Page 13 of Tempting Alec

People like Grier had a tendency to overthink, to get lost in the details. Alec knew that in their line of work, too much analysis could be just as dangerous as too little. In a situation as fluid and dangerous as theirs, there wasn’t always time to dissect every piece of data, to explore every theory. Sometimes, you had to trust your instincts, make a decision, and move.

He sat up slowly, his movements careful so as not to startle her. But Grier was so engrossed in her work that she didn’t even look up. Alec sighed inwardly, running a hand through his hair. He needed to bring her back to the present, to make sure she was focused on the immediate danger they were in—not just the puzzle she was trying to solve.

“Have you been at it all night?” he asked, his voice rough with sleep.

Grier’s head snapped up, her eyes widening in surprise before they softened in recognition. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No,” Alec replied, pushing himself to his feet and stretching out the stiffness in his muscles. “But you should have gotten some rest.”

“I’ll sleep when we’re safe,” Grier said, her tone dismissive as she turned back to her screen. “I think I’m getting close. There are patterns here—communications that don’t add up. If I can just figure out who’s behind them…”

Alec walked over to her, crouching down beside her to get a better look at the data on her screen. It was a mess of encrypted messages, timestamps, and IP addresses—information that meant little to him but was clearly significant to Grier.

“I don’t doubt you’re onto something,” Alec said carefully. “But we can’t afford to get bogged down. We need to stay mobile, keep ahead of whoever’s hunting us.”

Grier frowned, her fingers pausing over the keys. “I know that. But this is important, Alec. If we can identify the mole, we can stop them. We can end this.”

Alec sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He could see how much this meant to her, how determined she was to solve the mystery. But he also knew that in their current situation, time was a luxury they didn’t have.

Before he could respond, his satellite phone buzzed in his pocket. Alec’s hand shot out, and he quickly checked the screen. The secure channel indicator flashed—a call from Cerberus. His stomach tightened as he glanced at Grier, who was watching him with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Alec stood up, turning away from Grier as he answered the call. “McKennon.”

“Alec, it’s Seth,” came the familiar voice of Seth Newcomb, one of the senior operatives in Cerberus. His tone was tense, urgent. “We’ve got a situation. You and Grier are in deep. The CIA and the FSB are both on your trail. They’re closing in fast. I don’t know that you can trust the Agency.”

Alec’s grip tightened on the phone. He had known they were being hunted, but hearing it confirmed by Seth sent a jolt of adrenaline through him. “How close are they?”

“Too close,” Seth replied. “The CIA’s got a team sweeping the area, and the FSB is using every resource they’ve got to track you down. You need to move, now.”

Alec’s jaw clenched. This was exactly what he had feared. They were being squeezed from both sides and staying in one place—even for a few hours—was no longer an option. “Understood. We’ll be out in five.”

“One more thing, Alec,” Seth added, his voice lowering. “Be careful who you trust. We believe Cerberus has been compromised.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re pretty sure we have a mole. We don’t know who it is yet, but they’ve got resources. They’re feeding information to both sides. When you have an extraction location, send it to me, King or Fitz only. We want to keep the circle small on this one.”

Alec’s chest tightened at the implication. Someone within Cerberus, someone they knew and trusted, was pulling the strings. It was a chilling thought, but there was no time to dwell on it. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

The line went dead, and Alec shoved the phone back into his pocket, turning to face Grier. She was already on her feet, her expression tense.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“We’ve got company—both the CIA and the FSB,” Alec said tersely. “We need to move.”

Alec didn’t wait for her to agree. He grabbed their gear, his movements quick and efficient, but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Grier was smart, dedicated, and damn good at her job—but she wasn’t a field operative. She wasn’t used to this kind of pressure, this kind of danger. And the fact that she was still pushing herself, even after everything they had been through, worried him.

He rummaged around in his pack, finding a smaller knapsack for Grier to carry. He put her laptop in it but kept the flash drive. When she quirked her eyebrow at him, he answered her unasked question. “Just in case we get separated. If that happens, keep heading toward the coast. I’ll find you. Do whatever you have to do but stay alive and keep moving. Trust me.”

As they packed up, Grier spoke, her voice calm but determined. “Alec, I don’t know that we shouldn’t be trying to hook up with the Agency. They have the resources, the reach. We need their help to take down the mole.”

Alec froze, his gaze locking onto hers. “The Agency?” he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. “Grier, they’re the ones hunting us.”

“Not all of them,” Grier argued. “There are people in the Agency who can be trusted. If we could get to them, if we could convince them of what’s really going on, we’d have a better chance of exposing the mole.”

Alec shook his head, his frustration mounting. “And what if there’s more than one mole? What if there’s a whole damn nest of them working from inside Cerberus and the CIA? What if the Agency is compromised all the way up? We can’t risk it.”

“We can’t do this alone, either,” Grier countered, her eyes flashing with determination. “Cerberus is good, but they’re not infallible. We need allies, Alec.”

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