“At first,” he admitted. “A small part of it, anyway. The other was to make sure you were safe, and also because I don’t have any computing skills and you obviously do.” He raised his face to look at the sky.

“You used me.” Pain seared across her chest. He’d stuck close to her so he’d be the first to know when and if they tracked down EG’s real identity. He’d gotten to know her out of suspicion and utility. The sex was probably an unexpected bonus.

“I think you’re amazing, Yael. I was a fucked-up idiot who fucked up.” He dragged his hand over his hair. “I think what we have could be special. I want to see where this can go…”

Inside she felt ice cold. “I thought you didn’t do relationships.”

“I might. For you.” His voice cracked.

Silence stretched between them until he finally broke it. “I’m not talking about getting married, but dammit, you could at least meet me halfway here.”

“I did meet you halfway, Shane, but you lied to me and I don’t know if I can forgive you for that.” The truth rang out, shocking in its honesty. And maybe halfway wasn’t enough for a real relationship, not one built on lies.

He swore before they both climbed into the truck and drove silently back to Building 64.

She opened the door to get out, knowing she needed to end this now while she had a hope of surviving with her heart even vaguely intact. “I’m not looking for anything complicated, Shane. I thought this was a bit of fun to ease a stressful situation. I thought you understood that.”

She forced herself to look him in the eye when she lied. He was going to hate her soon enough anyway. “It’s probably best if we keep everything between us strictly professional from now on.”

Alex came to the main entrance with a tense look on his face. “I think I’ve found something.”

Yael jumped out and went into the building without waiting for Shane. She couldn’t bring herself to face him. It hurt too much.

29

Several hours later, Shane was still pissed as he and Alex Parker covertly approached Ethan Grice’s home on the edge of Charlotte, North Carolina. They’d flown down here on Parker’s company jet.

Yael was still onboard the aircraft, along with Ashley Chen. The rest of the task force was split between Quantico and staging at Andrews Air Force Base, ready to take off as soon as they had a potential location on Grice. SWAT teams around the country were on high alert as were HRT’s Blue team who were currently training on the west coast.