Smoke & Fire (Smoke & Fire, #1)

Ryder’s chair squeaked as he leaned back. “Perhaps she did.”

“MI5 or Ulrik? Both are bad,” Henry said, his voice rising.

Con felt the weight of more troubles settle on his shoulders. After all Henry had done for Dreagan—was still doing for them—Con wasn’t going to sit back and not help. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he promised.

“I’ve hacked into MI5 files before,” Kinsey said. “I can do it again. We’ll be able to determine if she really is working for them.”

Henry tried to smile as he looked at her. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you. I tried using my clearance, but I didn’t find anything.”

Ryder nodded to Con as Dmitri vacated the chair and Kinsey sat. “While Kinsey is doing that, I’m doing a search in Ireland.”

“Oh,” Henry said to Ryder and rubbed his eyes. “I almost forgot. I was on my way to see Con when I got your text. There’s been massive movement of the Dark in Ireland.”

Dmitri shook his head, mumbling, “Bloody hell.”

“Come.” Con motioned to Henry. “Let’s leave Ryder and Kinsey to their work.”

As they left the computer room and Henry began to talk, Con felt the strain of everything teetering precariously. One wrong move and all they’d worked for and built could be destroyed.

He didn’t worry about dying. The Dragon Kings would live through anything the humans tried to kill them with. But his men had already lost so much. Their homes, their way of life, their families, and their dragons.

If this new world they’d lived in for millions of years was yanked from them, Con wasn’t sure what would happen. They could all turn on the mortals.

And Con wasn’t so certain he wouldn’t join them.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kinsey waited until it was just her and Ryder before she pulled her chair forward and asked, “Who was that man with the English accent?”

“Henry North. He’s a friend who also happens to work for MI5.”

She was so shocked that she stopped typing and turned her head to Ryder. “What? Are you serious? You trust him?”

“He’s been our friend for many years, and he’s proven himself on many occasions when we’ve needed help. Aye, we trust him.” Ryder rubbed his temple, something he did when he was worried.

Kinsey looked back to the virtual keyboard. “It’ll take me a few minutes to hack in. Though I’m sure you could do it quicker.”

“You’re verra capable of hacking MI5.”

She couldn’t help but think he was just giving her work to do. Kinsey knew all too well that Ryder could have six projects going at once and not be deterred at all.

Still, she felt pride from his words. She timed herself, and did a little mental jig when she got into MI5’s computers in less than two minutes.

“Who am I looking for?” she asked.

“Esther North.” Ryder leaned over to look at her monitor as she keyed in the name.

Though Kinsey didn’t know Henry, she was hoping that his sister wasn’t part of MI5. But within seconds her picture popped up on the screen with red letters across it reading DECOMMISSIONED.

“Dammit,” Ryder said and raked a hand through his hair.

Kinsey scrolled through the file. “I’m sorry. I was hoping we wouldn’t find her, but from what I’m reading, she was very good. Almost as good as Henry, from what her reports state.”

“Henry is one of the best.”

“How do you know he’s not spying on you?”

Ryder rolled his chair next to hers. “We don’t allow just anyone into our home. Do you know when Esther was decommissioned?”

“She was with MI5 since she was eighteen. It seems they recruited her right beneath Henry’s nose.”

“He’s no’ going to like that.”

Kinsey wouldn’t appreciate it either if it were her sister. She’d be furious enough to want to take physical action against such people. “They practically put her in the field immediately. She had less than a few months’ training before she was working as an undercover agent.”

She scrolled through some more while she and Ryder read. Most of it was about her missions and how well she did. Her superiors all raved about her ability, comparing her to Henry on multiple occasions.

“She just stopped working,” Ryder said when they came toward the end of the file.

“There’s nothing more.” Kinsey checked to make sure nothing was hidden. “Just her last mission, and then she was decommissioned.”

Ryder’s frown deepened. “What was her last assignment?”

A sick feeling came over Kinsey when she read, “Ireland.”

“Henry doesna need this.” Ryder shoved his chair back to his station and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “He’s barely holding it together now.”

“What’s wrong with him? He looks sick.”

Ryder dropped his hands to his thighs and slid his gaze to her. “I guess you could say he is sick, in a way. He made the mistake of falling in love with a Light Fae. Her name is Rhi, and she’s a friend. We warned him to keep his distance, but humans can no’ help themselves.”

“Did she take part of his soul?”