Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(75)

“Because if I begin to doubt my choices, I hesitate. When I hesitate, someone dies. That could be you.” He took her hand and tugged her toward the bedroom. “We’ll sleep for a bit and then move. Andy should have us a place to crash by then.”

Sarah followed Rand into the bedroom. Like the night before, she remained mostly dressed when she crawled between the blankets. Rand was there, tugging her back against his chest, wrapping himself around her.

“Your brother’s going to kill me.” Rand smoothed her hair back, his fingers tracing her jaw.

“He’ll get over it. He knows something’s up.”

“Yeah, he’s a smart cookie.”

“He’s going to get everyone to go out to the lake house.”

“Good. They look right together.”

“They do, don’t they?” Sarah chuckled, so many memories of Emily mooning over Matt. When it’d happened, she hadn’t minded one bit. Of course, she’d expected to have her friend around more, not less, but that was the way of things. Sarah had continued to travel, and Emily settled down to have the family she always wanted.

“Get some sleep.” Rand kissed the top of her head and pulled her in closer.

She was exhausted, and yet, she didn’t know how she was going to sleep at all.

Her family was in danger because of her. Her handler was likely in the hospital for talking to her. Who was next? What was the price of doing what she believed in? Irene had hooked Sarah on the notion that she wasn’t just making the world a better place through her work with Wishing Well, she was making it safer by helping the CIA, too. Sarah had bought into the pitch wholeheartedly, but that was before the reality set in. Before she knew the risks.





Chapter Seventeen


Vrrrm. Vrrrm. Vrrrm.

Rand reached blindly for the nightstand. The cell phone continued to vibrate.

“What is it?” Sarah groaned and lifted her head off his arm.

Blood rushed back into his fingertips and he hissed, shaking out his left hand while he fumbled with the phone in his right.

Matt.

“Hello?” Rand sat up.

“Someone broke into our car,” Matt said.

“What? When? Where are you?”

“Still at the house. There was a—never mind. They took the GPS out of the glove box. You need to move. Now.”

“Is everyone there okay?” Rand shoved his feet into his boots.

Sarah was already out of bed and pulling on her coat.

“Yeah, but I don’t know how long ago this happened. Our dog Buster needed out, then he went crazy. Emily’s getting the kids together now. They’re going to Mom and Dad’s. As soon as I finish up with the cops, I’ll head over there. I’ll pack everyone up and head to the lake, but you have to get Sarah and Julie out of there.”

“On it.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful. Whoever did this bypassed the security in the garage and disabled the motion sensor lights on the outside.”

“They aren’t beginners.”

“I can see that. Keep Sarah safe.”

Rand ended the call and shoved his phone into his pocket.

“What happened, is—”

“Everyone’s fine, but we have to go.”

“I’m ready.”

“Armed?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He slid his jacket over his holster and slung their bug-out bag over his shoulder.

“What about Julie?” Sarah asked.

“I’m thinking.” He led the way through the carriage house but stopped at the door, peering out into the backyard. “We’ll go to Andy’s loft. He may or may not be there, but at least it’s a destination for now.”

“But Julie?”

“Can you get into the garage and keep an eye out there? I’ll go inside and get her. We can have her drop us at a metro or somewhere else.”

“Rand, Matt. Emily?”

“They’re fine. They’re going to be fine. Keep close, okay?”

Sarah nodded and took his hand.

It was almost four in the morning. Soon enough, the sky would begin to lighten, they’d have greater visibility and more options for where to go. He’d allowed their circumstances to dictate where they went, and that was his mistake. They had to stop reacting to what was happening and go back to being proactive.

Rand led Sarah across to the garage. The backyard entrance was the weakest point as far as security went. One flimsy lock was all that kept them out of the house. Armed with the security code, there wasn’t much barring their entry. He jimmied the door open with nothing more than his pocket knife.

He clicked on his flashlight and peered around the two-car garage. Besides an overabundance of stuff, it was empty.

“You stay here, close the door. Keep a look out through those windows. I’ll go get Julie.”

“What about the cops? Should we tell them?”

“No, chances are if they try to help, it’ll just get them killed. Stay here.”

Rand crossed to the door leading into the house. He tried it, and it opened into the laundry room. Julie hadn’t even thought to lock it, probably because she felt safe behind her security system and locked doors. Those weren’t always enough of a deterrent.