He wanted to know more but didn’t want to push, which went completely against his inquisitive nature. But from her expression the loss of her parents was fresh enough to still hurt.

Another sliver of guilt slid through him that he wasn’t being completely honest with her. However, his interest was genuine and they were working together toward a common goal. It appeared increasingly unlikely she had anything to do with EG given the work she was doing with Alex Parker.

Also, he liked her in a way he hadn’t liked anyone in a long time.

So he wasn’t being completely deceptive in wanting to get to know her better. This was a collaboration between his law enforcement chops and her computer skills, with the focus firmly on the case. Working as an effective team was exactly what HRT trained for. He was adapting and maximizing his skill set while he dealt with the stupid broken arm which currently rested on his thigh.

It was healing. Just not fast enough, dammit.

He wanted to be in the thick of the action again. He wanted to be with his teammates, but he couldn’t deny the fact he was enjoying hunting this motherfucker.

He saw a turn off and Yael held on to the grab handle as he took it, barely slowing down. HRT operatives were trained in tactical driving but the roads were a little slick so he understood her apprehension. Silence settled back over the cab once more. It made a change for him to be the more talkative person in a conversation.

“How come you ended up working for Alex Parker?”

She tucked a strand of hair back into the red woolen Bulldogs knit cap he’d found for her. Wearing his old college colors suited her and affected him more than he wanted to acknowledge.

“I contacted the DoD a little over a year ago and informed them I’d found a vulnerability in one of their systems that they might want to fix. They offered me a cash reward which I refused. Turned out it had been set up as a kind of test by Alex Parker to catch any would-be black-hat hackers looking for zero-day vulnerabilities to sell off to the highest bidder.”

“He offered you a job?”

“Yeah. Much to my surprise.” She nodded. “Before that I was writing code for a startup company in California. I was about finished there and figured why not? I started working for Cramer, Parker & Gray at their DC office last January.” She shrugged. “You pretty much know everything that happened since then.”

He laughed. Hardly. There was that deflection again. “That’s a big move.”

“It was time for a change.”

Had she left behind a lover? Family?