Page 58 of Dangerous Protocol

She dashed back into her bedroom and a moment later shouted with glee, “Found it!”

Isla was doing extremely well, all things considered, and was settling into her new life with the skill that came from years of being forced to adapt.

He was struck by how different his own life had become in six short months.

This morning, instead of securing his firearm in his holster, he was standing in his kitchen putting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in his daughter’s soft-sided, pink cooler with unicorns all over it.

Jeffrey had moved Maya and Isla in with him right away. He’d had an inexplicable need to keep them close, and fortunately, both of them had felt the same way. They’dfiled for a marriage license, and he and Maya tied the knot before the ink dried on the paperwork.

Twelve years was plenty long enough to wait to be together.

The ceremony had been small and limited to a few friends, including some of the O’Hallerans who weren’t out on ops. Isla was her mom’s maid of honor, and his goddaughter, Ashling, was their flower girl. Shortly after that, his daughter legally took his last name. To say it had been a proud moment for him would be a massive understatement.

Jeffrey’s life as a solitary bachelor had come to an end, and he’d never been happier. Maya and Isla filled a gap in his soul he hadn’t known existed.

“Look at you, being all domestic.” His wife strolled toward him, smiling. The solitaire diamond necklace he’d given her as a wedding gift flashed where it rested against her chest.

“Hey, I have all kinds of hidden talents.” He was happy to see she’d gained back the weight she’d lost while on the run. She’d also stopped dying her hair, and it was back to its original golden blond.

“The one you showed me last night was pretty impressive.” Her warm breath whispered close to his ear, and she drew back enough to wink at him.

“Woman, you are playing with fire.” He glanced up to the loft area and, not seeing their daughter, tugged Maya in for a deep kiss.

As always happened, the heat that perpetually simmered between them shot up in an instant. Their tongues dueled and their breaths became heavy as their bodies hungered for each other.

“Mom, Dad, can I take Mr. Snickets to school today?” Isla’s voice from upstairs snapped them back to the moment.

He reluctantly drew his lips away from Maya’s. She pivoted toward the sound of their daughter rumbling down the stairs, and he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

Isla walked over to them with her backpack over her shoulder, her one-eyed hamster cradled gently in her hands. Initially, she’d wanted a kitten, but their sensitive little girl changed her mind when she saw the hamster with only one eye tucked away in the corner of a cage all by itself. She felt sad that he was all alone and opted to get the hamster instead. She’d named him after a character from one of the stories she’d written about a lonely old man who just wanted to make friends. The parallels to her own life were not lost on them.

They made a deal with her that, if she could show she was responsible enough to take care of the hamster, then she could get a kitten. She’d immediately launched into aflurry of youthful excitement, rattling off all of the other animals she wanted “someday.”

He’d gotten the distinct feelingsomedaywould come sooner rather than later. So, in anticipation of their home becoming a menagerie of animals, he’d asked Michaleen to design a barn to match the house. He’d suggested to Maya that they surprise Isla with a couple of baby goats for her birthday.

She’d rolled her eyes and said, “That child has you wrapped around her little finger. You know that, right?”

“Guilty as charged,” had been his immediate response.

Jeffrey had a lot of birthdays to make up for and wanted to ensure his daughter had the best life possible, with family, friends, and a place she could call home.

They’d stuck to his original commitment to have Christmas with the O’Hallerans, and Michaleen had already sketched out the perfect-size barn in the same style as the main house. He’d even included a fenced area for animals.

Maya had been a bit apprehensive about meeting them. She was very aware of their loyalty to Jeffrey and was concerned they held some sort of animosity toward her for running off and not telling him about his child.

Isla, being an intuitive kid, had sensed her mother’s concern and had been nervous, too.

As he’d known they would, the O’Hallerans immediately accepted and embraced both of them, literally and figuratively. The O’Hallerans were big huggers. They were treated like family and made to feel welcome. By the end of their visit, plans were already being made to get together again.

“I want to take him today because it’s show-and-tell day and I really, really, reeeally want to show him to my friends. I know everyone is going love him because he’s so cute and adorable and because I’ll have the coolest show-and-tell ever.” Once her rapid-fire explanation ceased, she held Mr. Snickets next to her cheek and hit them with her puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeease?”

“Why didn’t you ask us about this earlier?” Maya set her hands over Jeffrey’s where they rested on her tummy.

“Um, I kinda forgot it was today.” She stroked her finger down the hamster’s back. “But I just figured, if anything happens, you’ll be right there at my school anyway.”

Maya chose not to return to her old career—she’d had enough of espionage, death, and especially bitter betrayal. The latter had been fueled by learning that Nigel had unwittingly been the one responsible for King Khaled Al-Mansoori finding out who killed his son.

Unbeknownst to Maya, MI6 had already become suspicious of Nigel and had been conducting their own covert investigation. They discovered Nigel’s wife was not from Saudi Arabia, as her immigration documents stated, but that she was actually from Qadira. The Qadirans had targeted him as a weakness within MI6 that could beexploited. She was sent to the UK for the sole purpose of gaining his trust and marrying him. Once married, she used sex to convince him to work from home, which gave her access to his laptop.

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