He was okay. My man was okay.
There was a deep throat clear a few moments later, but it came from behind me, which meant someone else had joined us in the room.
I slid free from Enzo’s arms, and once my feet found the ground, I turned to see who was there. Enzo snatched my hips, holding my back to his chest as if unbothered by the fact his father had caught us kissing.
“Anything yet?” their father asked, eyes on Constantine.
“Should have the list downloaded in five minutes,” Constantine spoke up. “I had to write a new program to decode the damn thing. This type of encryption is even a few levels above what the Agency uses.”
“The list?” I asked, turning back to face Enzo, hoping he’d clue me in. I still had no idea what happened last night other than the man they were after died and things had been “dicey.”
“Enzo, the less she knows the better.” His father’s warning coated my skin in chills, and Enzo never broke eye contact with me despite his words.
“She knows enough at this point that hearing the rest won’t make a difference,” Enzo remarked, and my shoulders relaxed at the fact he wasn’t planning to keep me in the dark. He took my hand and tipped his head toward the door. “Come on, let’s take a walk.”
“Be back in five,” Constantine said. “I’ll have the answers then.”
We faced Mr. Costa, and he hesitantly moved aside so we could leave, but the sharp, almost disappointed look he gave Enzo didn’t exactly do wonders for my nerves.
“Is he mad at you?” I asked once we were in the hall.
“He can get over it.” He tightened his hold on my hand, and we went into the room one door down. It was a movie theater. Rows of leather recliners in front of a massive screen.
He shut the door and set his back to it, one hand on my hip, his gaze on me. An exhausted, pained look in his eyes.
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Enough, don’t worry.” He brushed his knuckles over my cheek, his brows slanting.
“Hard not to worry about everything right now.”
“I’m so sorry.” His hand moved to my arm, and he gently squeezed. His eyes fell closed as if harsh memories from last night pulled at the edges of his mind, and he was probably worried how to share them.
I set my hand over his heart, finding it thudding hard and fast. “What happened?”
“The CIA officers who picked up the cleaner from border control were crooked. From what Jesse’s team determined, they grabbed him to get the list and silence the cleaner before he could talk to anyone else,” he finally shared. “They may have even killed the cleaner before the ambush.”
Ambush?
“There was another team there when we arrived. Jesse and I managed to get inside the cabin before their team could, and we found a USB on one of the officers. The cleaner’s client list.”
I replayed his words in my head, thinking about the danger he’d been in. Deep breaths, I reminded myself.
“We were on our way out when we were attacked again. Based on what we could tell afterward, it was by a different crew. Thankfully, Carter called in backup, too. He hadn’t been sure if they’d make it in time, though, which was probably the only reason he’d allowed us to join him in the first place.” He shook his head. “So we were lucky we had that assist. We needed the extra numbers or we may not have . . .”
He let those harsh words remain hanging in the air, recognizing I didn’t want to hear the fact he could have died last night.
He lightly squeezed my arm, reminding me he was alive and there with me. “Constantine convinced Jesse’s boss to give us a copy of the USB before we came home. And we’re hoping the answer to who was responsible for killing Bianca is on there.”
“If so many dangerous people are after that list, is there a chance someone can connect the dots you were there? I mean, you flew there in your private jet, and—”
“We thought of that.” He interrupted my frantic thoughts. “Fortunately, Carter’s team has connections all the way up to the White House. People he trusts. And they erased the fact my brothers and I were ever in Syracuse. The flight records have been altered so there’s no digital footprint we were even there.”
“But?” I could feel the bad news coming.
“The second the cleaner went on the run after he realized he’d been compromised by Jesse’s team . . . well, it’s possible all of his clients went on high alert, realizing their identities and crimes might be revealed if the cleaner were to be captured.” His gaze softened with regret. “And that’s why we still have the extra security here.”