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frequently worked bodyguard duty for the McCord family. Obviously, Jack wasn’t taking any chances when it came to his wife. Viktor would have offered some of their agents, but he and Jack were barely civil to each other.
    “Taylor.”  
    “Baran.” The other man glanced curiously at Marissa.
    Marissa pulled her hand out of Viktor’s grasp—much to his irritation—and extended it to Taylor.  
    “I’m Marissa Cole.”
    “Kane Taylor, ma’am.”
    Viktor pointedly grabbed her hand back and rapped on the door. Jack’s voice invited them in.
    He tried hard not to react to Jack and Maia’s shocked faces when their gazes fell upon their intertwined fingers.
    Maia spoke first. “Have we jumped the time-space continuum and pigs started flying?”
    Marissa blushed beet red.
    Viktor ignored Maia’s smart-ass remark and bent down to kiss her. “How are you feeling, Katerina?”
    “Better,” Maia said. “I certainly can’t wait to get back into the action.”
    “Babe—” Jack started with a scowl.
    “Jack, you honestly believe I’d let someone do this to you and get away with it?” Maia said, her eyes flashing angrily.
    “You’ll be back in the thick of things in no time,” Viktor said.
    “Damn it, Viktor,” Jack snapped. “Don’t make me throw you out.”
    Marissa squeezed Viktor’s hand.
    “All right,” Viktor said. “Truce.”
    Jack was struck speechless. Maia’s overprotective husband was all prepared to spar words with him and was blindsided by his unnatural acquiescence. Viktor paused and wondered why he was reining in his acerbic tongue. Was he trying to prove something to Marissa? And if he was, why in the fuck was he? Shit . That was troubling.
    Maia was grinning as she looked at Marissa. “I think I like you in Viktor’s life.”
    “Ah . . . I think you’re getting the wrong idea,” Marissa said awkwardly, trying to pull her hand away from Viktor again, and this time he let her.  
    Maia stared at her dubiously. “Uh-huh.” She shifted her gaze to Viktor. “So fill me in. How in the hell did I get out of there alive?”
    Jack moved closer to his wife’s bed, intent to listen to what Viktor had to say.
    “The CIA had reason to believe that someone is hell-bent on revenge against the Guardians.”
    “Yes, Jack filled me in on the cache of information found in Syria. But what is Grave Digger?”
    “Grave Digger is a team of operatives that are tasked with extracting any injured agents targeted for assassination and getting them immediate medical care while leaving the impression that they died. Fortunately, France has an active team at the Paris CIA station.”
    “So, I’m dead to whoever wanted to kill me?” Maia asked.
    “For now. With Jack’s rescue, I’m sure they’re keeping an eye out at MDI and your apartment.”
    “I’ve got Derek installing extra security cameras around the Trident building and my apartment. I’ve also got some of Taylor’s men on twenty-four-hour surveillance rotation,” Jack added.
    Viktor nodded briefly in satisfaction.  
    “Tim added several layers of encryption to our agent NOC database,” Viktor added. “I have a feeling that’s what our enemies are after. They’ve also been targeting CIA.”
    “What’s their end game?” Maia asked, concerned.
    “No fucking clue,” Viktor replied. “Anything else you remember, Jack?”
    Jack shook his head. “All they wanted were the codes.”
    Someone’s phone buzzed. Marissa’s.
    She looked up apologetically, stared at the number, frowned, and turned it off.  
    “I have to return a call. I’ll be back.”
    Viktor’s nape prickled, but he shrugged it off. He was being paranoid because he’d just gotten Marissa back.
    “Anyone want coffee when I return?”
    Maia and Jack shook their heads.
    “I’ll take one, Iz,” Viktor said.  
    She smiled at him. “Black, right?”
    He nodded, his breath hitching as he stared into her sparkling green eyes.
    He was in trouble.

    *****
    Marissa