Page 12 of Covert Temptation

Kennedy looked down for a second, then met her gaze. “The next time you were scheduled to meet with him…he made a comment. Something like, ‘You’ll have someone with you, I assume.’ And we did have a guard escort us that day. But the way Shaw said it…it sounded almosttoocasual.Toooffhand.”

Alyssa’s brows drew together. “Why bring this up now?”

“Because it didn’t mean anything then. But now…” Kennedy inhaled shakily. “Now it feels like a breadcrumb in the forest, dropped for us to follow. Like maybe he knew something was off—something he couldn’t say outright.”

Alyssa sat back, her stare shifting inward as it always did when she was puzzling things out. “Why would Shaw worry about a threat to either of us back then?”

Kennedy shrugged. “I’m not sure. But maybe he sensed someone watching. Listening. If he knew there was spyware on my phone…” She raked her fingers through her hair. “Maybe he was warning me without saying it.”

Alyssa’s posture stiffened. “That doesn’t explain why your phone had spyware in the first place.”

Kennedy swallowed hard. “I’ve asked myself that a hundred times. I didn’t install anything. I didn’t give access. I didn’t even know it was there. But someone did…and they used me.”

A heavy pause fell between them.

Kennedy searched her friend’s face. “I didn’t betray you, Alyssa. But I know how it looks.”

Alyssa didn’t speak, but the flicker in her expression wasn’t as hard. It wasn’t trust, but it wasn’t cold disdain either.

“You don’t have to believe me,” Kennedy added. “But I need you to believe one thing: whatever Cipher’s after, he’s not done. And this? Killing Shaw? That wasn’t a warning. It was a move.”

Alyssa glanced down at her hands wound together in front of her. “Still, we don’t have anything to connect Cipher to my mentor. That’s the piece we’re missing.”

Kennedy leaned forward. She’d had a subway ride, a train ride and a helicopter ride to think about the connection. “Remember that night you were trying to reach Shaw? He finally texted really late, apologizing that he didn’t have his phone on him?”

Alyssa’s frown deepened. “Yeah. But people sometimes need to unplug. Or they forget to grab their phone before leaving the house.”

Kennedy gave her a pointed look.

She finally compressed her lips. “You’re right. It wasn’t like him. He always kept his phone close.”

“Exactly.But what if he was being watched too? Extorted maybe. Already compromised. Maybe Cipher wasn’t just listening—he was moving the piecesmonthsago.”

Alyssa looked shaken. “God.”

“Remember another time when he told you he’d share a contact with you—butonlyafter he got back to his office using his secure email?”

“Yes.”

Kennedy nodded. “And then…silence. He stopped carrying his phone. Every time we turned around, he said it wasn’t on him. What if he figured out someone was monitoring it—thatit wasn’t secure? What if he knew…and was trying to protect you?”

“No way,” Alyssa whispered.

Kennedy pushed on with her theory. “Think, Alyssa. What if Shaw knew his phone was compromised?”

Alyssa shook her head slowly. Kennedy could see her already trying to deny that her mentor could ever be anything but thehero she believed he was. She was thinking with her heart, not her head.

Alyssa leaned forward. “At the UN, he would’ve had all kinds of sensitive conversations. Maybe he just didn’t want to risk being overheard.”

“Maybe,” Kennedy said softly. “But if I’m right, and Shaw was under someone’s surveillance…then that someone knew killing him would bring us both out of hiding.”

“How do you figure?”

“If you couldn’t attend an event, I would always go in your stead. So if you couldn’t attend Shaw’s funeral, I would go. Then killing me would make it much easier to kill you.”

Kennedy faltered, emotional tears bottling up in her throat as she remembered that Alyssa wasn’t her friend anymore.

She issued a low sigh that sounded too much like a gasp someone made when they were slapped. “Well, I can see by the look on your face that you wouldn’t have attendedmyfuneral.”

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