“Landon and I will go. You guys stay here in case we have any actionable intel. I want you to be able to move at a moment’s notice.”
Sarge nodded. “Then I’m going to head home. I don’t feel much like anything to eat.”
Isaac nodded too. “We’ll be ready if you need us.” Both men took off down the hallway. Sarge slammed the end of his fist against the wall as he went, frustration strumming through him.
Landon and I turned the other direction toward the elevator.
“Kendrick wants forty-eight hours to crack the drive. Says it’s delicate, and he doesn’t want to take a chance on losing any data.”
I rubbed my eyes. “I’m not waiting that long. We need answers.”
I’d met Kendrick a couple times, and he seemed competent, but if he couldn’t get the job done, I would find someone who could.
“Roger that. I’ll have our tech team standing by. Nothing gets the nerds salivating more than a computer puzzle to solve.”
“We need to shut Mosaic down. It’s hard to operate with a guillotine hanging over my head.”
Landon stopped walking. “This is not your battle to fight alone this time, Ian. We need to bring everybody in on this. Let them know . . . the details.”
The details. Such a benign way of putting what had happened.
I shook my head. “No, not unless we have to. I know what my weaknesses are. I’ve got everything under control.”
After all, my code name was Aries, right? And like the sign, I was confident, bold, a man of action.
Giving in to my weaknesses was a luxury I didn’t allow myself.
Landon was the only one at Zodiac who knew exactly how strong my ties to Mosaic were and the price I had paid to cut those ties the first time. And now it looked like I was right back where I’d started.
“Grant is dead.” Landon started walking again. “You don’t have to keep fighting him.”
I pulled out the key card that opened the elevator to my penthouse apartment. Living in the same building as my office had proved invaluable over the years.
Landon stepped in along with me, both of us silent. He knew better than to talk to me while we were in an elevator. I focused on breathing and keeping my heart rate steady for the few seconds it took to get up to the penthouse.
And even though I managed to do it, I still stepped out of the metal box the second the doors opened. Landon followed at a more normal pace.
“I may not have to fight Grant, but someone has resurrected my brother’s ghost and given their villainous organization the same name as his. Then they brought the fight to my doorstep when they kidnapped one of my employees.”
“But it’s not Grant. Grant is dead.”
Because I’d killed him.
But in my defense, he’d killed me first.
All I know is that I’d stopped Mosaic the first time, and I would stop this new version of them too.
I just hoped it didn’t cost me my life.
Again.
2
Wavy Bollinger
“Honey, are you sure? I don’t like the thought of leaving you here for an evening shift alone. And this is supposed to be your day off to work on your little art project.”
Little art project.
I forced a smile at the woman I’d been working with at the Frontier Diner for ten years and had known my entire life. Leeann didn’t mean any harm. “Little” was her preferred adjective for almost everything.
Still, it made my teeth grind to hear my passion referred to as such.
I kept the smile plastered on my face. “No problem. I can always use more tips.” It wasn’t like my art was going to make me money any time soon.
“Are you sure?” Leeann’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “Those collage people sound dangerous.”
It took me a second. “You mean Mosaic?”
She nodded with way too much enthusiasm. She’d overheard the Linear guys talking about Mosaic but didn’t know the details about the organization. I’d bugged my brother Finn until he’d told me more. Evidently, Mosaic was truly bad news…a main course of terrorism with a side of weapon sales and human trafficking to round out the meal.
Leeann would have a coronary if she knew. She’d watch over me like a mother hen and turn a suspicious eye towards people we’d known for years.
The good thing about a town the size of Oak Creek was that people looked out for one another. That’s why I loved living here.
The bad thing about a town the size of Oak Creek was, good Lord have mercy, people were always up in your business. That’s why the town drove me crazy. It was time for me to get out. I’d been feeling that way more and more. But a lifetime’s worth of ties to one place wasn’t easy to unravel.
I sent Leeann on her way. I’d been looking forward to spending the evening painting, but my art would wait. After all, it had been waiting a decade for me to actually do something productive with it.
The shift went like most any given weeknight at the diner. Leeann had gotten us through the dinner rush, so now it was just a few stragglers for the couple hours until we closed. Some teenagers sitting at separate booths but flirting back and forth. A young family who’d decided to splurge and go out for pie.
And then a man walked in fifteen minutes before closing. Everything about him had me on high alert.
I couldn’t see the color of his eyes but recognized the fierceness in his gaze. Strong chin and carved jaw. Broad shoulders, trim waist. A warrior’s awareness.
Everything about this man screamed danger.
And sex.
But mostly danger.
“Can I get you something?” He had chosen the very back booth and had his back to the wall so he could see the whole restaurant.
He only glanced at me, but I had no doubt he was aware of everything happening in the diner. Brown eyes, I could see them now, with little specks of gold.
“Just coffee. Thanks.”
I nodded and walked to get it. He was probably stopping for coffee before a long road trip or something. No need to turn into Leeann and assume the worst just because he sat in the back booth and was aware of what was going on around him.
To make up for being suspicious, I made a fresh pot before taking a steaming mug over to him. Those brown eyes might be intense, but they were also…tired. Like he’d spent way too long carrying a burden not meant for one person to bear.
I offered him a smile as I set down the coffee. “You need creamer?”
“No, black is fine.”
Of course it was. How could someone who had a jaw that chiseled drink anything but black coffee? Dark and dangerous.
I wanted to paint him. I didn’t normally like to create anything having to do with people, but I’d love to paint this man.
Naked.
No! No, not naked. Regular.
Or…half naked. Which half?
“Um, are you okay?” He was looking at me with one dark eyebrow raised.
I swallowed hard, trying to offer him another smile that didn’t come off as pervy-perv.
“Yeah. Sorry, I’m fine. I—”
His phone lit up on the table, a text message coming in. I couldn’t read the whole thing, but one word very definitely caught my attention.
Mosaic.