Page 5 of Covert Vengeance

She pinched his butt, earning a swat on hers. “Ow. Hey.”

“Hey, nothing. You’ve got a punishment coming, young lady.”

“Ooh, does it involve a blindfold and restraints?” She’d never imagined being willing to make herself that vulnerable to a man, but she trusted Tyler and he rewarded her trust in the bedroom in ways that made her entire body melt.

He laughed low in his throat, confident and sensual. “You’ll find out soon enough.” His shoes crunched on the pea gravel path that led from the stables to the main house, the fall sunshine warm overhead.

The discreet clearing of a masculine throat brought her head up. She planted her hands against Ty’s ass and shoved up to twist around and look over his broad shoulder. “Oh. Hey,” she said, pushing a lock of hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her eyes.

The master of the gorgeous Cotswold estate stood near the northern entrance to the back garden leaning on his cane, his piebald Anatolian shepherd rescue Karas sitting at his feet. “Enjoy your ride?” Marcus asked in his lovely Yorkshire accent, his amused gaze shifting between the two of them. He’d grown a short beard over the past few weeks since Ty had been here, partially covering the burn scars on the left side of his face. Megan wished he wasn’t so self-conscious of them.

Ty released his hold across her lower back, allowing her to slide off his shoulder. “Um, yes.” Damn, Marcus was her dearest friend, but she felt like she’d just been caught making out by her father. She tugged at the bottom of her shirt. “Is something up?”

“Trinity’s been trying to reach you. When she couldn’t, she called me. You need to call ‘er back straight away.”

Megan had left her phone behind at the gatehouse. Ty handed her his. She took it and strode straight for the main house, bringing up the Valkyrie’s number. “Did she say why?”

“Said she ‘ad news about Amber.”

Her heart leapt. She glanced at Ty, then faced Marcus. “Thanks. I’ll take it in the study.” Without waiting for them she ran to the manor house, through the back door and down the hall to Marcus’s most private sanctum.

The rich, sweet scent of old paper and leather filled the air as she rushed into the room, leaving the door open for the others. She dialed Trinity’s number, hope mixing with anxiety. Had they found her sister? Was Amber okay?

“Tyler?” Trinity answered.

“No, it’s me.” She turned slightly as Tyler stepped into the room, Marcus’s shadow appearing down the hall behind him. “Marcus said you’ve got news?”

“We think we’ve found her.”

Megan expelled the breath she’d been holding and tightened her grip on the phone. “Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

Megan sagged and closed her eyes, leaned back on the edge of Marcus’s antique mahogany desk as relief swept through her. “Where?”

“Syria. Possibly Damascus. Footage taken from surveillance cameras at a bus station outside the city show a woman who could be her.”

Nothing conclusive though, which was no surprise. They were trained to be ghosts, able to hide in plain sight when necessary. “Nothing since?”

“No. But if it is her, a man was killed in an alley soon after she would have arrived in the city.”

“Who was he, and how was he killed?”

“Unidentified so far. But two shots to the legs to bring him down, then two to center mass to end him.”

Could definitely be Amber. “Okay, so, we’re going? Ty and me?”

“Not yet. There’s something else.”

She frowned. “What?”

“I just got off the phone with Rycroft.”

Alex Rycroft, retired SF and legendary NSA agent who had taken this Valkyrie rescue mission on as a kind of personal crusade. “And?”

“There’s an open contract against your sister. It’s big.”

And there it was. Megan had known it intellectually. Of course there would be people out there gunning for her sister. But having it verified was another thing. “How much?”

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