Page 74 of The ARC Unit: Breach

Luca eventually handed me a fresh glass of sparkling water without asking.

“You stopped drinking the champagne.”

“I have to remember enough of these conversations to insult you accurately later.”

“You plan to see me again?”

“Don’t get excited.”

“Too late.”

His hand settled at my lower back as we moved around a group near the pool, palm warm through the thin linen. Wolf’s voice came at once.

“Mercer.”

I nearly rolled my eyes.

“What?”

“Your cover doesn’t require you to crawl into his pocket.”

The words were so unnecessarily sharp that I almost missed a step.

I kept my face pleasant for Luca and lowered my voice. “He’s touching me, not the other way around.”

“Then remember why you’re letting him.”

“I know why.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Typical Wolf. Mean enough to get under my skin and controlled enough that nobody outside the comms channel would ever know. I smiled at Luca while imagining several ways to throw Wolf’s coffee mug through a wall when we got back.

Luca’s attention shifted past my shoulder and his whole posture changed. He lifted his chin toward the upper terrace.

“Well. There’s someone I wasn’t expecting.”

I followed his gaze carefully.

A man had stepped through the open doors of the house with long dark hair pulled partly back from his face and a white shirt rolled to his forearms. He looked young, and for one second the surveillance photographs became useless because the man standing in front of me was too real for them.

The file had taught me pieces: height estimated from doorframes, hair color pulled from poor light, a jaw caught at an angle and eyes never clear enough to hold for long. In front of me, those pieces assembled into a person.

My fingers tightened around the glass. The edges of the party blurred out of focus for a beat while I watched him.

“Mercer,” Wolf said.

I realized I had stopped moving.

“I see him.”

Raven’s voice sharpened. “Confirm position.”

I covered my mouth with my hand. “Upper terrace. West doors. White shirt. Long dark hair, half tied back.”

Hawk answered first. “Visual.”

A pause.