CHAPTER 17
THE DOOR BETWEEN THEM
The new location had no view.
That was the first thing Mara noticed.
No tall windows.
No glittering Chicago skyline.
No wet streets reflecting headlights.
No sense of where they were.
Just a narrow apartment on the fourth floor of an anonymous building, with beige walls, heavy curtains, reinforced doors, and enough security equipment to make the place feel less like a home than a waiting room.
Adrian checked the lock behind them.
Then the second lock.
Then the chain.
Mara watched his hand move.
Click.
Click.
Click.
She looked away.
"How long are we staying here?"
"Until Marcus confirms the next location is clean."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the answer I have."
She dropped her bag beside the sofa.
"You're getting very good at those."
He looked at her.
"At what?"
"Giving me information that technically answers the question while avoiding the part I actually asked."
His jaw tightened.
"I'll try to be clearer."
"Please do."
Adrian walked toward the kitchen.
Mara expected him to start checking cabinets or windows.
Instead, he stopped.
He turned around.
"The contractor connected to Voss had access to your security profile."
"I know."
"Not just your location."
She waited.
"Your routines. Emergency contacts. Building access information. The temporary addresses we've used."
Mara's fingers curled around the strap of her bag.
"How much?"
"We don't know."
"Then find out."
"We're trying."
"Trying isn't enough."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"I agree."
That stopped her.
She had expected an argument.
Not agreement.
She walked toward him.
"What did Marcus find?"
"Three access attempts."
"From the contractor?"
"Two were routed through the contractor's network."
"And the third?"
Adrian hesitated.
"Your old security profile."
Mara stared at him.
"Mine?"
"Your original profile from before I took the assignment."
"Who accessed it?"
"We don't know."
"You said someone inside the operation."
"Yes."
"Then tell me who."
"I can't."
"Because you don't know?"
"Because I don't want to accuse someone without evidence."
She folded her arms.
"That's reasonable."
His eyebrows lifted.
"You agree?"
"Don't look so surprised."
"I'm not."
"You are."
A faint crease appeared between his brows.
Mara almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she remembered the apartment.
The missing letters.
The cut lock.
The vehicle outside.
The man who had apparently known exactly where they would be.
Her smile disappeared.
"Adrian."
He waited.
"Could it be someone on your team?"
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Something colder.
He had considered it.
"Yes."
The word landed heavily.
Mara looked toward the door.
"Marcus?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because if Marcus wanted access to your information, he wouldn't need to steal credentials."
"Who else?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know it isn't him?"
"Because I trust him."
She stared at him.
"You just told me someone we trusted is probably involved."
"I said someone inside the operation."
"That's the same thing."
"No."
His voice remained calm.
"Trust isn't the same as access."
Mara studied him.
"You're still protecting people."
"I'm protecting the investigation."
"From me?"
"From assumptions."
She laughed once, without humor.
"You know what your problem is?"
"I suspect you're about to tell me."
"You think if you gather enough information, you can prevent anything bad from happening."
He didn't answer.
"You think if you know every entrance, every exit, every vehicle, every camera, every person who has access to a file, then nothing can surprise you."
"I don't think that."
"You do."
His gaze held hers.
"Maybe I used to."
The admission took some of the heat out of her.
She looked at him more carefully.
He seemed tired.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
His shoulders were still straight, his posture controlled, but there was a heaviness around his eyes she hadn't seen before.
"You've been awake all night."
"I'm fine."
She stared.
His mouth tightened.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Use my words against me."
"You use them against yourself all the time."
He looked away.
Mara moved closer.
"Adrian."
He didn't respond.
"Tell me what happened."
"Nothing."
"That's another lie."
His eyes came back to hers.
"You said you wanted me to tell you when I see something."
"I do."
"I see a way to keep you safe."
She waited.
"I also see a way this gets worse."
"That's not what I asked."
"No."
He walked past her.
Mara turned.
"Where are you going?"
"To check the hallway."
She closed her eyes for a second.
There it was.
The escape.
Not from danger.
From the conversation.
"Adrian."
He stopped.
She crossed the room.
"You can't keep doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Walking away every time something becomes personal."
His face remained unreadable.
"I don't know what you want me to say."
"The truth."
"I've been giving you the truth."
"Not all of it."
Silence.
Mara stood in front of him.
Close enough to see the faint scar along his cheekbone.
Close enough to notice the tiredness he kept trying to hide.
"I don't need you to be certain," she said. "I need you to be honest."
His eyes softened for half a second.
Then the softness disappeared.
"I'm afraid."
She stopped.
He looked almost irritated by the words once they were out.
"Of what?"
"Getting this wrong."
"About the investigation?"
"About you."
Mara's throat tightened.
He continued before she could speak.
"I know how to assess a threat. I know how to plan an evacuation. I know how to secure a building. I know what to do when someone follows a client."
He looked at her.
"I don't know what to do when the person I'm protecting becomes the person I can't think about objectively."
Mara's heart gave one hard beat.
"You don't have to think about me objectively."
"I'm supposed to."
"Not anymore."
His jaw tightened.
"That's the problem."
She reached for his hand.
He let her.
His fingers closed around hers.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Mara said, "I'm not asking you to stop protecting me."
"I know."
"I'm asking you to stop deciding that protection means I don't get a choice."
His fingers loosened.
"I know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because you're right."
She stared at him.
"You hate that."
"Yes."
Despite everything, a small laugh escaped her.
His mouth moved slightly.
Not quite a smile.
But close.
Then his phone rang.
He released her hand.
Marcus.
Adrian answered.
"Talk."
Mara watched his expression change.
The warmth disappeared.
"What?"
Marcus spoke rapidly.
Adrian looked toward the window.
"Where?"
A pause.
"How long?"
Another pause.
"Send it."
He ended the call.
Mara's stomach dropped.
"What happened?"
"We have a problem."
"That sentence is becoming your favorite."
"The contractor's access wasn't limited to your profile."
"Whose was it?"
"Mine."
She stared.
"Your credentials?"
"Yes."
"Someone cloned your credentials."
"Apparently."
"And they used them to access my locations."
"Yes."
Mara stepped back.
"So they could have been tracking us since the beginning."
"Possibly."
"And you didn't know."
"No."
The word came quietly.
She looked at him.
He was angry.
Not at her.
At himself.
She could see it in the way his hand closed around the phone.
"You couldn't have known," she said.
"I should have."
"No."
"I should have caught it."
"You didn't."
"I should have."
"Adrian."
He looked at her.
"Stop."
He went still.
"You can't keep punishing yourself every time something goes wrong."
His eyes hardened.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
"I failed someone once."
"I know."
"No. You know the outline."
His voice had changed.
Mara said nothing.
"Her name was Emily."
He swallowed.
"She was seventeen."
Mara had heard the story before, but never like this.
"The threat assessment said the danger was external. We were wrong. Someone had access to the security plan."
His eyes lowered.
"Emily was injured."
Mara stepped closer.
"She survived."
"That isn't the point."
"It is part of the point."
"I was responsible for her."
"And now you think every threat is your fault."
"Not every threat."
"Most."
He didn't answer.
She knew she was right.
"Adrian, you can't love someone and guarantee nothing will ever happen to them."
His eyes lifted.
The word sat between them.
Love.
Neither of them moved.
Mara's pulse quickened.
She hadn't meant to say it.
Not yet.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Did you just say love?"
She looked at him.
"Maybe."
He stared at her.
"Mara."
"I know."
"You can't say things like that when we're in the middle of this."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what to do with them."
"Neither do I."
He stepped closer.
Their hands nearly touched.
Then his phone buzzed again.
Neither moved.
It buzzed a second time.
Adrian looked down.
Marcus had sent a message.
We need to move now.
Adrian read it.
His expression went blank.
"We're leaving."
Mara's stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"The location may be compromised."
"How?"
"Marcus found a vehicle connected to the contractor two blocks away."
She grabbed her bag.
"Where are we going?"
"Another secure apartment."
"How secure?"
"More than this one."
She looked toward the door.
Adrian noticed.
"We'll be gone before they know we're here."
They moved quickly.
Adrian checked the hallway.
Mara followed.
No one.
They took the stairs.
Outside, the rain had strengthened.
Adrian opened the rear passenger door.
Mara got in.
He climbed behind the wheel.
Marcus followed several car lengths behind.
They drove without speaking.
Chicago blurred beyond the glass.
Streetlights.
Wet pavement.
Red taillights.
People beneath umbrellas.
A train moving above the street.
Mara watched the city pass.
For the first time since meeting Adrian, she understood how much of her life had changed.
Every doorway had become a question.
Every unfamiliar car a possibility.
Every phone call a potential threat.
And every time Adrian touched the locks, she felt both safer and less free.
The new building was older.
Nondescript.
No doorman.
No lobby camera she could see.
Adrian parked underground.
They entered through a secured garage door.
Marcus followed.
"Clear," he said.
Adrian nodded.
They took the elevator.
The doors opened.
A narrow hallway waited.
Adrian unlocked the apartment.
Mara entered.
He followed.
Marcus remained outside to make another sweep.
Adrian closed the door.
The first lock turned.
Click.
The second.
Click.
Mara stood still.
He reached for the third.
She watched his hand.
Click.
The sound seemed louder than it should have.
Adrian turned.
"Mara?"
She looked at the door.
Then at him.
"Do you know what I hate?"
He waited.
"That sound."
His eyes moved to the locks.
"I know."
"No."
She swallowed.
"You don't."
He said nothing.
She touched the strap of her bag.
"Every time you lock a door now, I feel safer."
A pause.
"And trapped."
His face changed.
She looked at him.
"I don't know which one I'm supposed to feel."
The hallway behind him was quiet.
The locks remained between them.
Protection.
Prison.
She couldn't tell anymore where one ended and the other began.