Seconds to Sunrise Read online

  She scoffed. “You said you’re former SAS?”

  “That’s right.” His posture straightened.

  “So can you explain to me the best way to assault a hostage situation on an airplane, then expect me to execute it perfectly?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But we can secure the room, secure the server, then fly you in to wrap it all up.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Not possible.”

  An exasperated laugh burst from him. “I knew you were going to say that.”

  “Your cyber team wouldn’t wait that long, and neither can I.” She uncrossed her arms and gestured with fine fingers. “Do you know how many automated tasks can be assigned in a computer? Every second I don’t have my hands on that server could mean a breach and a failure.”

  This assignment was slipping way out of the parameters. “No bullshit?” His question was her last chance to change her mind and go to the safe house.

  “None.” Fear flickered in her eyes. Maybe she was realizing how dangerous what she wanted was. “I’m not reckless.”

  “But you are stubborn.” He swung out of the car and walked to the curbside while pulling out his phone. The cold air bit at his neck and hands. No clouds threatened weather, so he welcomed the relief from the heat that rose in him each time this assignment became more complicated. He dialed a secure connection to an Automatik hub and waited.

  She remained in the car, watching him. Deep eyes. They’d seen pain, her own and others’. How far into him did she see?

  “Central,” a voice answered on the other end of the line.

  “Sant.”

  “Raker updated us.”

  “A new wrinkle.” James explained April’s position as clearly as possible until the Automatik officer cut him off.

  “Let me route in cyber.”

  More waiting, with only a random click on the line to let him know he was still connected. Automatik was much more streamlined than the military, with less brass and red tape, but there were still necessary delays as everyone involved was given all necessary information.

  Inside the car, April stared at him with an impatient look on her face. She’d built the website and created encryption the top hackers couldn’t crack on her own. Clearly she wasn’t used to answering to anybody. She swung open the door and stepped out. A tall boot reached to below her knee, then jeans covered her thighs. He looked away when he caught the curve of her hips and waist beneath her open jacket. Leering at the woman he was there to protect was not good form. A charge still ran through him. He hadn’t felt it while watching her earlier in the detail. But that was before he’d seen her steel and determination.

  “What’s the word?” She brought his attention back to her face. The edge of fear remained in her eyes.

  “Still waiting.”

  Her long breath hitched with nerves.

  Finally the line connected. “Central and cyber on the line.”

  James explained the situation while April listened, ready to jump in with any missed details. But he knew the whole story and related it without interruption. Silence on the line.

  Then the answer, “Makes sense here. Is it doable for you?”

  He stepped off the map. “I can make it work.” They disconnected, and he put his phone away.

  A 9mm automatic, with a full mag. Two spares on the other side of his shoulder holster. A knife in his pocket and one across the small of his back. His phone was charged, with an extra battery. A multi-tool and a lighter in his jacket.

  And April, a live wire he couldn’t predict.

  “You’re on the team,” he told her, walking around to the driver’s side.

  She remained motionless. Maybe the reality of it finally struck her. Good. She needed to be scared and aware. Her shaky hand reached out and steadied herself on the open passenger door.

  He drew her attention. “I’m not going to leave your side.”

  She blinked, then took a breath. Her eyes met his, and he saw her resolve shimmering beneath the dread. “Albuquerque.”

  He tilted his head for more.

  She got into the car before him, her impatience already rising. When he joined her, she explained, “I got an IP hit there from an early probe they’d sent at my site, phishing.” Her eyes flicked to the key in the ignition, wanting to move. “I kept waiting for something else to reinforce it. But nothing came. And I didn’t feel safe going alone. It’s the only lead I’ve got.”

  “Then that’s where we begin.” He turned the engine over and pulled onto the street. “But first...” The hackers’ attack had set this off. If Automatik could’ve resolved it within a week, April never would’ve known about his existence. But blood had been spilled, her life was threatened and now she had to open all the doors of her world to a man like him. “We have to go to your house.”

  * * *

  Dread crawled over her skin as James drove April to her house. She was a passenger in her own car and didn’t have to give him any directions. Her privacy had been invaded by the hackers, and now it seemed like there was nothing she could claim as her own.

  She chewed her lower lip as jolts of anxiety shot up and down her legs. James was completely steady as he drove, focused and serious. At times she’d seen a little light of a smile in his face, but that had all gone away as soon as she’d insisted to be part of the hunt.

  “Do you know all my secrets?” Small talk with someone who already knew where you lived was uncanny.

  “Those are yours.” He didn’t even glance at her. “Mine are mine.”

  Not that she imagined her interrogation skills were good enough to pry personal information out of him. “How much did you see when you were watching me?”

  His gaze remained on the road and his voice was flat. “Nothing personal. My attention was on potential threats to you, not your intimates.”

  The word pushed a blush across her chest and up her neck. She rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek, hoping to hide the telltale flush she was prone to. This stranger had silently moved past some of her defenses. He already knew her. She hadn’t given anybody that kind of access in years.

  He pulled into her driveway, putting the car in the same spot she always did, and killed the engine. She only sat three feet away from where she normally did and the house looked foreign. The brown edges of the low bushes next to the door were more evident. A loose shingle cast a shadow she’d never seen before.

  James brought her back to the moment. “Do you have a go bag?”

  “Never thought I’d need one.” She got out of the car on shaky legs.

  He stood from the car and spoke with care. “We’ll pack you one.”

  She automatically started walking up the short brick path to the house, then discovered she didn’t have her keys. James was at the trunk of her car, collecting the groceries. He caught up to her and gave her the keys so she could unlock the door.

  It felt like she was breaking into someone else’s house. She had to learn the furniture and hallways as if she’d never been there, though it had been her home for eight years. James knew it better. He went immediately to the kitchen and stuffed the groceries into the refrigerator, bags and all.

  He returned to her, motor running high, but not rushed. “Duffel, backpack?”

  “Carry-on?” She pointed at a hall closet where the luggage was stored.

  “That’ll do.” He opened the door and tipped his head toward the back of her house. “I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”

  The hallway seemed to tilt under her feet. She ran her hand along the wall to steady herself. Maybe she’d reach her bedroom and find herself sitting in the comfortable chair by the French doors to the backyard. Dozing. Dreaming. Because this was feeling less and less real.

  But the room was empty, just as she�
��d left it. Bed unmade, yesterday’s clothes piled on top of a low dresser. She opened the drawers and stared at the contents. How many days should she pack for? Where would this take her? How would it end?

  James entered her bedroom and placed her rolling carry-on bag on the bed. “Six days.”

  She wanted to start grabbing clothes, but the thought of him that close to the space in the sheets where her body had been slowed her. The calm of sleep, the intimacy of a quiet morning, were laid out for him to see. Her privacy burst like a glass bubble.

  He moved to her and slowed his pace. “Six days ought to do it.” His voice soothed, and returned her to her task.

  She might be part of the team, but at least he wasn’t shouting at her like a drill sergeant. That might’ve made it easier, though, when she had to grab a couple of handfuls of panties and shove them in her bag. No man had seen her bedroom or her underpants since Mark. Loss shuddered through her. The new contact made her nerves prickle. She threw more and more clothes into the bag until she had six days of functional outfits.

  James stepped into the adjoining bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. “Any medications you need to have with you?”

  “Caffeine.” She slid past him into the bathroom and the nerves that had tingled woke up to a full lightning storm. When she’d first seen him tackle the man in the parking lot, she’d been so caught up in the danger that she hadn’t understood he was one of the good guys. But learning he’d fought to protect her gave her a new appreciation for his quick, strong body. Moving this close to him forced her to feel his thrumming energy. Knowing he was on her side changed the landscape. Part of her cooled with relief. She’d been searching on her own for the hackers, and having an ally like him was a welcome boost. But it also meant her normal isolation had been replaced by this very potent man.

  He backed out of the bathroom to give her space. “We can stop for coffee on the way out of town.”

  “Not tea?” Without any personal details on him, she had to hook into his accent.

  “If you can find me a decent chai in El Paso, I’ll pay you in gold.” He crossed his arms, highlighting his broad chest.

  She collected her glasses and contact lens solution from the medicine cabinet and returned to the bedroom. James hovered by the bedside table next to where the blankets were bent back.

  “Do you have a gun?”

  Her jaw clenched and her shoulders tightened behind her. If he opened the drawer he was reaching for, he’d find her e-reader and vibrator. She loosened herself enough to explain, “Mark had one, but I got rid of it.” She’d traded the pistol in to the police department for minor league baseball tickets. Never went to the game.

  Still, without a gun, violence found her. It was present all around. Even in James.

  He stepped away from the table with a disappointed sigh.

  “I have a big flashlight.”

  He nodded and held her bag, ready to close it. “Bring it.”

  She dove next to the bed and grabbed the heavy flashlight and tossed it in the bag. It was coated in dust and kicked off a piece of lint as it landed. “Sorry my place isn’t tidy.”

  “No worries.” He zipped up her bag and headed back toward the front of her house.

  She followed, her home already feeling empty, as if she’d been on vacation for months. “Do you guys clean houses or just crime scenes?”

  “My mum was a house cleaner.” He paused and his eyes grew a little less focused. Like he was peering past the present. Then he snapped to again and started toward the front door.

  She, too, reeled with his personal revelation. Was it better to know more about him, or to just think of him as a soldier with a job? She couldn’t follow just yet. “I don’t have a gun, but I do have a weapon.”

  The office was dark, the way she always kept it. She collected her laptop and accessories into a case and joined James at the front door.

  They exited and she locked up, feeling like she was shutting her former self inside forever. Who would she be now? She walked toward her car, but James diverged from her path toward a compact SUV parked at the curb. He tilted his head for her to follow, and she did.

  Once she was close enough, he spoke in a low voice. “We’ll leave your car so we can’t be tracked.” He opened the back door and tossed her bag in.

  She barely kept her voice to a whisper. “You’re stealing this car?”

  “It was dropped off for us.” The keys were in the ignition.

  The block was silent. No sign of whoever left the car in the impossibly short time they’d been in the house. “Holy shit.”

  “Automatik,” was his only explanation. He opened the passenger door for her.

  She clutched her laptop bag to her chest and hesitated. “Was Mark part of... Automatik?” Just saying the word dragged her into the shadows.

  “No.” He looked at her with sympathy. A knowledge of pain. She sat in the passenger seat, and he closed the door. He got into the driver’s seat, started the engine and turned to her. “But you are now.”

  Chapter Three

  “How bloody big is this country?” In the two years James had lived in the United States, his longest road trip had been from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. That epic trek through the desert had convinced him that flying was the best way to cover the vast distances between cities. On his last op, he and Raker had jetted into St. Louis, then driven two and a half long hours to Morris Flats, Illinois. “We’d be through four countries in Europe by now.”

  “This is still El Paso.” April focused on the road ahead. “Highway 10 is going to merge onto 25 north.” Her nerves had waned for a few minutes, but clearly jumped again as the car sped out of the city.

  “Have you left town in a while? Traveled?” The mission was odd enough with a noncombatant as a teammate, but how much management was the day-to-day going to take?

  “Four years.” She stared out the side window. He couldn’t see her expression. “We moved here for Fort Bliss.”

  “Spend your time in that office, working on the site?” The unlit space had seemed very safe and far away.

  She turned to him, blinking away light tears in her eyes. “If I want sunlight, there’s the breakfast nook or the back of the bedroom or the yard.” Her stubbornness kicked in with steel in her voice. “I’m not a shut-in.”

  “You’re a field agent.” The highway interchange took their attention. She navigated while he changed lanes through traffic until they were speeding north where they needed to be. A shopping complex with a supermarket rushed past the highway. He tried to cover all contingencies in this changing op. “Feminine supplies?”

  “Gah... Well...” She stammered, glancing at him, then her hands. He kicked himself for being so straightforward. He could’ve danced around that a little better for her sake. But she surprised him, gathered herself, straightened her back and took out her phone. After checking a calendar app, she declared, “I should be good for another couple of weeks.”

  “Roger that.” Now he kicked himself for not giving her enough credit. “Just let me know if any kind of need comes up.”

  She grew bolder. “And your teammate will drop off cold brownies and an iced mocha like he did this car?”

  He chuckled with the thought of Raker delivering the sweets on a silver platter. “He’s hovering in support, but not that close.” His partner could be reached on the phone, but was miles away. “We’re moving fast and light so we can’t be followed and we can adapt quickly.” He shifted in his seat and felt the press of his sheath knife along the small of his back. “Nimble.” But he was feeling undersupplied and didn’t have a change of clothes. “Then, when the time comes, we call in the hammer.”

  She turned her phone over in her hands. “I’m assuming I can’t tell my parents where I am, where I’m going.”

 
He gave her a sympathetic look. “No contact.” There was a lot his parents didn’t know since he’d left the SAS. Automatik kept a subterranean profile. And his jobs before joining them were nothing he was proud of.

  She nodded and put her phone away. They fell silent, surrounded only by road noise. She reached for the radio, then pulled her hand back. “I need a detail,” she told him.

  Briefing her on the Automatik end of the search for the hackers could make this whole process go faster. “Tell me what you need.”

  “From you,” she explained. “You know where I live, where I sleep. You know where I am on my cycle. I need a detail from you.”

  Refusing would only add an uncomfortable cold edge to their time spent together. But how deep did she expect him to dig? Beneath the skin, he was either classified or unspeakable. “I already told you my mum was a house cleaner.”

  “Unprompted.” She drew a line through the air with the tip of her finger. “Doesn’t count.”

  His mind flipped through the files of his existence. “I live alone in an apartment. I’ve broken my left arm twice. I don’t like chewing gum.”

  She tipped her head back and forth, absorbing. “Sisters?”

  “Only child.” He gave more than he’d expected. “Why that question?”

  “You asked about feminine supplies. You’ve got some knowledge.”

  “I’m not new, you know. I’ve been paying attention to the world around me for quite a while.”

  A small smile crossed her face, sly. “You gave me more than one detail.”

  “Now you don’t have to ask me for a while.” The unexpected trek into his past made him brusquer than he wanted to be.

  She receded and turned away to look out the side window. “You can just give me your file to read.”

  “It’s all redacted.” He laid on more throttle as if he could rush the assignment and return to the basics of what his life had become. As if he could outrun the past.