Page 37 of Trust No One

She swallowed and stared at her own computer screen, memories of that trip scrolling through her brain. Of course that’s why she’d chosen France. She hadn’t realized that until Dev asked the question. On the bed, her fingers clutched the spread.

“France is a big country,” she said, pressing her fingers flat against the fabric and smoothing it out. “Lots of businesses there. Lots of people. Figured it was safe, because I’m pretty sure Kingsley doesn’t speak French.” That sounded logical. Reasonable.

When she was certain her expression wouldn’t give her away, she looked up at him. “Maybe pick a different continent?”

“I’ll go with Peru,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Machu Picchu.”

Had they talked about that at some point? “Yeah, that’s on my bucket list, too.”

Dev turned his head toward her, but she stared down at her screen like she hadn’t noticed.

A few minutes later, Dev finished setting up his own VPN. She’d gotten the family plan so that he could use it, too. ‘Family’ and ‘Dev’ in the same sentence made her chest tighten. Her eyes burn.

“I’m going to sleep now,” she said. “I’ll set an alarm for two. You want me to wake you up?”

Dev stared at her for a long moment, and she had no problem reading his expression. He was thinking of all the nights she’d woken him up, or he’d woken her, desperate for one another. Wrapping themselves in each other.

“I’ll set my own alarm,” he said, his voice stilted. “Want me to come into your room? So we can coordinate what we do?”’

“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea,” she said, closing her computer as an excuse to look away from him. But she felt him watching her fingers caress the bedspread, as if he were thinking of those nights, as well.

“See ya at two, Mel,” he said, getting off the bed. He went into his room and closed the door, leaving only a tiny crack between the jamb and the door.

Mel slid off her bed and closed her own door almost all the way, as well. Then she got ready for bed. But she stared at the ceiling a long time before she fell asleep, regrets and second thoughts tumbling through her brain.

* * *

Dev punched his pillow hard, his fist driving through the foam and drilling into the mattress. He shouldn’t have come on this trip with Mel. He should have gotten one of the Blackhawk Security agents to accompany her. Being around her twenty-four seven had been harder than he’d realized it would be.

Everything they did reminded him of why he’d wanted Mel in the first place – her intelligence. Her ingenuity. Her devious brain. And her gorgeous body. Every time he saw that spill of red curls down her back, he wanted to fist his hand in them and yank her against him.

But that was all in the past. She’d made that very clear. And even though he’d seen the sorrow in her eyes, he knew she wouldn’t change her mind.

And she was right not to give him a second chance. He’d just end up hurting her again.

Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But all he could think about was Mel, on the other side of those two doors, alone in her big bed.

When his alarm rang at two, it yanked him out of a deep sleep. It had taken awhile for him to fall asleep, but he forced his eyes open and sat up. Pulled on his boxer briefs and jeans, slid a sweatshirt over his head. Then he knocked softly at Mel’s door.

“Come on in,” she called.

He pushed the door open and found her sitting up in her bed, wearing her own sweatshirt, computer open on her lap. She slid over so he could sit next to her, and she turned her computer so he could see she was on the CIA network, and Kingsley’s user name and password were already entered.

He typed them on his own computer, then waited for the computer to display Kingsley’s emails. He’d written down the names of the people they’d found on Kingsley’s computer, and when he was in the email, he began searching for those names. Every time he found one, he opened it, copied the contents and pasted them into the word processor on his own computer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mel was doing the same thing. But while he was working forward, Mel had gone to the most recent emails and was working backward.

Finally, after a half-hour, Mel said, “This is probably long enough. Let’s log out, get out of the CIA’s email system, then look at what we have.”

“Good idea,” Dev said, logging out quickly and ending his internet connection. Mel did the same, and Dev scooted over so they sat side by side. There were a number of emails, and Mel tapped her screen with her finger. “Here’s one from Larrimore, and I’ll bet there are a lot more. We know he’s involved in whatever Kingsley’s doing. This is from around the time Bree and Jameson were at that conference. Let’s take a look.”

She opened it up, and Dev leaned over her shoulder to read it, as well. The spicy fragrance he’d always associate with Mel drifted over him.

Forcing himself to concentrate, he studied the email. It looked innocuous. Larrimore said he was going to the conference. Kingsley had responded he’d be there, too. He suggested they get together for a drink.

That was it.

“That’s not going to sound alarms for anyone,” Mel said, slumping back against the bed.

“Of course not,” Dev said. “You think they’re going to say, ‘let’s talk about that Russian you were bribing in Afghanistan. And oh, by the way, Bree Gordon’s going to be at that conference. Let’s see what she’s been up to. See if we can intimidate her.’ Of course they’re not going to say shit like that. Kingsley’s been doing this for years – it takes smarts and time to accumulate the money and property he has. He’s cagey enough not to incriminate himself.”

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