Page 3 of Out of the Shadows

“Let me rephrase. When you work together, do you block his access to some things and spy on his shit?”

She scoffed. “Of course. It would be completely stupid not to.” When MacKay groaned, she hurried to add, “But I do that for everyone who’s not already in. And even some of those who are but don’t have high enough clearance. You and I both agree that people only need to know what they need to know. And even then, I like to know what they do with whatever info they’ve been given access to.”

“B, I’d like to offer Tiny something more permanent. He’s been reliable, and his intel’s been accurate. Besides, it will take some of the pressure off you.”

A wave of exhaustion washed over her, and she scrubbed her hands over her face. “Fine. I’m more than happy to pass off some projects to him.” Lower-end projects that werebeneath his skills. Call her a control freak, but she wasn’t willing to give him more. Not just yet anyway. At least, not until she had to.

“Thanks, B.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to monitor his ass, though.”

MacKay chuckled as she stood. Her vision flickered and then tilted violently to the side. She toppled to her right but caught herself on the edge of her desk.

“Bean!”

Blinking furiously, she willed her vision to clear, willed the fog that had overtaken her senses to lift. With a deep breath, she lowered herself back into her chair. Her hands shook and she shoved them under her thighs. “I’m fine, MacKay,” she said, glancing at the man on her monitor.

Holy crap, was that trembling voicehers? She tried again. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit, B. What’s going on over there?” The concern on his face was palpable.

“Everything’s fine, MacKay. I gotta go, but I’ll patch you in for the debrief. Talk soon.”

Before he could comment, she cut off their connection. He immediately called back, but she declined the call and silenced her ring notification.

With a loud groan, she sank deeper into her chair. It was no secret she’d been burning the candle at both ends. She’d fainted earlier in the week, but thankfully, she’d been home alone. This time, she’d almost face-planted in front of one of her bosses. Not okay. As much as she hated to admit it, maybe bringing on Tiny wasn’t a bad idea.

CHAPTER TWO

Gavin Frazier ran his hand over the scruff on his jaw and adjusted the headphones over his ears. The muffled noise of the helicopter was soothing in a fucked-up kind of way. Their mission had been successful, but damn if his stomach didn’t tighten when he recalled the poor little kid. A glance at the faces of his teammates sitting around him showed they felt the same.

Anson McClintock was the three-year-old son of tech billionaires Edward and Rita McClintock. They’d each founded a social media network—two of the most popular sites in the world—and their marriage had made global headlines. After Anson was born, they’d gotten him his own around-the-clock security detail.

But Anson had still been kidnapped.

At his own damn third birthday party.

The McClintocks had been determined to handle the ransom negotiations privately, but after two days, the kidnappers had begun sending videos of them cutting the toes off the toddler’s right foot. After the third video, the McClintocks had called Hudson Security.

Within twenty-four hours, Gavin’s team had located the child. Another twenty-four hours later, Anson had been reunited with his family and was currently at the hospital undergoing treatment for his injuries.

Gavin’s gut clenched. The fuckers who’d taken the toddler had attempted to cauterize his foot with an iron. The boy had barely been conscious when their team had found him hidden in a warehouse in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Within those first twenty-four hours, Hudson Security had gathered a ridiculous amount of intel, enough to find Anson and put his kidnappers away for life. Gavin had told Bean to hand everything they had to the FBI. The two men responsible for kidnapping the child were members of the McClintock family’s security detail.

Gavin would personally do everything in his power to make sure the damn feds crossed all their T’s and dotted all their I’s. They’d snatched a kid—a baby, really—and tortured him for the hope of twenty million dollars. No way were those fuckers going free. Not on his watch.

A buzzing in his pocket yanked him from his thoughts. As Gavin pulled his phone out, he glanced out the helo’s windows and caught sight of Hudson Island’s lights in the distance. Seeing the island he’d called home for the last decade lifted some of the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders.

Glancing at the text message, he frowned.

MacKay

Check on Bean. Was on a video call with her and she looked like shit. It looked like she almost passed out.

Unease stirred in Gavin’s gut. He acknowledged his second-in-command’s message, but before he could delvedeeper, they were landing. Within twenty minutes, his team was gathered in Hudson Security’s largest conference room. There was a split screen on the Smartboard. The top two boxes showed Bean’s home office and MacKay’s office in London. Their in-office crew of eight took up the lower half of the screen.

Gavin’s eyes narrowed as he took in Bean. Her long, dark-brown hair was slicked back in a ponytail, and she wore one of her customary button-up blouses. The only thing that was different from her usual attire was that she was wearing dark-framed glasses, which wasn’t unusual since they’d all been up for way too many hours to count.

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