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Chapter

One

Ping!

Dani cracked open an eyelid. The clock on the nightstand read 3:46 a.m. Its green glow was much too bright for her aching retinas. Whoever the hell thought they could text her at this hour could damn well wait until morning. She pulled the covers to her chin but worry gnawed at her. With Serena in her first trimester of pregnancy, she couldn’t ignore her phone. Not when she was halfway across the world, in Geneva, Switzerland. Her sister might need her. It’d be after dinner time in California, and Serena was so busy she probably hadn’t given much thought to the time difference.

She stuck her arm out of the warm cocoon, grabbed the device, and then tucked her exposed limb back under the blanket. She brought up the unopened message that had woken her.

Change of plans. Call ASAP.

Dani groaned and flipped back the covers. She’d done her share of the job—had completed it only hours before. The gig that Sven, a friend she’d met while traveling Europe several years ago, had set up was far less dangerous than the jobs she usually did. She shouldn’t be rattled.

Who was she kidding? After being kidnapped and beaten only three months ago, she was constantly on edge. Which pissed her off. Serena’s fiancé’s criminal father taking her hostage had had nothing to do with any jobs she’d been involved in at the time. It had been the simple revenge of a sick man. Afterward, she’d been in a rut for weeks, so she’d jumped at Sven’s offer to escape home and all the sympathetic eyes, get her feet back under her, and make some mad cash.

Two hundred and fifty grand, to be exact. Stealing information from world-renowned biochemist Ubrigg Lichti hadn’t been her hardest job. Sven had wired her 50 percent of her pay last week, and she’d get the remainder upon delivering the flash drive of information to France the day after tomorrow.

A change of plans was never good.

She pushed herself into a sitting position and shoved her hair out of her face. Rain pattered against the window of her third-floor flat and thunder rumbled in the distance—strange how even rain sounded different in another country. She lowered her feet to the wood floor and curled her toes against the assaulting cold. She hated being cold. In California, it was sunny and warm in February. Not here.

She made her way to the en-suite bath. Sven could wait until she peed. Then she’d call him. She hoped the cylinders in her brain were ready to work through whatever Negative Nelly dilemma he’d conjured up in the middle of the night. After finishing in the bathroom, Dani switched off the light, washing the room in darkness. She fumbled around the bed for her phone. She’d left it right?—

Creak

Dani froze, her knee on the edge of the mattress. Her knuckles dented the duvet. Her heart rate kicked into high gear and her muscles turned to lead. The cry of wood hadn’t come from the floors beneath her feet but the hallway near the front door. It groaned every time she entered the flat. But she was tired, surely hearing things. Maybe it had come from the floor above.

Creak

She dug her fingernails into the comforter. Someone was in her apartment. She blinked, forcing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Her fingers twitched to turn on a light and search for a weapon, but she hadn’t found her damn phone and there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d use the bathroom light and alert the intruder she was awake. She slid the pads of her feet across the hardwood.

Please don’t creak, please don’t creak.

Her silk pajama pants fluttered soundlessly around her legs as she got closer to the bedroom door. Thank god for the old, solid wood with a turn lock. She always slept with her bedroom door locked, and this feature had sold her on the flat.

Creak . . . creak . . .

They were getting closer. Dani lowered to one knee in front of the door and brought her eye to the keyhole. Long legs covered in dark slacks moved through a shaft of light coming from the living room windows. A flashlight swept the hall and another man broke away from behind the first one and moved to the kitchen.

Adrenaline shot through her veins, and she stood and backed away from the door. She tried to swallow but fear had stolen the moisture from her mouth, making her throat as gritty as sandpaper. She skirted to the en suite. Her pulse hammered against her temples as she closed the bathroom door. Her fingers shook on the lock, rattling the metal. Once she locked it, she’d have to move fast. If they got into the bedroom, they’d hear her open the window and be on her ass.

Click

The sound echoed through the bathroom as loud as a gun shot.

Shit! The flash drive!

Whoever was in her apartment must have come for it, but how had they found out she’d taken the information? And so quickly? She couldn’t leave without it. She unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bedroom door jumped on its hinges with each blow. They’d be through it any second. She’d have to come back for the drive and could only pray they wouldn’t find it.

Crack! Crack!

She yelped as two bullets soared into the room, splinters of wood preceding them. She dove back into the bathroom, slammed the door, and turned the lock into position. The she clambered onto the lid of the toilet, wedged her palms under the windowpane, and hefted it up. The wind whipped against her, coating her with droplets of water. Shivers rippled down her spine and fear lit her veins, threatening to break through her skin.

Crash!