Page 90 of Rescuing You

But his cousin could.

She picked up on the first ring. “Alyssa Wright.”

“It’s Michael.”

“Burner phone?”

“Long story. Can you help me break into a laptop?”

“Whose is it?”

“Long story.”

“Aren’t they all?” When he didn’t explain, she asked, “Don’t you have people who can do that sort of thing?”

“They’re not speaking to me at the moment.”

“The people, or the whole…? What’s going on? Are you in some sort of trouble?”

“Can you help me, or can’t you?”

There was a long pause. He pictured her—tall, redheaded like her mother, the freckles squished together on her nose as she contemplated demanding more information. Knowing he’d never give it—never did.

He pulled Alyssa in when he didn’t want to use CIA resources, which happened when he was working on his own—as he’d done with Sam and Eliza. And when he was breaking the rules.

Which he did too often.

Finally, Alyssa said, “PC? Mac?”

“It’s a Mac, a pro, I think.”

“Figures. Can you bring it by? I need to plug something⁠—”

“I’m not in the States. I need to see what’s on it now.” When he didn’t have an audience. Because once he hit US soil, the excrement would certainly hit the climate control device. The more information he had to share, the less messy and smelly the whole thing would be.

“Is there a USB port?” she asked.

He checked. “No, just one of those skinny⁠—”

“You’ll need a flash drive and a dongle. Any chance you have those?”

“I can get them.”

“Fine. I’ll email you a script. When you connect the flash drive, the script should do its magic. You have an email address for me?”

He gave her his private one, the one the CIA didn’t have access to.

And yeah, it said a lot about him that he had a secret email address. Just like he’d had a secret girlfriend. And secret resources in the form of his super-secret hacker cousin.

And now he was on a secret—from the Agency—mission.

Which explained why it was inevitable that he’d eventually end up in trouble.

He really needed to examine his life choices.

“I’ll have it to you in an hour,” Alyssa said.

“Thanks, cuz. I owe you one.”