Chapter 55

Kai's thoughts were fuzzy as he drank in deep breaths.

What had just happened?

Yet in the deep recesses of his mind, he knew. He was vaguely aware of everything that was going on.

But everything had gone silent around him.

Except for the sound of Tori's voice . . .

She was close.

She had kissed his forehead, hadn't she?

He almost wanted to smile at that thought.

Tori . . . how could he have been so foolish? He should have let her know how he was feeling right away. He had to stop hiding behind his past and his new position with the Shadow Agency.

Some things were more important than work. He couldn't give his life to an organization that might drop him at the blink of an eye.

"I've got him!" Tori said.

He moved his head and tried to turn, but his hand went to his chest, which was still sore.

Through squinted eyes, he saw Gage begin to stir.

Good. His colleague should be okay.

He continued to turn until he could see down the hallway.

Larchmont was there, and he held a gun to Alfie. Three men lay on the ground. But there was still another one somewhere. Maybe out of sight? It was impossible to know.

In the distance, sirens began to wail.

Tori rushed back to him and knelt beside him.

The relief and concern on her face was obvious.

She placed her hands on both sides of his face as she peered down at him. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so scared there for a while."

"I'm so glad you came."

"Now it's time for you guys to get the medical help you need. We can worry about being arrested later."

"Tori—" he started.

"It's going to be okay," she assured him.

As those words left her lips, he heard a thud as if something had hit the floor. Something big and heavy.

Tori looked up, and the sides of her eyes crinkled. "What . . . ?"

"What's going on?" Had someone else been hurt? Kai's thoughts raced.

"It's . . . Larchmont. He just fell to the floor."

She stood and ran down the hall toward the man.

Another thought hit Kai.

What if Larchmont had a device implanted inside him also?

Tori stood by Kai's bedside, waiting for him to fully wake up from his surgery. He was at a private medical facility in the West Virginia mountains. Larchmont had set things up here at the facility, and everyone had been brought here under FBI supervision.

The Shadow Agency guys had initially resisted until the special agent in charge—a man named Lucas—had shown him the correspondence he'd had with Larchmont.

They were all still cautious considering everything that happened.

Kai had just had the device near his heart removed.

As she'd promised, Tori stayed in the room during the procedure. She'd scrubbed in so she could observe everything. Nothing suspicious had happened.

She was so glad the device was gone. She could rest better at night knowing that. She did, however, have other concerns lingering in the back of her mind.

So much had happened.

Two days had passed since the showdown at the cabin.

Larchmont was still in intensive care here at the same facility. FBI agents were standing guard. Larchmont hadn't awoken, but his vitals had stabilized.

They had been told that he'd had a device implanted in him also.

Did that mean Larchmont had once been through the program as well? That was how it seemed.

Tori struggled with the questions, and she knew Kai and his colleagues did also.

But the team had other things to worry about. For starters, they were all having surgery to remove the devices near their hearts. Gage had gone first, and now Kai. A man named Austin would be next, followed by Trevor.

Yesterday, they'd found out the charges against her, Kai, and Gage had been dropped. They were no longer wanted for Landon's murder. Trevor had found the real security footage, which showed another man breaking into the house. That man happened to be one of the men who'd been shot at the cabin. He'd claimed no association with Monarch, however. Last Tori had heard, the man refused to give up the name of the person who'd hired him.

He was going to take the fall for what had happened—just like a good little soldier, she supposed.

Tori had a feeling he'd been directed to say that. And, of course, Monarch hadn't left any type of trail leading back to him—other than the fact that he'd hired private security.

The team still didn't know what exactly the man's connection was to all this. But they were still investigating and still determined to find answers.

Tori was extremely grateful her name had been cleared. At least prison time wasn't on her immediate list of concerns.

She'd been able to put together a better picture in her mind of what had happened.

Vintage had begun asking questions after some medical episodes. Those questions had led Vintage to the training facility up in Michigan. He'd then cross-referenced the addresses associated with that location, which had led him to the office the Shadow Agency had just opened in DC—and Kai.

He'd shared that information with Nathan. But before Vintage could do anything else with it, he'd died in the auto accident.

Nathan had been suspicious about his friend's death, so he'd picked up where Vintage left off.

That had led him to tracking down blueprints to several government and military facilities. It also led him to create a suspect list as to who he thought might be ultimately pulling the strings in the organization.

However, Nathan hadn't gotten very far in his investigation before he also died.

Kai stirred beside her, and she snapped her thoughts to him.

His eyes fluttered open and let out a long breath. He blinked some more, and Tori grabbed a cup of water so he could take a sip through the straw. After a few minutes, he appeared more lucid.

"Everything go okay?"

She nodded. "The device is gone. It's not a threat to you anymore."

"That's great news."

"It is." She still wasn't clear on who had actually activated the devices. Had it been Alfie? Or someone else doing so from a distance—Rafferty, perhaps?

The investigation was still underway.

Kai grasped her hand as she stood at his bedside. "Thank you for everything you've done."

"Are you sure you want to be thanking me?" Tori asked him, wry humor in her voice. "Just think how different your life would be if we had never met."

"We needed to address all the things you brought to our attention." His voice sounded hoarse but sincere. "I'm glad you found me."

She couldn't help but smile as she looked at him. "Despite everything we've been through, I'm glad that this broken road led me to you again, to quote a country song. At least, that sounds like it could be a country song."

He grinned.

As he did, their gazes caught, and something passed between them.

Tori could see in the depths of Kai's gaze that he cared about her. She cared about him too. Their experiences, experiences that normally might have driven them apart, had this time proven to pull them closer.

"They're going to let me go from here today, right?" Kai asked as he stared up at her from the bed.

"That's what I heard."

"Good. I want to take you to dinner."

She tilted her head in surprise. "Do you?"

His smile faded. "I do. But maybe after some of this settles down."

"Probably a good idea." Tori couldn't fault him for that. Striking up a romance in the middle of a situation like this just didn't seem wise.

But she could live with the promise that there was more to come. In fact, she preferred to go slow. In matters of the heart, she preferred caution.

He squeezed her hand harder. "Thank you again for everything you've done."

At his words, Tori leaned close and planted a light kiss on his forehead. "Of course."

They still had a lot of things to figure out. He worked in DC. Her home was in Florida. He still worked for the Shadow Agency. She needed to find another job—maybe in DC.

They could figure those things out later.

"I'm still curious about the facility." Kai glanced at the sterile room with state-of-the-art equipment. "How did Larchmont get us in here? What's his connection? Is the FBI on our side?"

As the words left his mouth, the door opened. "I might be able to help you answer some of those questions."

Tori looked up, and a woman she'd never seen before stood there. She was striking with white-blonde hair, a slender build, and a deep blue power suit with heels.

"Who are you?" Kai's hand clenched as if he wanted to reach for his gun. But he didn't have one nearby.

"Cynthia," the fifty-something woman answered cooly.

"Cynthia who?" Kai pressed, his voice suddenly stronger.

"Cynthia Larchmont . . . Alan's wife. And I'm going to be taking over until he recovers."

Tori's eyes widened, and she glanced at Kai.

This was clearly the first Kai had heard Larchmont was married.

There were all kinds of secrets out there, weren't they?

And they were just beginning to peel back all the layers.

~~~

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Coming next: Shadow Survivor !