Page 9 of Duality

I bit my lip in a half grin at the memory. I was pretty sure Adrian had guessed that Danny was also a part of the Archers, but he clearly hadn’t made it past Liam’s security if he hadn’t figured out that we were cousins. Last week, Danny had slung an arm over my shoulders, and Adrian had pinned him with a glare that had me weak in the knees. I liked overprotective dominant men. Sue me. I encountered so few of them, given the nature of our work. It sucked that the four I had found in the city were also incredibly off limits.

“Look at that smile,” Maya stage-whispered to Grace. “Someone has a crush.”

“Anyways,” I stressed the word, ignoring their playful teasing. “Enough about me and my nonexistent love life.”

“Sure,” Danny ribbed, but I ignored him.

“Speaking of SDS… Liam, what’s the update on Geoff Young and Citadel?”

“I confirmed that Geoff Young and his associates did attend a meeting at Citadel yesterday afternoon. Citadel is a closed circuit, though, so I have no way of hacking into their system to figure out how it went. But the fact they had a meeting was suspicious.”

“I agree,” Izzy said. “I think we need to look into his company further.”

I sighed and nodded. “Okay, open a case on it. I’ll see what else I can learn.”

“I’ll keep monitoring the dark web and see if either Citadel or Young Enterprises pops up anywhere,” Liam said

“Thank you,” I told him. “Good work, everyone. Let’s do this again in two nights?”

“Let’s do it again this weekend,” Izzy corrected. “You need to get some sleep.”

“Now you sound like Adrian,” I grumbled, standing to throw away my trash.

Izzy grinned. “Good. My money’s on him.”

Before we went down this path again, I grabbed my keys. “All right, I’m out.”

Danny rose to his feet. “I’ll drive back with you. I need to check in with some people in that area, anyways.”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself. Good night, everyone.”

My lieutenants called out their goodbyes as Danny and I exited into the chilly night air.

“Are you going back to your house or apartment tonight?” he asked.

“My apartment,” I said, a yawn splitting my cheeks. “It’s closer to the office.”

When I started the job at SDS, I rented an apartment close to the office. It wasn’t in the greatest part of town, just a few blocks from the abandoned train station and rail yard, but it was safe. Plus, I couldn’t afford to be that far away with how late I got in each night.

I looked down at my watch. Fuck, it was already one in the morning. Adrian was definitely going to fuss at me.

“Come on. I’ll drive, and you can sleep on the way,” Danny said, tucking me into his side as we approached my car.

I just nodded and rested my head against him. Ever since high school, Danny insisted on walking or escorting me everywhere. It was his own reaction to the trauma of that night. I didn’t mind it, though. With the work the Archers did, there were always threats. One of these days, the past and our enemies would catch up with me, but tonight, they could all fuck off. I needed some sleep.

CHAPTER 5

EVELYN

My fingers flew across the keyboard. Alexander and Sebastian were meeting with the Research and Development department on a new closed-circuit system. The meeting had been going on for two hours. My eyes felt gritty, and my fingers ached, but I didn’t stop typing.

My skirt pocket vibrated with an incoming call. I glanced down at my watch. It was Danny. A sharp sensation speared my chest. Danny knew I was at work. Maybe he was just filling me in on one of the missions that had happened in the last week since our meeting. It was 5:30, but I couldn’t remember the last time I got out of the office before 6:30. The buzzing stopped and then started up again. I glanced around the room, my fingers never pausing. It didn’t look like the meeting was wrapping up any time soon.

My watch buzzed again as a message came through.

The courier lost the package.

My heart dropped, and a cold sweat broke out across my forehead. We only used that phrase in case of a true emergency. I knew it didn’t have anything to do with my identity being compromised or a flame emoji would have followed, but whatever it was, it was bad if Danny was calling and texting.