“Nebulous! Don’t be such a coward. Show yourself!”

She had tried to forgive herself. And she might have almost gotten there, pushing her mistakes far behind her, if only those same mistakes hadn’t snuck back up on her to harm her father’s company and kill her brother. Put others in harm’s way.

Why, Lord, why?

Why had those mistakes found her again, come after her and impacted everyone, everything in her life? At least those she knew in Michigan, those she worked with, were safe and far removed.

Mackenzie nodded to Tilden. “Use your hand to get us in.”

“I’m not authorized.”

Nora stepped forward, but before she could press her hand against the biometric device, the doors whooshed open.

The three of them stood there, as if afraid to step into the room. Why had the doors suddenly opened? It remained dark, except for the dim light emanating from the running electronics and spilling from the server room.

Prepared to shoot, Tilden stepped into the dark room a few steps and was just turning back to them when he was Tasered—barbs attached to wires hooked into his back. Someone stood in the shadows against the wall. Nora screamed and jumped closer to Mackenzie.

“Stop it!” Mackenzie shouted as she rushed forward to Tilden’s aide.

Tilden fell to the floor, temporarily paralyzed, stiff and gritting his teeth in pain.

She dropped to her knees next to Tilden. “Please, stop!”

She glanced up but still couldn’t see the attacker’s face—he remained in the dark as he held the Taser. She dug down deep, past the fear of facing off with someone who had been bent on revenge for much too long, storing it up inside until he had strategized on how to destroy her and her family. “Just . . . show yourself.”

Their attacker emerged from the shadows, quickly moving in and relieving Tilden of his gun.

Mackenzie’s heart stopped at the sight of someone she recognized.

THIRTY-FOUR

Grayback county vehicles crowded the Hanstech parking lot. Alex didn’t know they had so many. But that couldn’t be good. As soon as he’d seen Mackenzie’s text, he tried contacting her to no avail, then Terra received a call from Jack that a 911 call had come in from Hanstech. Alex had hopped into the Mustang and raced here.

He swerved into the parking lot behind an ambulance, his heart thrashing against his rib cage. Of course, now was the moment the door of the old Mustang chose to be stubborn. Alex fought with it and couldn’t get it open fast enough.

Finally scrambling out, he pushed beyond the sudden weakness in his legs and rushed between the haphazardly parked vehicles and up to a deputy.

“Special Agent Alex Knight,” Alex said, flashing his credentials.

The man eyed Alex with curiosity, then said, “Deputy Whitehall.”

“What’s happening?”