Page 35 of Between Love and Honor

Her head snapped up in shock.

He held up a hand. “We were able to get to her in time.”

“She’s alive?”

“Yes, but I’d rather the world thinks she’s dead.” His heart was racing again at the thought of Quinn actually dying. He needed to work harder to compartmentalize his feelings for her. “It will help keep her safe. I believe Ronoff tracked her to my boat with the intention of killing her.”

“Who is she and why was she on your sailboat?” the secretary demanded.

Too bad Ben couldn’t fully answer either of those questions. As much as he hated to admit it, his gut was telling him he never knew the real Quinn Darby. His brain was telling him she was up to something more than just innocent photography. All these years he’d been trying to answer the question of where she’d gone. Not why. A tactical oversight on his part, he now realized. He needed to put those pieces to the puzzle together before she got into more trouble. Not because he was protecting her, he lied to himself. But because she might hold the keys to the rest of the case.

“Still trying to sort that out, ma’am. But I need your help in keeping her hidden.”

“If she can provide a link to Ronoff, of course. I’ll make the necessary phone calls,” she said. “You have carte blanche in this case.”

The tightness in his chest eased for the first time since Quinn was thrown overboard. He’d keep her safe and ferret out her secrets. And he had just the place to do so. Of course, he hadn’t delivered his bad news to the secretary.

He braced himself for the possibility of her changing her mind about Quinn.

Ben dragged his fingers through his hair. “There’s one other thing.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“When Ronoff was on my boat, he made off with a copy of VOYEUR.”

“What?” She shot from her chair. “What was it doing there? It’s not like you to be so careless.”

“I know, ma’am. There’s no excuse. I should have returned it to my office yesterday when you said I could keep it. But in my defense, I didn’t expect the guy to come looking for it. I have no idea how he even knew it existed much less that it was on board.”

“How much damage can he do with it?”

“Well, once he figures out what the program consists of, he could easily sell it to a foreign entity for a fortune.

But given Ronoff’s background mining cryptocurrency, the equations embedded in the software would be very useful to someone wanting to manipulate the world market. It would take someone a while to unencrypt them, though, but it can be done.”

“Define ‘a while,’” she demanded through a tight jaw.

“It would take the average coder a week. Maybe more.”

“And you? How long would it take someone with your skill level?”

Ben shifted sheepishly. He doubted anyone else with his skill level existed. Given the secretary’s agitated state, he didn’t bother mentioning that theory, though.

“I could do it in a day.”

A string of unladylike words escaped her lips and he tried not to cringe.

“Find out whatever this woman knows about Ronoff and use it to get that program back,” she snapped. “In the meantime, I’ll try and flush out whoever leaked the intel to Ronoff that the program even existed.” She sighed heavily.

“I still need you looking into this mess with the Phoenix.

There’s no one else with the expertise to sift through the dark web. I need to know who’s masquerading as the spymaster trying to sell classified intelligence. Not to mention who is seeking the intel. Ronoff still tops my list as a potential buyer.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, you said yourself the list of operatives doesn’t exist. Ronoff had no reason to search my sailboat for any possible intel related to the Phoenix. Perhaps it was all a ruse to throw us off the trail of what he really wanted?”

“Either way, someone within the national security community is selling secrets. I want them found.” She pinned him with a hard glare. “Now, go work your magic on this mystery woman and get Ronoff.”

With the exception of the magic that sparked between them when he had kissed her earlier, Ben couldn’t imagine it was going to be easy to unlock Quinn’s secrets. As much as he’d like to continue with the seduction method to unveil her mysteries—not to mention her body—he was smart enough to know that way would only lead to disaster. There was so much he didn’t know about her. Starting with whose side she was on.

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