Merciless (Option Zero 1)

“If I promise to take you somewhere warm once a quarter, will you go home with me now?”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she beamed up at him. “I’ll go anywhere with you, Asher Drake.”

“Even where temperatures are subzero?”

“Absolutely. But just so you know, if you do, I won’t be taking my clothes off. Ever.”

“Then we’re definitely not going anywhere that cold.”

The teasing and silliness were something new. Jules made him feel happy and carefree. For a man who hadn’t believed he’d ever have an ounce of happiness again, it was an exhilarating and frightening experience. What if he lost it all again?

The gut-deep feeling he sometimes had when an op was about to go sour hit him like a sledgehammer. Something was off.

“I’m going to the lobby for some gum,” Jules said. “Want anything?”

“I’ll go with you.”

She nodded toward her open suitcase on the bed beside his duffel bag, which was already zipped and ready to load onto the plane. “How about you stay here and finish my packing? I tried three times to close the suitcase. Something’s got to come out.”

That was because she’d gotten every OZ employee a souvenir. Even though he’d insisted no one expected a gift, she had ignored him and bought them anyway. She’d enjoyed buying them so much he hadn’t had the heart to tell her their suitcases would likely burst open.

“I can put a few more things in

mine.”

“Thank you.” She turned to grab her wallet. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

Telling her he didn’t want her out of his sight would be so completely out of the norm, he pushed aside the dread. They’d been here ten days. No one, other than OZ employees, knew their location. Nothing even remotely threatening had taken place. There was no danger out there.

“Okay.” Unable to watch her walk out without giving her some kind of warning, he tried to make it sound normal. “Be alert. Okay?”

“What? Why?”

Being subtle was apparently not in his wheelhouse today. As he reminded himself they had agreed to share everything, he said, “Sounds stupid, but I just got this pit-deep feeling that something bad is going to happen.”

Frowning, she went into his arms and looked up at him. “No matter what, we’re together. We can face anything. Right?”

She didn’t question his feelings, didn’t blow them off. If he hadn’t known it before, he knew it deep in his soul now. Jules Stone was meant for him.

After showing her for several breathless moments just how much he loved and appreciated her, he raised his head. “I’ll get the packing finished. You get the gum.”

“I love you, Asher Drake.”

“And I love you, Jules Stone.”

With the knowledge that she was right, he watched her walk out the door. No matter what, they would face any threat together.

He was hip-deep in T-shirts, tote bags, and scarves when his phone gave a familiar chime. Pulling it from his pocket, he answered with a smile in his voice. “Feeling better?”

Two days after they’d left, Serena had come down with the flu. Though her voice still sounded hoarse when she said his name, it was the urgency in her tone that caught his attention.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve been hacked.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know. I came in this morning and discovered it. Somebody broke through our firewall.”