Deep Under (Tall, Dark and Deadly #4)(16)

“But I’m not,” I promise her, “and on some level you knew that, or you wouldn’t have pushed me to take this job.”

“I don’t know what I thought. I don’t know what I think now, but Michael’s possessive. The longer you’re with me and unmonitored, the more he’ll read into who and what we are.”

“Do you really want him to read into every interaction we have?”

“No, but…maybe you taking this job was a mistake.”

“Nothing about this feels like a mistake,” I assure her, letting her read whatever she wants into it. “You need protection and I’m going to do whatever it takes to ensure you stay safe. So yes. I’m close and if I have to get closer, I will.”

“What part of “you’re going to get us killed,” do you not understand?”

“No one is dying that I don’t kill or let die.”

“No one lives that Michael Alvarez wants dead,” she counters, her eyes narrowing, realization of some sort filling her face. “You’re not afraid.” She sucks in air and then lets it out, before calmly asking, “This is part of the test, isn’t it?”

“I’m the one who told you about the test in the first place.”

“What better way to make me trust you and then try to convince me to turn on Michael?”

“No,” I say, my voice hard steel. “That is not what is happening here. I’m not setting you up.”

“But I can’t know that, now can I?” She takes several steps backwards. “Please go.”

“I’m not setting you up,” I repeat, my voice as solid as the wall I can feel between us now that she reinforces by once again folding her arms in front of her. “Myla-”

“I need you to leave and please shut the door behind you.”

The urge to refuse, and to demand she trust me, is instant, but I have to force myself to repeat the golden rule of undercover work: Earning trust is critical. Earning trust takes time you won’t want to give it. And finally, assuming you have it too soon, can get you and everyone else killed. Accepting these things, knowing they are about survival, I inhale, and with Herculean effort, force myself to walk to the doorway, pausing under the archway without turning.

“I explained my motives and they stand. I’m looking out for only two people. You and me and no one else.”

Exiting into the living area, I pull the door shut behind me, accepting the divide she’s demanded, but not for long. In fact, as I walk away, something is clawing at me, warning me that I’m missing something. I stop walking, fighting the urge to return to Myla, every instinct I’ve honed over the years telling me to pull Myla close and keep her there, and do it really damn fast.





Chapter Four





Kyle





Twelve months of looking for Myla… That I’ve found her hits me as I walk to the spare bedroom by the front door, and I come to the realization just inside the entryway, my fists pressed to the wall, my head low between my shoulders. “Twelve months,” I repeat softly, the timeline surreal. “Twelve months and I found her.” Twelve months of knowing in my gut that she wasn’t dead, and living with an intense drive to find her.

No. It was an intense need, like I was supposed to be the one who saved her. But I haven’t. Not yet.

Now I need to think through a way to make that happen. I replay my interactions with Myla, looking for her motives, her alliances that I might have to fight. My first focus is on the very real fear in her eyes, but I quickly dismiss that as a conclusive way to evaluate where she is with Alvarez. Lord only knows that I understand how you can condition yourself to feel, and even embrace fear, as a way of being reminded that you’re alive. It can be a high you start craving and even needing. So I move on, remembering the shared looks between myself and Myla, so intense that she’d called us “dangerous.” I come to one conclusion. If she is truly seduced by this life, or by Michael Alvarez, even by way of being brainwashed, there is no way the attraction between us—and there is an attraction between us—could have been this hot and instant. Out of the blue, her statement about Kara replays in my head: I have no intention of contacting my sister now or ever. Those words deliver a jolt of reality and a rationale as to why she’s seemingly loyal to a kingpin.

Shit. I push off the wall, and run my hand over the newly forming stubble on my jaw. I’m speculating, but I have damn good instincts, along with a year of studying all things Myla. I would bet money that Myla believes Alvarez will hurt Kara if she does anything but show undying devotion to him. And the thing is, I believe she’s right, a problem Royce and I never talked about because we simply didn’t think finding Myla would be this easy, if at all. Cursing softly at what could be an imminent threat to Kara, I push off the wall and start unpacking my equipment, with the goal of securing the room and setting up private communication I can use to contact Royce.

A few minutes later, I’ve unpacked, set up three MacBook Pros on the desk, and claimed the chair in front of them, two of the dozen disposable phones I have with me charging next to me. I then move on to a quick hack of the hotel computer system, pulling up views inside and outside the building, though irritatingly nothing for this floor, where you’d think high profile clients would dictate monitoring. Once I have eyes on every spot I can manage, and I’ve confirmed nothing is needing attention at the moment, I reach for a phone, but hesitate as I glance at the door I don’t want to shut.