Page 78 of Code Name: Scorpio

But she wouldn’t look at him. Would hardly acknowledge he existed. And it didn’t matter, because right now, she was the most important person in this operation.

Then they heard it.

A door, somewhere in the common area. The creak of hinges followed by the soft sound of someone moving through the house.

Her hands froze on the keyboard.

Now she looked at him, eyes big. If they were caught in here, no amount of D/s stuff would get them out.

“How much longer?” His voice was low, but not quite a whisper. A whisper carried farther than a low register.

“It’s encrypted,” she said, voice equally low. “I’m going to have to take what I can and get it back to Zodiac and sort it out. Getting what I need is going to take me some time.”

“I’ll handle whoever is out there. Keep going, no matter what. If I don’t come back by the time you’re done, I want you to go.”

“Back to the room?”

He took his burner phone out of his boot. “Out of the house. Get out, call Fallon, and do your magic with the files.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll handle myself. Just do it.”

She nodded slowly then turned back to the terminal.

He slipped out of the computer room and pulled the door almost closed behind him, leaving a gap just wide enough to hear if she called out. Then he stood in the short hallway and let every sense he had reach into the dark.

The common area was a wall of shadow ahead of him. Kitchen counter to his left, table beyond it, the shapes of furniture barely visible. No movement. The sound had come from the direction of the bedrooms, which meant someone had opened their door and walked into the main part of the house.

Whoever it was, he would try to work the situation to the best of his abilities. And if he couldn’t do that with talk, he’d do it the way he’d always done it: with other methods.

Nothing was going to stop Cassandra from getting what she needed from that computer.

He found himself hoping it wasn’t either of the Diehls, but not because they deserved to live more than their crew. If he had to take out Arlo or Heath, the trafficking case was back to the starting line. A crew member could disappear, and nobody would ask too many questions.

He walked farther toward the common area, stopping as he saw a shape in the kitchen. The refrigerator door swung open, and the light caught a face.

Arlo. Standing there in sweatpants, squinting into the fridge, one hand on the door.

Fuck.

Ryder exhaled and let his body language shift. He dropped the tactical alertness and put on the loose posture of a man who couldn’t sleep. He reached up and mussed his own hair.

He scuffed his foot against the tile as he walked into the kitchen, loud enough to give Arlo a second before he rounded the corner. “Hey, man.”

Arlo glanced up from the fridge. “Can’t sleep either?”

“Nope.” Ryder leaned against the counter.

Arlo pulled two bottles out of the fridge. “Beer?”

“Sure.” He took the bottle Arlo handed him, twisted off the cap and tossed it onto the counter. “Too fucking quiet out here. I keep waiting for a car alarm or a siren or something.”

Arlo snorted. “City boy.”

Ryder took another drink and kept his face easy.

Arlo was restless tonight, keyed up about something. He kept shifting his weight, and the fact that he’d come out here instead of just lying in bed staring at the ceiling told Ryder everything he needed to know. The man had something sitting in his chest and no outlet for it.