Page 38 of Sasha’s Secret

Rocco rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his shoulders. He’d been sitting in one position, staring at the computer screen, for too long. He was no profiler, but then again, he didn’t have to be—it was eminently clear from the vitriolic nature of the social media posts that the person behind them had some serious issues, and looking through their history, Linzi was their only target. It would take someone with a different skill set from his to glean anything further.

A hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed it, heralding the arrival of a mug of coffee on the desk. “Here, this might help.”

He looked up and to the left, timing the movement perfectly for Sasha to brush her lips across his. He stretched. “Mm, I know what would help more.”

“Insatiable man.”

Around her, he was—and that was after only one night together. He’d been intensely aware of her absence from his bed the previous night, but the fact that he’d missed her over breakfast this morning would have been enough to convince him—had he needed convincing—there was more to it than sex and scratching a fundamental human itch. His reaction when she’d finally made it to her office after Linzi’s European interview had proved it.

Impossible though it should have been, given they’d known each other mere days, his connection to Sasha was becoming more vital with each passing moment. At the same time, whatever secrets might be lurking in her past were becoming less and less relevant.

Rocco returned his attention to the task at hand, and was so deeply engrossed in it that, when his cell phone vibrated, he picked it up without a thought. When he saw the caller ID, his stomach clenched. He was due to Skype Nick that evening, so what was so urgent it couldn’t wait until then? He glanced over at Sasha, and as if she could feel his gaze on her, she looked up from her computer screen. For a split second, he thought he caught an almost haunted look in her eyes, but then she gave him the kind of smile that only lovers shared.

Whatever Nick wanted, it had better not be to tell him Sasha was behind the threats.

Rocco answered the call. “Nick. What’s up?”

“Can you talk? This won’t take long.”

The words he’d been dreading. “Sure. Give me a minute.”

Rocco rose, aware that Sasha’s eyes were on him. He adopted what he hoped was a reassuring expression and gestured toward the phone. Sasha nodded and returned to her work.

A few long strides took him far enough away from the office. “Sorry about that. Go ahead.”

“I thought you might like to know Tex came through with his inquiries about Sasha.”

And here it came. She had no history because she’d been in jail. Or she was in the witness protection program. Or there was some wild reason he couldn’t even begin to fathom for her only springing into existence when she started working for Linzi. He had to know the truth, little though he wanted to. “Go on.”

“Turns out you were right—Sasha Morgan is ex-CIA. She left the Agency not long after her partner was killed overseas.”

“Her partner?” Rocco knew Nick meant her work partner, but even so, the green-eyed demon of jealousy flashed at the word.

“Jack Ward. He was shot multiple times, but survived just long enough for exfil. She returned to the States, was on compassionate leave for a while, then she went to work for Linzi. By a strange coincidence, her former supervisor is Linzi’s godfather.” Nick’s tone implied he believed coincidence had nothing to do with it.

“You think she’s here to protect Linzi?”

“I don’t think it’s so much that as just to watch over her, and maybe watch out for the very circumstance that led Brookes to engage us. Without Sasha to catch the nuances of the messages, I suspect they’d have been dismissed as the ravings of your average internet weirdo, and I doubt very much we or any other security consultants would be involved.”

“Is there any particular way you’d like me to handle letting Sasha know we know? Seems to me someone went to a lot of trouble to cover up her past.”

“I don’t know that her past is particularly relevant. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how to handle it… if it needs to be handled.”

“Understood. Thank Tex for me, will you?” Mentioning the name of Nick’s “friend of a friend” reminded Rocco of what else the other man was working on. “Have he and Charity made any progress with tracking down our real target?”

“That’s proving to be more problematic than either of them anticipated. Whoever it is is bloody good at hiding their tracks. Far more skilled than the average keyboard warrior. They started explaining the technology to me, but within about thirty seconds, they’d gone way over my head. Give me numbers any day,” Nick grumbled.

Rocco chuckled. Before heading up Spectrum Security Inc., Nick had been the bean counter-in-chief for Spectrum Security, the parent company back home. He was still double-hatting the two roles, but as soon as they found a replacement CFO, his time would be dedicated one hundred percent to the stateside operation.

“That reminds me—I stumbled across something in the financial records I’d like you to take a look at, if you have time. I’m no expert, but what I found feels wrong.”

“No problem. If you can send me the details today, I’ll take a look over the weekend.”

“Thanks, I will, but I need to clear it with Sasha first. I know it’s not really part of our remit and I can’t see any connection with the threats, but my gut’s telling me not to let it go.”

“That’s good enough for me. Better to look into it and discount it, than find out later we should have investigated. Talking of Sasha, how are things between you two?”

“We have a good working relationship. Everything’s going very smoothly.”