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"It's not ideal," I say.

"Miles, they came to this house. They put three people through our front door. They…"

"I know what they did." The words come out flat. "I was here."

He stops. The room is quiet for a moment. Outside, somewhere in the house, Declan is on the phone, his voice carrying in the low murmur of someone keeping their tone down deliberately.

"She doesn't know about this," Mason says as he gestures at the screens. The five monitors, the case mapped across all of them. "Does she?"

"No."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Am I going to tell her? That’s the same question I’ve been asking myself. A part of me is saying yes, but if she didn’t run about me stalking her, she will run when she knows about this.

"Not tonight," I say.

"Miles…"

"She found out who I am today. That's enough for one conversation." I turn back to the keyboard. "The case stays here."

"And if the case decides to follow you to dinner?"

I don't answer that, because the honest answer is that the case has already followed me everywhere I've gone for three weeks and dinner at a restaurant is not going to be the exception. The honest answer is that the organization already knows my face and the decision to take Sadie out tonight is a risk I'm choosing to take rather than one I'm pretending doesn't exist.

I know the difference. This is a risk, and I’m going to protect her no matter what happens.

Mason looks at me for a long moment. "I like her," he says. "For what it's worth, she's good for you in whatever way this is." He pauses. "She's also a first year student who came here on a gymnastics scholarship and has no idea what's sitting on these screens."

"I know."

"So at some point…"

"I know, Mason." I meet his eyes. "I know." Telling anyone this part of your life is hard, we know what we are getting ourselves into, we know the family business, it’s not right to bring someone into it without them knowing the danger of it. And that’s what I’m about to do with Sadie.

He holds my gaze. Then he nods once, then gets up off the bed and straightens his jacket.

"Be careful tonight," he says. Not just about Sadie, but about everything else.

"Always."

“I’ll be close by if you need me.” Mason opens the door and I hear him talking to Declan. "Declan wants to know if you want him to do a sweep of the restaurant before you get there." I look at him. "He'll be subtle about it," Mason adds.

I give him a nod, Mason leaves to let Declan know, and I lean back in my chair, rubbing my eyes. Am I doing the right thing here?

***

At six fifteen I finally step away from the desk. Not because the work is done because it isn't, the upper tier structure is still resolving, the decryption is at ninety-four percent and climbing.

I close it because Cain taught me compartmentalization before he taught me anything else. The ability to put one thing down and pick up another without the two contaminating each other. The case stays here tonight.

I shower. Get dressed. Stand at the mirror in my room and look at the week-old bruise along the cheekbone and the cut which has healed to a thin line. My eyes are burning from the lack of sleep.

I pick up my jacket. The burner phone goes in the inside pocket, not because I'm checking it tonight, but because the alert system doesn't pause for dinner. If something raises a flag, I'll know about it. What I do with that information when I'm sitting across from Sadie in a restaurant is a problem I'll solve when it arrives.

I go downstairs and Declan’s in the kitchen.

"The restaurant's clear," he says. "Nothing flagged."