“I apologize, Master Deke,” Serena said with a chuckle. “We have corsets and fet wear for guests, but undies are a bit more personal. I’ll have someone go by a store and buy something more suitable for tonight.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can run by a Target.” She didn’t want to put anyone out.
Deke stood again. “Nope. First of all, the garments she’s talking about can’t be bought at a big box store, and second, you’re in hiding. I don’t like the fact that you came from the airport to my place alone. Any number of cameras could have caught you. You stay with me while we’re in Dallas. I don’t want to chance someone seeing you and reporting back to Nolan Byrne that you weren’t where you said you were.”
“How would he see me here?”
“Oh, any number of ways,” a new voice said.
Maddie looked in the mirror and saw the door had come open again.
Serena gracefully dropped to her knees, her form exquisite. A dark-haired man in similar leathers to Deke stepped up next to her, placing his hand on her head with a gentle touch.
“You are perfect in every way, my love,” he said before turning his gaze on Maddie. She recognized the man as one of Serena’s husbands. Adam Miles. “Depending on how paranoid Byrne is, he could have systems that sweep across the country scraping CCTV cams for data. It’s certainly what I would do if I suspected you of anything.”
“I don’t think he suspects me. If I had to guess, he thinks I’m quite naïve.” She didn’t like it, but it worked in her favor this time. “I know he can make ruthless business decisions, but he’s good to his employees. At least he seems to be. That’s what I need to find out—if this is Nolan or if there’s someone else pulling the strings at Byrne.”
“Well, now Mr. Byrne isn’t the only one who thinks you’re a bit naïve.” Adam was staring at her in the glass of the mirror.
“Adam.” The name was a warning on Deke’s tongue.
Adam held a hand out, helping Serena to her feet. “We’ll meet you on the main stage. Jake is getting everything ready. We’ll go over the equipment and see what she knows. We’ll talk about a contract between the two of you. I want you to have a physical one in case Byrne would like to see it. Tonight she can watch the scenes and you can talk about your cover.”
He led Serena out of the small room and toward the stairs.
“That seemed tense. Did something happen?” Was she already causing trouble for Deke?
“You need to spread your knees wider,” he murmured, watching as Adam and Serena disappeared. The door closed, and Deke’s shoulders seemed to relax. “He’s upset that I’m unwilling to do some dirty work for him. He thinks your boss is behind some attacks on critical targets and that Byrne’s using your AI.”
She gasped and started to get up.
“No,” he commanded, his hand coming to her shoulder. “If you want me to explain, you’ll do as I asked.”
She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. “I have to do things your way.”
“When we’re in a dungeon or on the mission, yes, Madeline.” He had a confidence about him that had been absent when they were kids. It wasn’t that he’d been insecure. He’d been a boy, and now he was a man who’d gone through the crucible and come out on the other side.
Sometimes her heart ached that she hadn’t gone through it with him, but he’d been the one to make that choice. He’d chosen to leave her, chosen to not seek her out later on. She had to remember that. He was the subject matter expert, and he was nothing more than a tool to help her accomplish her goal. Therefore she should choose to do as he’d asked.
Ordered. In a super-sexy voice.
She moved her knees further apart, trying to find that peace Serena seemed to have around her. She straightened her spine and took a long breath, trying to let go of the tension that seemed to plague her every day.
“Adequate, but we have to get you comfortable with yourself. I wouldn’t buy that you’ve spent any time at all in the lifestyle right now,” he admonished. “And you should know that I was just told you could cost me my job. The man you met sometimes works for the government. His partner is Charlotte Taggart’s sister, and she used to be one of the CIA’s top analysts.”
“What does that have to do with Clarke?” Her heart raced at the thought of someone misusing her work. She wanted to get up but if he was right, then it was more important than ever that she learn how to fool Byrne into believing the stories she’d been feeding him.
“The AI used in the attacks is very similar to your work, though I’m going to admit that I don’t understand how Adam can tell,” he replied quietly. “What I did get him to admit is that they don’t have enough data to truly know.”
She took a deep breath and let the panic seep away. Often if one didn’t work in the industry, they didn’t understand the way things were. This Adam person could be the rock star of the facial recognition world and not have the knowledge he needed to understand what she did. What she did wasn’t magic. She stood on the shoulders of others. “The base work has been available for a long time. Byrne has no reason to risk putting Clarke out there and potentially allowing someone else to steal it. We don’t have a patent yet. He would do anything to protect what will likely make his company not billions of dollars, but trillions of dollars over the next thirty years. I don’t trust him, but I know the one thing he’ll protect is his profits. And I protect my research. It doesn’t leave the lab.”
“Like I said, I think Adam’s fishing, and I told him I’m unwilling to put you at risk,” Deke explained. “I’m trusting you not to let anyone know what I’ve told you.”
He was risking his job for her. She was back in his life for a couple of hours and he was already putting her first. If only he could have put her first when they’d graduated. “I won’t. I promise. I understand why your friend wants to look into it, and I’ll share anything we find with him, but I can’t open the project to anyone. I’m under a strict contract, and I could lose everything. I’m willing to risk it but not purely out of curiosity.”
“I understand. I’m letting you know I won’t steal it from you. Not for anyone. When you and MaeBe get into Byrne’s system, if you find something relevant, you’ll turn it over.”
“Is that an order?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s a fact. If you find out Byrne is endangering people or betraying his country, you’ll turn him in.”
Her heart twisted at the absolute trust he was showing her. He was saying and doing all the right things, being the exact person she’d dreamed of. “I work in a world where most people will do anything to get ahead. I mean anything. So how can you be so sure I’ll do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing?”
His lips curled in that half smile he got when he was sentimental. How could she still remember every one of his smiles? “Because you’re Madeline Hill and you always will be.”
The words brought tears to her eyes because sometimes she wondered. “I don’t know about that. I feel so far away from that girl I was. There are days she feels like a dream I had.”