sighed, "Even if your government could

create something to stop it from damaging anything
further; by the time they realized what was
happening it would be too late. The enemy would
already have access to your previous conversations,
your military codes, the names and locations of
service members and whoever they spoke with."

She looked at him pointedly then before adding,

"Any codes or classified information would now be
theirs. They would have every secret your
government possessed. If they applied pressure to
those secrets, your president would have to bend
his knee faster than you could blink."

They were staring at each other, her crossed

arms now mimicking his. He was reminded of a
time back when they were in her office. When all
she was to him was a court-appointed therapist.
When she was kind and gentle, a blushing soft-
spoken redhead. He wanted that girl back, he
wanted the girl who had stammered when he told
her she was pretty.

The black-haired, snarky woman in front of him

was a completely different person. She was
confident and conveyed a sense of strength that
seemed out of character in a frame so small. She
was fire and passion, a force unwilling to bend. He
didn’t know who he was dealing with when she
spoke to him now.

"How can I believe anything you're saying?

You, and whoever you're with, lied to me for a year
before taking me against my will. That's not
someone who I'd call a reputable source," he hurled
the words, anger and irritation seeping into his
voice.

She held her hands up apologetically before
replying.

"I get it. It was necessary though. I couldn’t just

approach you. You were being watched. Do you

think we were the first people to search your
place?"

Graydon was mortified to feel his cheeks
reddening. He mentally cursed himself for being so
naive. He had such a false sense of security being
away from the front line, being away from all the
blood and pain. He should have known it was
following him, guys like him didn't get happy
endings.

Alena's hands went back to resting in her lap as she
watched him. "They searched you out Graydon,
they had their eyes on you before you were ever
discharged. I think they had a hand in that as well. I
couldn't just walk up to you and start talking," she
replied, her voice softer than it had been before,
which irritated him further.

"What about the three months after that? What
about the next four after those? Why keep the
charade up Alena? Did you enjoy it too much at
that point? Enjoyed hearing all of my private
emotions and thoughts?" he asked in frustration.

Graydon knew he sounded petty, but he didn't

care. He might not be a normal guy, but he didn't
think he deserved to be used and taken advantage
of for a year.

"You think I enjoyed listening to you bare your soul
for a year? Would you want to hear the personal
and private thoughts from your marks? Do you
think I'm that much of a monster?"

"So why do it?" he demanded.

"Because I had to, Graydon."

She was leaning towards him again, her anger

rising, though he couldn't fathom what she had to
be angry about.

"We all have to do things we don't like.

Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the sake
of others. You're a soldier. You should understand
this better than anyone," she replied, the words
venomous.

Alena stood up, grabbing the metal chair and
heading for the door. He thought she would walk
out without another word, but she stopped in the
doorway.

She turned back to him, "We want you to

destroy it. We’re not keeping it, we're not selling it.
We want it gone, along with every bit of coding
they have on it, and you can be the one to do it. We

will run whatever plan you help create. If that's not
enough for you to believe us, then I'm not sure
what else I can do."

Chapter 7

lena walked out of the door, not waiting for a

reply from him. Graydon remained sitting on the
bed, considering everything she had said. He was a
soldier; he believed in freedom to a point that he
would willingly die for it. That type of thinking was
easy to say, but he had been to those small
countries where freedom wasn't a right.

He witnessed first-hand the people who were

oppressed and servants to the will of the rulers who
led their nation. Men and women couldn't be
dreamers in a place like that. People were lucky to
survive, and happiness was a luxury most couldn’t
afford. When he said he fought for freedom, he
meant it.

He was thankful he lived in a country where

everyone could have their own opinions, thoughts,
and ideas. He imagined the consequences that
might befall the nation if something like this
infiltrated the market. It wouldn't take much for

mass chaos to ensue.

He weighed the option of her group lying about

the whole situation, but he couldn't say that made
much sense. If they were willing to follow his lead,
ensuring he was the one to have the chip, then it
was likely they were telling the truth.

The only other scenario he could imagine was

that Harvell Tech had information on this group.
Even still, it made little sense they would allow him
the chance to have the project, if it contained
information that could hurt them.

The code name was another reason he thought

they might be telling the truth. Hart had told him
the code name in the office on a whim, it wasn't
something he normally knew.

His job was to keep security systems in check,

and that's what he did. He didn't care or know
much beyond that. Especially not whatever
ridiculous names they coined for all the projects
they created. Alena had told him the code name
and immediately verified what Hart had said in the
office.

No matter how many times he ran the

scenarios, it always came up with them telling the
truth. He almost didn't want to believe he had been

played by someone yet again.

Graydon made his living by being the best. He

had to be the best because the people he met, the
things he did, all relied on perfection. If he had
been sloppy or careless in the slightest, he would
have been discovered and his career would have
been over. If he had been slow or indecisive, he
wouldn't still be standing. He made a career out of
being an untrusting, always-on-guard soldier and
that had gotten him through more than he deserved.
It seemed almost comical that in his civilian life he
could be this naive.

It had all started with his job. He thought

getting the job with Harvell Tech had been a stroke
of luck; him being there at the right time and place,
but he should have known that there was no such
thing as coincidence.

Coincidence was a term that also went by

chance and fate. Terms that those who weren't
smart enough to pull the strings called the abnormal
things that happened in their life. Those who were
running the show, men like he used to be...they
knew better.

He wondered for a moment if he would've

figured it all out if it hadn’t been for Alena being
there. Brenna, or rather, Alena had been the

constant source of his attention and focus for the
past year. They hadn't dated, hadn't even shown
anything towards each other but a mutual
friendliness, yet she still captured him.

He did his job, but everything centered around

Tuesdays with Brenna. He would sometimes sit at
his desk and suddenly remember something he
wanted to get her thoughts on, or a joke he heard
that he thought she might like. It would sometimes
be the smallest things that would trigger his mind
returning to her.

Even now his thoughts were going to her. He

wondered if she ever cared about him at all. If she
had ever cared about helping him through his
accident or if she had done whatever she needed to
do to get close to him.

Lesson learned, he supposed. You couldn't

escape the monsters that went bump in the night
because they were everywhere; even hidden in the
red-headed woman who had saved him from
himself.

Graydon ran through the whole scenario again,

closing his eyes and pushing himself to be the
soldier he once was. To find the holes in the story
and figure out what to do. He didn't see an option
that didn’t end with him dying other than the one

where he believed what they were saying was true.
That didn’t mean he had to trust them though.

Graydon made it up in his mind. He would work

with them, he would create a plan, and he would
get that chip in his hands. When he got the chip, he
would hold all of the cards.

Once he got out of this cell and back into

Harvell Tech, he could see who was telling the
truth. He could decide then and there what the right
thing would be to do. He just needed to play their
game until then.

Graydon mulled the plan over in his head a few

times, pacing the room as he did. When the door
opened, he leaned back against the wall with his
hands in his pocket. He loathed being at the mercy
of strangers in an unfamiliar environment.

He was used to knowing all the cards in his

hand. This was like being blindfolded and told you
were playing a game that your life depended on,
without even knowing what the game was.

Two large men walked into his room, followed

by Amanda and Alena. He noticed the two men
each had a PSM holstered, with what looked like an
additional MP-443 Grach secured on their legs. It
seemed they were prepared either way for

whatever his decision might be.

Graydon had experience with the Russian

weaponry the two men were carrying. His third
mission had been in Kotlas, Russia. The team had
gone undercover to investigate labor camps. He
never could pick up the language, but he could spot
a Russian handgun from a mile away.

Graydon watched them, looking for any hint of

motion or movement that might give away what the
men were thinking. Unfortunately, they were every
bit as skilled at being still and unflinching as Alena
was.

It was Amanda who spoke first in her heavy

Russian accent, causing him to switch his attention
from the men to her.

"Hello, Mr. King. My name is Masha, I am a

commander in our small group. I hear Alena has
told you about the Gordian project?" she asked.

"Who are you with?" he demanded.

"Mr. King I wouldn't be a very good

commander if I revealed that before you agreed to
help us, now would I?" she challenged, her voice
steady.

Graydon watched her a second more before

glancing over to Alena. Her face was like stone and
he resisted the urge to walk over and shake her,
force her to show whatever emotion she had to be
feeling.

He instead looked back at the older woman.

She still looked the same as she had every other
time he had seen her before. He wondered if the
office assistant look wasn't very far from her
normal attire. She still had on the garish jewelry,
though he caught the outline of a handgun against
her business suit pocket.

"So, let's say I believe you. What happens

next?" he asked.

"We devise a plan to get to the chip. We enact

the plan and destroy the chip. You move on and we
all disappear back into the shadows where we came
from," she replied directly.

"Oh, is that so? You'll just let me go on my

merry way after revealing who you are and what
you've done?" he asked doubtfully.

"What we do, Mr. King, is for the good of your

country. If we had not stepped in, you would have
blindly allowed a madman to destroy everything
you hold dear and fight for. If we must go in

without you and take care of the chip ourselves, it
will be bloody. We certainly can, but it would more
than likely end with us giving our lives for the
cause. With you, we could get to the chip easily.
You help us destroy that chip and all of its
documents, and we are even." Amanda replied.

Graydon hadn't taken his eyes off of her,

reading every expression and infliction that came
across her face. If she was lying, she was a far
better actress than any he had ever seen.

"Ok. You have a deal," he said.

The woman nodded curtly to him before turning

to the man on her right and speaking something in
Russian. Graydon thought he caught Alena’s
shoulders relaxing slightly, but he couldn’t focus on
her as the man Masha had spoken to walked over
to him.

He watched as the man took a set of keys out

and nodded to Graydon’s shackles. Graydon
nodded in return before the man bent down and
freed him from his restraints.

Sloppy, Graydon thought to himself, it was

blatantly sloppy. If Graydon had been lying, and
this had been a trick, the man before him would
have been dead. Sure, he would have been shot

after that, but if he had been lying, he might not
have cared.

He wondered about the skill of these men, this

group. If he was going to go into this mission at
Harvell Tech, he might not need a team; but if he
did, could he depend on the guys he was looking at
now with his life? He had no idea who they were,
what their backgrounds were in, or if they could
accurately shoot someone.

If things got chaotic they might be his only

source of allies. The thought was troubling, but
there wasn't much he could do about it now. The
man straightened up and walked back to where his
companions were.

Graydon walked over to them all, his eyes

leveling on Masha's face before asking, "Who are
you people?"

She tilted her head to the side as if she was

about to explain something to a child. "We are a
group known as день, you Americans would call it
The Day. We are based in Russia, many of us from
Russia."

"Why do you care?" he asked before pushing

the question further, "Why not let this happen?
What skin do you have in the game?"

She shook her head. "That is why we care. We

all come from terrible circumstances in our
homeland. We have seen what it means to have no
freedoms and we will not stop until those who seek
to take away liberties are ended."

His eyes went to Alena who was staring at the

wall ahead of her, past him. He wondered what she
had gone through. Why she had joined a group like
this. He wanted to shove them all out of the room
and talk with just her. It didn't make anything she
did right, but it was another level of the story he
needed to know.

"Have you ruined my name with Harvell Tech

yet?" he asked, trying to keep all the hostile
thoughts he was thinking out of his tone.

"No," she replied before explaining further,

"Not yet, that was Plan B. With your cooperation,
we can create something smoother. One that will
get you and a team in and out before they even
know anything is different."

He snorted indignantly. "You're banking on a lot

of chance and historically speaking, chance hasn't
always been a fan of mine."

Graydon noticed Alena smirk, but he brought

his attention back to Masha as she spoke up again.

"We can arrange it so it looks as if you spent

the night with Miss Klein. We dropped your phone
off at a bar around two am so your boss should
assume you lost it while out on your date."

She checked the watch on her wrist before

adding, "It's barely into the afternoon. Pending you
can fake a hangover, I'd suggest you give your boss
a call with profuse apologies."

So they had been messing with his sense of

time, Graydon thought bitterly to himself.

He shook his head before replying, "I'm always

there before everyone else. I told him I'd have a full
report on his desk in the morning. He'll know this is
out of character."

Masha sighed in annoyance, "Yes, he will know

this is out of character. However, when you call
him, you will not say you have a hangover. You will
say you're sick and ask for the afternoon off. He's
going to latch onto that small lie and believe the
larger lie instantly. He has no reason not to."

The older woman paused before retorting, "The

only out of character trait he will think about is you
having sex and getting caught up in a night out.
Which is usually normal for someone your age; It
will normalize the whole situation."

Graydon pushed away the indignant feeling that

came up when she insinuated he never had fun, or
sex, but he didn't feel like arguing with her. He
hadn't let himself let loose because that just wasn't
who he was.

He wasn't good in social situations and he didn't

do well with meeting new people. He had found it
was better to keep working at his job and doing
what he knew, what came naturally. Sighing, he
held a hand out. "All right, give me the phone. I
assume It's untraceable?"

Masha gave him a pointed look before replying

with the phone in hand, "We're not idiots Mr. King.
The phone will be registered to Brenna Klein and
the cell tower will ping in the general location of
her building."

He raised his eyebrow, the reservations he had

earlier easing. Graydon nodded in response before
taking the phone and keying in the number to
Harvell Tech.

The receptionist recognized his voice and told

him to hold while she connected him to Mr.
Druvell. She seemed relieved, and he wondered
what everyone assumed happened. No one knew
about his date so he figured their imaginations were
running wild.

He had been right that his boss noticed his

absence though. A thought that made him cringe
even though he realized that was ridiculous. If what
they were saying was true, then his boss had
created something abhorrent, he wasn't a good man.
Still, Graydon wasn't used to not doing his job to
perfection.

When Mr. Druvell answered, Graydon acted

the part in the best way he knew how. He took time
pausing between words as if every thought caused
him pain. When he tried telling the man on the
other end of the line that he was sick he took extra
care in sounding worn, but clearly faking an illness.

He thought he sounded like an idiot but it must

have been believable because Mr.Druvell cut him
off, clearly tired of hearing him blather on. He was
shocked that his boss laughed and told him a good
greasy cheeseburger might be just what the doctor
ordered.

He then said it was no problem to miss a day

instead of threatening him with unemployment.
Thanking Hart, he hung up the phone and handed it
back over to Masha.

She took it back and gave it over to Alena.

"We'll need to dispatch teams to watch Harvell
Tech just in case, though I doubt we see anything

different from their usual routine. Rolav will need
to key us on any codes being sent internally."
Masha replied before she turned to Graydon, "For
now I believe we're in the clear to proceed with
creating a plan for tonight."

He nodded sharply before replying, "Let's work

on a plan then."

Masha spoke something in Russian to Alena

who then nodded in response. Masha and the two
other men walked out. The space emptying just as
fast as it had filled up, and he sighed.

It was odd being in the room alone together, in

a place unfamiliar and foreign to him. It was even
stranger now that Alena was his ally. He resented
that he was helping them, but he could do it, he
could bide his time.

He would play their game until he could get the

chip and take control of the situation. It didn't
matter who he had to work with as long as in the
end, he held the cards.

Alena watched them go before turning to him,

reaching into her pocket and pulling out his watch.
Graydon put it on and met her eyes.

He noticed she looked tired, dark circles had

formed under her eyes. He imagined he looked
similar. She was still wearing the same outfit she
had worn on their date although now it matched his
in the number of wrinkles it had. She spoke up first,
more hesitant than he would have imagined. "Do I
need to watch my back?"

He pursed his lips before shaking his head. "No.

We're on the same side until I take care of the
chip." Graydon said in a clipped voice.

She raised her eyebrow before asking, "And

then?"

"Then we'll count it even if I never see you

again."

She looked down at the floor before loosening a

breath and meeting his eyes, her shoulders squaring
back before she spoke.

"All right, well let's get you into the war room."

Alena walked towards the door, Graydon following
her out.

Graydon tried not to laugh as he noticed he had

been right, they made their headquarters in an old
music studio. The door to his cell was changed out
for something more secure. They had also added
fixtures to the inside of his room, but he had to give

them credit, it was a smart choice.

He followed her down a hallway as they passed

other rooms, some with the doors open, revealing
bare beds and items strewn about. Most of the
doors were closed though, and none looked as
secure as the one he had been held in.

"What are in those?" he asked as they passed

along the hallway, motioning with his head to the
doors.

"Most of them are still the rooms from the

original studio. We only changed out a few to make
rooms for the crew to sleep in. The dining area will
come up ahead on our left, and bathrooms are
further up on the left as well. There are two more
secured sound booths like the one you were in. One
we have for another holding cell, and the other is
where we conduct business," she replied.

He nodded as they continued to walk along.

"How many are in your group?" he asked as they
passed an old advertisement from a record label.

"I don't know, honestly. In Russia, we recruit

quietly. It's growing in other countries though, other
areas that need us. We have groups that travel like
ours, and sometimes there are recruits from those
missions."

He chuckled. "You guys must think you're

something, huh? Superhero vigilantes on a
worldwide mission?"

He was still smirking as she stopped sharply and

turned to him. With her finger pointing up at him
she spoke a single word in warning, "Don't."

"Why?" he asked tauntingly.

"Because, you have no idea who we are, what

we do, and-"

He stopped her short, cutting her off. "Oh, I

know exactly what you do. You run around lying
and scheming, ruining lives to accomplish whatever
justice your group deems worthy above human
decency. Take someone hostage? It happens.
Destroy a life? Collateral damage I suppose."

She stepped closer to him, her eyes full of fire.

"You were lied to for a year and held secure for

less than thirteen hours until we could tell you the
truth, so what? Do you want to cry about it a little
more? Do you think that's not worth your country's
freedom? Do you think we owe you more than we
owe the innocent people who are trying to live their
lives out there?"

He was rendered silent as she laid into him, her

eyes cutting him like a knife as she continued on.

"I thought you were one of the good ones. I

thought you were someone who would fight against
tyranny and injustice. Don't forget that it was me
you told all of your thoughts to, all of those feelings
of protection and loyalty. If we have the wrong guy,
tell me now. I'll send you home personally. I can get
this mission done without you if I need to."

Her eyes were challenging him, her face

unwavering as she waited for him to reply. She
closed the distance between the two of them and
she now stood unnervingly close. Her breathing
quickening as she had unleashed her anger out at
him. He suddenly had to fight the urge to press his
lips to hers.

She wasn't beautiful when she was angry, she

was magnificent, like a divine angel of retribution.
Her gaze refused to back down, her body unwilling
to bend. He remembered the way her skin felt
against his lips, the way her body had arched as he
touched her. She was unlike anything he had ever
known, and it was both infuriating and entrancing.

He forced himself to pull away from her gaze.

To tear away from the look of steel and flame she
was giving him. "You're right. I'm sorry," he

conceded.

She was right; he admitted silently. What she said
was correct. Graydon would give up whatever was
needed to stop something capable of what they
were describing.

He would do whatever was necessary and the

whining would change nothing. Still, he wasn’t
convinced this group was as righteous as they were
making themselves out to be.

She gave him a nod in acknowledgment before
turning on her heel and making her way down the
hallway again.

They passed the small room he assumed was

the dining area she mentioned earlier. It looked like
an old break room they added a bigger table to, a
few pieces of fruit in a bowl on top of it.

The space looked tidy, and welcoming. He

thought it looked rather homely for a secret
organization, but he wasn't going to point that out.
He figured he had insulted them enough.

They walked along in silence and he mapped out
the studio in his head as they walked. There wasn't
any natural light streaming in. Most places like this

had a reception area that would allow light in, but
he was guessing they boarded the windows and
doors up.

The pair turned a corner and walked through an

open doorway before Alena stopped and turned to
him. Gesturing out her hand, she opened the door
that stood in front of him. "Welcome to the war
room, Mr. King," she said with a bemused grin on
her face.

Chapter 8

he war room was an area similar to the cell he

had been in, both spaces containing rubber foam on
the walls in various textures and sizes. It was a
smart option for a group who needed security. The
walls prevented any sound from leaking through to
listening devices, and the two-chambered room
offered another layer of security.

Graydon stepped inside, noticing the door in this
room had been replaced with one similar to the
door on his cell, though this one locked from the
inside.

There was a long table taking up most of the

space, with makeshift seating varying from office-
styled rolling chairs to a few plain metal ones
scattered about. There were papers on the table
along with a few pens and coffee cups.

Masha was already sitting down, as well as the

two men from earlier. The only person he didn’t
recognize was a woman around Masha's age. She
wasn't paying attention to him as she continued
typing on the laptop sitting in front of her.

Graydon walked in and Masha spoke in her

clipped voice. To him, it always sounded like she
was tired of repeating something to a child, with
him being the exasperating child.

"Mr. King, this is Malachai," she said before

gesturing with her head to the man sitting across
from her. She then motioned to the man on her
left, "This is Leo. They are a part of our security
team. Leo's brother Rolav is one of our internal
team members, I believe you know him as Mark
Brown."

Graydon thought a moment, recalling the

blonde-haired man with glasses. He was around the
same age as Graydon, though he might have been a
bit younger. Graydon hadn't paid him much
attention, which meant he must have done his job
well.

"Yes. I know him," he replied shortly. Mark had

been a part of the security team well before
Graydon had come into the position. That fact
made him curious to find out how long this had all

been going on.

Masha didn’t give him time to dwell on the

information before she spoke again.

"This is my sister, Galina. She is our

communications director. We have two more men
in the field who you should never have to meet.
You already know Alena. Please take a seat so we
can begin."

Graydon walked over and sat down in a chair

that was one seat down from Malachai. The guard
still had his weapons holstered and Graydon didn’t
like being the only unarmed person in the room.

He couldn't imagine Alena with a gun, but that

didn't mean he was stupid enough to count her out
of having one either. The tan-skinned man he was
sitting near reached his height, but had a wiry
frame.

Where Graydon's body was muscular and

broad, this man was slight, with an athletic build.
He knew he could overpower him if it came to it.
Leo would be a different matter. The man sitting
across the table was older than his brother who
worked at Harvell Tech. Where Malachai was lean,
Leo was massive. If things went south, he’d have to
watch the blonde man.

Alena took a seat across from him and Graydon

spoke up before Masha had the chance to say
anything more.

"I can gain access to the building using the

underground route, but the guards at the front will
be notified once the elevator is activated."

"That's not an issue. We can have Rolav switch

with one of the other guards so he can be there. He
can silence the code before the other guards even
realize it goes off." Masha said, her tone dismissive.

Alena spoke up before he could respond. "Why

do we need to be secretive? For all they know
Graydon could be returning to the office to work on
something he had needed to get done today."

Masha frowned before shaking her head. "No, I

don't like them knowing he's in the building. It
raises too much awareness."

"But if they think their boss is in they'll give

him more privacy instead of being on alert. As far
as they know he's just catching up after missing a
day of work, which is exactly what he'd do if any of
this was real." Alena challenged.

Graydon watched the two of them contending

back and forth before interjecting. "Alena is right.

They don't know anything is amiss. I can walk in
and follow protocol just like I normally would, and
go to my office to finish up whatever I needed to
work on. That would be the most natural scenario
and it fits into our plan."

The two other men looked bored as they

watched the argument unfold between the two
women, and now himself. Graydon wondered how
many times they had to sit through similar
discussions before one of the two gave in. He
imagined it was like watching Heaven and Hell
battle.

Masha didn’t seem like the type to change her

mind easily, and he knew Alena was as equally
stubborn. He figured that the two men sitting at the
table must have to summon more patience dealing
with those two than anything the job threw at them.

Masha sat silent a moment before she gave an

imperceptive nod of acknowledgment. "Fine. You'll
use your card, give them your clearance codes and
go to your office. Then what?" she asked, her voice
clipped.

Graydon grabbed a nearby pen and began

tapping it lightly on the table. It was a habit he did
when he was thinking. For the longest time, his leg
would bounce when he needed to figure out a

problem or right before they were about to face
one. It was a terrible waste of misplaced energy, but
it was something he did unintentionally.

The leg shaking had stopped though after he

spent six months in physical therapy. His body had
reacted in turn by taking that nervous energy and
demanding it be let out, some times in the most
annoying of ways. That fact being abundantly clear
as his gaze found Masha frowning at the pen in his
hand.

Still tapping the pen against the table, Graydon

broke the silence.

"I can run a security check on the system. I was

supposed to give Hart a report this morning, so it
would be likely that I would do it before creating a
report to leave on his desk tonight. That would not
only give me an excuse to access the system, but
also to go into his office. I could be in and out
within a few hours with no one the wiser."

"You're delusional if you think you're going to

be in there alone Mr. King," Masha replied.

He held his hands up to her. "Look, I'm not

trying to cause trouble or double-cross you people.
There’s just no way anyone without clearance can
be in that office without triggering an alarm."

"Just take Mark Brown with you. We could set

up a pre-arranged time, call the front office with a
message, and have him meet you. It would look
coincidental and completely plausible," Alena
offered.

Graydon's mind began working, trying to figure

out a reason that plan wouldn't be possible. He
didn't want anyone in there with him.

First, there was the matter of research on what

that chip was, or what it might contain. Then, there
was the matter of going into the office and either
destroying it, or tucking it away, if it was in fact
blackmail.

Either way, he trusted no one in this group any

more than they trusted him, which made it that
much more important he did everything alone.

He mentally tried throwing every problem he

could at it, but her plan made sense and it would
work. Nodding, he replied, "That'll work for me.
Feel better?"

"I believe that's the best way to ensure our

mutual goal is met. Once you and Rolav get access
to the chip and its codes, you will need to head
back to your office and dispose of everything. The
designs must all be erased, and the chip destroyed.

We do not want to take the chance of something
like this ever coming to fruition again." Masha
replied.

"What about after that? What happens next?

They'll have my face plastered to every news outlet
and police station for stolen property. They'll figure
you all out as well, once Dr. Klein and Mark Brown
disappear. Am I supposed to join you all? Become a
part of your vigilante group?" Graydon demanded.

Alena looked over at Masha, who reached into

her suit's pocket, pulling out a checkbook. The
woman wrote on the small pad before she tore a
page out of the book and held it up for him to see.

"Two-hundred thousand USD. That is your

salary for the year is it not?" Masha asked.

Without waiting for him to confirm the question

she added, "You destroy the chip and its codes with
Rolav, we will rendezvous back here, and I will sign
this check. You are free to join our group. With
your set of skills you could do a lot of good in the
world, and you would have protection, but we do
not force membership."

Masha slid the check to the other older woman.

Graydon watched as her sister grabbed the check
and tucked it away inside a folder.

"How do I know you have the funds to back up

that check?" he asked.

"I’ll send the funds electronically if you prefer.

You can check your account immediately for all I
care, I'll wait patiently while you do. The funds are
there Mr. King. The money is yours for doing the
job. If you join us, you will be provided with a
salary, in addition to that check’s amount."

Graydon replied, his voice edged with anger.

"Thanks for the proposition, but that's not going to
happen."

Masha shrugged before replying, "The offer is

on the table."

Graydon ran the plan over in his mind. He

didn’t like that he’d have to trust them to follow
through on the money, but even if they had lied
about it; destroying something that detrimental
would be worth it, money or not. He looked over at
Alena. "What’s your role in this?"

Her brow furrowed before she replied, "What

do you mean? My job is finished."

He shook his head. "I know better. You’re not

the type to sit on your hands while the rest of us
complete the mission. What are you going to be

doing? Do I need to watch my back?"

He noted that the corner of her lips tugged

slightly before she answered his question.

"Malachai and Leo will monitor the mission

from the outside, and I'll be monitoring from the
inside. You'll never know I'm there. The only thing
you need to watch is the clock. You guys will need
to be out of there no later than four a.m."

He regarded her a second more; not knowing

how she planned on getting into the building
without being detected, much less hiding there.

He had known better than to think she would sit

this one out. She could make fun of him all she
wanted about needing to be in control, but he had a
feeling she was the same way.

Masha spoke up.

"Alena and Mr. King will go to Brenna Klein’s

apartment and wait there until 4:30 pm. Mr. King
will then leave Brenna Klein’s apartment and arrive
at his apartment around 4:45 where he will carry on
with his routine," she turned to him before adding,
"Mr. King, it will be imperative you act normal,
there are eyes on your apartment and every move
will be watched."

He gave her a sharp nod, her words answering

the question of why they hadn’t bugged his place. It
would seem Harvell Tech had already done that. He
wondered how long he had been tailed.

If he believed the people sitting at this table,

then there had never been a time when he wasn’t
watched like an animal. The thought of that made
his blood warm.

Masha spoke again. "Mr.King will leave his

home in time to be at Harvell Tech at 7:30 pm. He
will enter through the basement and follow
protocol, alerting staff to his presence. He will then
proceed to his office. Mr. King, how long will you
need before going into Mr. Druvell’s office?"

Graydon remained quiet as he thought a

moment. He would need to run the security report,
which would take anywhere from forty-five
minutes to an hour and a half. While he was
running the report, he would need to access the
secret files that were stored on their safeguarded
servers. He would have to cover his tracks, feigning
testing, which would take time.

With Rolav now joining him in Harvell's office

he would need to leave himself plenty of time in
private to see what was on the chip.

"Three hours," he replied with certainty.

Masha nodded. "We will have Rolav meet you

between your office and Mr.Harvell’s at 10:30 pm.
You two will then gain access to the chip before
you retreat to your office where you will then
destroy the assets. Once you destroy the assets you
and Rolav will need to leave the premises at once."

"What about the other security guards at the

main entrance? They'll notice their coworker never
came back." Alena asked.

Graydon leaned back in his chair watching

them all. He wondered how many times they had
sat around each other and planned missions like this
one.

Graydon thought he left the world of espionage

and undercover operations long behind him. He
hoped those days were gone, yet here he was,
planning to steal and destroy the projects he had
worked for a year to keep safe.

The first time he had re-upped with the military

he had been a kid, barely at the age of twenty-two.
He could remember sitting in his commander's
office, telling him that he wanted to extend his
service another four years. The older man had
grinned as he got the paperwork together.

He told Graydon that re-upping was as good as

signing a life's term. Graydon had assumed the man
was talking about a love for the role. That those
who re-enlisted after their first term would continue
to re-enlist until they retired for love of the work.

While Graydon thought about everything that

led to this moment; he wondered if the man all
those years ago meant he could never escape the
life, even if he wanted to. It had seeped into not
only who he was, but the world he inhabited. The
military might have ended his contract, but that
didn't mean he wasn't a soldier anymore.

It was decided that Masha would call the Harvell
Tech building at 11:00 pm pretending to be Mark
Brown’s landlord with a building emergency,
prompting the young man to leave. That would
allow both him and Rolav to exit together.

Graydon glanced at his watch, noting they had

three hours to get to the apartment and bide their
time until 4:30.

"It seems the plan is set. Speak now if you are not
in agreement with it," Masha asked.

Graydon watched as each team member

remained silent, waiting on the older woman to

continue.

"Then it's settled. Godspeed to you all," Masha

announced, promptly ending their meeting.

The group got up from the table, Malachai
stretching before he and Leo walked out together,
talking quietly. Graydon stood up and regarded the
woman, Galina, who hadn't stopped typing the
whole time they had been discussing the plan.

Alena spoke up, catching his gaze.

"Galina records everything we discuss and

reports it to our command. Everything is well
coded, it's an easy way to keep everything and
everyone in sync."

Graydon watched Galina a moment more before
turning to Alena. "So, are you ready to take me
back to your place?" he asked with a rogue smile.

Alena laughed, the first real laugh he had heard
since their date. The small indention of dimples
showing on her face.

"Keep it in your pants Romeo," she replied

before walking towards the door. Graydon
following her trail out of the room.

Chapter 9

raydon followed her out of the room and

wondered how they would make it to her place
without giving up this location. He realized
however, that they had thought ahead. Alena
walked to a stairwell near the entrance to the room
they had previously been in. "After you," she
gestured to the stairwell with a sideways grin on her
face.

He walked through the door, climbing the steps

as he spoke. "Your apartment is above the sound
studio. How did I not see that coming?"

He could tell she was grinning by the sound of

her voice as she replied. "Is that awe I hear?"

"Maybe. Is this a back entrance?"
"Yes. There's a stairwell that's more commonly

used on the street, it goes directly to the studio
above. It's the only one I've been using for the past
year. We'll be well documented exiting together if
they've bothered to have you watched today."
Alena answered.

"Then yes, it's awe," he admitted with a smile.

They made it to the top of the stair landing and

she took out a key, turning the lock before opening
the door. The door opened to a small entryway with
coats hung up, and women's shoes scattered
around.

The apartment was impeccably clean, aside

from a few scattered pieces of mail. It was
organized and decorated like something from a
magazine. As he looked around the room, he
realized it was exactly like a magazine, everything
superficially comfortable and homely. It was the
kind of home that no one ever actually lived in.
"Your place is nice," he remarked.

She gave him a pointed stare. "This isn't my

home."

"It might as well be, you've been here for a year

right?" he asked.

"This is my office if you want to get into

specifics. I own nothing you're looking at. You
know how it is. I'm sure you never had to buy your
first set of pots and pans until you left the
military."

"Actually, I still haven't," he admitted,

chuckling.

She took the jacket from him and hung it up at

the door along with her own. "What do you mean?
You've been out a year."

When he felt the redness creeping into his

cheeks he pursed his lips. She glanced over at him,

her eyes taking in his red cheeks, and she began to
grin.

"Wait, you can't cook, can you?" she asked

incredulously. Graydon rubbed the back of his neck
as he replied, "It wasn't a skill I needed to know."

She laughed, musing to herself, "The great

Graydon King, soldier prodigy, foiled by a saute
pan. Who would've guessed?"

He knew it was embarrassing that a man his age

didn't know how to cook, but it wasn't like he was
exposed to it every day.

The military had been his source of breakfast,

lunch, and dinner for almost thirteen years. Food
was a source of energy and sustainment, he didn't
have the luxury of eating for pleasure.

She walked towards the kitchen and he

followed suit.

"I can make a sandwich just fine thank-you-

very-much," he retorted.

She pointed to one of the chairs pushed against

the kitchen island. "Here, have a seat, I'll make us
something to eat." Alena snickered.

Graydon sat down in the chair and watched

Alena as she pulled things out of the fridge. "Is
there anything I can help you with at least?" he
offered.

She shook her head, replying, "I've got it, you

just sit and think about the mission tonight."

He sat quietly, watching her work. The mission

wasn't on his mind, it didn't need to be. It was
simply another job to him. It was no different from
anything he had ever done before. There would be
deception, there would be a forced entry, and there
would be an intelligence extraction. This job wasn't
anything new to the ex-soldier.

Watching her cook, however, was something

new. He watched as she took her time precisely
measuring out ingredients, smugly surprised to note
she was a messy cook. As she chopped peppers and
onions he asked, "Where did you learn to cook?"

She paused a moment, and he wondered if she

would tell him anything personal. He was trying to
find her eyes, but she was focusing on the
vegetables in front of her. Slowly, she began
chopping again, replying to him quietly, "My
mother. She loved to cook."

He nodded, watching her gather the chopped

pieces together. "I take it she isn't a business
lawyer?"

Alena shook her head before turning from him,

putting the vegetables into the pan on the stove. He
had figured that was the end of the conversation.

However, as she began stirring she spoke, her

voice soft and steady, "My parents were Russian
spies during the cold war."

Graydon's eyebrows raised, stunned at what she

said. He hadn't seen that one coming. He assumed
she had taken the vigilante lifestyle up after being

recruited, but now he was wondering if she had
been raised in it.

She said nothing more and continued stirring

the food on the stove. He remained quiet a moment
until he couldn't contain himself. "You've got to tell
me more than that. Is that how you ended up with
this group?"

She paused and let out a small breath before

replying, "That's a long story."

Shrugging, he simply said, "We've got time."
Alena glanced over her shoulder at him a

second before looking back at the stove, her hand
stirring in a steady rhythm.

"My parents were born in 1958 in Saratov,

Russia. When they were twenty-one it was the
golden age of espionage during the cold war. My
Mother and Father were recruited as KGB spies
and sent to America with the promises of a
glamorous, secretive life. They lived here for eight
years passing secrets onto the Russians until I came
along, unexpected of course." Alena chuckled
before continuing on with her story, "My father
worked for the CIA, in their IT department, and my
mother was a schoolteacher. They weren't supposed
to have a baby."

Alena turned the stove off and turned back to

him, refusing to meet his eyes as she walked to the
fridge and grabbed the eggs and milk.

Pouring the milk and cracking the eggs into a

ceramic bowl she continued with her story,
Graydon silently listening.

"After I was born they remained in America

three years until they could secure passage back to
Russia. My mother used to tell me that she never
cared much about the risk of what they were doing
until I came into the picture. I guess having a child
put things into perspective."

He continued watching her, not daring to speak.

She added everything to a dish and slid it into the
oven, walking over to where he was sitting. She
pulled the chair across from him out and sat down,
wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

"They made it to Russia, but things were

different. It was nearing the end of the cold war,
but because they had left their post so
unexpectedly, they were viewed with suspicion. It
was, of course, made much worse by them bringing
their American child back with them. My parents
went from being secret spies to being secretly spied
on." Alena said.

"That must have been hard," he murmured.

She nodded. "It was. We had no privacy. We

knew our government was listening to everything

from telephone calls to dinner conversations. My
Mother couldn't find work once they returned, but
my father was able to get a job with the newly
created Foreign Intelligence Service. Though that
only increased our level of being watched."

He noticed she had twisted the small hand

towel around her hands, upset at the memory.
Graydon's eyes took in her face. He spoke softly,
his voice remaining steady. "What happened to
them?" Alena’s green eyes met his, a sadness
haunting them.

"Everything we did was tightly controlled. We

were second-rate citizens in our own country. They
took away anything they deemed unnecessary, and
the suspicion was everywhere. One day, my father
had a few friends over from work for dinner. I was
fifteen and I remember helping my mother wash the
dishes from the meal when we overheard my father
mention America. That was an unspoken word in
our home. My mother had walked into the room
they were sitting in and listened as my father,
having too much to drink, began talking about our
time there. My mother had tried to get him to stop
talking, but his friends were just fueling the fire."

She stopped twisting the towel in her hands and

her eyes stared at nothing in particular, her gaze a
million miles away.

"He talked about free speech. How he had been

in awe of a country that supported the people of
their nation, though his heart would forever be in
Russia. My mother had then run to her room, while
I moved closer to the door, listening to my father.
He never talked about the life they led all those
years ago, before I came along. I had been
entranced by the stories he was telling to his
friends, but my Mother had come back into the
room, thrusting a bag at me. She knew it was all
over."

Graydon leaned forward and put his hand on

hers, that action snapping her out of her faraway
gaze. Her eyes found his. He didn't say a word as
he softly squeezed her hand. Alena smiled in thanks
before continuing on, her hand still under his.

"I went to a neighbor's home that night. When I

woke up for school, they were gone. They were
tried as criminals, as traitors, and were sentenced to
life in prison. They never made it there, they were
murdered when the sentencing was finished. I was
told there would be an investigation, but even as a
child I knew they were sending a message with my
parent's deaths. I ended up in an orphanage, though
I didn't stay longer than a month. If you want to see
hell all you need to do is visit a Russian
orphanage."

Graydon felt the urge to hold her in his arms, to

go back in time and shield her from the pain. It was
no wonder she had reacted so strongly to the chip
that would force everyone into what her parents
had gone through.

She had been willing to do whatever it took to

keep something like that from ever happening
again. At that moment he realized she was more of
a soldier than he had ever been.

He had made his life by doing what he was told,

by enacting whatever he needed to do to get the job
assigned to him completed. Alena was fighting for
something she believed in, an injustice she could
prevent and shield others from. Alena was fighting
for every man, woman, and child in this country
and the freedoms they hadn't even known were at
stake. She was braver and stronger than he ever
had given her credit for.

The timer on the oven went off, and they both

jumped. Alena laughing before standing up,
grabbing the oven mitt and opening the door.
"When Masha and день found me I had been living
on the streets for a year. I picked up a few
unsavory talents on top of the few things my father
had taught me. They offered me a home, and I've
been with them every since then."

He watched as she set the dish down. A

heavenly aroma of eggs, melted cheese, and
vegetables filling the room. He got up and walked
to her fridge, taking out two bottles of water. She
took the one he offered and spoke again.

"I hope you like frittatas. Hopefully, it's

seasoned enough for you this time," she gave him
another pointed look.

"So you were my chef? Sorry. I didn’t mean to

hurt your feelings," he laughed.

She shrugged, "You'll have to say a lot more

than that to hurt my feelings."

He found himself watching her, a grin on his

face. She was nothing like he had pegged her for.
Yet again he was wondering who the woman in
front of him was.

He had thought when he first met her she was a

stoic therapist, then later a beautiful timid girl next
door, after that a traitor and then if he was honest
he would admit he had thought she was a
brainwashed idealist.

Now as he was meeting her, perhaps for the

first time, he saw her as a woman who, despite life
dealing her a terrible hand, fought for others. A
woman who chose to see the good in people. She

was smart and funny, someone who was every bit
as fiery as she was kind. As he gave her a sideways
grin he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he had
met his match.

He took a bite and nodded, giving an

appreciative sound. "Thank you, this is delicious,"
he said before taking another bite.

She shrugged before replying, "It's just eggs."
He continued eating a moment before shaking

his head, "No, it's really good. I appreciate it."
Alena laughed.

"Well, I would give you the recipe but we

already established you can't cook, so you'll have to
be content with saving it to memory," she chuckled.

Graydon grinned before drinking some water,

half-choking when she added, "Or you could join
us, and I could make it whenever you liked."

He stared at her, the two trying to read one

another as neither of their faces hinted an emotion.
He had the cap to the water bottle in his hands, and
he began absentmindedly playing with it. "Did you
want to go on that date with me or was that part of
the act?" Graydon questioned softly.

He knew she had to have manipulated him into

asking her out. They needed him to get her into
Harvell Tech's heart and he had played right into
their plans. With every small blush, and feigned
disappointment he all but served the world to her

on a platter.

That didn't mean she hadn't wanted to go out

with him though. Call it narcissistic, but it was a
factor for him. His eyes remained on her,
unwavering.

She leaned back in her chair, the question

hanging in the air in front of them. "That doesn’t
matter."

"I think it does." Graydon replied.
"We’re asking you to put your skills to use for

good instead of evil. A beneficial way that can
change lives, and all you care about is finding out
whether I wanted to go on the date with you?" she
asked critically.

Graydon replied, irritation seeping into his

voice.

"I’ve spent my whole life putting my skills to

use for the benefit of others. Don’t forget that I
almost died at the will of my country, Alena. I
would have gladly paid that price if it meant
keeping people I’ve never even met before safe. So
don’t preach to me about being evil."

"You can’t honestly sit there and say you had

no idea that company was creating awful things
Graydon. I get the Gordion Project, but you can’t
honestly think they were in there creating
something good."

“No, I knew a lot of their designs were on the

shady side, but I didn’t think they were creating

morally wrong things that went against our country.
Now answer the question,” he demanded.

She got up from the small kitchen island and

grabbed her plate, putting it in the sink. He grabbed
his as well and walked over to where she was. “Let
me clean those, you made lunch,” he said before
turning on the water.

She hadn’t said a word in return. Instead, she

silently picked up the bowls and utensils she had
dirtied, sitting them next to him at the sink.

Alena grabbed a towel and started drying the

dishes as he washed. She spoke softly, "Having you
ask me out, and gaining entry into Harvell Tech was
the whole point of that year we spent together.
Actually, the first plan was to knock you out after
five or six months of therapy, but I talked them out
of it."

“Gee thanks,” he replied dryly.
“You’re welcome,” she laughed.
He glanced over at her, the two of them sharing

a smirk. He waited for her to answer him, unwilling
to let the question go.

As she put a bowl into the cabinet, he could tell

the humor had left her without even looking up
from the dishes. She changed her demeanor from
witty and sarcastic to something more vulnerable.

Her voice was barely audible as she replied.

“Yes, I did." Alena's voice was more solid as she
added, "I don’t know why that matters though, it’s

not like that changes anything."

“It might for me,” he replied, shrugging.
She laughed. “Are you trying to say you would

still be interested in something romantic between
us? Or should I say friendly? You were awful at
asking, so I’m not entirely sure we’re on the same
page.”

Graydon felt his cheeks redden as he retorted.

“Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve asked a girl out. I
think I did pretty good considering you said yes.”

She rolled her eyes playfully, “I had to say yes.”
“But you admitted that you would have said

yes, even if you didn’t have to.”

“Yes,” she replied before continuing, “But none

of that matters because all of that was before you
found out the truth. The truth changes everything
Graydon. What is that saying? The truth shall set
you free?”

Graydon glanced over at her, her face giving

him a humorless smile. She dried their cups, and he
focused more intently than necessary on the last
plate in the sink.

She was right; he had been interested in the

woman she had been pretending to be. He hadn’t
known where that interest might go, but he wanted
to find out. She had been opposite of him in every
way, and he was drawn to her like forbidden fruit.

He now tried picturing what their life might

have been like, had she not been a part of this

organization. If she actually was the quiet therapist
he had grown to know and care for.

He tried to imagine what they would do, how

they would spend their weekends. What friends
they might spend time with, but it didn’t add up. He
couldn’t see himself changing enough to be what
she would have wanted.

He didn’t like to read much; he hated the quiet

and impassively calm nature she had always
carried. Graydon craved adventure and action.
Now that he was allowing himself to think about it;
he honestly couldn’t see a future with the
imaginary woman he had wanted so badly only a
few short hours ago.

He should have known better, he had known it

all of his life: guys like him didn’t get happily ever
after. The happiest ending he could hope for would
be a quick death. He wasn’t the guy that spent
quiet weekends at home, or attended parties with
other couple friends.

He couldn’t be what women like that needed or

wanted. Graydon wasn’t made for that. She was
right; the truth set him free. Free from idolizing a
life he would never have fit into.

"I guess you’re right. I don’t think Brenna Klein

would have stayed too long anyway," he said as he
gave her a subdued smile.

She looked curiously up at him before asking,

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” he explained, “She was quiet and calm.

She didn’t seem like the type that would be ok with
guns and loud activities. Plus, she hated football,
which honestly, should have been my first red flag.”

She laughed, causing him to smile. He had to

admit the dark hair was growing on him. Where the
red hair made her look guiltless and angelic, her
black hair brought out something of a more deadly,
passionate side. She looked every bit as fiery and
unyielding as he was coming to know her to be.

She was the first to break the quiet that settled

between them. “She isn’t me. Even though I’d do it
again in a heartbeat to save what we’re risking our
lives for; I am sorry it had to be done to you.”

Alena turned to him. Her hip leaning against the

sink as she added, “You deserve happiness
Graydon, don’t let this stop you from looking for
it.”

His eyes searched hers, afraid of speaking the

words he wanted to say. The ones that said he
wasn’t worthy of what she was telling him he
deserved. She was echoing words that people said
when they didn't know all the terrible things he had
done. Graydon did not deserve a happy life, and
that was just how it was.

He knew well enough to know that there was

no magic in the world, there was no fairy who
would show up and suddenly grant him a peaceful
life.

People could sleep safely at night from the

monsters he kept away, doing things that in turn
had made him a monster himself. That kind of stuff
couldn’t be overlooked or forgiven.

"You’re not a real therapist Alena," Graydon

replied, his words icy. He turned back to the sink as
she immediately fired back a reply, “Maybe not,
but I was your friend for a year.”

His hands dropped to the edge of the sink, not

meeting her eyes. “How can you be friends with
someone who’s a lie?”

Alena's voice was commanding. “Don’t. You’re

trying to push me out. I know you. I was there
Graydon, don’t forget it. I may not have a piece of
paper that says I’m a therapist, but for a year I
listened to you. For a year, I helped pull you out of
the dark shell of a human you were when you came
in.”

He turned to face her, determination filling her

face. She was right, she had been there. Even if she
was no real therapist, he couldn’t deny she helped
him. He didn’t like to think back to what he had
been when he first arrived.

When he was fresh from the accident, the ink

still drying on his discharge papers. He had been
angry, and unwilling to see the truth. He had been
difficult, and callus, but she stayed.

She toughed it out for a year, making small

progress and opening him up little by little. Alena

had been the first one to make him laugh since
leaving the military. She had been the one to give
him a lifeline, a hand in the dark to pull him up
when he needed it the most.

He turned fully to her, his dark brown eyes

finding hers. His voice rising as the resentment
seeped into his words. “You have no idea who I am
Alena. You don't know what I’ve done. Guys like
me...we don’t get families. We don’t get -”

She cut him off, her voice matching his, fire for

fire.

“You don’t get love because that’s just one

more weakness someone could use against you.
You don’t get to have a quiet life because when you
slow down, you get sloppy. When you get sloppy,
people die. You don’t get to share your life with
anyone because how could you ever explain away
your night terrors? That you always have two
weapons on you at any given moment? I get it.”

Alena paused, her eyes unyielding as she

pressed on, “You’re not the only one who’s been
through hell and back Graydon. You’re not the only
one who wants more than they know they deserve.
You just have to be willing to fight for it. Be willing
to go after it as ruthlessly as you do any other job
you come across.”

He looked into her eyes so full of passion. He

realized then how much she was like him. Alena
was a soldier, she knew what it was like to fight and

bleed for something you believed in.

She knew what it was like to sleep with one eye

open, or more than likely, not at all. She knew what
it felt like to be watched and hunted. Alena was
every bit as much of an oddity as he was. If there
was anyone in this world who had a chance of
understanding him, it would be her.

It would be Alena, with her fiery passion and

entrancing green eyes. It would be Alena with her
snarky, quick comments and dark red lips. With her
face alight with determination.

"Are you talking about me or yourself?" he

asked.

“Why do you have to differentiate?” she

demanded.

He shook his head, “Look, I’m not trying to

play down anything you do.”

“You don’t know what I do,” she interjected, a

hand on her hip.

He gave her a pointed look before replying,

“People like us aren’t meant to have that kind of
life, we aren’t meant to play those parts.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Are you scared? Is

that it? Does the idea of something good and happy
scare you? Because you sound like you’re making
excuses right now.”

He pursed his lips, the words he wanted to say

fighting to come out. He hesitated another moment
before speaking, the words barely audible. “What if

I fail? What if it all goes to hell? A relationship with
a person like me might not just end in heartbreak,
and I couldn’t put someone else through that.”

She gazed up at him, meeting his tense look. “It

will assuredly all go to hell, you just have to find
someone willing to take the trip with you. A partner
who makes the trip worth it.”

The words she said sent a chill down his spine.

“You sound like you’re offering,” he remarked.

The two of them were just a few inches away,

each breathing deeply. Their bodies tense and ready
for something to happen. Whether that action might
be an outright brawl or a burst of passion he wasn’t
sure.

She spoke then, her voice steady and level. “I

offered you a chance to do something with your
life, not a chance to play boyfriend.”

“So you’re all talk? You can sit here and preach

to me about not taking a leap of faith, but you’re
unwilling to do the same.”

“Maybe,” she began, “I’m just unwilling to take

the leap with you.”

She smirked and he was again reminded how

infuriatingly snarky she was. He took her in, his
eyes searching for any hint of emotion or clue to
what she was actually feeling. His eyes ran over her
lips and he felt a longing to have them pressed
against his again. Her green eyes were playful and
wickedly alluring. He wondered if she felt the same

burning desire that was getting harder and harder
for him to keep in check.

“Graydon, you’ve got too much baggage to be

worried about anyone other than yourself right
now,” she remarked.

“Is that my therapist talking or the Russian

operative?” he asked wryly.

She gave him an amused look before waving

her hand dismissively. “You’re not my type either
way.”

His face broke out into a wide grin, "Oh, I think

I’m exactly your type."

His eyes traveled down the curve of her body.

Graydon's hands fighting the urge to hold her
against him.

“You can’t say the moment in the office was all

an act. I felt you, Alena. I felt your body react to
mine. Are you going to pretend this is one-sided?”

Her cheeks reddened and something flashed a

moment in her eyes. He thought for a brief second
she might smack him, but instead, she moved
closer. Her chest barely touching his, the air
electric. She stood on her tiptoes, leaning in to
whisper in his ear. “You couldn’t handle me,
Graydon King.”

He inclined his head to her softly, feeling her

cheek pressed against his as he asked, “Is that a
challenge?” Graydon could feel her grin before she
replied, “I don’t think you know what you’re

asking for.”

His hand went to her side, his finger trailing the

curve of her body slowly. “I’d like to find out.”

She closed the distance between the two of

them. Her hands going to his chest and undoing the
shirt’s buttons.

Within moments he was helping her tug his shirt

off. He pressed his mouth to hers, a hunger
threatening to consume him. When he had first
kissed her lips, there had been trepidation and
shyness. He hadn’t wanted to push her or scare her
away.

Now, as her hands traveled the length of his

chest eagerly, and his mouth fervently pressed
against hers, there was an intensity and fire. She
was not the quiet therapist he was scared of
hurting. She was Alena, a passionate soldier of her
own making that could take him toe to toe. He
pulled her to him, not wanting any space between
them.

He could almost hear the blood pounding in his

body, needing her skin pressed to his like he needed
air to breathe. She leaned her head back, and he
kissed her neck. His hands sliding up her dress.

Her skin was soft and warm, and his body

pulsated with a desire to feel more. He followed her
thigh up, his hand tracing and teasing circles on her
skin. A sigh of pleasure escaped her lips as he
moved his hands between her legs. Lace met his

fingers, and he raised an eyebrow.

The lacy fabric was wet to his touch, and a

guttural moan came out of his lips as he gently
rubbed her. She moved her hand down his chest
and undid his pants. Her hand sliding inside and
moving to his hard manhood. He slid his fingers
inside of her. Alena gasped in pleasure as he moved
in rhythm, in and out of her. Alena raised her leg up
his, pushing against his hardness.

He slid his wet fingers out of her and picked her

up, her legs wrapping around his waist. Graydon
pressed her back against the wall, her dress riding
up as he pulled off his pants.

She spoke then, the first words coming out of

her lips since their passionate kiss began.
“Graydon, you know this can’t be anything more
than sex. I have to leave when all of this is over.”

He moved back to sucking on her neck as she

was speaking, his hands roaming freely over her
body, pressing her against the wall. She pressed her
lips to his again, her tongue pushing him closer and
closer to the edge.
His reply was quick between kisses, his voice
heavy with want. “Why? Why can’t we give it a
shot?”

She shook her head, “I can’t abandon them.”

He paused, catching her eyes. “But you can

abandon me? Is that what you’re saying?” he
asked.

She blinked, her face torn. A palpable tension

filling the space between them. It had been a long
time since Graydon had been with a woman, and
there certainly hadn’t been any who had matched
him so perfectly, who understood him so well. He
didn’t know where this could lead, but he knew he
didn’t want it to just be sex.

“When this is all over you still plan on leaving?” he
asked, his voice strained. She replied in protest,
“Our faces are going to be sent out to every
intelligence agency in the country, we’re all going
to have to leave. It’s the only way you’ll have a life
after this.”

His eyes held hers. “I get that, but you know what I
mean. Do you still plan on leaving?” Leaving him,
the unspoken end of the sentence hanging in the air.

“That’s not fair Graydon, they’re my family,” she
replied softly.

He nodded, resolution hardening his face. “I

get it.”

He put her down, his body physically hurting from

not being near her anymore. Alena’s eyes filled
with sadness. “Join us. Come with us. You’ll be
protected and safe. We could see where this goes.”
He shook his head, “I’m tired of being a soldier for
hire Alena. I’m tired of fighting the battles other
people decide are worth my life. Aren’t you? Don’t
you want something more?”

She bit her lip before replying, her face filled

with such sadness that he had to force himself not
to take her in his arms again, “I can’t”.

Confusion filled his features. “Can’t? You can’t, or
you won't?” he asked. She opened her mouth to
speak as a pounding on the door resounded through
the room.

A voice called out from the entryway, “You two

ready to get this show on the road? It’s time to go.”

Graydon was still watching her, ignoring the

voice that called to them. He watched as her iron
mask of indifference fell across her features,
replacing the hurt and pain that had filled her face
just moments ago.

Alena straightened her dress and ran her fingers

through her hair as he numbly began putting his
clothes back on.

Alena called out, her voice smooth, “We’re on

our way out now.”

Chapter 10

he two didn’t speak as they finished getting

dressed and walked to the side door of the
apartment. She glanced at her phone before looking
over at him.

"Your ride is waiting. Remember, when you walk
out of here you need to look like a man in love."

He gave a grunt of a reply to that before

slipping his shoes on. When he didn’t reply further
she continued, “You’ll be in the dark with everyone
due to your missing cell phone, but we’ll have eyes
on you at all times. If you need to contact us go
through Rolav.”

Graydon nodded and walked to the door. She

followed him, texting something on the phone
before pausing, catching his eyes. “We’re more
alike than you might think Graydon. This group is
my family, my unit. They’re the only life I have. If

you hadn’t of gotten discharged can you honestly
say you would've walked away?”

He read her eyes a moment before leaning

down and kissing her lips. There wasn’t anything he
wanted to say, anything he could say. He had
allowed himself to get swept away in romantic
notions of love.

He allowed himself to believe for a brief

moment that he might have found someone. The
notion, however, was as fake as the woman Alena
had pretended to be. He mentally kicked himself
for thinking this was anything more than a job to
her.

He pulled the door open, and affixed a lopsided

half-grin onto his face before waving to the driver
parked out front of the studio. Graydon jogged
down the steps and got inside the waiting car,
giving the man his address. He looked up to Alena’s
apartment window with a grin before the car pulled
away. Graydon didn’t let the grin leave his face
until he got home.

Even in his own apartment he knew he was

being watched, the dopey grin settling into a more
relaxed calm. It was exhausting, pretending that
everything was right in the world.

Pretending that his boss wasn’t a monster who

designed something that threatened the nation he
protected. Pretending that his therapist wasn’t a

Russian spy who had him wrapped around her
manicured little finger.

He forced himself to push the thoughts of her

away. He rehearsed the plan, but thoughts of Alena
came back to him like an addiction he couldn't
shake. Graydon's muscles were tense with
frustration as he padded around his home.

It was only when he stepped into the shower

did he allowed himself to relax. The fake grin
dropping, his shoulders relaxing. He thought back
to what she said to him. Would he have left the
military? Would he have stepped away from the
only place he had ever known happiness? He didn’t
think so.

It was easy to say yes, theoretically, but he

knew reality was a much harder pill to swallow. He
had never thought he would leave the military. It
always seemed pointless to think of something like
that. He had enjoyed his job and the calming
routine of it all.

That had been his home, just as this group was

for Alena. Could he really expect her to leave
something like that for whatever they had
developing between them?

He didn’t even know how he felt for her. She

was attractive, obviously. Her smile alone had
awoken things in him he never thought he had. Her
touch drove him crazy. With physical attraction,
they were hitting it out of the park. With anything

farther than that, things got tricky.

His last actual relationship was before basic,

before he even knew who he was. It hadn’t gone
well then, and that was before he became who he
was today. He thought about them together, their
chances at a life.

Alena had been the one to pull him out of his

darkest days. She had been the one who saw
something in him and made him fight for it. She was
smart, much smarter than him, and determined. He
could see the arguments ending in broken furniture
already. She didn’t yield, and neither did he.

She understood him though, in a way that only

someone who was already a friend could. Someone
who had also walked through Hell and came out on
the other side. She understood him, sometimes,
better than he understood himself. She put the
mission first though, and he wasn't sure he wanted
that anymore.

There was something there, something that

could be great, but there was no getting around this
group. He couldn’t ask her to leave. He couldn’t
expect or demand that of her, but he also knew he
couldn't join them either.

Graydon was tired of being someone else’s

puppet. He was tired of fighting wars he didn’t
believe in or even worse, wars he didn’t know
about.

He was through with being used and played like

a toy. He was ready to have a real life. The
problem, was that the only person who could offer
him a shot at having a real life was in a group
determined to make him into another soldier.

He couldn’t even picture Alena as a soldier, he

wasn’t sure she was one. She hadn’t gone into
detail about her specific job in the group. He
prayed it wasn’t a repeat position of pretend
therapist. He didn’t want to imagine her traveling
around the world and spending a year cozying up to
strange men. The thought of Alena smiling her
alluring smile at another guy was enough to make
his blood boil.

She had mentioned she would be there tonight

without him knowing, which he had doubted. Still,
it was preferable to thinking of her as a shadow,
and not a seductress.

Graydon stepped out of the shower and

gathered his things together. He had just enough
time to make a sandwich before leaving for Harvell
Tech. He took his time, trying not to grin when he
thought about Alena making fun of his lack of
cooking skills.

He packed his suitcase and paused a moment in

consideration that he would never see this place
again. When the mission was over, he would have
to run. There would be no coming back to this
place, or anywhere else they would be expecting
him.

He didn’t allow himself to think any more about

Alena’s offer to join her. There was too much he
needed to focus on, but it was certainly there at the
back of his mind. He closed the small briefcase that
he always took to work, not putting anything
personal inside.

Graydon had brought nothing with him, and

there was nothing he needed that he wouldn’t be
able to buy wherever he ended up. Mentally closing
this chapter of his life in his mind, he gripped the
suitcase firmly and walked out of the door.

The streets were crowded, and he used that to

his advantage, taking his time weaving in and out of
people. He tucked his head into his flipped-up
jacket collar as he walked along.

It was something he did when walking the

streets in an unfamiliar city. Though there was
nothing unfamiliar about the walk he was taking
now, the knowledge of him being watched was
enough to warrant it in his mind. Graydon knew
there was nothing that a coat collar could do to
protect a precisely aimed shot, but they had to have
that precise shot before they could take it.

Graydon made it to Harvell Tech at 7:32. He

knew Masha would loathe that he was already
ruining their careful plan for him to be there at
exactly 7:30. Graydon had known from the
beginning that the time she insisted on wouldn’t
happen.

If anyone had been tailing him and noting his

actions, 7:30 would have raised a red flag to even
the newest of newbies, but 7:32? Not a chance.

He entered through the underground garage,

following the same path he and Alena walked just a
day before. He keyed in his codes and rode the
elevator into the bowels of the building. Graydon
grabbed a talkie off the wall and cleared security,
making his way to his office.

His eye caught the painting Alena had fawned

over, and he knew without a doubt that hadn’t been
staged. His mind indulgently thought about the
galleries and shows they could attend. Alena
holding onto his arm, and how their evenings might
end.

He questioned if he was willing to give up those

thoughts for life as a normal man, unburdened by
being what this group or anyone else wanted him to
be. Graydon pushed the thoughts of her out of his
mind as he unlocked his office door.

He was here to do a job, a dangerous one. The

last thing he needed was to have his mind
wandering to thoughts of Alena Vasiliev. He walked
to his desk and accessed the computer.

He read over the security report that was

emailed to him. There was nothing worth any
interest, but he took his time, and even ordered a
random supply he would have needed in a few
days. He wouldn’t be here, but the less suspicion he

gave them was only more time he gave himself to
run.

Graydon ran the codes in the system; going

through the motions of the job exactly how he
would do if this all wasn’t a lie. He printed out the
report and made notes and comments he would
leave for his boss to read the next morning.

Graydon stapled the sheets together and

focused his attention back to his computer. He dug
into the computer’s security system, and into the
storage that housed their projects.

His clearance easily got him into the softball

stuff they didn’t mind sharing with people who
might breach the first level of security. They were
projects on targeted ads and gaming speeds. The
projects they always hinted at to the media to keep
the company in the public’s eye.

Those chips and designs were like the small fish

swimming at the surface of the ocean. He needed to
dive deeper into their security to get to the big fish,
and then further past them to the monsters. Making
his way in and through the first and second levels,
he entered his codes for access into the third, the
monster level.

Each level of the security system had three fail

safes. When one level’s security was breached or
compromised, the second layer went up, and then
the third.

Graydon had designed the security system to be

triple guarded that way. There were few hackers
who could make it past one of their security walls.
That number decreased even greater with making it
past a second.

Even if a genius hacker could get past the first

and second, the odds they got past a third before
Harvell Tech could respond were almost nothing.

Graydon keyed in the sequence codes, and

waited for the access to boot up. He noticed the
server was taking more time than necessary.
Graydon leaned forward to check on the progress
and a message came up on the screen notifying him
he did not have access. Graydon’s brows furrowed
in confusion.

He himself had oversaw and built this security

system. He knew the ins and outs of every piece of
security enforcement they were running. Graydon’s
hand drummed on his knee in thought before he
keyed in his access code again. He tried not to
show much emotion, past obvious confusion at not
being able to access the security system he built.

As the system began the slow process of

checking his credentials again he ran through all the
scenarios that might have caused this. He didn’t
think he was compromised. He had done nothing
out of the ordinary to raise suspicion, at least not in
his mind.

There was a chance Hart bumped the security

up a notch for the incoming parties he invited to the

bidding war, but even then his access codes should
have automatically been cleared by the system.

The same error code came back to him and he

sighed in annoyance before deciding to take a new
approach to the security measures.

Graydon tried remembering Hart’s code. It was

one that changed all the time, but they mainly used
the same numbers and letters just in a rotating
pattern each time they made a switch.

Graydon keyed in a code and held his breath as

it came back informing him those credentials were
denied. Sighing in frustration he tried another that
came back flashing that it too was denied.

He knew if he keyed another wrong code into

the system the first level of security would pick it
up as being compromised. It would then prompt the
second level to lock down the mainframe, and alert
their tech and security team.

Graydon worked his way out of the system,

manually turning levels of security off starting with
the first softball level.

He planned on attacking the system from the

outside in. In theory, no matter what Hart did
Graydon would still have access to the main
servers. With using them, he could access the
levels he knew were hiding the bad projects like
Gordion.

He sent up a silent prayer before he began the

process of shutting them down one by one.

Graydon never thought he would see a day when
the tech company would have a total security shut
down. He also hadn’t thought he’d see the day
where he’d be the one destroying projects either.

Graydon put his hand on his knee, willing

himself to relax and breathe deeply. The plan was
slowly coming together when the system paused,
and he got an alert on his screen.

Automated Response//Forced Shut-Down Of

Security Level Alpha Detected//FS2 Enacted//
Base Level Driven //Press 1 If Shut-Down
Prepensely//Press 2 To Activate Manual Strike//

The alert was system-generated and would be

sent to his phone, and Hart’s, then lastly to his
computer. He didn’t have his cell so he wouldn’t be
able to respond, nor would he know if Hart had
seen the message.

In the past whenever a security breach was

tripped, and a message went out, Hart never
replied.

Graydon

had

always

responded

immediately, sending Hart a quick message
informing him that he would handle the issue.

There had been no need for his boss to lift a

finger, nor reply. However, as he stared at the
message on his screen, he knew his time was
running out.

Thinking quickly, he pulled up his email and

sent out a message to Hart. Graydon assured him
that he had purposefully triggered the code, and all

was well with the system.

He apologized for the missing cell phone, and

informed his boss he would be at the telecom store
tomorrow for a new one. He also mentioned the
system had a bug he was trying to work on, and
that he would put a full report on his desk in the
morning. Graydon didn’t spend too much time
thinking about the scenarios that could unfold.

Either Hart was onto him and had purposely

locked him out, in which case he’d be arrested
soon; or the system was upgraded, which could
have triggered a bug locking him out, in which case
he could proceed according to plan.

He moved his attention back to the system,

pushing the servers to shut down the second level
of security. Graydon didn’t pay attention to the
system generated response that showed up on his
screen alerting him of the shut-down.

Graydon could leave and head to Hart’s office,

he could destroy the project and trust this group,
but he wouldn’t allow himself to. He needed to
know what was on those chips. He knew this was
risky; he knew he might be putting the whole
mission at stake, but he needed to know he was
doing the right thing.

The soldier in him was rebelling against

questioning orders. He wanted to believe this group
was telling the truth, and the Gordion project was
every bit as awful as they had said. Graydon

wanted to trust them and put his faith in Alena, but
the side of him that had been lied to for over a year
demanded otherwise.

He needed to put faith in himself for once. He

pushed the servers into the last shut-down and
turned off the final level of security. Accessing the
hidden files easily now, Graydon began reading.

His eyes started scanning the documents and

plans, scrolling past one screen onto another. The
Gordion project laid in front of him in all of its
glory.

The project was every bit as bad as Alena’s

group had told him. A small part of his chest felt
lighter at the knowledge that she had been truthful
with him, at least in that aspect.

That lightness, however, was slowly replaced

with a quiet rage. As Graydon continued reading he
realized that he had been helping a monster this
whole time. His heart beat quicker in his chest as he
read the estimated capacity of the small device.

It would be like unleashing a virtual plague on

the world. As his eyes scanned the screen, he felt
his stomach clench, Harvell Tech was already
drafting codes to create something more lethal.
Graydon wasn’t even sure the technology was there
for the program they had entitled DYMC.

Quickly, he finished reading over every product

they were working on, checking every so often that
the system was still down. He felt like he was in the

dinosaur movie, and he was the guy who just shut
security off to the whole park.

Glancing at his watch he noticed it was almost

10:30, the time he needed to meet Rolav outside of
his office. They would need to move quick, no
longer having the luxury of the system being in the
dark about their entry.

He didn’t know if his boss was up this late, or if

he would even bother checking the system, but if
he did, their game would be up. There was no
reason in the world the system would be down this
long.

Nothing

other

than

something

being

catastrophically wrong - like someone stealing
every bit of the technology plans they had in their
arsenal.

Graydon slipped the flash drive into his pocket

and grabbed the report he had done earlier off his
desk. He walked out of his office door at the exact
moment Rolav, better known to him as Mark
Brown, stepped into the hallway.

Rolav walked to him and spoke up. “Hello Mr.

King. I’m sorry to bother you, but we received a
message from a Miss Brenna Klein. She said to tell
you that next time, she wants dinner at the
Moroccan place on 4th street.”

Graydon stared at him a moment, the message

not making any sense.

He assumed they would generate a bogus

message as an excuse to have Rolav meet him.
However, as his mind turned the words over he
couldn’t help but feel like Alena was trying to tell
him something.

Graydon wasn’t even sure he had seen a

Moroccan restaurant in this city before, at least
none he could remember. For the life of him, he
couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say. He
forced a grin in case the cameras were still
recording, and nodded to the blonde man.

“Ah, thank you. While you’re here, would you

mind helping me with something? The systems are
being odd tonight.”

Rolav nodded and the two of them made their

way to Hart’s office. He thought again to Alena’s
message. She used Brenna Klein, which could have
been a hint that the message had a secret meaning.

She could also have used it because any other

name might not have gotten his attention. Graydon
shook it off, there was no point in dwelling on it
anymore when there was a job to be done.

The code box outside Hart’s office was turned

off. It, along with the rest of the system, remained
shut down so Graydon slid his key in and opened
the door. The two of them walked inside, and Rolav
pulled his flashlight out, illuminating the large
office. Graydon moved to Hart’s desk and set the
report on top before turning back to Rolav.

He nodded towards the wall where the secured

door was hidden that stored the deadly stuff. The
two of them walked together, Rolav’s flashlight
lighting the way. Graydon was silent as he and
Rolav moved to the hidden door, sliding a small key
into a place in the wall that opened for a traditional
lock. He put the key into the compartment and
turned, watching as the door opened from the wall.

Graydon and Rolav walked into the hidden

chamber, moving to the first small compartment. It
was funny how much things could change in so
little time. He had been standing in front of some of
the worst creations to have ever been made, and he
had been oblivious. He was not only oblivious, but
he had been the one responsible for ensuring their
safety. Now he would be the one to destroy them.

He opened the first compartment and grabbed

the small chip inside. It was no bigger than a
postage stamp, but it had the potential to bring the
free world to its knees.

Graydon slipped the project into his pocket. He

shut the door and moved to the second
compartment, sliding his key in before reaching in.

Graydon grabbed the large chip it held and

handed it to Rolav. The young man slipped it into
his uniform pocket and followed him as he moved
to the third. There were rows of compartments, but
Graydon knew there were only seven that held
anything important.

The other compartments stored everything from

jewelry to bonds. Hart liked to keep a few of his
personal valuables where he could see them.
Graydon had never thought anything about it.

Now, as he was moving through the small area,

collecting chip after chip, he wondered if Hart kept
a few things here in case things went south. Alena’s
group couldn’t be the only ones who knew about all
of the projects the lab was cooking up.

He and Rolav grabbed the last of the chips and

headed towards the door. The pair walked out,
Graydon turning quickly to the panel on the wall
and putting in his key to seal the door closed.
Graydon heard the door’s parts begin to move and
he watched only a second as the door began sliding
shut.

They needed to make it back to his office and

delete all of the plans and files to be done with the
whole ordeal. Turning, he and Rolav began walking
towards Hart’s office door. The pair made it
halfway across the dark room when the lights
turned on. Freezing in place, he and Rolav glanced
at each other.

The blonde man looked every bit as confused as

he was, and Graydon’s eyes darted around the
room to find who had tripped the light switch.
Confusion read on his face as he glanced around
the room, noting there was no one in sight.

“Hand me your gun,” Graydon said to Rolav,

the blonde man hesitating for a moment before

moving to the holstered weapon.

“I wouldn’t do that Graydon,” the voice spoke

from the wall adjacent to them, clear as day.

Graydon didn’t move a muscle as the wall

opposite of he and Rolav slid open, revealing Hart
Druvell and two men. One who he had never seen
before, and the other being Jonah, his driver. Jonah
gave him a mock salute with a grin on his face.

Graydon tried not to show surprise as the young

man regarded him with amusement. The group
walked over and he watched as the other man he
didn’t know turned, grabbing someone from where
they had been standing.

The man pulled the figure from the shadows, a

woman now gripped in his arms. A woman with
dark black hair and piercing green eyes

Chapter 11

raydon felt as if his blood would boil as he

watched the large man handle Alena, her hands
clasped sharply behind her back. Hart Druvell and
Jonah walked towards them leisurely, the other man
following, shoving Alena along.

“Let her go Hart,” Graydon growled.
His former boss laughed in return. With the

office wrapped in silence, the booming laugh of
Hart Druvell was like a gunshot in the night.

Hart stopped a few feet short of where he and

Rolav were, replying in a bored tone.

"Why would I ever do that? We found her

crawling around the building’s air ducts. Finders
keepers, isn’t that what the kids say?”

Graydon didn’t reply.
“I’ve got to say I’m disappointed in you

Graydon. Here I was paying you a very generous
amount to keep my projects safe. I’ve kept you
comfortable, and well taken care of, and in return,
you sell me out at the first chance you get.” Hart

said as he shook his head in disappointment.

“I wouldn’t call it selling out if I’m protecting

the American people.” Graydon replied, his voice
venomous.

Hart rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Most

Americans are being spied on anyway, what do the
rest of them matter? What do you care if it means
keeping this country safe? You didn’t think of that
possibility did you? The Government using this to
keep the borders safe?”

“That’s not how freedom works Hart.” Graydon

replied.

“That’s how it’s going to work, that is if the

American government wins the bid. I personally
don’t care either way. I think I’ve had enough of
the tech world. It’s a young man’s game.” Hart
replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Graydon didn’t move his eyes from the older

man’s face. He said nothing as he listened to Hart
drivel on about his plans for world domination. He
knew if he could get Hart to keep talking, he could
come up with a plan to get them out of there.

This wasn’t the first time he was caught off

guard, he could still get the group out, he just
needed a little more time. Hart sighed. “Speaking of
young men, Jonah, would you dispose of Rolav
please, his presence is annoying me.”

Graydon yelled out "No!" as Jonah raised his

gun and fired. Jonah moved quick, with zero

hesitation, and before Rolav had the chance to
move to his weapon he was struck by the bullet.

Graydon caught Rolav in his arms, and he

applied pressure to the wound, knowing it wouldn’t
help.

He could hear Alena saying something in

Russian as the ringing in his ears slowly subsided.
The young man nudged Graydon’s hands with his
own, and Graydon felt the three chips he had
grabbed earlier now in his palm.

Rolav tried to speak, but as his mouth opened

his eyes closed, and they didn’t open again.
Graydon’s heart was racing with anger and
adrenaline.

He grabbed the weapon that Rolav had,

pointing it at Hart.

“You get attached so quickly Graydon, it really

is a terrible trait for someone in your field,” Hart
replied leisurely.

“Why? Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet in

you and end this,” he seethed.

“You know why, if you didn’t you would have

shot me by now. You won’t though, because you
know Mr. Compton will put a bullet in your sweet
Alena. I think we all know you won’t let that
happen. You’ll lower your weapon now and slide it
over this way please," Hart replied.

Graydon stood slowly, his hand still raised at

Hart, the gun pointing at the older man’s chest. He

calculated the odds of being able to fire before
Compton or Jonah could shoot Alena, but as his
eyes moved to her he noticed the other man had a
gun jammed directly in her side. Jonah’s weapon
was now pointed at him.

He could perhaps shoot Compton before he

could fire anything, but Jonah would have more
time than he was comfortable with in shooting
either Alena or Himself. Graydon lowered his
weapon and kicked it across the floor. Hart smiled,
“That’s a good soldier.”

“Why kill him Hart?” he asked.
Hart’s eye narrowed, an edge of anger seeping

into his words.

“Do you think I was so careless as to not know

about this failed infiltration? Do you really think
you were my only security detail? I’ve been
watching you and this ridiculous group for years
Graydon. You’re good at what you do, I’ll give you
that, but you’re so naive; it’s a wonder you’ve
made it this long.”

Graydon studied Hart as he continued to rant.
“I know all about Mr. Rolav and Miss Vasiliev. I

know all about the team they think gets away with
so much. I know you spent the night in the hovel
they call headquarters, and I know you have my
property in your possession as we speak.”

Graydon shrugged, “So why let it go on? Why

let all of this happen then?”

Hart chuckled. “I honestly hoped you weren’t

so stupid. I had believed that when you discovered
who Miss Vasiliev was you would have taken care
of this little problem without me having to lift a
finger. I should have known you would have fallen
for her tricks.”

Graydon humorlessly laughed. “You act like

you haven’t been lying to me this whole time. I
suppose you’re the innocent one in all of this?”

"I haven’t lied to you once, Graydon. You were

the one who never asked what we were keeping so
hidden. You were the one who never bothered
looking for the security detail who tailed you. You
were happy to live in your sheltered bubble, so
that’s where you stayed,” Hart replied.

Graydon clenched his fists. Hart was right, he

had been the one to overlook it all. He hadn’t
pushed back and acted like the soldier he had been
trained to be his whole life.

He had jumped into the civilian world and

forgotten who he was. Now he prayed that mistake
wouldn’t get them all killed.

“How stupid of me to think you were anything

better than any of those terrorist groups out there;
willing to burn the world to the ground if it means
you get to make a quick buck,” he fumed.

“You want to blame me? Fine, blame me, but

that won’t take responsibility off of you. Now hand
those chips over.”

Graydon took a chip from his pocket and

dropped it onto the ground, his foot hovering over
it. Hart watched him, his face tense with concealed
rage. “If you do, I will make sure they end her life
in the slowest way possible, while you watch.”

Graydon’s foot remained poised to come down

on the chip. That was the problem with technology.
The tiniest pieces of machinery could bring the
world down, but the slightest bit of pressure could
destroy those little pieces of technology.

It didn’t take much to wreak havoc on the tiny

instruments he had in his pocket. He imagined just
dropping it on the ground probably shifted or broke
something loose. When he visited the design labs it
was always an air-tight facility, the tiniest bit of
dust could sometimes ruin weeks of work.

“Let her go and we can negotiate.” Graydon

spoke, his eyes remaining on Hart. Alena hadn’t
said a word, and he hadn’t met her eyes. He didn’t
know what she could be thinking.

He didn’t know if she had ever been in this kind

of position before, or if she had been trained for
things like this. Graydon did know he couldn't take
her being at the mercy of a large, armed man much
longer. It was taking all the restraint in the world
not to charge the man himself.

Hart laughed then, and Graydon was certain

that if he had the gun back in his hands he would
have fired the shot; just to remove the smug look

on Hart’s face.

“Why would I ever do that? She’s my leverage

Graydon,” Hart replied.

“Your leverage for me? Are you forgetting I

discovered who she was 24 hours ago? I don’t
know her at all, and I certainly don’t care enough
about her for her to be leveraged. I want this
between you and me.” Graydon answered, hoping
Hart would believe the lie. Hart’s eyes were alight
with humor.

“You don’t know do you?” Hart asked.
Graydon betrayed nothing as Hart grinned

widely. “She’s not leverage for you, though it’s
humorous to listen to you pretend to not care about
her. No, she’s leverage to them. She’s not just a spy
Graydon, oh no, not our little Alena here.”

Hart walked over to where Alena and Compton

were, his hand moving to touch Alena’s hair.

Graydon took a step towards them, his anger

propelling him forward. Jonah raised his weapon to
Graydon and he froze, clenching and unclenching
his fist. “Don’t touch her,” he hissed. His anger
threatening to consume him.

Hart laughed. “There we go, there’s that

honesty,” he replied with a smile.

Graydon met Alena’s eyes for the first time and

was almost surprised at her calmness. She looked at
ease with the large man forcibly holding onto her.

He wanted to fight them all, he wanted to make

them pay for killing Rolav and putting their hands
on Alena. She, meanwhile, looked at peace with the
world.

Hart talked again, and he forced himself to take

deeper breaths, to calm down. There would be no
way he could help anyone if he couldn’t get his
mind focused and clear.

He watched as Hart ran his hand down Alena’s

cheek. He would have tried swinging at the man if
he would have been her, contained or not. Alena
had stood still, not acknowledging his presence in
the slightest.

“Alena here isn’t just a spy for their little group.

No, in fact, if my intelligence is correct this is the
first time she’s taken on such a meek role. Alena
here is their assassin. Her code name is Aeron, their
Goddess of Death. If you think you’ve got blood on
your hands Graydon King, you’re a saint compared
to her. She’s worth quite a bit to those who would
like to return the favor of her skills, or take
advantage of them.”

Graydon didn’t move, he willed his body not to

betray anything as he listened to Hart Druvell speak
about Alena.

He didn’t know if what the man was saying was

true or not. He didn’t allow himself to think about
what it meant if it was true, there wasn’t time for

that. He needed to think about what he needed to
do to get her out of here.

"Alena has been the one responsible for most of

the murders her little group deems necessary, and I
believe it’s time she paid for those murders.” Hart
replied.

Hart looked to Alena once more, his hand

moving a strand of her hair out of her face. Without
moving his face from hers Hart spoke to his men,
“Jonah please see if Mr. King stepped on the chip
in his attempt to play hero.”

Graydon had forgotten about the chip for a

moment, not moving a muscle as the younger man
came over and looked on the ground. The chip had
indeed been smashed underfoot, and as Jonah bent
to retrieve it Graydon lunged at the kid.

Jonah had fought to keep control of the

weapon, but Graydon twisted his wrist, hearing a
satisfying crunch of bone as the hand gave way
dropping the gun. The two of them were on the
ground as each struggled to get the upper hand.

Jonah was leaner than Graydon, but the broken

hand was making him slower than he might have
been. Graydon took a blow to the stomach as his

fists connected with the young man’s jaw.

Jonah stumbled back, and it was enough for

Graydon to lunge for the gun; grabbing the weapon
and firing it at him without letting himself think
about who he was firing it at.

The bullet struck his intended target and Jonah

stilled on the ground. Before Graydon could turn
the gun to Hart, Alena made her move.

She threw her head back, in an instant

shattering the nose of the man who held her. He
turned his weapon fully on her and she struck his
wrist; twisting it sharply to the side in the blink of
an eye.

Graydon watched in awe as she moved with

precision, each strike hitting her target like a viper.
Alena kicked him squarely, wrenching the weapon
free and firing it. The man was gone before he hit
the floor. She trained her gun on Hart and looked
over at Graydon with a slight air of annoyance.

“How could you have missed the code?”
Graydon was embarrassed to admit he had been

dumbstruck. She moved with more accuracy and
deadly precision than anything he had seen in his
military career. She was confident and strong.

He wasn’t sure if Hart was lying or not about

her code name being the goddess of death.
However, as Graydon watched her, he didn’t doubt

it for a second. Graydon raised from the ground, his
weapon still trained on Hart Druvell who looked as
if he might be sick. “I’m sorry, just how exactly
was I supposed to figure that one out?” Graydon
asked her.

She tilted her head to the side. “The street

vendor from the story you told me about being
ambushed in Marrakesh.”

He thought back to the story. It had been one of

the first real things he ever shared with her, one of
the first real moments they had gone into from his
past.

There

had

been

mission

that

was

compromised in Morocco. The source of the leak
had turned out to be a harcha street vendor who
had been watching their every move right in front
of their eyes.

A smile tugged at his lips. “The harcha guy.

Four because that was the target who took me out
in Burundi,” he said with an appreciative grin
spreading across his face.

She looked at him in only a way two friends

who shared an inside joke could. Turning his
attention to Hart, he pulled the remaining chips out
of his pocket and tossed them onto the ground.
Alena walked over to where Graydon was, stepping
on the chips one by one.

“This is over Mr. Druvell. Your chips are gone,

your men are gone, and the plans will be gone as

well. No one will be watched and treated like
animals in a zoo,” she said, turning her attention
from the chips to the older man’s face.

Hart was silent, his face pale as the color

drained while watching Alena smash the chips into
the ground. He hadn’t said a word, and Graydon
wondered what he was thinking.

He wondered if he was imagining what would

happen when the dignitaries and government
officials showed up to bid on something that wasn’t
there anymore. He wondered if the jewelry and
cash he had locked in his secret wall would finally
see the light of day.

Graydon collected the pieces of ruined chips

and tossed them into the metal trash can Hart had
at his desk. Alena tossed him a lighter and Graydon
lit the pieces of paper in the can, igniting the bin.
The small metal pieces popping and whistling as the
fire destroyed them further.

Alena watched him only a moment before

training her eyes back on Hart. Graydon then
moved to the computer, pulling up the codes and
designs for the projects. Deleting them all, he then
pulled up his own employee file, along with
Rolav’s, and deleted everything off of the servers.

Graydon moved back to Alena. "It’s done. We

need to get out of here."

She shook her head. “Not yet, he’s our loose

end. I’m not leaving here until he’s gone.”

Graydon paused. He had no issue with

dispatching anyone who would have killed him or
someone he loved. That was the job, most people
didn’t go into it trying to make friends and creating
world peace.

He had killed, there was certainly blood on his

hands. However, killing an unarmed man wasn’t his
idea of right.

“Why? Every plan, code, and project he’s ever

thought about has been erased and destroyed. He’s
useless. Whoever he’s promised this technology to
is going to do worse than you or I ever could."
She shook her head again. "I can’t let him go
Graydon. He created something evil once and he
can do it again. You can’t let monsters run free just
because you clipped their claws.”

He met her eyes. “Alena I know this hits closer to
home, but you’ve got to let him go. He’s nothing.”
His voice was almost pleading.

They didn’t have time for arguing, He didn’t

know what her orders were. He didn’t know if this
was all a part of their plan for her to take Hart out,
but he wasn’t going to let it happen.

“He knows our faces, he knows our names, and he
has intelligence on us that goes back at least a year.
You know we can’t let him live. If he leaves this

room we compromise everything,” she said, her
voice showing no mercy.

Graydon opened his mouth to reply when Hart

moved, producing a pistol from the inside of his
suit’s jacket. Graydon fired the moment that Hart
did, his eyes searching furiously for Alena who had
stumbled back before falling.

He found her on the ground, clutching at her

shoulder. Graydon moved to her, Hart Druvell
laying still slumped against his desk.

Chapter 12

e was to her in a heartbeat, taking his shirt off

and holding it against the wound. Alena hissed in
pain, but hadn’t shouted out. She now spoke
through gritted teeth.

“Help me up, we need to -” He interrupted her.

“I know. Stop wasting energy. Focus on steadying
your breathing, deep, solid breaths.”

Graydon pocketed the gun. She hadn’t replied,

but he noticed her eyes closing, her hands
clenching and unclenching as she focused on her
breathing.

Graydon slid his arms underneath her and

picked her up. He carried her bridal style towards
Hart’s office door. The warmth of Alena’s blood
seeping onto his bare skin.

He paused at the door, putting her gently down

on her feet. Graydon ran over to Hart’s personal
stash of liquor and doused the room, pausing only a
moment to throw the bottle and light the liquid.
Graydon ran back to Alena, carefully lifting her

into his arms again.

He opened the door and was only mildly

surprised that there were no guards. He had known
Hart’s office was soundproof, but he wasn’t sure
how many extra guards Hart had stationed
throughout the building.

Either Jonah and Compton had been his only

other agents, or the others hadn’t been alerted yet.
Graydon ran down the hallway, passing the elevator
and taking the stairs two at a time.

He felt Alena shift in his arms and he heard her

speak into a phone, her voice weak. He found
himself praying, hoping, pleading she would be all
right.

Graydon had found the one person in the world

who he felt like himself with; the one person who
had ever understood him, and here she was
bleeding in his arms. It seemed like a cruel fate to
have been given.

He made it to the car garage, his bloodied hands

smearing fingerprints on the lock. Graydon kicked
the door to the street open.

He glanced down only a moment to note in

horror that Alena had gone still. He scanned the
vacant alley as a large black SUV came tearing
towards them. He shifted Alena as his hands felt for
the gun in his back pocket.

The SUV stopped a foot from him and Masha

got out of the passenger side, opening the door for

him. Graydon lowered Alena to the seat and slid in
next to her, his hands searching for a pulse. The
shirt he pressed against her was soaked with her
blood, and he yelled at the driver to find a hospital.

Masha shut the door and jumped back into the

passenger seat. His mind registered that Masha was
speaking, but he found it hard to focus on her and
not Alena.

The SUV sped down the road, his heart racing

in his chest. Alena’s pulse was there, but much too
slow for his comfort. He talked to her, not caring
who was listening.

“Alena, I need you to hang on. I need you to

survive. Please, just hang on.”

The car pivoted before coming to a halt.

Graydon leaned forward to see what caused the
stop, noticing they parked in front of an ambulance.
The back doors of the large vehicle were opened
wide, waiting.

He got out of the car and lifted Alena, taking

the few feet to the ambulance doors in a quick
stride. The EMT was in plain clothes and took
Alena from his arms, setting her inside on the
stretcher.

Graydon put his foot on the steps of the

ambulance, but the man who had taken Alena in
shook his head. “Not enough room,” he replied as
he began hooking things up to Alena.

Graydon stepped back down, glancing at Masha

who was standing at the passenger side door of the
SUV. The doors to the ambulance shut and without
hesitation the sirens wailed, the large vehicle taking
off with Alena inside. Graydon dashed to the SUV.
“What’s going on? Where are they taking her?”

He knew better than to think they were real

EMTs. Wherever they were taking Alena, it
wouldn’t be a medical facility where they would
have to answer questions. Graydon got back inside
the SUV with Masha, his body tense. Graydon kept
the other vehicle in his sight as the SUV took off,
trailing the ambulance.

“The ambulance is ours, Benjit Haravam is the

best doctor we have. Alena will be fine. He'll get
her stable enough to fly and we will be on our way.
That is assuming you have decided to join us?”

Graydon shook his head. “She needs blood. She

needs a hospital.”

Masha waved her hand dismissively, “We have

blood, we each give blood semi-weekly for
instances such as this. We are prepared Mr. King,
are you?” she questioned.

Graydon didn’t reply as continued watching the

ambulance. His muscles were tense as he wondered
what was happening inside, how she was doing. He
hated being in the dark. He hated the idea that she
could be slipping away from him without him even
knowing it. It was enough to drive him mad.

Masha spoke again, and Graydon felt he might

punch the seat in front of him if he heard the
woman’s voice one more time.

“We need to know if you are joining us or not

Mr.King. You’ll find that your account has been
provided with the agreed upon amount, and if you
choose to go your own route we -“

Graydon cut her off, his words final. “I’m going

where she is. Take that however you want.”

Masha glanced at him from her seat before

turning back and speaking to the driver in Russian.

Graydon trained his eyes back on the

ambulance. The ride was uneasy. His stomach felt
like he might vomit, and his mind continued to race
through all of the scenarios that might play out.

He needed to see her, he needed to feel her in

his arms again. If only to imagine he could protect
her from what she was fighting right now.

He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so

useless. Graydon didn’t have much in the world,
but he had a skill set that kept him always in use.
He did what needed to do, and did it well.

In life, he had been the one to save the day, the

one who they called in when everyone else had
failed. Now, he sat in the back of an SUV helpless
to save the woman he cared about, perhaps
possibly loved.

Graydon had never thought he was capable of

loving someone. That was something teenagers and
men who were certainly not him talked about. He

wasn’t even sure love was what he was feeling, he
didn’t know what being in love felt like.

What he knew was that his heart raced every

time she smiled at him. When she touched him, it
was like she brought him to life; every muscle and
nerve wanting more of her. Maybe it wasn't love,
maybe it was lust, he didn't know and he didn't
care. Graydon only knew that whatever this was,
he wasn’t ready to let go of it.

The SUV followed the ambulance for fifteen

minutes before the lights and sirens shut off.
Graydon gripped the seat, leaning forward to ask
Masha what was going on, but she spoke up before
he got the chance.

“They’re shutting the lights off because we’re

only five minutes away from the plane. There’s no
need to direct excess attention our way.”

Graydon loosened a breath he hadn’t realized

he had been holding and sat back in the seat again.
The airport was private, and he watched as the
ambulance passed through the gate, then their SUV.
The two vehicles pulled up to a small aircraft and
he was out of the door before the vehicle came to a
proper stop.

The ambulance doors opened before he could

get to them. Graydon helped the man in the back
lower the stretcher out onto the pavement. Alena
was unconscious, the wound on her bare shoulder
now covered and bandaged. Graydon looked

expectantly at the man who he assumed to be
Benjit Haravam who, in turn, ignored him.

Instead, the man grabbed a few things from the

inside of the ambulance and shoved them into a
bag, jumping down from the ambulance door’s
steps.

Graydon gently touched Alena's cheek. She was

warm, but not feverish, which was enough to make
him breathe a little easier. Her face was so pale it
made something in his chest ache, but she was still
breathing, and that was what that mattered.

Graydon glanced at the plane, noting Malachai

and Leo were there. The two men loading things
onto the aircraft. He looked over at the doctor, his
voice uneasy.

“Is she going to make it?”
The man eyed him a moment before replying,

his voice indifferent.

“She should be fine. I’ve stabilized her, all we

can do is wait from here. The plane has a stretcher
inside if you want to carry her in. I think they’re
ready to take off.”

Graydon wavered between wanting to grasp the

man in a grateful hug, and wanting to punch him for
being so cavalier about her life. He slid his arms
underneath Alena and lifted her softly.

Her shirt had been removed, and a medical

gown had been haphazardly placed over her, baring
her bandaged shoulder. He had the urge to cover

her further, to wrap her in something warm and
comforting.

Graydon walked into the plane with Alena in

his arms, almost bumping into two men. Leo was
the only one he recognized. Leo nodded briefly to
him as he pointed to the space in the back where
Graydon assumed the stretcher was.

The plane was smaller than the military crafts

he normally rode on, but it would be more than
enough room for the small crew he assumed they
would be carrying.

He walked to the back and made it to the

stretcher, sitting Alena down on it. The doctor
arrived soon after and strapped her in; hooking an
IV into her arm and turning a monitor on. He
watched as the screen came to life, the line showing
her heart rate steady and level, allowing him to
relax.

Graydon took the seat across from Alena,

allowing him access to monitor her. He watched as
the rest of the group filed in at the front of the
plane. He and Alena were in the back, a full isle
and section away from everyone else. He watched
as one by one they each came in and took a seat,
buckling up and not saying a word.

Graydon counted twelve people in their party,

not counting the pilot and an assumed co-pilot. The
door shut, and the plane came to life, the familiar
hum of the engines resounding in the vessel.

Graydon glanced towards the front of the plane,
looking for any sign of danger.

As the plane rolled down the tarmac Graydon

leaned back in his seat, looking over at Alena as the
wheels left the ground. She looked as if she was
sleeping; her head gently laid to the side of the bed,
her black hair cascading down her shoulders.

He noted there was a smear of blood in her hair,

and he glanced down at himself, shirtless and
bloodied. Her blood was caked onto his chest, her
and Rolav’s blood staining his hands.

He couldn’t remember a time when it felt

wrong to have someone else’s blood on himself.
When he was a kid in the foster system he would
get into trouble all the time for fighting. Sometimes,
the fights would be to defend someone, and
sometimes they would be out of a need to prove he
wasn’t someone the older kids could target. He had
gotten used to having blood on him then, and his
career hadn't changed that any.

The plane made it smoothly into the air, and at

that moment it was as if the cabin collectively
sighed. The group began smiling and conversing.
He noticed Masha was already leaning back in her
seat asleep. He supposed it was worth celebrating.

The crew had completed their mission, a

mission at least a year in the making. The plans,
chips, and codes were destroyed. They were, for
the most part, safely on their way.

To where he didn’t know. He wondered if they

were heading back to Russia for new orders, or if
they already had a new destination in mind.

He thought about getting up to ask, but he

didn’t want to leave Alena. He looked over at her,
allowing himself to take her features in. She looked
vulnerable laying on the stretcher.

He knew she would loathe him watching her

while she was like that, so utterly helpless. Her skin
was regaining its color, although, the paleness still
held firm. Her normally stunning red lips were now
a muted pink. He wondered what she would think
about him being here. If she would even want him
here.

She had seemed to care for him, but if this

whole event had taught him anything, it was that
his instincts couldn’t be trusted. He hoped she
would be happy he had decided to come, although
he didn’t know what that would mean for them.
Graydon didn’t want to be a soldier anymore.

He didn’t want to take orders and put his life on

the line. More importantly than that, he didn’t want
to see her do it. He didn’t want to carry her,
bleeding out in his arms again. He wanted a life
with her; he wanted to see where this would go, but
he wasn’t sure he could do it while she put herself
in danger time and time again.

Graydon closed his eyes; listening to the steady

and comforting beep of Alena’s monitors mixing

with the drone of the aircraft's engines.

He allowed himself to relax, to breathe in

steady breaths. He wasn’t sure where he would end
up; he had no idea what was ahead of him or what
might be asked of him. However, he knew he would
wake up with Alena there and, for now, that was
good enough for him.

✽✽✽

Graydon woke up to Masha standing near them,

leaning against a nearby seat. She was watching
him, her expression unreadable before she spoke.

“I hope you slept well.”
He glanced at his watch and realized he had

been sleeping for eight hours. That put them in
international territory, which he had assumed as
much before getting onto the plane. There weren’t
many places they could go within the United States
who would be hospitable.

He looked over at Alena, the steady beeping of

the machine soothing him. She was still
unconscious, although he was pleased to note she
looked much better.

Her face was back to her normal coloring and

her cheeks had a slight rosiness to them. If it wasn’t
for the blood still caked onto places of her skin, she
might have looked like she was napping.

“Where are we landing?” Graydon asked as he

focused his attention back to Masha.

Masha had changed, and although he

remembered her falling asleep once the plane took
off she still had dark circles under her eyes. She
glanced over at Alena while she replied to him.

“Italy. Specifically, Bari.”
She focused back to him again, walking over to

where he was. She grabbed a small envelope from
the seat she had been leaning on, handing it out to
him.

“I assume you will wait for Alena to come

around before making your decision to join us or
not, and that is fine. Bari will not be the next
location for our next job. We will only be there a
few days until we move out again. That should be
enough time for you to make up your mind. While
you stay with us, we will expect you to pull your
weight of course, but nothing dangerous I assure
you.”

She waited until he gave a nod, taking the

envelope from her. She turned away from him,
calling out behind her as she walked back towards
her seat.

“We land in an hour, have everything

memorized before then.”

Graydon opened the envelope and pulled out a

small leather passport. The passport was from the
Netherlands, and he was surprised to note that it

had his picture in it.

The name was Rutger Kappel. Birthplace:

Eindhoven. He scanned over everything in the
passport before pulling out the next item. It was a
typed paper, mostly comprised of bullet points. As
he read over it he tried committing the words to
memory.

He was expected to be Rutger, for how long he

wasn’t sure. He wondered if Alena had sat in a
similar plane reading over a document that
described Dr. Brenna Klein. He wondered if she
felt as wrong as he currently did.

Graydon had been undercover before. He had

assumed identities more than he’d like to admit, but
there was something more final about this one.

This time he knew he could never go back to

the United States. He had known in the back of his
mind he’d have to change his name, but seeing it in
writing was something different.

He wasn’t just being given a name, he was

being given a new life. There was something
unsettling about taking over a new identity with its
own history and layout of a future.

He didn’t know how Rutger would fit into their

plan if he joined them, but he was sure they had
something in mind already. Graydon continued
reading about his new life.

He had graduated from the University of

Amsterdam with a Master’s degree in Petroleum

Engineering. He met his wife Adelaide (Colditz)
Kappel while on vacation, and the two were
married within a year of dating.

He raised his eyebrow when he read the part

that noted Alena would assume the identity of
Adelaide Kappel. They had been married for four
years, no children, and happy, though Adelaide was
noted to have an alcohol abuse problem. He
couldn’t imagine how that small bit of information
made any difference, but he didn’t care enough to
question it.

The two were visiting Italy on vacation with

their family and friends, and would be staying at a
private villa. He wondered exactly who they would
pass off as family and friend. The idea of Leo,
Galina, or Masha pretending to be a relative of his
was almost enough to make him laugh.

Graydon read and re-read the paper again,

committing it all to memory. He then took out a
wallet from the envelope. It had a picture of Alena
inside, smiling back at him indulgently. It was
enough to make him pause a moment, staring at the
picture.

He didn’t know why, but the realization that he

would be playing her husband hit him hard.

In a different time, he would have killed for the

life he was pretending to have; the safe job with a
family. In another life he would have gladly cast
away every part of himself for this new life, but

now the act seemed wrong.

There was a difference in pretending to be

someone with others, and pretending to be
someone’s life partner, their husband, and lover. He
wanted to see where this relationship might go, but
pretending to be married made things much more
complicated.

How would he know any of it was real? How

would he know she wasn’t just playing her part
exceptionally well? His mind ran wild with
questions. Graydon thumbed through the rest of the
wallet before he pulled out the last item: a wedding
ring.

Sliding the gold band onto his finger he looked

over at the woman he was supposed to be married
to. He wondered what she would think about all of
this.

If she had known what role he would be playing

if he joined them. He imagined she’d tell him
something like, 'stop acting like a baby and get the
show on the road'.

Alena was tough, and he didn’t doubt for one

moment she’d give him grief for all of his hesitation
and second-guessing.

Graydon stood up and stretched, every muscle

in his body aching. It had been a long twenty-four
hours, and he was ready for a hot meal and soft
bed.

Masha’s sister Galina walked over to where he

was, her arms heavy with clothes. She moved past
him and sat some things down on Alena’s stretcher
before turning to him.

She held out a bundle of clothes without a

word, and he took them from her. Galina then
turned and grabbed a pair of shoes, putting them on
top of the clothes he was now holding. She gestured
to the front of the plane and turned back towards
Alena.

Graydon took her suggestion and walked to the

front of the plane; passing the rest of the crew who
were also in fresh clothes. He found the small
bathroom, and before he went inside Masha called
out from her seat.

“One more hour and you’ll get to rest Mr. King.

Once we touch the plane down you will carry
Alena to one of the waiting cars. They will take us
all to the estate.”

Graydon nodded briefly before walking into the

small room to change.

He walked inside and went to the sink, washing

off as much of the dried blood as he could. He got
dressed, noting sourly that the clothes weren’t his
style at all. Tugging them on he was at least grateful
that they fit. Graydon slipped the shoes on and
looked at himself in the mirror.

His face was worn, his stubble was growing

much longer than he preferred, and his clothes
looked like he had stolen them from a male model.

It would all have to do though. There wasn’t much
that could be done about any of it right now; and
from what he just escaped from he supposed he
was doing alright.

Graydon made his way down the aisle, walking

back to where Alena was. He noticed she had been
changed into fresh clothes as well.

He assumed Galina was the one who had

changed her. Graydon's eyes drifting to find the
steady pulse rate on the machine that assured him
she was still fine.
She had been changed into a dress, something
flowy and light. The dress hid her bandages and
wound. Her hair was put into a loose knot, laying
against her shoulder. Sandals now adorned her feet,
the leather new and expensive. If anyone would see
him carrying her out, they would probably assume
she was sleeping.

A shining diamond ring and a solid gold band

were now on her left hand, and he touched his own
wedding band self-consciously. Graydon sighed
before sitting back down in his seat, closing his
eyes and recalling his cover.

The minutes ticked by, and he soon found himself
taking steadying breaths as the plane began its
descent. There were no windows where he and
Alena were, and he wished he could see out.

He had never liked flying; it was something he

couldn’t control, and the whole situation made him
feel vulnerable. He enjoyed the view though, there
was nothing like being so high in the air. It had
always served as a good reminder that he, and all
the problems he had going on, was insignificant in
the scope of things.

The plane touched down and the crew began

moving, jumping into their acts. He got up and
slipped the contents of the envelope Masha had
given him into his jacket pocket. The doctor and
Masha arrived, Masha holding a purse and light
blanket. Graydon watched as the doctor unhooked
Alena and took out her IV.

He then took out a syringe and spoke before

Graydon could question him.

“It’s just a sedative to ensure she sleeps the

duration of the car ride. Once she wakes up from it
we should all be in the clear, her vitals look great.”

Graydon nodded to the man and lifted Alena

into his arms again. Masha put a purse over
Graydon’s shoulder and slipped a light blanket over
them.

"From here on out, the only truth you know is the
information on that paper. We do not break
protocol unless we are in the wine cellar at
Benedetto Villa. Are you clear?" Masha asked, her
words sharp.

Graydon nodded, and with that Masha and the

doctor turned, heading towards the exit. He sighed,
murmuring to an unconscious Alena.

“Until death do us part I suppose.”

Graydon walked towards the exit and stepped

outside, the warm Italian air greeting him.

Chapter 13

he ride to the Villa was beautiful. Graydon had

never been to Italy, and found himself getting lost
in the area already. The city was washed in bright
white stone; with the occasional pops of salmon
and golden-yellow colored buildings standing out in
stark contrast.

People milled about, women with shopping

bags, and families walking dogs. It was exactly as
he imagined when people talked of vacationing.
The city was alive with the melding of new life and
old history.

The ride had taken them through the city, and

before long, they were reaching the edges of the
countryside. The clustered city gave way to homes
and buildings, stone white and peaked like
cathedrals. There were vineyards along the road,
some going on as far as the eye could see.

He glanced over at Alena; wishing she could

see this, wondering if she had ever been here
before. She was leaning against him, her head

resting on his shoulder. If he closed his eyes, he
could imagine this happening in a different
lifetime.

He could imagine Alena asleep on his shoulder

after a long plane ride from a vacation. The pair
coming back to their home in Italy. He could
imagine a life here. He could imagine a life with
her, but that’s all it was; a dream.

In reality, she was still recovering from a

gunshot wound, and they were both fugitives. She
was an assassin in a secret group, content with
being a killer all of her life, and he was a man done
with fighting. It didn’t seem like a happy ending
would be on the books for them.

Graydon tucked his arm around Alena, pulling

her closer. He didn’t know how much longer this
charade would go on, but he was at least going to
play the part while it lasted.

He knew when she woke up things would

change. They would have to decide what they each
wanted. In reality, he knew he would probably be
finding a plane ride for one when it was all said and
done. Still, it didn’t stop his mind from fantasizing.

The car pulled up to a gate. The driver pressed

in a code, and as they pulled through, he looked out
to the Villa. It was gorgeous, maybe the most
elegant place he had ever seen. The building was
stone, traditional arches and domes were the
highlight of the design.

There were marbled columns, and as they

pulled up to the home, he stared a moment at the
large fountain at the entrance. Waiting outside the
Villa to greet them were two people. They were
standing in front of the large home with their hands
clasped behind their backs, smiling brightly.

Masha, Galina, and Leo all got out of their

vehicle, behind the one he and Alena had rode in.
The two women walked over, informing them they
were there to assist and help with anything the
group wanted, or needed.

Graydon moved out of the vehicle and picked

up Alena, a bright smile on his face. Masha walked
over to them, her voice airy with just a hint of an
accent.

“Has Adelaide still not woken up? The poor

dear. That plane ride was absolutely exhausting. ”

Graydon walked over to one of the women.

“Where will my darling wife and I be staying?” he
asked.

The woman smiled a moment before gesturing

towards the estate, and moving into the home.

The place was even more stunning inside. It

was decorated in warm tones of gold and red. The
whole place looked like it was from a movie set.
They passed by large windows that showed a
private backyard.

Through bay doors he spotted an infinity pool

outside before walking up the stairs. The woman

moved to the end of the hallway, gesturing to the
large wooden door that was open.

He smiled in thanks and walked through, sitting

Alena on the bed. The room was massive, larger
than anything he had ever stayed in before. The
floor was a decorative tile, and their room had a
balcony view, the curtains blowing gently in the
breeze. He couldn’t help but wonder how much
they were paying for this place, and who was
footing the bill. Graydon tossed the five small
pillows that had been resting on the bed to the
ground so Alena would be more comfortable.

He slipped the covers over her as someone else

walked into the room. Turning his attention to the
door he nodded to the doctor who walked to where
Alena laid.

The man took item after item out of the small

bag he carried, and Graydon watched as he started
to check on Alena’s temperature and pulse. While
the doctor continued to check on her, Malachai
walked in, sitting two suitcases down before leaving
without a word.

Graydon watched the older man work, and as

the doctor began putting his tools back in the bag
he asked, “How is she?”

The man nodded and looked up at him, a small

smile on his face.

“She’s doing great. The sedative should wear

off soon. When she wakes up she’ll be in some

pain, but her vitals are all clear. She should be fine.
There are pain pills in the brown suitcase, make
sure she takes them, but keep them hidden.”

Graydon nodded and stood up, relief flooding

his features. “Thank you.”

The other man nodded before walking towards

the door.

Graydon left Alena, and walked with him out of

the room, pausing in the hallway to see if anyone
else had been planning on coming in. When he
didn’t see any of his travel companions he went
back inside. He walked to the bathroom and turned
the shower on, leaving the door ajar so he could
hear Alena if she happened to wake up and call for
someone.

Graydon took his clothes off, his hand hovering

at the ring a moment before leaving it on. He found
it was strange to wear.

First, because he wasn’t one for jewelry. He

loathed the dog tags he had been required to wear
for most of his life. The idea of a ring being worn
on his hand was enough to keep it annoyingly at the
forefront of his mind. Then, of course, it didn’t help
that Alena wasn’t actually married to him, which
just made the whole situation that much odder for
him.

He stepped into the shower, letting the warm

water run over him. The last time he had showered
he had been Graydon, American, and about to

destroy a top-secret project from Harvell Tech.

Now he was Rutger, Dutch, married engineer

on vacation. Though he couldn’t blame Alena for
any of it, meeting her had changed his world. She
challenged not only how he viewed the world, but
also how he viewed himself.

She had been the cataclysmic event that turned

his world upside down. Alena had been the
darkening of skies before the storm.

Still, looking back, he couldn’t honestly say he

wouldn’t have sailed right back into the storm had
he known otherwise. If it meant finding her and
stopping Hart, he would have done it over and over
again.

He took his time in the shower; the water

washing away the remnants of Alena's blood.
Graydon put a towel around his waist and walked
out of the bathroom. His eyes going to the bed
where he assumed he would find a still unconscious
Alena.

Instead, he found her sitting up in the bed;

leaning against the pillows and inspecting her
wound. Graydon spoke up, his voice a mixture of
reproach and amusement. “You’re supposed to
leave that alone.”

Alena looked up, her eyes searching him over.

Her face was unreadable as she asked, “How long
have I been out? What happened?”

Graydon was about to give her the run-down of

the mission when he heard someone passing by the
door. The reminder that they were not alone here.

He laughed his fake laugh before speaking to

her. “Honey you passed out ten minutes after
takeoff, it’s fine though. I promise you haven’t
missed much.”

When she raised her eyebrow questioningly, he

held up his left hand and pointed at the ring. She
mouthed, “Me?”

Graydon nodded before holding his finger up in

a gesture for her to wait a moment. She nodded and
watched as he walked over to the suitcases,
opening the brown one and digging through its
contents until he found the small bottle of pills.

Graydon walked back over to Alena and poured

water from the pitcher sitting by the bed. He
handed her the water and one small white pill. She
took the medicine from him, popping it into her
mouth and sipping the water.

She gave him the glass back, and he spoke

quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

“The mission was successful, we’re in Bari,

Italy. Masha said the next stop will be in a few-”

She nodded then, interrupting him as she

murmured, “Albania.”

He raised his eyebrow before continuing on,

unsure why Albania would be their next stop.

“I have a rundown of my history, and person

that goes with yours if you want to read. I’m sure

Masha will be by to give you yours once I tell her
you’re awake.”

Alena shook her head, “No. I won’t need one.

We reviewed this mission weeks before we took
you. It was our next stop no matter what happened
with Harvell Tech. She’s Delia now, and also my
mother.” Alena replied with a small smile.

Graydon smirked at that before getting up and

walking over to the other suitcase. It was black, and
had RKB monogrammed on the side. He shook his
head a second before looking through the contents.

The clothes were like the ones he had donned

when they first arrived, well-tailored. He assumed
they cost more than he made in a year with his
government salary. It appeared the petroleum
engineering field was doing well, he thought to
himself.

He grabbed a full set of clothes and went to the

bathroom to change. Stepping back into the room,
he stuffed his hands in his pockets, watching her.
She was moving the wedding ring around her finger,
gazing out the window.

He couldn’t tell what she was thinking which

drove him half crazy. Graydon could read people
like they were books, and yet here she was, a blank
page every time he wanted to know more. He
cleared his throat and walked over to her, his voice
low. “How are you feeling?”

“Perfectly fine, considering.” Alena replied. He

nodded, a soldier’s answer if there ever was one.

She laid back against the pillows on the bed. “I

assume it all went according to plan?”

Graydon shrugged. “I didn’t know the full plan,

but we destroyed the projects and made it out of
the US safely. We landed about three hours ago,
and now we’re here. Does that sound like it went
according to plan?”

She watched him a moment before answering.
“It does. Should I assume your presence here

means you’re staying with us?” her question blunt.

Graydon met her eyes before sitting down next

to her on the bed. “I’m here because I needed to
know you were ok. ”

Alena was silent as she waited for him to

continue.

“Alena, I’ve been on more missions than I can

count. I've never felt fear with them, not that
praying to God, bargaining with the Devil, fear.
Including the last mission that left me bloodied and
broken. I had made peace with my death, I was
ready to accept it. When you were shot, I’ve never
felt more helpless, more scared. I’ve never felt so
desperate to save anyone in my life. I didn’t know
if I would ever hear your voice again, and it drove
me crazy.” Graydon replied, the memories causing
his chest to ache.

She reached out, taking his hand. Graydon took

a steadying breath before adding, “I don’t know

what this is. I don’t know what this could be. All I
know is that I can’t lose you again.”

The two of them sat a moment in silence,

holding each other’s hand. He knew he couldn’t
ask her to walk away from the only family she had
ever known. He didn’t know if he could be what
she was asking him to be again either.

He spoke up, asking the question he almost

didn’t want to know the answer to. “What do you
do for this group? What’s your role?”

Alena sighed. Her face looking as if she knew

she was about to speak the words that might ruin
everything. Still, she met his eyes, her face
unflinching as she answered him.

“Hart was right. I am known to many of our

enemies as Aeron. I’m the one sent in to kill when
the mission needs a pretty face with quick reflexes.
When the tribe leaders and terrorist heads need to
be taken out by something more precise than a
warhead.”

Graydon’s mind ran wild with the images of

Alena, flirting and charming her way into her
target’s bed. He couldn’t help but imagine all the
men she had made it her job to seduce, all of those
powerful people who could have ended her life.

“Sounds dangerous,” he replied.
She shrugged, then hissed at the pain before

letting out a frustrated breath.

“Says the man who almost died doing the same

thing.”

He gave her a pointed look, trying not to grin

before reaching out and moving a strand of hair
that had fallen across her face.

His eyes staring into hers as his hand stayed a

moment on her cheek.

“ I can’t ask you to leave them for me, for us.

Especially when we don’t even know what we are.
I don't want to be a soldier, but I don't want to walk
away from you either. So whatever your call is, I’ll
back your play.”

She met his eyes before replying.
“Are you sure what you’re getting into? I’m not

going to stop being who I am, what I’m good at.
There’s always a danger in this work Gray, more
moments of being in the line of fire. Are you sure
you can handle that?”

He thought a moment. The idea of watching as

Alena put herself in danger made his stomach tight,
but he would do it. He would do whatever she
needed, whatever she wanted, if it meant he could
have the chance to be with her.

He didn’t know much about the group, but they

had stopped Hart. They had not only trusted him
already, but also provided him with a safe exit out
of the country. If Alena trusted them with her life,
then he would too.

“I can handle it, but you’ve got to be okay with

me not having a backseat in any of it. I get you’re

going to be doing dangerous things, but I won’t let
you do them alone,” he said.

A smile spread across her face.
“Are you saying we’re partners?” Alena asked.
“You did tell me to find one worth going to Hell

for," Graydon replied with a wry grin.

She grinned back at his reply and he felt a part

of his chest burn brighter. He would do anything
she asked. Anything it took to make her happy, if it
meant she smiled that smile at him. He leaned
forward and pressed his lips to hers, making sure
not to touch her shoulder.

Alena kissed him back, her soft lips a

heartbreakingly happy reminder she was alive and
everything would be all right. Their lips came
together again before she paused.

“I would love to continue, but I need a

shower,” she said.

He chuckled. “No problem, do you need help?”

Graydon asked with concern.

She shook her head no and moved off the bed.

He watched her tensely as she slowly made it from
the bed to the bathroom. Pausing a moment, he
listened as the shower was turned on.

She had been in the bathroom for almost five

minutes when she called out to him. Graydon
walked to the door, sticking his head into the small
room. Alena stood, still fully dressed, looking
irritated.

“I can’t do it. I need your help,” Alena uttered

in frustration.

He nodded before walking in, clearing his throat

before gently lifting the dress off of her. Graydon
felt the heat burn into his cheeks as he slipped his
hand around her and unclasped her bra.

He tried not to dwell on the fact that it was red

and lacy. He gently took it off of her, offering to cut
it off when her injured arm didn’t easily come free
from the straps.

Alena laughed and told him no before the bra

came off, falling to the floor. She then steadied
herself against him as she began taking her
underwear off, trying twice and failing in the
attempt. Graydon tried to keep his voice neutral as
he spoke up.

“Just let me.”
She nodded before he slipped his hand down,

the lacy fabric sliding down her legs and off of her
body. He looked back up at her, trying to keep his
eyes on her face, his body already reacting to her
naked form.

He moved to the shower, focusing on the water

temperature longer than he needed before turning
to her.

“All right, it’s good. Just use me however you

need.”

She laughed at that and he felt his cheeks

redden even further.

“You know what I mean. I’m trying to be a

gentleman here,” Graydon replied.

She smirked and he took his shirt off before it

could get wet, moving so she could brace on his
form as she stepped into the shower.

Alena sighed contently as the water hit her

body. He was careful not to let her wound get too
wet as he helped her balance.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back,

her body reveling in the comfort of the water.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” she said.
He nodded and looked at the far wall. Graydon

could feel her tense against him as she tried moving
with the soap, trying to clean herself and not fall
over. He heard her hiss under her breath in pain as
she tried washing the blood off of her shoulder.

Graydon interjected, “All right, this is

ridiculous, I’m getting in.”

She didn’t object as he took the rest of his

clothes off and shut the door to the bathroom.

Graydon stepped into the shower with Alena.

His body moving behind hers. The two didn’t speak
as he grabbed the shampoo and massaged it into her
hair. Graydon tried focusing on getting her clean,
and not the fact that they were in a warm shower
naked together.

He ran his hands through her hair, taking care to

make sure he didn’t bump her shoulder. Alena
leaned her hair back into the water and he rinsed

her hair out, grabbing the soap.

“Do you mind?” Graydon asked, holding out

the puffy loofah ball with soap. She shook her
head, and he rubbed the soap onto her body with it.

He knelt behind her, washing her legs, and

stood up to get the front of her body. Graydon
pulled her gently to him, and she leaned back into
him, one arm braced around her middle and the
other reaching forward to clean her. The only sound
was the water hitting the floor of the shower as he
rubbed over her porcelain skin.

Graydon’s breathing was tense as he tried not to

focus on how soft and warm her body was against
his. He put the loofah down and put soap on his
hands, carefully washing around the areas where
the bandages were.

He stepped back from Alena and she turned to

face him, a burning in her eyes that he wasn’t sure
he could ignore much longer.

She moved into the stream of water then,

closing her eyes as the water washed over her.
Graydon let his eyes follow the soap down, trailing
over the curves of her body as it fell to the floor.

She stepped back and watched him a second

before reaching out with her good arm and putting
her hand on his naked chest.

He took her hand and kissed it softly before

trailing kisses down the length of it, moving closer
so he could kiss her neck.

She tilted her head to the side as he sucked and

kissed his way up her neck to her mouth, pausing a
moment to speak.

“We don’t have to do this now, we can wait

until your shoulder heals.”

She shook her head. Alena's hand moving to his

fully erect member, running her hand the length of
him.

“I’ve never been good at waiting,” she replied.
He smirked as she continued working him over,

her hand driving him crazy. He lifted her up, and
her legs wrapped around his naked torso, her
wounded shoulder positioned away from his body.

The two of them were pressed against the

shower wall and Alena arched her back to him.
Graydon obliged, taking her breast into his mouth.
His tongue teased her nipple, her moans of pleasure
beckoning him further.

She was the fuel to his fire, the partner he had

always been looking for without even knowing it.
Alena was the missing piece of himself. She was the
part of him that was better, stronger, and wilder. If
the two of them were elements, she would be the
fire to his ice.

She would be the one to melt the parts of him

he had thought never existed. The one who could
make him better or end his life, and he was
consumed by her.

Graydon continued to nip and suck her soft

breasts. The water falling from his face to her form
as he continued to pleasure her.

Graydon’s heart was racing as he set her down

softly, her wet skin rubbing against his before her
feet landed on the shower floor. Turning her gently,
he slid his hands over her, indulging in every inch
of her that was his to taste and touch.

He moved his hand between her legs and slid

his fingers inside of her. A moan escaped her lips,
and she moved her back end towards him; pushing
against his solid form.

Graydon worked his fingers in and out of her,

each pump of his hands causing her body to tense
and writhe against his.

He felt her body react to his, the slick wetness

of her building. He felt her breathing quicken, her
body building to his touch.

Alena’s hand gripped his arm as she moved her

body against his hand, his speed quickening. She
murmured his name as she came, her body tensing
and releasing around his fingers.

She turned to him then, her mouth hungrily

finding his, the two kissing passionately. He rubbed
himself against her, wanting to feel her, needing to
have her.

She touched his chest, a wicked grin on her lips,

her fingers trailing a line down his chest to the part
of him that was throbbing in need. He watched her,
forcing himself not to take her against the shower

wall.

She slowly got down on her knees in front of

him, and gave him a devilish smirk before kissing
his erect shaft. She teased him another moment
with a soft kiss, and a pleading noise came out of
his mouth before she took him fully in. Warmth and
pleasure took over as she took him in her mouth.

She began to work him, her head bobbing in a

rhythm that sent waves of pleasure coursing
through him. He was moaning as her mouth and
tongue did things that made him forget the rest of
the world existed.

Graydon said her name as he came, his body

releasing inside of her. She stood up, her chest
rubbing against him as she made her way back up
to meet his eyes. His mouth found hers and they
began passionately kissing, their bodies rubbing
fluidly together.

She was his, his Alena, and he was hers. He

knew the rings on their fingers meant nothing in
reality, but at that moment it didn't matter. He was
devoted to her, and he knew he would be until the
day he died.

Her touch, her smell, the way her voice said his

name called to him in some primal way he wasn’t
sure he would ever understand. He was hers, and it
was as simple as that.

The water was ice on his back, but he didn’t

mind. Alena’s body rubbed against his; her legs

wrapping around him.

Graydon continued kissing her, stopping only a

moment to lift her up again and step out of the
shower. He fumbled with the bathroom door a
moment as he walked back into their room with
her.

He laid Alena on the bed, his eyes taking all of

her in. She was stunning, more gorgeous than
anything he would ever deserve.

A vision, a goddess on the bed waiting for him

to take her. Alena’s legs parted and Graydon
crawled on the bed towards her, his head lowering
between her thighs.

His hands felt and touch his way over her body.

Graydon's mouth teased her, nipping and sucking
before his tongue roamed her center.

Alena was moaning softly, her hips eagerly

tilting towards him. He continued to devour her as
he felt her hand in his hair, pulling him towards her.

Graydon stopped, tearing his attention away

from her wet body and moved to hover over her.

He was ready and pulsating. She kissed him, her

hands pulling him towards her and he slowly
slipped inside of her.

The two let out blissful moans as their bodies

joined. Their hands roaming over each other
hungrily, she was liquid fire in his arms.

Graydon moved in and out of her; the two

finding a rhythm as their bodies moved as one.

Graydon was careful to keep Alena’s wounded
shoulder away from the pushing of their two
bodies.

Soon their moans of pleasure became the only

sound filling the room. Alena spoke something in
Russian as her body tensed and her hands dug into
his back.

Graydon worked his body harder with hers, the

two building together. He gripped her, pulling her
towards him in a need he couldn’t put into words.
They both came together in a rapturous exalt of
pleasure; their bodies releasing and melting into
each other.

Graydon rested his head in the crook of her

neck, kissing her skin softly; saying her name like it
was a prayer. Alena had her hand in his hair, her
body holding him close as if he might disappear if
she didn’t.

The two laid like that for a few moments before

he eased off of her and held her in his arms. He
always felt awkward around other people with his
large arms and frame. He was usually clumsy and
awkward, but Alena’s body rested against his with
ease.

Her small frame molded perfectly against his. It

was as if she was the literal other part of himself.
Only the act of having her close, of being inside
and near her was what put his soul at ease. He was
the most content and happy he had been in his

whole life; laying in the bed holding Alena after
making love.

Leaning over to kiss the top of her head he

wished he could freeze this moment and hold onto
it forever.

She spoke first, and he softly stroked his hands

down her side as she did.

“Are you sure you’re ok with joining us? I don’t

want to push you into something you don’t want.”

He continued stroking her soft skin, his voice

steady as he replied.

“I want you. If that means a life with this group

then, yes, I’m ok with joining.”

He shifted so he could look down at her.
“I never thought I would be that guy who loved

someone. I didn’t think there was anyone out there
who could understand me. Anyone who would
want to, and then I meet you, and you’re smart, and
sexy. You're quick as a whip and you get me. I can’t
let something like that go. If it means being a
soldier again, hell, if it means being a spy again I’d
do it in a heartbeat. Just say the words.”

She looked up at him, her eyes tearing before

she nodded. Alena laid her head down on his chest
and he spoke up, his voice softer.

“Maybe what you and I have will grow into

something big enough to be enough for you. Maybe
we'll come to a point where we can have our own
family without being a part of them. We can create

something that’s just ours and we can walk
away...together.”

She went rigid in his arms, her breath stilling

and he turned to meet her eyes again.

“But look, if you never get to that, that’s ok

too. I’m in this for the long haul. I told you, I’m
here to back your play.” Graydon said as she
moved closer to him.

He kissed the top of her head. The two of them

not saying another word, and he began to let his
mind wander through his thoughts. The time
passing on, and without realizing it he fell asleep
holding her.

Chapter 14

raydon was awoken sometime in the night.

Alena was still sleeping in his arms, the moonlight
pouring in through the balcony windows. He
realized with small surprise that he had woken up
naturally, and not from a nightmare.

It was rare for him to wake up without one. He

wondered if it was due to being so exhausted or
from having Alena in his arms.

Graydon watched the moonlight throwing

shadows in the room, the light bouncing off of the
shiny floor. The voices of their traveling
companions laughing downstairs drifted up from
the floor below.

He swallowed, his mouth dry as he leaned over

quietly and took a sip of water from the glass sitting
by the bed. Alena’s dark hair was now dry and
formed into soft waves as she rested against him.

He ran his hands through her hair gently. He

wondered if the US had a bounty on him yet. Hart
Druvell had died which took away witnesses and

motive, but there was the chance security footage
had caught him entering and exiting the building.

If the fire had spread to the rest of the building,

they might not have that footage though. With his
security guards knowing he was in the building,
they may have assumed he perished in the blaze.

He didn’t dwell on it too much; he doubted the

groups that would want him dead in the US were
the least of his worries. He imagined this group had
more enemies after them than they could count.

He had thought when he joined the military he

was putting a big target on his back, but now he
knew with a certainty this would be worse.

Graydon laid in bed a moment, holding Alena.

He had slept more in the past twenty-four hours
than he had in the past week. It felt good to hold
her in his arms. He felt safe for once, and at peace;
though he had no idea what was in store for him.

There was no telling what the next mission

would hold or how he would play into it, but right
now at that moment, it didn’t matter to him.

All that mattered was that Alena was in his

arms and she was alive and safe. He could figure
everything else out later.

Alena tensed in her sleep, her body jerking as

he kissed the top of her head. She murmured
something intelligible before suddenly crying out.
Alena's body trembled as she began sobbing. He
spoke quietly, but urgently, holding her to him. “It’s

ok, Alena, it’s all right.”

She snapped out of her nightmare, her body still

shaking. He stroked her hair and spoke softly. “It’s
ok, you’re safe, I’ve got you.”

He continued to hold her in silence as she

stopped crying. He didn’t question or pry as her
body eventually relaxed into his, her hand holding
tightly to him.

Graydon knew nightmares. If you wanted to

talk about them, you did. He would be the last
person to pry, or force her into talking about
anything she didn’t want to. He had enough of
them to know that when you had them, it was
personal.

It was emotionally revealing and you were left

feeling vulnerable, and open. The best thing you
could ask of someone was to hold you tight, and
reassure you that the world you were in was the
only one that was real.

He watched as she moved herself to lay against

his chest, over his heart. He closed his eyes and
focused on listening to her breathing. His mind
drifting into sleep with her warm body against his; a
gentle and constant reminder that neither was
alone.

✽✽✽

Morning came and went before Graydon woke

up, his mind realizing with a start that he was in an
empty bed. He sat up, his eyes searching the room
for Alena, his pulse quickening.

Movement caught his eye and he saw her on

the balcony, a simple robe covering her. Her dark
hair unruly and wild, cascading down her back. He
got up and walked to the suitcase, pulling out a pair
of pants. He slipped them on and walked over to
where she was outside.

The sun was well into the sky, the warmth

enveloping him as he stepped out onto the terrace.
He slipped his arms around her and she laid back
into him, a soft smile on her lips.

“Good Afternoon Rut,” Alena breathed.
Graydon chuckled before replying.
“Good Afternoon Adelaide.”
Graydon shook his head before adding, “No,

that’s much too formal, how about Adi?”

She turned to face him, shaking her head and

scrunching her nose. “No way. That sounds like a
dog's name.”

“So I’m stuck with Adelaide while you shorten

mine down to three letters?” Graydon asked with a
grin.

"Yes," she replied smartly, returning the smile.
“Fine,” he resolved.
He kissed her lips and she grinned in

satisfaction before kissing him back.

“How’s the shoulder feeling?” he asked.
She leaned against him, her head on his chest.
“Same as yesterday.”
He nodded before looking down at her. “Did

you take your pain meds?” he questioned as he
gave her a doubting look.

She shook her head no as if that would have

been a huge bother. “I don’t need pain meds, I’m
fine,” she said as she waved the idea off.

He gave her a pointed look before walking

away from her, searching the suitcase for the bottle.
Graydon grabbed a pill out and poured fresh water
from the pitcher, bringing it over to her.

“You were shot, you need pain medicine. No

one likes a martyr Adelaide.” Graydon replied as he
held the water and pill out to her.

She rolled her eyes before taking the small pill

from him and drinking it down. She held the glass in
her hands and looked back out over their balcony.

The view was spectacular, and Graydon again

wondered how they paid for something like this.
The Villa was an extension of a vineyard, and rows
upon rows of grapes stretched out as far as they
could see.

There were no other houses or buildings nearby.

It was secluded enough to remain secure, but also
near enough to the city for it to look like a vacation
property. They planned their travels well, he
thought to himself. The pool was below them to

their right and he wondered if there were bathing
suits in those suitcases.

The idea of seeing Alena wearing something

skimpy in the water was enough to cause his body
to react. His mind envisioning all of the things he
wanted to do to her.

Alena spoke up, disrupting him from the images

he had been thinking of. He could tell by her voice
that she was ready to get to business, and not the
fun kind he had been imagining.

“We need to go down there, you and I have to

do reconnaissance on the property before nightfall.
Remember...we’re on vacation. Delia is my mother,
and Edda is my Aunt. We also brought our friends
with us; though I doubt they’ll be here right now,”
Alena said, her no-nonsense voice taking over.

Graydon nodded and followed her as she made

her way back into the bedroom. He helped her get
dressed into something that would conceal her
bandages. He helped her brush her hair, and slide
on her shoes before he got dressed.

Alena whistled as he put on the dress shirt and

pants that altogether cost more than his first car.
“You’re missing the sunglasses Rut,” Alena said
with amusement.

He thought she had been kidding, but before he

could close the suitcase, she pointed to a smaller
bag inside.

Graydon opened the bag and sighed in

annoyance as he looked at all of the accessories it
contained.

He never wore accessories, unless you counted

holsters, which most women did not. Inside the
smaller bag, there was everything from leather belts
to watches that were impossibly bulky, and much
too shiny for his taste.

He grabbed a pair of sunglasses and put them

on before turning to her.

“Is this better?” he asked, mild annoyance clear

in his voice. She smiled before replying, “You look
like you should be on the cover of G.I. Joe weekly.”

“Oh ha ha,” he replied sarcastically before

slipping his hand around her waist and opening the
door. She leaned against him as the two went down
the stairs together.

The two Russian women who he now referred

to as Delia and Edda, were sitting in the large room
that he imagined was the hub of the house. They
each had a drink in their hand, laughing loudly as
Graydon and Alena made it down the steps to
them.

He supposed to anyone on the outside looking

in who didn’t know better, the two women looked
like they were day drinking, and catching up on
gossip.

To those who knew better, they were pretending

to drink while taking the seats that allowed them
the best views of the house for anyone coming and

going. Masha got up, making a show of wobbling as
Galina laughed out loud in response.

Masha made her way over with the drink in

hand. “Well, it’s about time you two showed up.
You’ve forced us to drink alone down here all day,”
she said, her voice wavering between irritation and
amusement.

Alena laughed. “Mother, it’s only slightly past

noon,” she replied with a loving smile.

Masha waved her off. “We’re on vacation

darling. The drinking time starts when your feet hit
the floor, let me get you something. The ladies in
the kitchen make an excellent bellini,” she offered,
sipping her drink.

Graydon spoke up, trying to inflict concern in

his voice. “Let’s save the bellinis for tonight.
Adelaide and I wanted to see the property.”

Masha’s face held the slightest note of approval

before frowning and waving them off. “Oh fine,
you ruin all the fun Rutger, go see your sights.
We’ll be here when you return.”

Graydon and Alena walked out of the house,

his arm still around her. They didn’t say a word; the
two grinning like a couple in love, without a care in
the world.

The woman who had shown him to his room

was nearby. She was speaking with a man who
wore the same colored shirt as she did, and they
both greeted he and Alena with a smile.

Alena spoke up.
“Hi, sorry to bother you, but we want to visit

the vineyard. Is there a cart we can use or a
walking trail of some sort?” she asked.

The woman nodded before replying, “Of course

Signora, I can have Ciro escort you. He knows
everything about the vineyards.”

“Thank you so much.” Alena smiled brightly in

return as she squeezed Graydon’s hand.

He took the hint and interjected, “That’s kind,

but we actually hoped to travel on our own. Maybe
something more private?”

He looked over at Alena and let his eyes travel

down the length of her body. It had taken little for
him to react suggestively to wanting her. There
wasn’t any acting involved in him having to lust for
her.

The woman blushed, a small grin appearing on

her face before waving the man off as she said
something in Italian to him. She turned to address
them, “Sì, yes. Ciro will bring you a golf cart. All
you have to do is follow the trail at the side of the
Villa, it winds through the Vineyards.”

Graydon smiled in thanks at the woman and

indulgently looked back at his pretend wife. The
man returned with a golf cart, though it wasn’t
what he was expecting. The car was bright red and
polished like a diamond. The seat was a rich
leather, and the tire's rims were shining in the

sunlight.

Graydon tried not to balk, and instead forced

himself to remember he was rich. He imagined a
rich guy would have expected nothing less.

He nodded his thanks to the man before getting

into the driver’s seat. Graydon held his breath as
Alena slid in next to him, wincing only slightly.

Graydon started up the cart and found the path

the woman had mentioned. He only spoke up when
he thought they were well enough out of view.

“How was that?” he asked Alena, his eyes

flickering to her a moment before going back to the
path.

She smiled before replying, “You did great.

Good job at remembering I have a drinking
problem.”

He chuckled. “So reconnaissance, and then

what?”

“Then we meet for lunch, and more than likely

the group will split up before having an actual
meeting in the wine cellar later tonight. We’ll
discuss the plan further, and talk about moving on
from here. We should be here for a few more days,
though that can change in the blink of an eye.”

“What is the next mission?” he asked.
She pulled lipstick from her purse and applied it

in the cart’s mirror. He glanced over, with her black
hair blowing in the wind and her red lips she looked
dangerously sexy. She was making it increasingly

hard for him to concentrate on the path.

“I don’t know. I do know it’s something with

the Albanian Mafia. I know my role will be of
support this time around, nothing too dangerous.
Leo, or as you should call him now, Pieter, will
have the harder role.” Alena replied.

Graydon nodded before asking, “Do you think

they know I’m on board?”

Alena laughed, the sound causing a lightness to

spread through his chest.

"I don’t know, but I’m sure they bet on it. Our

group is quite the competitive bunch who enjoys
gambling. You just wait, I’m sure when you let
them know someone will owe someone else some
money."

Graydon smirked. “What about you? What was

the last thing you bet on?”

She paused a moment in thought before

replying, “If you would kill me or not.”

Graydon raised his eyebrow, slowing the cart to

a crawl and looking over at her. She smirked,
knowing it was killing him to not know what she
was talking about.

“It was before I told you everything, the night

of your capture. They bet on if you would kill me
before I took you out,” she explained.

“Which way did you bet?” he asked, curiosity

filling his voice.

Alena laughed. “I knew I could take you, you

don’t scare me Graydon King," she replied, her
voice seductive.

He gave her a roguish smile. “Is that so? You

wait until I don’t have to worry about hurting that
shoulder of yours. I may change your mind,” he
snickered.

She looked over at him, fire lighting her eyes

before she replied, “Challenge accepted.”

He stopped the cart and leaned into her, gently

kissing her lips. His hands ran through her hair. She
nipped at his bottom lip and he grinned; a guttural
sound coming from him a second before deepening
the kiss.

She obliged and her hand went around his neck,

urging him towards her. Graydon’s hand caressed
her breast, and he murmured in her ear, “You don’t
scare me either Aeron.”

The corners of her mouth pulled into a smile

and she replied softly, “I should.”

Her hand found a pressure point on his neck

and she pressed down, his body forcibly jerking
down under her will.

There was a fiery challenge in her eyes. A

wicked grin came upon her face as she inclined her
head to him as she spoke, “They don’t call me the
assassin for nothing Gray.”

She took her hand off of him and he matched

her grin, kissing his way up her body until he was
eye level with her again.

“When the time comes, we’ll just have to put

our skills toe to toe. See who can hold out the
longest before they beg for mercy.” Graydon said,
his voice confident.

She kissed his neck, her hand running down his

chest before replying, “Yes sir.“

Alena leaned back in the seat, a small satisfied

grin on her face. Graydon forced himself to sit back
in the seat as well, moving from her slowly.

How anyone as beautiful and devilishly

seductive as her could care for a guy like him, he
would never know.

However, he would be eternally grateful until

the day he died that she did. She was more than he
would ever deserve. Someone so much his equal
and partner that it was second nature to be with
her.

It was like his body knew her already, his soul

had been looking for that missing piece that she
inherently was.

Graydon started the golf cart up again, and they

made it out of the path and into the vineyard.

They rode along mostly in silence, though

occasionally Alena would point out something
interesting now and then. He discovered she knew
a little about vineyards from a previous mission.
She didn’t go into further detail, and he didn’t
press.

When Graydon had gone on dates with women

before it had always seemed like he was being
interrogated. Most women wanted to know every
detail about what he did, and where he had been,
and why.

He had never felt comfortable sharing, and

often when he refused they had turned defensive.
Things never lasted long after that. With Alena, she
understood his hesitation.

Even when she was a therapist, she would

never push him into explaining or divulging past
missions. There was something understood between
them that the past was the past.

If anything pertained to something in their

future or present, they would share. However,
neither would push the other into diving back into
things that were painful when it was so
unnecessary.

They traveled around the vineyard, mostly

sticking to the path. They passed along rows of
grapes and trelesses. Graydon stopped the cart
when they were on the tallest hill on the property.

It was the best view of the vineyard and Villa,

and a prime scouting position. The two of them
scanned the area, Graydon noting that there were
no vehicles or smaller buildings that would raise
any red flags.

The property seemed to be relatively secure,

and he sat back. His mind switched from security to
simply enjoying his surroundings.

Alena got out and stretched before sitting down

on the grassy hill. Graydon followed and sat beside
her, looking out over the valley before them.

The vineyard stretched on, and it seemed

amazing to him that a place like this could exist in
the world. Everything moved with a quiet calm,
there was no anger, no violence. There was only the
sunshine, the warm breeze and the sound of birds.

He laid back, closing his eyes, and Alena

brushed her hand softly against his cheek. She
spoke up, her voice soothing a part of his soul.

“Do you really want a family? It surprised me

when you mentioned it before. In all of our
sessions, you were adamant about never having a
real relationship. Even in the studio you called it all
a weakness.”

Graydon’s eyes remained closed, reveling in her

hand on him in the warm sunshine as he replied.

“Yes, eventually. It is a weakness, but you’re a

weakness too. I guess sometimes you have to take
the chance of having that vulnerability. I think
vulnerability makes life worth living, because what
we have between us...”

Graydon paused before opening his eyes and

looking into hers. “What we have is something
incredible, Alena. If more people had what we did,
you and I would have to find new jobs. The world
would be a much better place.”

Alena's face clouded, her lips pulling together.

“You’ve only seen the highlight reel which, believe
me, isn’t all that spectacular. You haven’t seen the
bad parts, Gray. You don’t know what monsters I
have,” she said, her voice tense.

He sat up, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I’ve seen enough to know that whatever monsters
you have, we can fight them together. I know
you’re scared, I am too. I also know you’re strong,
and you're smart, and you challenge me, make me
better. Whatever comes, we can face it together;
we don’t have to be alone in this anymore.”

Alena nodded as her eyes teared up. He kissed

her forehead and moved to hold her. She nestled
into his arms, her body forming to his. They
remained there a moment, each lost in their own
thoughts.

He would have stayed there for the rest of the

afternoon, the rest of the day, had she not suggested
that they return to meet with the group.

Graydon’s life hadn’t allowed him much

downtime. When he was in between missions, there
was always moments of peace, but nothing like this.

Usually, his moments of quiet time were spent

debriefing or getting ready for the next mission.
When he wasn’t doing any of those things he was
training or taking stock of his weapons. He couldn’t
remember the last time he had nothing to do on a
warm, safe, quiet afternoon.

He got up reluctantly and helped her to her feet.

He noticed she winced, and he silently kicked
himself for not bringing her pain medicine.

As they walked back to the golf cart he asked,

"So tell me Adelaide, who is who on this little
layover in paradise we have going on?”

She told him who everyone in their party now

was. Masha was Delia, assuming the part of
Adelaide’s mother. Galina was Edda, her Aunt and
Leo would go by Pieter, his childhood friend, and
business partner. Malakai would be Jaymes, their
friend, but mostly chief of security detail. Jaymes
would be in charge of the two other guards they
had brought with them.

The two of them slid into the plush cart, and

Graydon began driving back.

“I would hate to be the person in charge of

managing your budget for this group,” he laughed
as he shook his head.

“It’s not always like this. We were in the old

sound studio before this one remember? Before that
was a dilapidated theater. It’s a lot of give and take.
The mission we have coming requires us to show
wealth, so it’s necessary to be flashy.” Alena
replied, looking over the rows of grapes as they
headed back.

He nodded. “I get it and trust me, I’m not

complaining. I don’t think I’ve ever slept on
anything so comfortable in my life.”

She smiled back over at him.

"Are you sure you’re going to be ok with all of

this?" she asked before adding, "Next time we
might not be married, they could have you as
security, or intelligence. There’s no promise of
anything with this job."

Graydon leaned over and put his arm around

her, her body curling to his.

“I’m in this, ok? I’m not going anywhere. If

you’re here, then so am I,” he replied firmly.

She looked up at him a moment before nodding

and moving her attention back to the road. He held
her in his arms, the cart winding through the
property.

Chapter 15

raydon and Alena arrived back at the property

just as lunch was being served. The other members
of their party were already sitting at the table when
they walked in. Leo, or rather Pieter, called out to
him.

“Rut, it’s about time. I was just telling Edda and

Delia that I chartered a local fishing crew at Port Di
Santo Spirito. It’s not far from here, about twenty
minutes. How about we leave these ladies to their
shopping and head out for a little deep sea fishing?”

Leo raised his eyebrows and tilted his head,

doing his best to entice him. Graydon laughed.
“Tempting, what does my darling wife have to say
about that?” he asked, looking over at Alena who
sat down across from Leo.

She gave him a sly smile. “As long as you leave

your wallet with me I don’t care what you do
sweetheart. I want an Italian purse so bad I can’t
stand it.”

Graydon laughed and sat down at the table next

to her. Alena and Masha began talking about
accessories which had amazed him because she had
never seemed like the type.

He wondered how many times they had each

played different roles. Alena had been his quiet
therapist, now listening to her gush about shoes
while laughing freely made his head hurt.

The lunch was delicious, and he held Alena’s

hand when it was finished, the group chatting lazily
about the vacation. Galina spoke up about wanting
to take a sightseeing tour, and Alena brought up the
local theaters and shows.

Graydon couldn’t tell what was acting and what

was the truth, but he supposed it didn’t matter.
They had downtime to prepare for the next mission,
so as long as everyone played their parts it,
theoretically, should all go smoothly.

Graydon and Alena left the lunch group and

went into their rooms to change. Graydon walked
in after her, shutting and locking the door. He
grabbed the pain pills and handed her one.

After she took it, he watched as she walked to

the bed, sitting down and beckoning him to her.
Graydon walked over and sat facing her, the two
speaking in hushed tones.

“Does he really have a chartered fishing boat

for us?” Graydon asked curiously.

Alena nodded, “Yep. Appearances remember?”

“Are you going to be all right? Masha and

Galina don’t look like they’d be much fun,” he
asked with a small smile.

“You would be surprised. I don’t know how

much Masha makes, but she has a keen eye for
expensive jewelry. I might have been pretending
with all of the fashion talk down there, but she was
enjoying every minute of it. You should see those
two when we get to shop in stores,” she said with a
playful eye roll.

He grinned at the thought.
“What about you? Are you saying my wallet is

safe from diamonds and expensive clothes?” he
asked teasingly.

She raised her eyebrow, the humor falling from

her face.

“First of all, I’ve seen your bank account, and

let’s just say uncle Sam doesn’t pay well. I have my
own money for nice things thank-you-very-much.
Second of all-”

He interrupted her, his hand moving to caress

her cheek.

“Alena Vasiliev, I am well aware you are

capable, but let’s make things clear. If I want to buy
you something expensive, I’m going to buy you
something expensive. You’re going to have to get
over your independent woman bit and allow it to
happen.”

She tilted her head. “And what about you? Are

you comfortable with me buying you nice things?”
she challenged.

Graydon laughed. “Are you kidding? I’ll give

you a list. Like you said, you’ve seen my bank
account.”

She nudged him playfully, a smile breaking

across her face. He grinned at her a moment before
touching his forehead to hers.

"Partners. Remember that," he said. She

nodded and kissed his lips.

Partner was a word that meant more to

someone in their field. You weren’t above your
partner, you didn’t betray your partner. You laid
your life down for your partner. When he spoke it
to her, it was as if he was agreeing to an unspoken
joining of the two of them.

Graydon leaned towards Alena and she laid

back on the bed, tugging him on top of her.

Her hand slid under his shirt, tracing the

muscles. He kissed her neck and murmured softly
that she was beautiful. His hands starting at the
curve of her body and roaming upwards.

He caressed her skin, savoring the softness

against his rough hands. He pulled at her dress and
she sat up to slip it off, throwing it carelessly to the
floor. He moved back to her, unhooking her bra,
carefully minding the shoulder.

Graydon tossed the bra to the floor with the

dress, his eyes basking in her stunning naked form

laid out before him. Graydon moved to her breasts,
his finger teasing her sensitive skin as his mouth
nipped and played.

His body pushed hard against her, every muscle

in him throbbing as she moved to him. Alena undid
his pants, sliding her hand inside as a knock on the
door sounded through the room.

The two of them paused in perfect stillness as

Leo called out, “Rut. What’s taking so long? I told
the boat we’d be there this afternoon.”

Graydon silently cursed the man before taking a

calming breath, willing his voice to still.

He called back out, “One minute. I’ll meet you

downstairs.”

They listened as a set of footsteps trailed

downstairs. Alena covered her mouth to stifle a
laugh, and he shook his head grinning, “Not funny.”

She watched as he kissed her forehead and

buttoned up his pants. He walked over to the
suitcase and retrieved a light shirt, a different pair
of sunglasses, and the wallet he was passing off as
his own.

Alena sat up, sighing airily as she spoke, “To

think what could have been.” She grabbed her
clothes and he helped her slip them back, the smile
still on her face.

Graydon chuckled. “You’re enjoying this a little

too much.”

“You know when we’re on missions together it

could be days, possibly weeks before we see each
other,” she said.

“That,” he began, “Is a problem I’ll worry

about when it comes. For now, you just behave
until I get back.”

“Never.” She replied with a grin, watching him

as he grabbed his things. Graydon stopped at the
door, turning to face her. He let himself enjoy this
moment, that he had someone waiting for him,
someone who cared about him.

He gave her a lopsided smile before walking out

of the door and moving down the steps.

Leo was waiting outside for him, just like he

had said and Graydon walked over to meet him.

“Let’s go catch some fish,” Graydon said with a

grin.

“You bet,” Leo replied, returning the smile.
Graydon opened the door to the blue SUV,

getting in the back of the vehicle. Leo walked
around and did the same. The passenger seat had a
man Graydon had seen in the plane on the way to
Italy, but he didn’t know his name. The driver
waited until everyone was situated before pulling
off.

It was odd for him to leave her. He didn’t like

the sinking feeling that lodged in his chest the
moment they pulled away from the Villa. It was like
he had left a part of himself there.

He wasn’t the kind of guy who would say his

heart was left behind; no to him it was more like a
part of his being was missing. There was a space
right in his chest that ached for her to return to him.

The ride to the port was quick and Graydon was

thankful when Leo made conversation, asking
random things that only a best friend would ask.
Graydon wasn’t a guy who had lots of friends. It
was even more unnatural when he was pretending
this was his best friend, a man he had never
actually met.

Leo had taken everything in stride, telling jokes

and commenting on the views as the car moved
along. He hoped the driver would assume he was
just quiet. The group made it to the port and
Graydon tried not to look dumbfounded as he took
in his surroundings.

The boats were all gorgeous and shiny. The one

Leo pointed to was sleek and lithe. It looked like it
was built for cruising the water. It was smaller than
he would have guessed, but the boat looked ready
for the challenge with riggings and polls jutting out
into the sky.

Graydon followed Leo to the boat and shook

hands with the man who introduced himself as
Rocco, their fishing guide.

Rocco gave them basic instructions on what to

do in the event of an emergency. He then pointed
them in the direction of the restroom, kitchen, and
modest lounging areas below deck.

Graydon listened as the man told them they

would reach the spot they needed to be at in an
hour. He and Leo had both nodded along to the
man’s words and when their guide left them Leo
turned to him, “Better make yourself comfy.”

Graydon watched as he walked past him, and

trudged down the steps to where Rocco had
pointed out the lounging area. Graydon instead
walked along the boat, choosing to take a seat at
the back.

He let his legs hang over the side as the captain

pulled away from the dock. It was beautiful, the air
was warm and the gentle spray of the water felt
heavenly.

Occasionally they passed other passenger boats,

but the closer they got to the open sea the more
secluded it became.

Graydon got up halfway through the ride and

made his way to where the kitchen quarters were.
He moved down the steps, careful to duck his head
and walked to the small refrigerator.

The captain of the vessel had ensured they

would be comfortable, and there was everything
from fresh fruit to wine aboard. Graydon grabbed a
bottle of water and looked around for Leo. He
walked along the passageway below deck until he
came to the lounging area.

Leo was laying on his stomach on a couch, his

forehead resting against a water bottle.

“Are you all right? Do we need to turn back?”

Graydon asked, his voice filled with concern. Leo
didn’t bother opening his eyes.

"Seasick. I hate boats," he muttered before

turning away from Graydon.

Leo faced the wall, the water bottle rolling to

the floor. Graydon wanted to ask him why in the
world he had booked a fishing charter if the man
hated boats, but Alena’s words about appearances
flooded back to him.

He hadn’t thought playing the part of a rich guy

would have had to involve them deep sea fishing,
but he wasn’t one to question their plans either.

Graydon picked up the bottle from the floor and

put both bottles on the counter. He walked to the
bow of the ship and took a seat in one of the chairs.
The sky was washed in hues of pink and yellow as
the sun set over the Mediterranean sea. He had
never been night fishing before.

The only time he had ever gone fishing at all

was when he was a kid. The man who was in
charge of finding him a suitable place had offered
to take him. The man had arranged the trip after
picking him up from a couple who hadn’t been the
best people.

It had been a small stock pond, and the fish

were catch and release only. Looking back now he
imagined it was second nature for them to be
caught, but he had loved every minute of it as a kid.

He had caught six fish that day, mostly crappie with
one catfish. The memory was one of those few,
good ones he liked to look back on.

This, however, was a completely different

animal than the stock pond was. The sky enveloped
them in a darkness that on the water was equal
parts serene and unsettling.

The boat had lights, but there was nothing

around them. Looking around it was easy to
imagine they were the only people in the world.

The stars shone down on them and Graydon let

the excitement of fishing for the things that made
their home in the dark water sink in.

The boat stilled and their guide came to meet

him. Leo walked over a second later, a bright grin
on his face. No one would have assumed he was
miserable. Graydon made a mental note that the
man was one of the best actors he had ever seen.

Rocco and his crew passed out poles, and they

didn't wait long before the action appeared. The
first fish hit Leo’s line, and he called out from
across the boat, "Rut you owe me fifty bucks."

Leo began reeling and fighting his line. Graydon

turned to watch, a grin on his face as he called
back, "Doesn’t count until you get it on board
Pieter."

Leo laughed and before he could say anything

more, Graydon’s line snagged. The fish fought him
with such intensity Graydon felt his chest beating

with the thrill. His mind was racing as he wondered
what exactly had been caught on his line.

He didn’t pause in the fight a moment, even

when Leo hauled his fish on board. Graydon
continued reeling and fighting, tugging and holding
as the line pulled and tensed.

The fish he caught in that stock pond all those

years ago were minnows compared to the strength
that was fighting him now.

Graydon felt like a lifetime had passed before

he hauled the fish to the water's surface. Rocco and
another man dipping the catch nets to grab the fish
and bring it aboard.

Rocco moved to help Leo and Graydon pulled

his fish out of the net. Graydon’s face broke into a
smile he almost couldn’t contain when he saw the
fish. It was easily larger than anything he had ever
caught before; which hadn’t been too hard to
overpass when his record was previously a six-inch,
quarter-pound fish.

The monster they brought above deck was

easily 40 inches and he guessed around 50 lbs.
Graydon didn’t know much about fish, but to him,
the animal looked like a behemoth.

Graydon glanced over at Leo who was holding

up a shiny, silver fish. It was large, but Graydon
noted with a grin, smaller than his. Rocco took a
picture of Leo holding up his fish before heading
over to where Graydon was.

His accent was bright and thick as he spoke,

“Your friend caught an Albacore, very deliziosa.”
He made a motion with his hand signaling it was
something tasty and Graydon felt a hand clasp on
his back as Leo made his way over. “What shrimp
did you pull on board Rut?” Leo asked.

Graydon held the fish up to the other man with

a grin. "I have no idea, sure was a fighter though."

Rocco examined his fish and looked up with a

wide smile. "Ah, a Greater Amberjack. Very
powerful fish," he said.

Graydon was beaming as he held up the fish for

the camera. Rocco asked him if he wanted to keep
it and Graydon shook his head.

The fish was beautiful, its body shaped and

designed for speed and power. This fish didn’t
belong on his plate, the animal belonged back in the
water.

Graydon leaned over the edge with the fish as

Rocco unhooked the metal hook and freed the
animal. Graydon leaned closer towards the water
and released the fish.

It moved from his hands with speed,

disappearing into the depths below. Rocco and Leo
could have ended the trip right there for all he
cared, his night had been made. The trip, however,
continued on.

Leo brought in the most fish at seven, and

Graydon brought in five.

None of them challenging and fighting him like

the Amberjack had. Rocco announced it was time
to head back, and Graydon found himself alone
with Leo at the back of the ship.

The night was silent, save for the boat’s motors,

trolling along through the stillness of the night as
they made their way back to the shore. Graydon
looked over at the other man before speaking, his
voice solemn. "I’m sorry about your brother."

Leo nodded in response, not saying another

word. Silence passed between the two and Graydon
wished Alena was there.

Making conversation was hard enough, but he

never had siblings. He didn’t know the first thing to
say to comfort someone who had just lost theirs.

When he lost men in missions, he was never the

one to address their family or loved ones. He had
never had to shoulder the burden of loss.
Loneliness had been a blessing and a curse.

Graydon spoke up again, glancing over at Leo,

"Hey, thanks for doing this. I know it had more to
do with the mission than anything with me, but I
appreciate it."

The other man nodded before replying, “You’re

welcome. Delia was the one who came up with the
idea. She asked me to speak to you,” he said as he
glanced around the ship.

Rocco had disappeared into the captain’s

quarters and there wasn’t any crew around that he

could detect. The ship moved along the water and
Graydon waited for Leo to speak as he watched
him in silence.

“Delia assumes you will stay with us. She thinks

you would have left already had you decided
otherwise,” Leo said, his voice questioning.

Graydon nodded almost imperceptibly, “I have

decided to stay. Does she regret the offer?”

"No, nothing like that. She wanted me to talk to

you about what we do."

Graydon nodded, "Adelaide told me a little

about your causes," he replied.

Graydon could remember her speaking with

such passion, such resolute determination. If she
trusted this group to make the right decision on
where to interject then he would too.

Leo shook his head, "I am sure she told you all

about our emotional side, the motives behind what
we do. That is good, very important, but you must
understand our mechanical side. The side that
allows the operations to happen."

Graydon looked out at the water as Leo spoke

up again.

"We’re a large group made up of many units.

Each unit has soldiers assigned to it, each soldier
specializing in a skill set. Sometimes we adjust
people in units based on a particular mission’s
needs, but on the whole, we stick with our unit."

"How long have you been with this group?"

Graydon asked quietly.

"A long time," Leo replied, sighing.
Graydon looked over at the other man. Leo was

older than him, by a good ten years, but Graydon
would in no way call him old. The light-skinned
blonde mirrored his younger brother, the two of
them sharing the same eye color.

Leo continued on and Graydon turned around,

leaning against the railing and looking towards the
path the boat was cutting through the water.

“Delia, Edda and I were the first to start this

group. We brought in the rest of the team that
you’ve met not long after getting our bearings. We
also have four more soldiers specializing in security
and weaponry, and a doctor that often tags along.”

Graydon nodded and Leo explained further,

“We’re in contact with the group heads, they’re the
ones we get our orders from, but mostly it’s team-
led missions.”

The moonlight shone on the deck of their boat,

a short silence taking up the space between them
before Leo spoke again.

“Teams have to run tightly, and everyone must

put their faith and trust in one another. If just one
member of the group failed to comply, the mission
would fail every time.”

Graydon didn’t glance at the other man as he

continued to speak. He could tell where this
conversation was going, he could see between the

lines of what the man wanted to say.

When Leo didn’t speak further Graydon asked,

“Are you saying I’m not going to be on this team?”

He glanced over at the other man as Leo shook

his head. “No, I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is
that to be a part of this, you must dedicate your life.
There can be no second-guessing, there can be no
hesitation. You were a soldier correct?”

Graydon nodded as the man continued, “You

must be that and more here. It’s not as simple as
just taking orders. The things we have to do
sometimes require things you would have never
been asked to do in the military. When you join this
group, you must know that your life will be this
group. In the military you can clock out, you can
have a different life. In this world, our world, the
missions are the only life we have.”

Graydon looked back out into the water, his

mind taking in everything Leo was saying.

“I know you and Adelaide think you can make

this work, but there’s no place for personal
relationships here. The only relationship you are
allowed is that of yourself and your team. Your
feelings for one another complicate things.
Complications are how people die.”

Graydon looked over at him. “So I can join

your group, but she and I won’t be together? Is that
what you’re saying?” he asked. Leo nodded in
silence.

“What about you? Your own brother was in the

group and Delia and Edda are sisters. How can one
relationship complicate the mission, but those
relationships

get

looked

over?”

Graydon

challenged.

Leo braced his hand on the rail, his voice

steady, “It is different. You’ll notice that with
missions we do not allow a sibling set to work in the
line of fire together. They can be on the same team,
but they cannot work closely on the mission. It
would risk everyone involved.”

“So once I join, I’m allowed to stay in your

group. but Adelaide and I won’t work closely
together. Even if we end our relationship?”
Graydon asked.

“That is correct,” Leo said as Graydon crossed

his arms tightly. His mind began running wild with
thought. He wondered if Alena had known that.

She had asked him to join, begged him to stay,

but had she known that once he agreed they would
be separated? Had she been pulling him in only to
have him join this group, and not actually for her?

Graydon walked away from Leo and moved to

the front of the boat. He wanted off the water. He
wanted to be away from the other man so he could
think, and more than anything he needed to see
Alena.

The ride back to the shore felt as if it took

hours, and Graydon spent his time sitting in one of

the fishing chairs; his fingers tapping his leg as his
nervous energy took over.

The bright lights of the city came into view and

Graydon jumped up, eager to see her again. He
didn’t know what to think, or what he would say.
He couldn’t imagine she had pretended any of it
with him, but he hadn’t seen her therapist side
being an act either.

Graydon forced himself to remain calm, to trust

his partner.

Graydon didn’t say a word as he and Leo

climbed back into the car. Leo chatted with the
driver, making small talk about the fishing trip, but
Graydon couldn’t muster up the effort. He needed
to know what was going on. He needed to know
what was real again.

The vehicle pulled back into the Villa; the

second car he assumed that was rented for the
women already parked in the driveway. Graydon
got out of the car and walked up the steps, saying a
silent prayer that his world wasn’t about to end.

Chapter 16

raydon stepped inside the Villa. The home

smelled spicy and fragrant. He watched as a woman
moved from the kitchen with a large tray of food to
the dining area they had all been in earlier. He
hadn’t known what time it was, but he didn’t think
he could stomach eating until he talked to Alena.

As if she sensed him her voice called out from the
room the woman had walked into. "Rut? Darling is
that you?"

He followed her voice, forcing a smile on his face.
“Sweetheart. How was shopping?” he asked as he
moved to her, kissing her on the cheek.

A moment of confusion crossed her face as she

took in his look before beaming. “Oh absolutely
perfect. I can’t wait to show you everything.”

Masha and Galina were watching him with slight
curiosity as well when another woman came in,

setting down a basket of bread. He looked down at
her with a smile. “I was hoping to change before
dinner darling, would you care to give me some
company?” he asked.

Alena looked over at Masha before replying,

“Of course, sweetheart.” Graydon held his hand
out to her, and she slipped her hand in his, standing
from the table.

Leo walked in and told them he would be right

down; that he needed to wash the smell of fish off
of him. Graydon walked with Alena’s hand in his to
the edge of the steps. Instead of walking up them
he paused, making sure no one was watching.

She followed him as they both made their way

through the hallway, and down a pair of steps to the
wine cellar. The cellar was the one place Masha
had mentioned to him that was secure. He imagined
it had something to do with them being
underground and having one entrance and exit, but
he hadn’t paid it much attention until tonight.

He didn’t want their conversation to be

overheard, not by anyone in their group and
certainly not by the house staff. Alena followed
him down, and he shut the door behind her. She
looked over at him with concern filling her features.

“What’s going on? What happened?” she

asked, her voice apprehensive. She moved to put
her hand on his chest and he stepped away, his eyes
boring into hers.

“Were you aware that once I joined we

couldn’t be together?” he asked.

Alena took a breath in, and in that brief moment
that she didn’t speak, he knew the answer was yes.
His eyes closed, and he sighed, trying to keep calm.
His thoughts taking off on their own.

If she had known, did that mean that everything

was a lie? Had she been pretending to fall in love
with him? The realization that she may not feel for
him what he felt for her was a blow to his chest. He
would have chosen to face what he faced in
Morocco a hundred times, rather than feel the
heartache that was slowly consuming him.

Graydon took a steadying breath as Alena

spoke up. Her voice soft and pleading, “Graydon
listen to me. I thought they would make an
exception.”

He laughed sarcastically. “Because they have been
nothing but flexible since I’ve met them,” he

replied, his anger seeping into his voice.

She glared at him, her good hand on her hip.

“Don’t act like a child, listen,” she demanded. He
raised his eyebrow and met her eyes, gesturing for
her to continue.

“I thought that given the level of your skills, and
experience in the field they would allow it. I didn’t
think for one moment they would have been rigid
on this small rule. It’s so rare that it’s even asked, I
thought they would see reason,” she explained.

Graydon paused. “What do you mean thought?
You’ve asked already?” he asked.

She nodded, her voice smaller, “I did, and they

said no. I didn’t know this would happen. I didn’t
think they would force us to separate.”

Graydon watched as she held herself with her

good arm, biting her lip before she spoke again. “I
thought we could do this. I thought we could have a
chance at some semblance of a life without giving
up everything we knew.”

Tears were filling her eyes, and without thinking

another moment he grabbed her in his arms. She
laid her head on his chest and he could feel her

body shaking.

Graydon sat down on the cellar’s steps and

pulled her onto his lap, holding her gently. He
couldn’t make her choose between him or them.
They were her family, they were all she had ever
know. They had been the ones to save her when she
needed it the most, not him. He wouldn’t put her in
that position. He had made her a promise, and he
intended to keep it.

He ran his hands through her hair. “It’s ok. I

told you we were partners and I meant it. Partners
don’t give up on each other when a problem comes
their way. We’ll figure this out, we’ll do what we
have to do,” he breathed.

She rested her head on his shoulder, her hand

grasping his shirt. “I didn't think I'd ever have to
say goodbye,” she said, her voice breaking. The
word goodbye hitting him like a ton of bricks, but
he forced himself to focus.

She needed him right now, even if their time

together was rapidly vanishing he would be there
every second for her until it was gone. He held her
more tightly, forcing himself to memorize the way
her body fit his.

"It’s going to be ok. You can do it because

you’re strong and you’re a fighter. You can do
anything, Alena. If you remember nothing else
remember that. In a few years from now, when
you’re ready to walk away from this life, we’ll find
each other again."

Alena went silent, her body still in his arms

before she looked up at him. “What do you mean?”
she asked, confusion on her face.

Graydon’s eyes met hers, his voice quiet, “I

mean that when you’re done with this group,
however long that might take I’ll be waiting.”

A smile broke out across her face, laughter

filling the cellar as Graydon’s eyebrows knitted in
confusion. She kissed him before speaking. “I’m
not staying with them. I’m staying with you.”

Her forehead pressed against his and his face

was still filled with confusion as he asked, “What
do you mean? You were talking about goodbyes.”

She gazed at him with an adoration that

threatened to knock him over. “You would really
walk away? You weren’t going to ask me to leave
with you?” she asked, surprise and happiness
pouring from her voice.

He shook his head, “No, I know what they

mean to you. What’s going on? Are you saying
you’re staying with me?” he questioned, his mind
struggling to find the ground to stand on.

She nodded, “Yes. Yes, of course, I’m staying

with you. When Masha refused to let the rule slide
I knew right then we would leave together. I
wouldn’t, I couldn’t, leave you.” Alena said,
pressing her lips to his.

He kissed her back, relishing the feeling of her

lips to his, a happiness exploding in his chest. She
was staying with him.

She was taking the chance on a life together

instead of the life she had known. They would be
together, each dependent on each other and in debt
to no one. They could carve out something special
in this world just for the two of them.

She playfully hit his chest. "Were you not going

to fight for me at all?” she asked, humor lighting
her face. Graydon shook his head. “I wouldn’t
come between you and this group. You’re my
partner, my best friend. I wasn’t about to take
something you loved away from you,” he said,
holding her close.

Alena kissed his forehead. "I love you, Graydon

King." He let the words sink in, let them bury inside
his chest before meeting her eyes. “I love you,
Alena Vasiliev.”

Their lips met together and Graydon knew that

this was what those movies and books always
talked about. The feeling spreading through his
body, the elation that was coursing through him was
what all the big fuss was about.

He loved her. With every fiber of his being,

with every thought and movement, he loved her.
He had thought he wasn’t capable of something like
what they had. He had thought men like him, men
who lived the life that he lived didn’t get happy
endings, yet here she was.

He had met his match in her, he had met his

equal. The person who challenged him, made him
laugh, and smile. The person who had pulled him
out of his darkness.

He knew they were far from perfect. Graydon

was smart enough to know that their life wasn't
going to be a fairytale from here on out, but none of
that mattered. Nothing mattered but the fact that
they loved each other, and they were together.

The next few moments would be a blur as

Graydon thought back to them. Alena had gone
back upstairs, to the table and told Masha to gather
everyone. The group had arrived at the cellar as he
and Alena explained they would be leaving.

He noted that Masha slipped Leo money with a

sour expression on her face. Alena and Masha
talked over details on how best to handle their split
from the group. No one spoke much after
everything was decided. The two soon after made
their way back to their room for the night.

The next morning they had woken up to Masha

at the foot of their bed, two envelopes in hand. She
explained they would hold the information they
needed for their new identities, including birth
certificates and bank cards.

She informed them that Graydon King was

pronounced dead after a body was recovered from
the fire at Harvell Tech along with Hart’s. Graydon
had said a silent prayer for Rolov when she had
said that.

Masha had hugged Alena, and Leo brought in

two different sets of luggage. She explained that the
group would leave that night, and it would be best

if he and Alena did the same.

Leo had taken the other suitcases and left the room
without a word. Graydon had looked through the
envelope to see who he would be.

Masha walked to the door and put her hand on

the knob, pausing before turning it. Her voice soft
as she spoke over her shoulder, “Keep the rings as
a present from us. If you need to reach us, you
know how.” Alena had nodded, and the woman was
gone.

He and Alena had left that night, taking a car
further into the Italian countryside before taking a
small, private plane owned by the group.

On the plane he had taken her hand in his,

asking if she regretted any of it. She had shaken her
head no before laying her head on his shoulder.

They had arrived in Trabzon, Turkey as the sun

was rising. It had seemed fitting to him, a new dawn
at the beginning of their new life. He had said as
much, and Alena had made fun of him for it,
nudging him for being a secret romantic.

Upon the recommendation of their pilot, the

two secured a place to stay at the Zorlu Grand

Hotel. They dropped their luggage off in their room
before setting out to find a place to eat.

He remembered the feeling of her hand in his as

they walked along the sidewalk. The feeling of
freedom, and happiness, such that he hadn’t felt
before. He had looked over, marveling at how
beautiful she was, how lucky he was as they
walked along. He remembered feeling like anything
was possible that day.

Four Weeks Later

raydon slipped his room key into the secure box

on the door. He was balancing two cups of coffee
and a bag of fresh bread, honey, jam, olives, and
cheese. The code box beeped a moment before
turning green, and he slipped into the room. The
bed was empty, and as he balanced the coffees and
the full bag Alena came out of the bathroom,
wrapped in a silk robe.

She helped him set the food down before he

handed her a cup of coffee, the warm vanilla aroma
enveloping the room. Alena took the coffee from
him with a grateful look before putting it to her lips.

She sighed happily after taking the first sip,

sitting down into one of the chairs. Graydon sat
down next to her and sipped his coffee, watching
her with a smile.

They had been living in the hotel for almost a

month as Kevin and Alex as they adjusted to their
new life and planned their future together. The
money Masha had left in their two accounts
providing enough for them to retire if they wanted
to.

They had been pondering how to best spend

their free time. Graydon joked that he would
become a professional fisher, though, in reality, he
didn’t care.

As long as they were together, as long as he

could feel her breathing next to him and know she
was safe, he was a happy man.

Alena hadn’t said what she wanted until they

had been walking home one night. They were
walking hand in hand, each eating Turkish ice
cream as they passed along the street together,
under the moonlight.

It had been a quiet night, and they had walked

along in comfortable silence until she turned to him,
announcing that she wanted to work with kids. She
wanted to give back to the world.

Graydon had looked over at her thoughtfully

before they continued their walk, hand-in-hand in a
quiet rhythm with one another.

Graydon pulled their breakfast out onto the

table, putting the jam closer to her side knowing she
preferred it over the honey.

“What do you think about finding a place

here?” he asked. She paused a moment, tilting her
head to the side in thought before replying, “I like it
here. I think it’s a good idea. Though, you know I
don’t like cleaning and we won't have access to
room service, so consider yourself warned.”

She grinned, and he laughed softly. “I think

we’ll manage. I want a home with you.”

She watched him thoughtfully before spreading

jam over a piece of bread. She took a bite and met
his eyes.

"Are you sure you’re ready to settle? We have

more than enough money to travel, see the world,"
she asked.

He shook his head, "I’ve seen enough of the

world. I want you."

She blushed then, looking down at her plate half

a second before speaking up again. “What about
for fun? Have you thought about what you want to
do? You don’t have to be a soldier anymore Gray.”

He nodded as he tore a piece of the bread off.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

Alena leaned back in her chair waiting for him

to reply. “I was thinking about what you said the
other night, about wanting to give back,” he said.

She nodded, and he leaned across the table, his

hand holding hers. “I want to start an orphanage.”

Alena’s eyebrows raised. “What?” she asked,

her eyes wide. He nodded, continuing, “I know it
will take a lot of work, but we have the cash and I
think we have a real chance to help some kids. If
this is something you want to do of course.”

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded, “Are you

sure? It won’t be easy.”

Graydon chuckled. “What in our lives has ever

been easy?”

She laughed with him, wiping the tears from her

face as she got up and moved to his side of the
table. Graydon pulled her onto his lap as she put
her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she breathed. He shook his head.

“You have nothing to thank me for.”

Alena nodded, “I do. You’re willing to take on a

lot of work and stress just to make me happy.”

“You’re my partner remember? If you want to

change the world, I'll help you in every way I can. I
came from that world too though, remember? I
wish back then there had been someone who cared
half as much as you do,” Graydon said, looking into
her bright green eyes.

Alena smiled. “Thank you, Gray,” she said.

He shook his head before replying, “Stop

thanking me, it’s your idea. I just came up with the
plan.”

Alena kissed his neck softly, the small motion

sending a jolt of electricity down him.

“Maybe instead of saying, I can just show you

how thankful I am,” she murmured suggestively.

He looked down at her, a grin spreading across

her face. Graydon picked her up and carried her to
the bed. She leaned back on her elbows as she
watched him take his shirt off.

His muscles were tight and hard, and as he

tossed the shirt, his eyes leveled on her. She was his
Alena, his lover, his partner. Graydon moved to the

bed and leaned down, untying her robe, letting the
silk fabric fall around her.

She was bare underneath it, and he gave a moan

of appreciation at the sight. She grinned before
slipping out of the robe, getting onto her hands and
knees and crawling to him.

Alena slowly undid his pants. They fell to the

floor, and he ran his hands through her hair. Alena
moved her hands to his boxers, tugging them down.

The length of him was fully at attention as she

took him in her mouth. Alena slowly started
sucking on him, teasing and torturing him in a slow
rhythm.

Graydon’s head fell back, his eyes closed as she

pleasured him. Her mouth was warm and her
tongue was racking his body with pleasure. He
looked down at her, watching her head move in
tempo as he throbbed inside her.

Before he reached his breaking point she

stopped and laid back on the bed, motioning for
him to come and get her.

He was to her in a second, his body over hers,

his mouth taking in her breasts.

He took a moment kissing and flicking her

nipples with his tongue until they were stiff peaks
before moving down. Graydon trailed kisses along
her body until he made his way between her legs.

He licked her softly, barely. Teasing her with his

tongue before sliding it further into her body. He
worked her with his mouth a moment before sliding
his fingers in. She moaned, and he felt the wetness
of her center around his fingers as he moved them
in and out.

Graydon’s tongue moved in rhythm with his

fingers, feeling her body build against his. She was
saying his name, somewhere between a moan and a
plea, calling for him to let her break.

He built the speed up; feeling her hips bucking

against him, her body desperate for more. He
obliged, his body eager to please her, to push her
over the edge.

She cried out, her hand gripping his head as her

body racked with pleasure. He kissed her softly
until she had stopped moaning, her breathing
coming in quick breaths.

He looked up at her with a grin and she rolled

over from him, getting back onto her hands and
knees. She pushed her backside towards him, her

body angled and giving him a view that made him
groan with need.

He entered her, her gasp of pleasure only

pushing him to fill her deeper. He indulged in her
body, taking in her naked form eager to have him;
her body craving his.

She began to move and grind against him, their

bodies merging in a speed and language that was all
their own.

She was passion incarnate, a liquid fire in his

arms. He felt his body tensing and pulsing inside
hers, desperate to fill her, to make her his.

They had made love more times than he could

count, yet each time he felt a desperate need to
have her. There was a fervor that came from
exploding inside of her and joining the two of them
together.

Sometimes it was a culmination of passion and

fire, sometimes it was soft and sensual. No matter
how their bodies came together it always ended in a
way that made him feel connected and close, like
their carnal yearning had infused their souls.

Graydon was reaching his breaking point, his

body tensing and pulsing inside hers. He was

desperate to fill her, to make her his. She moved
from him then, breaking their motion and causing a
growl from him.

She turned to face him, a devilish smile on her

lips as she pushed his chest. Graydon fell back on
the bed, the frame groaning in protest. Alena hadn’t
cared as she climbed on top of him, Graydon
eagerly sliding into her.

They both murmured in pleasure as their bodies

came together again. She rocked on top him in a
steady rhythm while his hands moved to her hips.
Graydon pulled her hips harder, faster, as their
bodies found their pace.

Alena continued to ride him as the headboard

hit against the wall, a pounding as fierce as what
they were creating between each other. He felt his
body build, his muscles tightening, his thoughts
consumed only of her.

He said her name as they both came together.

Their chests breathing heavily, sweat coating their
bodies. His arms wrapped around her and Alena
collapsed onto his chest, her head over his heart.

Graydon stroked her soft, naked body. He

whispered that he loved her, and he felt her lips pull
into a smile on his chest. She closed her eyes and

he listened as her breathing slowed to a soft, steady
pace.

He never imagined he could have a life like this.

A life that followed a path he decided, plans he
created. He couldn’t have imagined anyone out
there in the world like Alena. Anyone who could
take him toe-to-toe, who challenged and loved him
like she did.

His life hadn’t been easy, but it had been worth

it if he was allowed to have her. He had chosen her,
over a life he was comfortable with, over a choice
to be what he was ready to walk away from.

In return, she had chosen him. They had picked

each other, pushing away the uncertainty of what
might happen, and living in this new life that they
were carving out for each other.

Graydon closed his eyes, letting his imagination

take off and picture what their future might hold. A
smile crept across his face as he murmured a silent
prayer for her, for them, for their future.

Document Outline

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Four Weeks Later

Wyszukiwarka

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