Agent U7: Keegan (The D.I.R.E. Agency Series Book 7) by Joni Hahn Page B

shoulders and shook her. “No, Keegan.”
    “I can’t, my love,” Cyrus said. “We need them. Especially, Teague Hamilton. But, I’ll release your sister… For you.”
    Austin’s low growl carried to her ears. Giving into Cyrus meant he still controlled her, and everything in her rebelled at that thought. Yet, what were the alternatives? To let the agents walk into an ambush?
    A part of her wondered why it wasn’t someone else’s turn. Hadn’t she served her time? She supposed Riordan had said that more times than he could count during his years in Cyrus’s prison. Teague was probably saying that now, knowing Cyrus was responsible for her parents’ deaths, and her work in Capri’s lab.
    Yet, if it meant Natalie’s freedom, and Teague and Riordan’s freedom from sacrifice, it was worth it. After all, it was a life she found familiar. She’d done it for over twenty years.
    “How do I know I can trust you, Cyrus?”
    His voice held a heavy note of incredulity. “Have I ever lied to you, my love?”
    Her scoff came swiftly. “Yes.”
    “Keegan, don’t mistake my omissions for lies. I have always kept your welfare foremost in my mind.” He hesitated before adding, “Come to me. We belong together. You know that.”
    A vicious, frightening growl erupted from Clint. Words spewed from his mouth like the bile moments before.
    “Lies of omission are your forte, aren’t they? You always were only about yourself, you sonovabitch.”
    Keegan caught her breath. What the hell was he doing? What was he talking about?
    “Who’s there with you, Keegan?” Cyrus said.
    Shaking his head at her, Clint took the phone from her hand with calculated purpose. “I’m hurt you don’t recognize my voice. Then again, you never did shut your mouth long enough to listen to anyone else.”
    Keegan would’ve never guessed the quiet, stoic scientist had such a patronizing, cruel side. And damn, if she didn’t like it.
    “You will die,” Cyrus said with toxic certainty.
    “Eventually,” he said with nonchalance. “Then again, so will you.” Clint lowered his voice to the same, malicious tone Cyrus used seconds before. “Of course, you’ve had a little practice, haven’t you… James ?”
    * * *
    “What was that?” Keegan said, as Clint slapped the silent phone in her palm.
    “Yes,” Austin said, sitting back on the desk, Monica beside him. “Why’d you call him James?”
    Clint paced in the small area, hands in his hair, on his face, and tightening in front of him. He didn’t normally pace. He considered it a useless waste of energy. However, in this instance, if he didn’t do something, he was going to blow.
    Disbelief warred with betrayal inside him like a bag of snakes, striking at his mind, his gut, his heart , releasing a poisonous venom that slowly, painstakingly devoured him.
    “I’ve lived with the guilt all my life,” he muttered. “I’ve run it over and over in my head, wondering what I could’ve done different. I spent years trying to figure out a way to make it up to my family, before realizing I was destined for a life alone because I had stolen his.”
    He glanced at Keegan’s stunned face before turning away.
    His stomach roiled again, gurgling, before bile shot up his throat. Plopping down in the chair, he bent over the fresh can, soiling it, soiling the memories and any loyalty he may have felt toward his family. They’d allowed him to wallow in the bog of guilt unnecessarily. His mother and James had lived a completely separate life and probably ridiculed his attempts at showing family allegiance and love.
    “Well, fuck them,” he spat into the trash can. “Fuck them all.”
    Keegan’s tentative hand on his back sent a shockwave of arousal through him. He stiffened, hating her for it, hating himself, yet shamefully yearning for more. He shrugged off her touch and jumped up, that live wire buzzing with anger, whipping and snapping at his insides.
    “Clint, you’re not making any