Page 50 of Ford

“Just the two of you?”

“No—I have five brothers. I’m the youngest. And I have a twin. He’s a Navy SEAL.”

A SEAL, huh? “I’m an only.”

She took a drink, then ran her thumb over the lip of her bottle. “I felt like an only, being the only girl. My brothers would try and ditch me, but my father made them take me along. I learned how to ride and rope and shoot and I’m not as helpless as you think.”

“I don’t think you’re helpless. But you…you’re a little green to be an agent.”

“Analyst.”

“Analyst,” he said. “Just like Sydney Bristow.” He winked.

She laughed, and it was sweet and light and slipped under his skin. “I used to watch that show. I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life—my mother was so happy on the ranch, and I thought maybe I’d find a cowboy, live happily ever after. But…I don’t know. I was a reader, and I loved spy stories, and when I went to college, I already knew Russian because of Coco, so I minored in it, majored in international relations. The CIA called before I even graduated.”

She folded her pizza like a sandwich as she ate it. “I only told my family a couple months ago. They completely freaked out.”

“I can’t imagine what they might be doing right now. Probably forming a posse to rescue you.”

She put her pizza down. “Naw. They don’t know, I’m sure.”

“I mentioned the international news part. Your Navy SEAL brother isn’t going to show up in Russia, is he?”

“No. Listen. The last thing my brother Ford is going to do is rescue me. Believe me—we’ve been there, done that, and it didn’t turn out well.” She paused. “We haven’t really spoken in years. I mean, we’re friendly, and he calls when he’s back on US soil, but…” She lifted a shoulder. “Actually, Ford doesn’t know what I do. I knew that conversation wouldn’t go well and I didn’t know how to tell him. He’s always been a little over-protective. They all are, really.”

York really wanted to follow her down that rabbit trail, but she shook her head, kept talking.

“My mother barely turns on the television, and Knox and Reuben are busy in Montana. I never know where Tate is half the time, and Ford is off saving the world. Wyatt has his hockey life and hasn’t really lived at home since he was thirteen. I doubt any of them have an inclination of what’s happening.”

He finished off his pizza. “Then let’s get you back home before they find out.”

She was smiling again, and that, for some reason, was what mattered right now.

They boxed up the rest of the pizza. The air was balmy, fragranced with the night smells, the sky littered with sparkle as they walked back to the flat. They climbed the three flights in the dark, and he opened the outer metal door, then the inner door, and held it open for her.

Flicked on the light.

The man moved so fast York nearly didn’t see him until it was too late. He acted more out of reflex and from RJ’s scream. From out of the corner of his eye he saw her slam her palm into her assailant’s face, but he was too busy deflecting the fist swinging his direction. He dodged it, returned in kind, and met bone on bone, his fist against a man’s jaw.

RJ was shouting, grunting, clearly fighting someone, and York pushed his assailant into the kitchen, against the table, sending his fist into the bigger man’s gut.

Bigger, beefier, and yeah, now he was making out the all black uniform.

FSB.

Shoot—he grabbed the man around the back of the neck and brought his head down, his knee up, but not before the man got a fist into his ribs.

Something jabbed into his back— “No!” He braced himself as darts fired into his back and the electricity hit him with 50,000 volts.

His entire body seized, paralyzed by the fire that buzzed through him, contracting his muscles in one giant fist. He let out a shout, and somewhere in the long tunnel, away from where his brain was running, he heard RJ screaming.

The buzzing stopped abruptly, and he fell, his body still shaking. Pain shot through the top of his head.

“What did you do?” RJ was at his side, her hands on his chest. “York!”

His vision grayed, fogged, splotches of black against the light, and his chest turned to a vise, his breathing cutting out.

Then FSB was hauling her up and slamming her against the counter, turning her to cuff her.