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Clayne cut his chuckle short as Danica sat down beside him. Crap, maybe she shouldn’t have made such a big deal about the love bites he’d given her. How could she tell him he was welcome to nibble on her neck whenever he felt like it with Ivy and Landon sitting there?

  She put her hand on his jean-clad thigh and squeezed firmly. Clayne’s eyes flickered gold. Yeah, that got the message through.

  “Did you tell them?” she asked him.

  He shook his head. “I wanted to wait for you.”

  “Well, she’s here now,” Landon pointed out. “Don’t leave us hanging.”

  Clayne took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Dick was the one who realized we were sleeping together.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Ivy muttered.

  “But instead of reassigning us to other teams or even straight out firing one or both of us, he blackmailed Danica into leaving the DCO and breaking up with me.”

  Landon’s brows drew together. “Blackmailed her how?”

  Clayne glanced at Ivy. “Remember I told you that I didn’t come from a very good background?” When she nodded, he continued. “What I didn’t tell you was that I was in jail when Dick recruited me.”

  “In jail for what?” Landon asked.

  The muscle in Clayne’s jaw flexed. “Murder.”

  “Stop saying it was murder. It was justifiable homicide,” Danica corrected. “Not to mention self-defense. Because I’m sure those men would have killed you once they found out you weren’t down with their plan.”

  When Ivy and Landon gave her curious looks, she explained the story about the little girls Clayne had saved from the sex slave trade, as well as Dick’s subsequent visit to Clayne when he was in jail. “Dick said he’d make sure the evidence disappeared, but instead he kept it. Since he had no way of knowing Clayne and I would be teamed up together, maybe he simply held on to it to keep Clayne under his thumb.”

  Beside her, Clayne snorted.

  “Regardless, if the stuff on that videotape gets out, Clayne could go to prison for a long time,” she finished. “Maybe the rest of his life.”

  Ivy muttered something about Dick living up to his name. “What do you need us to do? Whatever it is, the answer is yes.”

  “You may regret you said that,” Clayne said. “We need you to break into Dick’s apartment and steal the evidence.”

  “We’d do it ourselves, but he lives in a fancy building with security cameras and twenty-four-hour guards,” Danica added. “Breaking and entering isn’t our specialty.”

  Landon frowned. “Hold on a minute. If Dick was the one who brought you into the DCO, why screw with you like this?”

  Clayne’s mouth tightened. “Because he’s always wanted the shifter program to fail and figured that with Danica out of my life, I’d lose it and give the powers that be a reason to shut down that part of the DCO.”

  “That’s messed up.” Landon shook his head. “Does John know about any of this?”

  “No,” Clayne said. “At least I don’t think so. Besides, it’s not like John could keep me out of jail if the evidence found its way onto some DA’s desk.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Ivy said. “John has a lot of influence in a lot of places.”

  Landon frowned. “But he’s also a straight shooter. I don’t think he’d use his authority to keep one of his people out of jail if the evidence showed that’s where he should be.”

  “But Clayne had to kill those men,” Danica insisted.

  “I know, but Landon’s right,” Ivy said. “Are you willing to take the chance John’d see it the same way? He’s the kind of man who’d want to see this worked out in the justice system. We can’t go to him”

  Clayne looked from her to Landon. “Does this mean you’re still in?”

  “Hooah.” Landon grinned. “Ivy and I still owe you one, remember?”

  * * *

  “What’s taking them so long?” Danica demanded.

  She glanced at her watch for what felt like the hundredth time since Ivy and Landon had gone into Dick’s apartment building over an hour ago. She and Clayne had been sitting on the place the entire time.

  Clayne glanced out the car window. He looked as worried as she was. “I don’t know, but if they’re not out in ten minutes, I’m going in.”

  Danica turned her gaze back to the posh high-rise apartment building. “Ivy and Landon are good friends. Not everyone would’ve agreed to help us.”

  Clayne sat back in the seat, his gaze still trained on the building across the street. “Sometimes I think Ivy was the only thing that kept me sane after you left. If it hadn’t been for her, I might have done all the horrible things Dick hoped I would.”

  Danica didn’t believe that, but she was glad Ivy had been there for him all the same. Something in Clayne’s voice made her wonder just how good a friend Ivy’d been, though. It would probably be better not to know, but she had to ask.

  “Did you and Ivy…?”

  Clayne turned his head to look at her, his eyes unfathomable in the near darkness. “Did we what?”

  “Did you…sleep together?”

  Danica held her breath. She told herself she wouldn’t be angry if they had. She’d dumped him. It was only natural he’d try to move on. So she definitely wouldn’t be angry. She couldn’t promise she wouldn’t be jealous, though.

  “No, we didn’t sleep together,” he said quietly. “Not for lack of trying on my part, though.”

  Danica didn’t say anything. Processing the fact that he’d wanted to sleep with the beautiful feline shifter was about all she could manage right now.

  “But Ivy only wanted to be friends,” he continued. “Then Landon came into the picture and… Let’s just say things were ugly for a while.”

  Danica didn’t have to ask what he meant by that. She could imagine.

  “If you only knew the things I did and said to them.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t understand how she could want to be with a human. I thought he’d hurt her like you hurt me. And I didn’t want her to hurt like that.” He let out a snort. “My intentions almost sound noble when I say it like that, but honestly? I was the one who didn’t want to get hurt again. I guess I thought that if I stuck to my own kind I wouldn’t.”

  His own kind. Meaning a shifter like him.

  “I thought Ivy would help me get over you, but I was wrong,” he admitted. “I would have ended up hurting her without meaning to because she wasn’t you. None of them were. I don’t think I ever would have gotten over you, Danica.”

  He’d said none of them, meaning there’d been other women besides Ivy. Other women he had slept with. She wanted to be jealous, but her heart ached too much. Tears suddenly clogged her throat. God, she hated what she’d done to him. And she hated Dick even more for making her do it.

  She opened her mouth to tell him again how sorry she was, but he leaned over and silenced her with a hot, hard kiss. She buried her fingers in his hair, forgetting about the past and all the pain she’d caused him. She was back now, and that was all that mattered.

  A knock on the side window made Danica jump, and she pulled away to see Ivy and Landon standing beside the car. Clayne muttered something under his breath and rolled down the window.

  “Did you get it?”

  Ivy shook her head. “It wasn’t there. The place is clean.”

  Clayne swore. “So, where the hell would he keep it?”

  “Kendra might know,” Ivy said. “She’s been working with Dick longer than any of us.”

  That made sense. But while Danica trusted Kendra, she didn’t like the idea of someone else knowing about this—more chance of it getting back to Dick. On the other hand, she and Clayne didn’t have much choice.

  Clayne hesitated, but then gave Ivy a nod. “Okay.”

  The cat shifter pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll ask her to meet us at our place.”

  * * *

  Clayne and Landon were raiding the fridge when Kendra arrived. Danica looked up f
rom setting the table as the blond walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Danica.

  “Hey! I didn’t know you were back.”

  Clayne wrapped an arm around Danica’s waist, popping a cherry tomato in her mouth before she could answer. “It’s complicated.”

  “We’ll explain over dinner,” Ivy said, walking past Kendra to help Landon in the kitchen.

  “Dick wouldn’t keep anything that sensitive in his office,” Kendra said matter-of-factly as they ate. The fact that Clayne had a dark secret in his past didn’t seem to faze Kendra in the least. Nor did the fact that they were asking for her help to essentially steal something from the DCO deputy director. “If it’s anywhere,” she added, “it’s at the DCO’s records repository.”

  “What repository?” Clayne asked.

  She scowled at him over the rim of her glass. “The one where all the crap you field agents bring back gets stored. You know—the computer disks, the spy gear, the weapons, the mountains of files and classified documents?” When they stared at her blankly, Kendra sighed. “We scan the critical records into our computer database, but most of the stuff—boxes and boxes of hard copy files, various digital media that just isn’t important enough to waste time on, not to mention all the miscellaneous hardware crap—that all has to get stored somewhere. We might be a high-speed covert ops organization, but we’re still part of the U.S. government. We don’t throw anything away. What, did you think all that crap ended up in my office? I’m organized, but not that organized. Besides, you guys bring back enough stuff on a daily basis to fill up a couple moving trucks.”

  Ivy helped herself to more salad, then handed the serving bowl to her husband. “Where is this repository?”

  Kendra sipped her iced tea. “Outside Crystal City. You’ve probably driven past it a hundred times without noticing it.” She twirled some spaghetti around her fork. “I’ve been there more than a few times, dropping off classified packages for John and Dick.”

  Landon’s brows drew together. “Do you seriously think Dick would keep his blackmail material in an agency storage facility? I mean, that’s pretty freaking ballsy.”

  “Landon has a point,” Ivy said.

  “I don’t think you realize how secure this place is,” Kendra said. “Dick is the only other person in the DCO besides John with unescorted access to the vault, which means he doesn’t have to worry about anybody else sniffing around. And since the place is so big, it’s not like someone is just going to stumble across the evidence by accident. A person would have to know what they’re looking for and where it’s located.”

  “How big are we talking about?” Danica asked.

  Kendra shrugged. “I’ve only been inside with John twice, and I didn’t get to wander around on my own. But still, the part I saw was huge. You could fit a basketball court or two in there and have room left over for handball. The place is filled with so many filing cabinets and storage lockers that you could hide a body in there and nobody would know it.”

  That raised a lot of eyebrows. Across from Danica, Ivy and Landon nodded. Even Clayne seemed to think Kendra was onto something.

  “That’s where we should look next,” Ivy said.

  “Hold on a minute,” Danica said. “Are you seriously saying that we’re all going to break into a DCO warehouse protected by God knows how many security guards?”

  Ivy shook her head. “Of course not. It won’t be all of us. Just Kendra, Landon, and me.”

  Kendra’s head jerked up. “Me? Why me?”

  “Because you know your way around the place,” Ivy told her. “Landon and I can get inside, but we’ll need you to find the evidence.”

  Kendra groaned. “Okay, I guess I walked right into that one. One stipulation—if I get caught and John fires me, I’m moving into your guest room.”

  “If we get caught, getting fired will be the least of your worries,” Ivy said. “We’ll probably be shipped off to prison.”

  “If they don’t just shoot us on sight,” Landon pointed out.

  Kendra made a face at him. “Thank you. I feel so much better about it now.”

  Danica didn’t blame Kendra. She had more than a few reservations about the plan, too. From the scowl on Clayne’s face, so did he.

  “None of you are going to get arrested or shot, because you’re not going in there,” he said. “I am.”

  Danica snapped her head around to gape at him. “You’re joking, right?”

  “No,” he said. “If anyone’s going to get arrested for breaking into a guarded government facility, it should be me. I’m the one Dick has incriminating evidence on, not Ivy or Landon or Kendra. Or you.”

  Danica bit her tongue. How could she argue with him for wanting to protect his friends—or her? “Then I’m going with you.”

  He gave her a hard look. “No, you’re not.”

  Two could play at that staring contest. “Yes, I am.”

  “Neither of you are going,” Ivy said firmly. “Clayne, I know how you feel, I really do. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but this isn’t your kind of op. There won’t be any shooting or kicking in doors or punching anyone. The place will likely be full of sensors, alarms, and roving guard. This will be a pure stealth mission, which isn’t exactly your area of expertise. You need to let us do this.”

  Clayne was silent, but Danica could tell from the tightness of his jaw that he didn’t like it. “Okay,” he finally agreed. “But if you get caught, I’m breaking you out of prison and we’re all going on the run.”

  Danica was the only one besides Clayne who didn’t laugh.

  Chapter 12

  Landon gave the hallway below them another scan with the thermal sensor before grabbing the rope to lower Ivy down. The scanner would have alerted him if anyone was moving around down there. This backed up what they already knew: the guards swept through this side of the corridor about every thirty-eight minutes. If everyone kept to their normal schedules, that gave him, Ivy, and Kendra about thirty minutes to get down to the corridor, slip into the medium-level security computer server room three doors down, then get through there into the main vault. All they had to do then was find the evidence against Clayne—if it was there—and get back out before the guards came by on their next sweep and noticed the skylight in the roof had been propped open.

  Piece of cake.

  Ivy was down the rope in seconds and heading for the server room before he even got Kendra rigged up for her trip down. She slid down almost as fast as Ivy. Damn, he was starting to think that maybe John was wasting her talents. She had the makings of a good field operative.

  He looked around the dark roof one more time before following Kendra down. He gave the rope a tug, yanking it down after him. Leaving the skylight ajar was bad enough. There was no way he could leave a big rope hanging down. That would be just too damn obvious. When it was time to go, Ivy would tie the rope to her belt, then he’d boost her up and wait for her to scramble out the skylight and lower the rope down for him and Kendra. As exit strategies went, it wasn’t complicated, but those were usually the best kind.

  By the time he got to the server room, Ivy and Kendra were already busy pulling up the covers on the floor housing the bundles of wires and cables that ran under the quietly humming computers. Landon grimaced at the mess Ivy’d made of the keypad to the right of the door. The cover was dangling from a lone wire, bypass leads attached to the circuitry. Once they left the room, they’d pull the bypass lead off and put the cover back on, good as new. But if a guard walked by right then, he wasn’t going to miss that someone had tampered with the keypad. Yet another reason to get out fast.

  When he and Ivy had broken into the construction company late last night, it was to get a look at the floor plan of the repository before and after the DCO renovations. Finding the right ones had taken a while, but without the schematics, they never would have known there was a gap the size of an air vent in the floor between the server room and the vault below it.

&nbs
p; He crouched down, looking over Ivy’s shoulder as she and Kendra crawled around the cables and wires. “Please tell me they haven’t closed up that gap we saw.”

  “It doesn’t look like it.” Ivy grinned at him. “Get down here and help.”

  Landon lowered himself into the crawl space with them and immediately saw what had made Ivy so happy. Attached to the concrete floor underneath the cables was a three-foot square piece of plywood right where the hole was supposed to be. He had to move some wiring around, but he got the plywood up easily. Underneath it, there was hole big enough for even a guy his size to squeeze through.

  “We have a little over twenty minutes,” he reminded Ivy and Kendra as they dropped down into the vault.

  Landon climbed in after them and swore. There were rows upon rows of filing cabinets and storage lockers. Shit, this place really was huge.

  “I hope you know how to use the cataloging system, Kendra, or there’s no way we’re going to find that evidence,” he said.

  “We’ll find it,” Kendra said firmly.

  Landon wasn’t quite as confident, but he didn’t say anything as he followed them over to the computer on the console against the far wall. According to Kendra, there was a searchable database of everything that was stored in the vault. Only two people had access to use it—John and Dick. Fortunately, Kendra had John’s password. Apparently, the DCO director never hid it from her when she’d come in here with him.

  Kendra logged on to the system, then started searching.

  “Anything I can do to help?” he asked.

  Kendra didn’t take her eyes off the screen. “Not until I figure out where Dick hid the evidence. You can look for the video if you want. Maybe you’ll stumble across it.”

  He was man enough to recognize when he was being told to get out of the way and stop being a nuisance. “Make it fast,” he said. “We’ve got less than twenty minutes now.”

  Landon watched Kendra scroll through the database for a few seconds. If he was stuck waiting, he might as well have a look around. Hell, maybe Kendra was right and he’d stumble over Dick’s evidence on Clayne.