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Braden chuckled and shook his head. “Want us to do the job for youtoo?”
“Don’t be a prick,” Ronan said. “I’ve got my guys on it, but the next party is two weeks from Saturday, and I need all hands on deck in case my team doesn’t crack it, especially if your intel is accurate. I have a feeling it’s not going to be an engraved invitation, if you catch mymeaning.”
Braden lifted his eyebrows. “Digital?”
"Just a guess,” Ronan said. “But their website is tighter than Fort Knox. My guy hasn’t been able to get in, and he’s been working on it for threemonths.”
“Maybe your guy sucks,” Bradensaid.
“He’s a former NSA lead analyst with expertise in cybercrime and digitalterrorism.”
Braden raised his glass. “Touché.”
“Based on that and on what we’ve seen elsewhere, Manifest is a high-tech operation. I’d be surprised if the invite was a piece of paper,” Ronansaid.
“So you need us to figure out what it is and then get youin?”
Ronan nodded. “I figured you’ve still got connections at theBureau.”
“Ido.”
“Good.” Ronan looked at the beer in his hand, his thoughts turning to Julia. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not with her insistence on coming to Florence. “We need abreak.”
Braden tossed back the rest of his beer. “Oh man… You are in theshit.”
Ronan looked at him. “What are you talkingabout?”
“You’re doing this for awoman.”
Ronan couldn’t hide his annoyance. “We have aclient.”
“Maybe,” Braden said. “But there’s a woman involvedsomehow.”
“How do youknow?”
“Because I’ve seen that look on your face — in the mirror, when I was fighting with myself over the Sokolovcase.”
It was the case that had prompted Braden to leave the FBI, the case that had turned Braden Kane and Ronan’s sister from friends to lovers. Nora had followed Braden to Montgomery’s organization not long after a close friend at the Bureau had turned out to be amole.
“She’s the victim’s sister,” Ronan admitted. No point beingcoy.
“Soundscomplicated.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Ronansaid.
Braden met his eyes. “If you know your sister, you know Ido.”
He had a point. Nora had the Murphy stubbornness — not to mention the Murphy temper — in spades. It hadn’t been an easy road for her and Braden, from working with the Feds to going rogue with Locke Montgomery. Nora was a trained agent, every bit as good as Kane and anyone else at the FBI. It made her a powerful ally when Braden had his back against the wall, but Ronan was learning that it was hard to protect someone who didn’t want or even need yourprotection.
“How did you reconcile it?” Ronanasked.
Braden studied him. “I didn’t. I love her. What am I going to do? Ask her to be somebodydifferent?"
10
Julia walkedinto the flat and looked around, rendered speechless. When Ronan had said they would stay in an apartment in Florence, she’d expected a charming little place with cracks in the walls and peelingwallpaper.
This was not a place with cracks in the walls and peelingwallpaper.
