DRAGON SECURITY: The Complete 6 Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  “It could have been in the file itself. It could have been something Emily put there as a safety precaution.”

  “But even you don’t think that’s the case.”

  Dominic inclined his head to agree. “There would have been indications. Something I would have recognized.”

  “She wouldn’t have allowed for it to get corrupted if it was a friend looking at it.”

  Dominic agreed. “Then who?”

  “Sam was convinced it was someone in the office, someone who was aware of what we’d found.”

  “Who was there?”

  “The usual monitor girls. Megan. Me. Sam. And Dante.”

  Dominic turned back to the computer, moving through the documents as he did.

  “There was something…”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. But I think you’re right. I think that maybe Dante is involved somehow. There’s mention of a procedure—that some of the agents went into hiding after the arrests in France. Emily thought that the agents higher in the leadership, those who knew what was really happening, ran, leaving the organization and changing their names and identities.” He stopped, pointing to something on a page he’d found. “There. She suggested that some of those on the CIA side changed their appearance to hide in plain sight, to monitor what the others were doing.”

  “She thought some of them were bad.”

  “She thought all of them were bad. Just some were worse than others.” He ran his finger over some text that Emily had typed into the file that was clearly a sort of shorthand because I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “She says that there was a doctor in California that some of them knew. A doctor who could help them ‘disappear.’ She was positive that this Crane fellow did it. Maybe others, too.”

  “What are you suggesting? That Dante is one of these CIA agents?”

  “Exactly.”

  Dominic turned and looked at me. “This terrorist cell began as a homegrown project in France, led by a group of businessmen unhappy with the things happening in the Middle East. But then the CIA sent in agents pretending to be wealthy sympathizers, people who were of the same mindset as these people. Those agents wormed their way in and manipulated the way the terrorist cell functioned. And when the CIA had accomplished what they wanted, they sent Emily and me in to take them down. Except that some of the CIA agents involved didn’t want the entire cell disbanded, so they used Amy’s showing up in Paris as an excuse to end the operation and pretend that by arresting the minions, they’d done enough to tear the cell apart.”

  Dominic stopped for a second, his thoughts clearly spinning.

  “But they kept using them. The good agents went home, but the bad ones stayed, taking the cell deeper undercover, and continued to use them for their own purposes. That’s where Peter’s software came into play. They had to find a way to communicate that wouldn’t alert the higher ups in the CIA—those who thought this business was done—that the operation was still ongoing. And that’s what Peter discovered that got him killed.”

  “And Emily figured it out.”

  “Emily figured it out and spent the last two years of her life trying to identify the bad CIA agents and expose them.”

  “And it was those agents who killed her and came after Amy.”

  “Yeah. And they probably would have killed her and Elizabeth if I hadn’t stepped in.”

  “And brought the attention of these people down on Dragon.”

  Dominic shook his head. “I think their attention was already on Dragon. I think Dragon appeared on their radar when Amber showed up in Megan’s office, demanding to know where Peter was.”

  Amber was a waitress who’d had a one-night stand with Peter, resulting in the conception of his son, PJ. She was married to Cole now, Megan’s little brother, expecting another child with him. But when she first showed up at Dragon, she was pregnant and alone, and she brought a storm of secrets and lies in her wake. It was Amber’s arrival that caused Megan to realize that Peter’s car accident, months earlier, wasn’t as accidental as the police had suggested it was. And it was Amber’s kidnapping weeks later that made it clear that Peter had stumbled onto something big. But none of us was sure what that was until Dominic disappeared more than six months later, forced to run after learning of Emily’s death. He brought us more information—not only Emily’s files, but what he knew about the terrorist cell from his involvement in helping Emily in Paris. But then we were stalled out again when Emily’s files were corrupted by the ill-timed computer virus.

  “Then why didn’t they do anything to Megan or any of the rest of us who’ve been running all over the place, trying to put this together?”

  Dominic drank from his bottle again before focusing on me.

  “You’re right, Hayden. There must be a mole.”

  “And it’s Dante.”

  Dominic looked down at the floor for a moment. Then he nodded. “I agree.”

  “What are we going to do about it?”

  Dominic turned back to the computer, shut down the thumb drive with Emily’s notes on it, and stood.

  “We’re going after him.”

  I smiled. I’d wanted to take Dante down from the moment he walked into the office. There was something about him, something about the way he approached everyone, the way he walked around the office like it was his business.

  The way he wormed his way into Megan’s bed.

  Yeah. I was ready to take Dante down.

  Chapter 5

  Luke

  She fell asleep, emotional exhaustion finally wearing her down. I watched, unable to take my eyes from her. It’d been the hardest thing I’d ever done, coming back into her life but being unable to tell her it was me or why I left and why I was back. It was stupid to get involved with her, taking her the way I did the night Dominic was caught up with that idiot, Coleman. But I couldn’t be so close to her—see how badly she was hurting—and not touch her.

  The only problem was that when I could touch her, lie with her, it was still all a lie. She didn’t know who I was. And she was so determined not to love me because she was still waiting for her fiancé to come back to her. And I was right there, in her arms, loving her in painful silence.

  I almost let it slip once. When she was upset, but wouldn’t talk to me. When I carried her to bed and whispered words of comfort in her ear. I wanted to tell her then. I wanted to tell her it was okay to be angry with me because I was a bastard for leaving her. I wanted to take on her wrath and feel her pain. I wanted to take it from her. But Megan wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t unburden herself on a stranger. She barely unburdened herself on me when she knew it was me.

  I got up and snatched my jeans off the floor, padding out into the living room in my bare feet. I needed to know what she knew to gauge how bad this was. If Sam had somehow managed to decipher Emily’s notes…God help us all.

  I slipped on my jeans and pulled my cell out of my back pocket. It’s funny how the damn thing never falls out. It should have been lost under Megan’s bed a million times.

  There were responses to messages I’d sent out earlier as I waited for Megan to come out of Sam’s house and as I followed her to my own home. I knew what she’d find here. I should have stopped her, but there was this part of me that’d been watching her with Hayden these last few weeks that just didn’t care anymore. I wanted her to know the truth.

  I’m Luke Allen Murphy. I’m fucking tired of pretending I’m someone else.

  Then, the message I'd feared suddenly appeared on my phone’s screen.

  “Get out. They’re coming.”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck!!

  I rushed back to the bedroom, jerking clothes out of the closet. I shoved a bunch of shirts into a bag, and then went to the bed, shaking Megan’s shoulder.

  “You have to get up, baby. We need to go.”

  “Go where?”

  I shook my head, not really sure where. I just knew we had to get out.

  She sat up
, brushing the sleep from her face. She watched me move around the room, grabbing things and shoving them in my bag. Then I was tugging a shirt over my head and shoving my feet back in my boots.

  “Dante—”

  “Luke.”

  She blushed, this strange look floating over her face. She slowly got up as it all began to fall into place in her head. But she didn’t say anything. She dressed almost as if she were in a daze, tugging clothes into place with the movements of an automaton. When she was covered, I grabbed her hand, but she chose that moment to come back into herself.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you until you answer a few questions.”

  “Megan—”

  “Why did you leave? Why did you come back? Why did you lie to me?”

  “We don’t have time for this.”

  “Then you go, and I’ll stay.”

  “That makes a whole boatload of sense, Megan.”

  She shrugged, planting herself on the end of the bed, determination in her eyes as she waited.

  “Fuck!”

  I threw my bag across the room, anger and frustration fighting with the fear and urgency that was building in my chest. I wanted to touch her, but I couldn’t. I was afraid I’d hurt her.

  “There are dangerous people out there, Megan. They want to hurt you, do you understand?”

  “Me?”

  “You. Hayden. Dominic and Amy. Your parents. Cole and Amber and PJ.”

  Her head came up at the mention of Peter’s son. “Why? Because of what Peter was investigating? Because of what he knew?”

  “For a lot of reasons, Megan.”

  “Because you were CIA?”

  Guilt settled on my shoulders at those words, but I knew she was right. I studied her face, my heart breaking at the sight of the accusation there. I dragged my fingers through my hair—damn, I hated this long hair!—and leaned back against the low dresser.

  “You are in danger. The people around you are in danger. I need to get you out of here.”

  “Why now? Why after all this time?”

  “Because Sam undid the virus I activated on Emily’s notes.”

  Megan’s eyes widened. “You did do it!”

  “Yes.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you were putting yourself in danger.” I leaned forward, trying to make myself clear with just the way I was looking at her. “The more you know about this situation, the more danger you’re in. Do you understand that?”

  “They killed Peter.”

  I inclined my head. “I know that, Megan.”

  “How could you expect me not to investigate this? They killed my brother! I can’t just sit back and let them get away with it.”

  “They will kill you, Megan.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her off the bed. “These people are not people you want to play games with. You are fucking lucky they haven’t killed you already!”

  “Why haven’t they? Why are they coming after me now?”

  “Because I’ve been protecting you. But now that they know you’ve cleaned up Emily’s notes, nothing I say or do will protect you.”

  “How do they know?”

  I studied her face for a second, pulling back a little. I shouldn’t have done that.

  “What did you do?”

  “Megan…”

  She pulled away, jumped to her feet and began to pace.

  “You told them. You told them I figured out what Emily knew. You told them that I was still investigating. And that’s why they’re coming after me.”

  “You have to understand—”

  “I don’t understand any of this!” She spun on her heel, her finger pointed into the center of my chest. “Were you behind Emily’s murder? Did you know what they were going to do?”

  “Not until it was done.”

  “What about Peter? Did you know?”

  “I warned Peter to back off. I told him what would happen.”

  “You let it happen.”

  “I didn’t…”

  I couldn’t deny it, though. I couldn’t lie to her, not like this. I never could.

  “You got my brother involved in all this and then you disappeared and left me alone, just to come back and lie to me over and over again.”

  “I never meant to lie to you.”

  “But you did. You told me your name was Dante. You changed your face, removed your scars…you lied to me. You came to my bed and convinced me you were just a guy looking for a little company. Nothing more.”

  “That’s not what it was.”

  “Then what was it, Luke?”

  “I was trying to protect you.” I went to her, took her shoulders in my hands. “I will explain everything to you; I’ll tell you everything I know. But we have to get out of here.”

  “Why?”

  Almost as if in answer to her question, a huge blast vibrated through the house. I grabbed her and pulled her down to the floor, covering her as the after effect of whatever it was blew over us. There was dust and debris coming through the door, along with some sort of gas.

  They’d blown the door.

  What a stupid move!

  I grabbed my bag and the gun that was stashed under my socks in the top drawer of the dresser, shoving it into the back of my waistband as I tugged Megan to her feet and toward the window. I replaced this window when I moved in; I’d put in a window that was on a hinge and easily opened outward into the backyard, for situations just like this one. I knew they’d come for me eventually, it was just a matter of time.

  I lifted Megan onto the ground and quickly followed, turning just in time to see several men in full combat gear burst through the bedroom door. The lead man shouted at me, his gun raised. I slammed the window shut—bullet proof—and snatched Megan’s wrist. We ran low along the fence line, aware that there were probably more men at the front of the property. We slipped through the gate and out into the alley.

  I pulled Megan down to the end of the alley where I had a car stashed in a broken down garage left rotting behind an abandoned house. The men from my house were creeping through the alley, their guns lifted, as we tore out of there, racing onto the street and away from danger.

  At least for now.

  Chapter 6

  Megan

  I felt almost fevered as I tried to work all this stuff out in my head. Dante was Luke. He knew the people who killed my brother. He knew that those people were dangerous. He knew that they knew we were trying to find Peter’s killer. He’d probably known that Emily had been in danger, too, and that she was going to be killed. He knew things that he shouldn’t have known long before he left me at the altar. He could have saved Peter if he’d just…why didn’t either of them tell me what was happening? Why didn’t they warn me that Peter was in danger? Why didn’t Luke trust me enough to let me know what was really happening the day he left me?

  My cellphone began ringing not twenty minutes after we fled the house. I pulled it out of my pocket, but before I could do more than see that it was a call from Hayden, Luke snatched it out of my hand and threw it out the window.

  “What are you doing?”

  “They can track your phone.”

  “What about yours?”

  He shook his head. “It’s a throwaway. They can try to track it, but they won’t have much success.”

  “Let me use it. It was Hayden. He might know something.”

  “No.”

  I stared at him. “What do you mean, no?”

  “I mean, I’d rather we got somewhere safe before we start giving away our position.”

  “You said they couldn’t trace it.”

  “But they can trace Hayden’s. And bug it.”

  “They’re bugging his phone?”

  “They’re bugging everyone’s phones. They’re the CIA.”

  “That’s not right.”

  He glanced at me as if he thought I was acting like a fool or something. I probably was. I was a fool. I’d been living in a dream world, pr
etending that bad things didn’t happen to good people. The truth was that bad things happened to everyone.

  “Where are we going?”

  Luke didn’t answer me right away. I looked over at him and I still saw Dante’s face, the man I’d been tearing myself up over these last few months. I thought I was cheating on the man I loved. But now I know he was the one betraying me all this time.

  “Was it because of Peter? Is that why you left?”

  Luke glanced at me again, his dark eyes even darker in the gloom of the evening.

  “Peter told me that someone was selling software illegally out of his company. He told me he’d traced it back to John Fuller, this guy in Huntsville.”

  “I know that.”

  “What you don’t know is that I know John Fuller. His real name is Jack Forrester. He was one of us.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not possible.”

  “It is and he was. He was undercover, trying to smoke out a group of people here who were sneaking information to a terrorist cell in France.”

  I shook my head again, unable to wrap my thoughts around it. Months ago, more than seven months ago, someone was stalking Amber. Cole confronted him and he turned out to be John Fuller. John had thought that Peter told Amber something about the investigation he was conducting.

  “John Fuller told Cole that Peter came to him, asking about the software. Then, after Amber came to us, Fuller claimed that a guy came around asking the same questions, saying he worked with Peter.”

  “He lied.”

  “We went to see him again and he talked as though he was convinced his office was bugged. Then he was arrested—”

  “It was all a lie, Megan.” He started to reach over, to touch me, but then he stopped. For a long moment, he stared out the window of the car at the street ahead of us. “John Fuller was manufacturing microchips to be used in cellphones. But he was doing it as a cover for the terrorist cell. He was helping build cellphones that could help these people communicate without being traced. The software your brother developed was brilliant! It could turn a cellphone into a work of fucking art. The CIA loved his software. They considered buying it from him. But then they found a man in his company who was willing to sell it without any of the red tape that would have been required had they done it legitimately.”