"Move, stay with me, look at the ground." Nolan powered forward.A loud boom and flash of light sent smoke pouring out of the foyer.Flash grenade. They were breeching the house right fucking now. Sheltering in the utility room was not happening. They'd be sitting ducks.They had to get out of here. Now.He spared a glance over his shoulder.Yvonne was on his heels.Theodore and Douglas brought up the rear with their father between them, practically dragging the stunned man.If the attackers were breeching from one point, perhaps he could slip the family out the side or the back?It was that or hope he had enough bullets to take out all of the intruders.Voices echoed off the marble.There was no time.He had to get the family out now.Nolan darted into the living room. "Shut the doors behind us. Yvonne, take your Mom.""I've got her." Yvonne looped her mother's arm around her shoulders. The woman cried big, tears accompanied by even louder sobs.Nolan proce

Friday. Safe House, Huntington Terrace, MD.NOLAN TWIRLED THE PEN between his fingers while the hold music continued to play. The last thing he wanted to be doing was his job as the team's Communication Officer. Coordinating bullshit was tedious when Yvonne sat across the room.She was still staring into space. Her color wasn't right. He hated the sight of the bandage on her arm and knowing how close she'd come to getting seriously hurt.And for what?To avoid the spotlight for the sake of stock prices or some other bullshit?If he could scoop her up and walk out of here, he just might do it. But Yvonne had a plan, and damn it, he'd said he was going to trust her. Now he had to prove it. Whatever secrets she was keeping, he'd get them out of her, eventually.Somewhere in the last two days he'd changed his tune completely. They'd gone from barely being able to stand each other to something more. Now that he had a chance to do this right, he wasn't going to allow anything

Saturday. Safe House, Washington, DC.SAMUEL STARED OUT THE window toward the airport. Dawn was just coloring the horizon a dismal gray.It was almost twenty-four hours since they'd failed to capture the Krieger family. Samuel's contacts had run into a wall. No one knew where they were. It was as if the family had vanished.Karuki's face reflected back in the glass."What?" Samuel snapped. "Do you want me to say you were right? That we should go home and hope this dies?""That's not an option," Karuki said.Samuel turned to face the man. "Why?""Police showed up at the office today. They wanted to ask you questions about your brother's death. It would appear it's not wrapped up.""Fucking hell." Samuel dragged his hand over his face.If he could go back and tell his old self to wait sixty seconds to pull that gun, Ito might be dead anyway and none of this would be Samuel's problem. Instead, here he was chasing his tail.Now he had no choice but to tie up the loos

Saturday. Unknown Location.YVONNE COULDN'T STOP SHAKING. She wasn't cold, but that didn't matter.What had Melody said that first day about what to do if kidnapped?The words slipped away from Yvonne. At the time she'd been annoyed. She hadn't properly listened. Now she couldn't recall the first thing Melody had said.Nolan had promised her he'd find her. Yvonne wanted to blindly trust those words, but she didn't know if he was still alive or dead.Were these people connected to the Yakuza who'd attacked the house? The same ones who'd kidnapped Douglas?She wasn't going to do herself any good if she kept panicking. She had to calm down. Maybe if she did, she'd be able to remember the presentation Melody had given them.Deep breath.Her shakes subsided a bit.Yvonne drew air in through her nose.Her head stopped buzzing and her field of vision began to grow from the narrow tunnel. Then again, being aware of everything else wasn't necessarily a comforting thing.

Saturday. Safe House.LEE WATCHED THE MAP. The circle denoting the burner phone's location shifted a block, then disappeared.It hadn't taken long for the tracking devices to be found. This team was good. Lee knew they were lucky to have had a big enough head start on them. With any luck, Yvonne was correct and her family and the security team would spend considerable time chasing their tails.If only every mark was as cooperative as Ms. Krieger."It is done," he announced and powered off his phone screen."You think they bought it?" Yvonne turned her head and looked at him. She'd cleaned the blood off her forehead, but the bruising had already begun to darken her delicate skin."You'd better hope so.""I could have pretended, you know?""But then, how would you know I was serious with my threats?" Lee grinned at her even though she couldn't see his face for the mask.She stared at him, her unspoken emotions written on her face. He could hear her spat the words mon