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And keeping that knowledge
to herself could only work in her and Carrie’s favor.

“
Just drive, Red. No
questions, toots. And put the radio on, will you? I hate car rides
without some music. And no country. I can’t stand it.” He sat back,
seeming to relax. But he never took his eyes off Al.

The next two hours were
quiet, except for him occasionally giving Carrie driving orders as
she navigated through the steadily increasing snow. Al just watched
him. The longer they drove the more convinced she was that he was
injured in some way. His eyes were pained, and he’d paled a bit
beneath the tan. But his hand was tight and steady on his
gun.

Once they hit the
interstate out of the city and headed toward Texas he relaxed a
bit.

“
When are you going to let
us go?” Al asked. His knee was touching hers, the heat of him
scorching her through her jeans. “We didn’t do anything to
you.”

“
No. You didn’t. And I’m
sorry to involve you in this. But your lot in this is not going to
change. I need to get where I need to go, and then the two of you
can go about your merry way.”

“
I need to use the
restroom,” Carrie said, the first she’d spoken in a long
while.

“
We’ve only been in the car
ten minutes!” He said it with fake exasperation. “I told you to go
before I kidnapped you!”

“
Al—”

“
Give it a rest, pal. We’re
not in the mood for teasing.” Al did have to go, too. And she was
so tired it was a fight to keep her eyes open. She hadn’t slept for
close to thirty something hours, she was bruised and sore from her
last case, and her adrenaline was wearing off. Fast. And the motion
of the car was starting to lull her more than she wanted. “We need
a bathroom, water, and something to eat. Or do you plan on denying
us the basics?”

“
I plan on meeting all of
your needs, eventually, baby. Red here, gets an exception, seeing
as how she’s got that dog husband of hers.” He grinned at her as he
said it, and if she looked at him just right it was Sebastian
Lorcan there beside her.

“
Sure you
do. I’m so looking forward to it.” She stared at him for a long
moment. “At least tell us your name. And stop calling me
baby
, and
toots
, and calling
her
Red
. We have
names. I’m sure you do, too.” What would he say? Would he
say
Lorcan
? If he
did, should she tell him about Sebastian? Would Carrie? Was it
Carrie’s place to out herself, if he didn’t already recognize
him?

“
Sweetheart, sexy women
like you and Red here deserve pet names. But you can call me honey,
or whatever you want.”

“
How
about your
real
name.”

“
That would be Seth, Al.
What’s it short for? I’ve known a few Al’s in my life—none looked
quite like you.”

Al fought the urge to roll
her eyes when he leered at her. He thought he was being funny,
didn’t he? Like she’d not been leered out before. Like she’d not
been leered at in the last thirty-six hours even. “It’s short for
Alessandra. Supervisory Special Agent Alessandra Brockman, with
PAVAD. She’s Special Agent Carrie Sparks L—”

“
He can
call me Agent Sparks.
Nothing
else.” Carrie was looking at her, Al realized.
With intent. Carrie knew something, something that Al didn’t. And
for whatever reason Carrie didn’t want her last name revealed.
Why?

Whatever it was, Al would
follow Carrie’s lead.

For now.

Chapter Six

***

Paige was sleeping at her
desk when the alarm was sounded, and it ripped her awake within
seconds. No surprise; the alarm was designed to alert the entire
division when something was wrong. It was Ed Dennis’s specific
all-hands-on-deck bell. The director of PAVAD had had Carrie and
J.T. specifically design the system for his use, and he’d secured
the funding for its installation pretty fast after his daughter
Georgia was kidnapped by a madman. A madman they all
knew.

Apparently madmen they knew
were all the rage around here.

She tried not to remember
her last encounter with one. He’d nearly doped her to death—and
nearly killed one of her best friends. That Jules had survived was
a miracle in itself.

It was late, but the
bullpen still had a few agents wondering around. It was a regular
occurrence that some teams worked round the clock hours. Her team
had just arrived back from a nasty week long hunt for serial killer
who’d targeted women who looked too much like Paige’s partner Al.
Their whole team had been up too damned long—even for her. She had
once been able to stay up for hours upon hours—sometimes three or
four days at a time—without sleep. But since her kidnapping and
drugging three months ago, it seemed like all she wanted to do was
sleep at times.

Her desk made as good a
place as any. At least she wasn’t out driving around this
exhausted. And she’d slept in far, far worse.

The bullpen was filling up
with agents who were still in the building. They’d come quick at
the alarm. Sebastian was there, as were Jules and Mal, despite the
near midnight hour. They looked so darned cute together, him so big
and strong and hot and Jules so small and feminine.

As Ed Dennis rushed into
the bullpen, Paige’s attention sharpened and she woke up a bit
more. Something
had
happened. Otherwise Ed would be at home with his new wife and
seven stepsons. And it was for sure not good.

Sebastian was at her side,
tense. Ed came directly to him. And Paige. He didn’t mince words.
“Lorcan, we have one hell of a big problem.”

“
Case?”

“
No. It’s your wife. And
Malachi, Paige, it’s Alessandra. They’re both in
trouble.”

“
What is? Where’s Carrie?”
Sebastian tensed even more. Paige felt her own heart rate triple.
Carrie—her sister. Al—her partner. Al had just left a few minutes
ago, hadn’t she? What could have happened to her in that short
amount of time? And Carrie? It was way too late for Carrie to be
in, wasn’t it? “Where are they? Are they hurt?”

“
There was an incident in
the parking lot; you’ll all need to watch.”

He put a memory card into
the nearest computer—Paige’s. The sixteen or so agents surrounding
the leader of the division watched the large digital screen that
covered half of one wall. The grainy security video showed exactly
what had happened after Carrie arrived.

Carrie had parked directly
in line of sight of the cameras—just the way Paige knew Sebastian
insisted. But that hadn’t helped keep Carrie or Al safe.

The man finally turned, so
that the viewers could see his face. Paige knew she was one of the
ones who gasped.

“
I’ll kill him!”

Paige looked at Sebastian.
He looked sick and she understood it. “You know him?”

“
Hell yes, I know him. I
shared a damned womb with him!”

Chapter Seven

****

She knew what would happen
eventually—biology ensured that. And unless he planned to drag her
or Carrie into the restroom with him, she’d have at least a few
seconds to talk to Carrie.

It happened at their first
stop. He pulled up next to a small gas station, with outdoor
restrooms. He parked three feet from the men’s room. He cuffed them
both to the car doors and took the keys. “Be right back, my little
loves. Don’t go anywhere.”

As soon as the door closed
behind him, Carrie turned toward her. “He’s not going to hurt us.
He’s one of the good guys.”

“
You know who he is, I
assume?”

“
I’m
guessing it’s the middle brother. There’s three of them. Sin, Seth,
and Sebastian’s the youngest. By a few minutes. They’re completely
identical. I saw pictures. And all three are FBI. Seth is supposed
to be one of the
ghosts.
”

She’d heard
that
term before. Agents
so deeply undercover, even within their own units, that no real
record of their accomplishments or anything about them even
existed. Or at least not under their
real
names.

And Sebastian’s brother was
one of them? Sebastian had never said. But then again, why would
he? Ghosts’ identities were supposed to be protected. “One of
the…”

“
From
what Sebastian said, one of the
best.
”

Al studied her friend.
Carrie was calm and cool. Not the least bit freaked out, even
though Al knew her friend hated foul weather, hated long car rides,
and hated not knowing what was going on. But she was fine with
this? Why? “You’re not the least bit afraid, are you?”

“
No. Because he’s
Sebastian’s brother and even Cody said Seth is one of the good
guys. I don’t know what’s happening, but he needs help.”

“
But I don’t think we
should be the ones to give it.”

“
Probably not.”

“
Should we tell him who you
are?”

“
I don’t think so. Until we
find out more what he’s into. He might not want Sebastian involved.
Especially if he’s working a case.”

“
Which he
might very well be doing.” That put a new spin on everything. But
what was she supposed to do
now
?

Even if this guy was
the
ghost
that
Carrie claimed he was, that didn’t make what he was doing
right
. Or
legal.

And with her and Carrie
both cuffed, that gave
him
too much control.

First opportunity she got,
Al was taking Ghost Boy down.

With whatever force was
necessary.

Chapter Eight

***

The blonde was a
bit...wearing. She never stopped watching him. In two plus hours.
And those
gotta-be-fake
blue eyes were sharp as nails. She’d learned early on how to
push his buttons; he had no doubt about that. One word out of
Little Red—just a simple
please
—and he turned to mush. Blondie
figured that out quick.

He couldn’t call her
Al
. He’d known an Al as a
kid. Biggest, fattest bully in the neighborhood. He’d left Seth and
his two brothers alone for the most part—who wanted a three-on-one
fight, which was what it would be?—but Al had occasionally targeted
their little sister. Or he had a time or two. Until Seth’s brother
Sin had made it very clear Al was never to touch Sarah
again.

He thought about calling
his brothers. Both were FBI and they’d help him in an instant. In
spite of all the shit that had happened between them. That just
flat out wasn’t going to happen. Not in this lifetime. One had a
wife and one had a kid. He’d never do anything to put
them
in the line of
fire.

Red was still scared of
him, even though they’d been driving for three hours straight. But
Al—
Alessandra
, he
could see calling her Alessandra—was still hopping mad. And that
made her far more dangerous. He’d let Red pull over at a gas
station earlier. They’d all needed a restroom, and he’d manfully
given them privacy—one at a time—to take care of their
business.

The only food they were
getting was drive-through. He didn’t trust Alessandra in the store.
Not at all. Red—
Red
would do what she was told. But she wasn’t completely cowed.
Just quieter than her friend. And they
were
friends; he could see that in
the way they talked to each other. The way they protected each
other. Alessandra had even let herself get taken hostage for her
friend.

He had to admire that, even
though he thought it was pretty damned stupid on her
part.

He
missed
having friends like that. He’d
had a few with his last assignment, but since joining his current
team, he’d lost contact with many of them. They could still email,
but none of them had the time. Or maybe the connections just
weren’t as strong as he’d thought.

He had a partner he
could
probably
trust. But chances were Bertram had no clue what had happened
to him. Unless it was
Bertram
who’d betrayed him. There were seven people who’d
known where he was going; three who knew when. One of them had
probably been responsible for his enforced road trip to begin with.
It could have been Bertram. He’d seen far worse
betrayals.

Red was getting tired from
driving; it was on her face and in the way her hands were shaking.
And it was well past one in the morning now, according to the
dashboard. She looked kind of sick at the moment, and he couldn’t
push her. Not any more than he had already. “Blondie, you’re
driving from here.”