Handler. The way he said it, or maybe the way she heard it, sent sparking tingles through her that she did not need. Not at all. It was crazy, insane actually, to look at Raider as anything other than another governmental drone put on earth to make her life painful and frightening.

Yet there was something about him, a respect or just politeness when he dealt with her that she couldn’t figure out. Especially since she’d seen him so casually use violence against those guys in Boston. She was a former con, and he was an HDD agent. Yet he treated her with respect, watchful though it might be, and never once had been unkind. Not once. “Why are you here?” she whispered.

He looked at the closed door, as if contemplating what to do about it. The elevator was so old that there wasn’t even a phone inside. Or an emergency button. “I told you.”

“No.” The walls were starting to close in on her, and she took a deep breath. “Come on, Raider. I’ve now seen you leap into action.” Far faster and more efficiently than what she would’ve imagined. Even when relaxed, he was way too alert. Sure, she’d heard he got into trouble by sleeping with his boss’s wife without knowing who she was, but something told Brigid that he could’ve fought being demoted. “Why are you stuck babysitting me?” Or now agreeing to pretend to be her fiancé?

“You’re a threat.” He said the words simply, his gaze meeting hers again. “Your ability with computers, with hacking and coding, make you dangerous to this country and everything I believe in. Watching you, making sure you don’t create a disaster, is an important job.” He scrubbed a hand through his thick hair, giving her more space, as if somehow knowing she needed it.

There was something else. She could sense it beneath his surface just like a hidden line of code. “What else?”

“Keeping you safe is just as important.”

Her eyebrows lifted on their own accord. That wasn’t it, but his claim was interesting. “Keeping me safe? I’m not in danger.”

He gave her that look then. The one she’d seen more than a dozen times in the last two months, since they’d met. The look that said he thought she was slightly nuts. “You’re one of the best. You’ve been able to hack into systems that are unhackable.”

“Nothing, no system, is ever unhackable,” she returned without thinking.

“Exactly. You’re known now. After being arrested and incarcerated, your name is known worldwide. Do you have any idea what a foreign enemy would do to get their hands on you?” he asked, his voice soft.

What about his hands? Her mind had to knock it off. “You’re overestimating me.”

“Not even close, Irish.”