Atomic Beauty by Barb Han

Author:Barb Han
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460380239
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Northern California

Erika had found her father’s cabin nestled among towering sequoias exactly the way she’d last left it last year, clean and secure. She’d left emergency food rations, a habit he’d instilled in her from birth that had intensified over the years leading to his death.

No one knew about the place, save for her. Her father had insisted she keep the cabin a secret. Not even his best friend Murdock knew about the five-room log near the Oregon border. This was the most secure spot in the world.

She was completely off the grid, which also meant she had no internet access. The satellite phone worked, but she’d turned it off and pulled out the battery for extra precaution, so she couldn’t be tracked.

After leaving Las Vegas, a migraine had assaulted her without warning and she’d barely made it to the cabin. She wondered if leaving Jace had been the trigger. Everything inside her had felt dead as she walked out of that hotel room. To make matters worse, the headaches were coming faster and harder, becoming more intense each time. And she was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t something seriously wrong with her. Not even a day of rest and a full stomach had eased the aftershocks.

No way could she sleep tonight, but that was due to other reasons. In the morning, she’d see Jace again.

She told herself the aftereffects of the headache had her restless and not the fact she felt so alone without him. Leaving was something she’d had to do. She had to have a clear head.

Then there was the mission. Something was off with Murdock, and she couldn’t tell what exactly. Something had been building. Was it connected to the impending anniversary of his best friend’s death? This year, his emotions seemed stronger, rawer. Did that something have to do with the driving force behind his need to catch Mitchell?

Murdock lived his work. He ate, breathed and slept thinking about Sanctuary. It had been his brain child and he’d been obsessed with nurturing it for as long as Erika could remember. Her dad might have been Sanctuary’s best officer and she was now, but Murdock was Sanctuary.

And he’d do anything to protect it. She filed that thought away in the back of her mind.

As much as Erika loved her country, she couldn’t say she’d joined the agency out of any patriotic sense. She felt she owed it to Murdock for taking care of her. And working there made her feel a connection to her father that she couldn’t easily put into words. Losing him had more than rocked her fragile teenage world. Jace had her thinking she might be whole without the job and that scared the hell out of her. The agency was all she knew.

Neither she nor Murdock had been the same since the tragedy, and she wondered if he’d felt an extra burden of responsibility for her. Murdock was right about one thing: Erika was a lot like her father. He was brave, smart and highly trained.

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