LITMIR.BIZ

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at her with an emotion caught somewhere between sympathy and pity.

      She shrugged out from under her brother’s touch and shook off the uncomfortable memory. Whatever had brought Thomas rushing into her home, she instinctively understood she wasn’t going to enjoy the news.

      “Casey’s here,” she said, stepping out of his reach. “Come on back to the kitchen and have some coffee.”

      “We need to talk.”

      She swallowed the bitter words dancing on the tip of her tongue. Why did her family have so little faith in her abilities? “Not if you’re here about my move to ops next month.”

      “That got approved?”

      She rolled her eyes. No amount of good manners could have stopped the exasperated reflex. Temper wasn’t something she frequently indulged in, but right now she was ready to do the one thing she’d never done in her life: kick her family out of her home.

      Casey brightened considerably when she spotted her uncle. After a warm hug, they stood side by side and faced Cecelia.

      “Go ahead and say whatever you need to say.” Let them try to deter her. Teaming up against her would get them nowhere. She was making the move to ops, regardless. She’d already made arrangements for a house sitter while she was training.

      “Why don’t you take a seat, Casey?” Thomas nudged her to the stool at the counter beside Cecelia. “You may as well know the truth of what we’re up against.”

      “I beg your pardon?” Cecelia stared at her brother as a fresh wave of concern rolled over her. “What truth?”

      “You have to go into protective custody. Today. Right now, Lia.”

      A chill raised the hairs at the back of her neck. Her brother didn’t shorten her name unless he was seriously distressed.

      “I’ll go pack a bag for you, Mom.” Casey hopped off the counter stool, but Cecelia stayed her with a look.

      “Why do I need protective custody?”

      Thomas slumped forward, leaning his forearms on the counter and lowering his voice. “The analysts picked up some chatter about you.”

      “Me?”

      “You’re in danger. A pawn in a bigger game,” Thomas growled. “It’s my fault.” He pushed back from the counter and paced away, then swiveled back. “One of my enemies plans to kidnap you. At least that’s the rumor making the rounds.”

      “Oh, that’s going too far, Thomas. We both know none of your enemies could possibly know about me.” Her brother was the director of Mission Recovery, a covert team so dark, not even the president was routinely briefed on their operations. When Thomas or his Specialists were in the field, their cover stories were solid, with no links to their real lives. The only way an enemy could know about his connection to her... Oh, dear God.

      “He has a mole inside my team. The kidnapper is likely to be one of my own Specialists.”

      That was all Casey needed to hear. She slipped by Cecelia and rushed up the stairs.

      “That’s impossible. It doesn’t make sense. Your team is devoted to you and their work. You handpicked each one of them.”

      Thomas grimaced and scrubbed a hand across his short hair. “Well, I clearly made a mistake somewhere.”

      “Who?” Stunned, she took a moment to wrap her head around such a ridiculous idea. No one betrayed Thomas Casey. “Who on your team would dare to cross you?”

      “It doesn’t matter. I’m setting up an op to take him down.”

      Cecelia relaxed a fraction. “Then there’s no reason for me to run and hide.”

      Thomas glared at her. Having grown up with him, she didn’t find the expression so intimidating.

      “Lia, this mole is devious. He’s been operating right under my nose for months now. When we make the arrest, it’s going to stick, but he’s going to fight back. Locking down the evidence for this kind of thing takes time. I’m not going to allow you to get caught in the middle.”

      “Allow?” She laughed. “I’m a grown woman.”

      “I know that.” He clasped her hands in his. “You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

      “So we agree.” She met the determination in his blue gaze with an equal measure of her own. “I’ll be careful, keep your number on speed dial, but I’m not going into hiding, Thomas. Not under any circumstances. It’s my turn to challenge myself.”

      Besides, even if she wasn’t making this career change, she just didn’t think she could manage that kind of drastic shift in her plans. Not in the middle of this holiday season.

      Last year’s holidays had been marred by her husband’s death. She’d still been receiving sympathy cards amid the annual Christmas letters and greetings. The abundance of charitable donations made in his name had been kind and wonderful expressions from caring friends.

      And nearly unbearable as she wrote out each and every thank-you note. She felt awful and it was as if every bright moment last year was eclipsed by the darkness of her loss. It had been sheer determination and more than a little detachment that had got her through.

      Promise me you’ll live your life. It was the last coherent conversation she’d had with her husband before the aggressive brain tumor had made her a widow.

      She’d been trying to honor that request, and she had no intention of letting a rogue agent and a vague threat get in the way. She was living her life.

      “You can’t be that selfish,” Thomas barked. “Or that foolish.”

      She reeled back as if he’d struck her.

      “I’m sorry. Sorry,” he repeated, holding his hands up. “But don’t you see if you’re out there—” he flung a hand wide “—you become leverage they can use against me to get what they want?”

      “For how long?”

      “Pardon?”

      “How long would you keep me in protective custody? Where would I be? What excuse would I give to the people who are counting on me this weekend?”

      Thomas blinked rapidly and frowned as if he were trying to catch up. “I don’t know. A couple of weeks, maybe longer.”

      That would never work. Cecelia shook her head adamantly. “This is the wrong time, Thomas. I realize you didn’t plan this, but you know I have commitments.”

      “The charities and parties can manage without you.”

      “But I don’t want them to. And I won’t let a vague ‘maybe longer’ interfere with my plans.” That was exactly what she was trying to change in her life. The idea everyone else seemed to have that nothing she did mattered enough that it couldn’t be cast aside at the drop of a hat.

      “Cecelia, please cooperate. The man pulling the strings on this won’t hesitate to hurt you. He turned one of my own people against me. He nearly killed me a few times over between the airport and Casey’s wedding.”

      “And yet you made it.” She patted his cheek. He really didn’t need to go so far in his effort to talk her out of this move. “I’ll make it, too—if this threat to me even proves more than a rumor.”

      “I had years of field experience and another trained agent at my side,” Thomas protested.

      “I’m not hiding.”

      “Mom,” Casey hesitated in the kitchen doorway, a big suitcase behind her. “You might put your friends in danger.”

      “That’s hitting below the belt and it won’t work.” Cecelia set her hands on her hips. “Your father didn’t marry a bubble brain, no matter how the two of

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