Page 5 of Lethal Sins

Fenn snorted, shaking his head. “The guy won’t be back. Too careful. No spy who’s lasted that long in the Consortium would hit the same place twice.”

“So we find a way,” Bridger insisted, his jaw set with determination.

As another suggestion was tossed into the mix, Paige felt a familiar itch in her palms. She knew how to do this.

“Enough,” she said, her voice cutting through the chatter. The van fell silent as all eyes turned to her. “I know how to get in touch.”

She always had.

A chatroom within a chatroom on a secret server that Cody created a month after they met in that senior lab.

“Just in case,” he’d told her. “I want to be able to find you any time you need me.”

If she remembered, he would, too.

The van pulled to a halt at the airfield. Paige barely noticed, lost in the familiar dance of navigating digital back alleys and hidden servers. Her teeth worried her lower lip as she accessed an account untouched for almost fifteen years.

Got your message. We should meet.

Her pulse quickened as she hit send, tossing the missive out into cyberspace.

The response came almost instantly.

Where and when?

She gasped. Bridger laid a hand on her shoulder, his touch reassuring. “We good?”

“I don’t know about good, but I made contact.”

“That’s good,” he insisted.

She’d reserve judgment. In the meantime, she’d pray.

Bridger made eye contact again. “Paige and Tai are updating Jason. He might have new intel on Lassiter. He’ll at least have some thoughts. We got this.”

Her hand instinctively reached for the locket at her throat. “Be strong and courageous,” she whispered. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

The familiar words of Joshua 1:9 steadied her nerves, a touchstone of strength as she prepared to face Cody—and her past—after all these years.

3

Las Vegas,Nevada: Three days later

“When I am afraid,I put my trust in you.”—Psalm 56:3

The familiar words coated Cody’s anxiety, dulling it the way Pepto calmed a rocky stomach. Muting the feelings, but not erasing them entirely. He was trying really hard to hold onto his newfound faith, but he could feel the wheels starting to come off. Living in darkness for over a decade would do that to a guy.

He stared into his ginger ale, the ice cubes clinking softly as he swirled the glass. The cacophony of slot machines and drunken laughter grated on his nerves, a stark contrast to the faux-Renaissance decor of the swanky faux-Italianate casino. He glanced up at the country duo massacring Johnny Cash on stage, wincing as the female singer hit a particularly sour note.

The frantic energy of the casino felt as artificial as the badly painted cherubs on the ceiling. Or maybe it was just him. After years of living undercover, he wasn’t sure he’d recognize authenticity if it bit him.

His thoughts drifted to Paige. Her infectious laugh, her brilliant mind, the way her eyes lit up when she solved aparticularly tricky coding problem. He’d fallen hard and fast, drawn to her like a moth to a flame. But in the end, he’d been the one to extinguish that light.

His chest tightened at the memory of her face when she realized what he’d done. The hurt, the betrayal. It was an image that haunted his dreams.

And she didn’t know the half of it.

He took another sip of his drink, the ginger burning his throat. This was his chance to make things right. Or at least, as right as they could be. Paige and her team needed something from him, and he needed something back.

---