She’s like my little sister. – Jase, explaining his relationship with Briel.

But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. – J.R.R. Tolkien

“Jase!” the frantic banging on his front door should have propelled him from his bed, but instead, his consciousness only gradually became aware of the noise. The confrontation with Amélie and the plane ride home had drained him and weighed him down into a deep sleep.

“Please, Jase! Open the door!” the voice persisted. A woman, he realized. Shaking his head, Jase sat up and placed his feet on the floor, forcing himself to continue the motion until he stood erect.

“Just a minute,” he called groggily, and began trudging toward the door. His sleepy mind processed through the particulars of his situation. How could someone gain access to his new apartment building without an access card? Were the guards so incompetent?

Jase had picked his new residence for several reasons. First and foremost, he loved the architectural style, somehow reminiscent of a Japanese pagoda, but modern and sleek. Secondarily, though Jase never worried too much about safety, the midrise had a fairly advanced security system. Of course, the security guard at the front desk accomplished little beyond giving the residents an emotional feeling of security, but the electronic security proved top-notch. Lastly, Jase loved the oak and fir trees that surrounded the building almost completely, giving it the aspect of a luxury tree-house. Jase couldn't imagine how the builders had managed such lush vegetation in such a barren geographic location.

After peeping through the peephole, Jase smiled to himself, understanding dawning slowly over his mind. The memory flooded back, and Jase's chest heaved with pleasure at the thought.

A few days after his Friday night “date with Briel,” Jase and Drew, accompanied by Briel and Nessa, had reconvened at Jase's new apartment for a relaxed evening get-together. Even without discussing the possibility, Jase and Briel had made a tacit agreement to continue the social relationship for the sake of keeping the others off their backs. Neither he nor Briel seemed desirous to move things further than friendship, but both seemed to like the easy society of the group.

Drew had grudgingly made a premature exit to facilitate an early morning run with several coworkers the following day. Alone with his two female coworkers, Jase felt unusually relaxed. Something about the two set his mind at ease, as if he could trust them. He didn't recognize the sensation, but he decided to indulge it for a time. After a couple of hours of conversation and dinner, Jase conveniently fell asleep, at least near sleep, on his couch, and Nessa and Briel had engaged in a revealing conversation.

At some point previously, the two women must have discussed the topic between themselves, but Jase couldn't believe they would broach such an idea with Jase in the room. In fact, Jase could not quite fathom how the topic they discussed could happen to a woman like Briel, but if he read the pair correctly, Jase had to attribute Briel's failing defenses to the Miller mission – something he understood too well. Despite her obvious desire to portray a tough-as-nails exterior, Briel had developed a soft spot for Felicity Miller's brother, Nick Alexander. She said nothing overt, but her reaction when Nessa brought up Nick revealed all that Jase needed to infer the truth, and it reached deeper than Jase would have thought possible.

When he realized the significance of the conversation, Jase worked even harder to hide his awareness. After Briel had tormented him for his ridiculous attachment to Felicity, Briel had fallen just as hard as or even harder than Jase had.

The two women had talked for over an hour, and Briel had begun to yawn, finally informing Nessa that she had to leave soon or risk falling asleep at the wheel. Of course, Jase's security system required a security card for both entry and exit, so Nessa had gently knelt beside him and placed her hand on his arm. Unlike the flash-heat of Amélie's overt flirtation, the strange fire when Nessa's skin met his burned a lasting and pleasant impression in Jase's mind. Until that moment, he had not paid any more attention to Nessa than to any of the other women whom he encountered on a daily basis. Something in her touch, though, relaxed him, made him let go of a defense that he wore against everything else in the world.

“Jase,” her rich voice had pulsed like a velvet wave. “Jase, I'm sorry to wake you.” Her sincerity shone in her eyes. “We need to leave and can't get out without the access card.”

Smiling to himself, Jase rolled lazily onto his side and pulled her hand into his chest, wrapping his arms around her forearm as if in a sleepy embrace. Some adolescent urge told him that Nessa would prove uncomfortable at his advances, and, like a boy pulling his crush's braid, Jase decided to test his hypothesis. As he had expected, Nessa had drawn back, abashed, and her demure reaction amused him even more. Not that he could ever pursue her for any significant relationship, but he had entertained the idea of an experiment, a casual flirtation designed to observe and catalogue her unusual reactions to him.

Huffing as if coming to himself, Jase had leaned up on one arm and gazed at both women, taking in Briel's definite expression of mirth. She had apparently understood his performance.

He blinked off his supposed sleepiness. “My card is on the counter. Just take it, Nessa. I have an extra.” He paid no attention to Briel, acting as if he had forgotten her presence. “I'm too tired to get up.”

Satisfied with his teasing, he resumed his position on the couch and closed his eyes to slits. He watched surreptitiously as Nessa stood up, her eyebrows raised in confusion, and turned back to Briel, shrugging. Definitely disconcerted, and Jase relished his influence over her. Scoundrel, he chastised himself lightly. A little harmless fun, he figured.

As he peered through the peephole at the same face a week later, his adrenaline began a steady rise, and he tried not to ask himself why he looked forward so much to seeing her. Surely just to resume his experiment from that earlier night. He opened the door to the same shining eyes which had before seemed so confused, and he felt pleasantly surprised that she had the nerve to come to his apartment uninvited.

“Hi, Nessa,” he began with indolence. When he took in her harried expression, however, he sobered quickly. “What's wrong?” Unlike her usual calm, Nessa now wore an anxious mien, an expression somehow incongruous with her usual placidity.

For the shortest moment, Nessa's eyes fixed on his boxers, and Jase grinned when a blush accompanied her averted gaze. He found her inhibition strangely attractive. After years in her profession, could she really retain so much naiveté? Reining in his discursive thoughts, he let her expression of concern sober him. “It's Briel,” Nessa worried. “She's missing, and her apartment has been torched.”

Nessa's eyes flitted nervously around the room as if she irrationally thought to encounter Briel there. She reminded Jase of a nervous kitten. In an attempt to calm her, he gently grabbed both of her shoulders.

“Calm down, Nessa. You can't help her if you panic.” Seriously, how had she ever made it in this business? First her embarrassment at his attire, then her lack of level-headedness at her friend's disappearance. Jase couldn't feel as much anxiety as Nessa over Briel's dilemma. “Where's Drew? Did you ask him for help?” he wondered. Surely, Nessa would contact Drew before she sought out Jase.

Instead of answering, Nessa suddenly looked flustered and shifted her eyes sideways to avoid his; he watched her search for reasons to explain herself. “I didn't,” she spluttered. “I just...I knew you could help.” Finally, Nessa met his gaze for a moment, abashed, but resolute. Jase tried not to preen at the compliment. In his business, people filled his ears with baseless flattery every day. For Nessa, though, the words rang with a deep sincerity, and Jase got the distinct impression that she never spoke anything but truth. After watching her collect herself, he led her into the living room by the hand. Again, he noted the softness of her skin against his palm.

“Give me a minute,” he insisted, then hurried to his room to throw on a pair of jeans. When he had seated himself on the couch back in the living room, he pulled her down next to him and gazed steadily into her eyes, shocked to see as much determination there as anxiety. Maybe he had misjudged her state-of-mind.

“Tell me what happened,” he commanded. Something in his confidence seemed to make her aware of her frenzy, and she straightened her shoulders in an attempt to appear more in control.

“Once a week, I drive to the farmers' market, and I always pass right by Briel's apartment. When I drove by today, two firetrucks sat out front of Briel's burned-out apartment, and the firemen didn't know where Briel was. They did say that they had seen no signs of anyone trapped in any apartment, and the neighbors had either left or were too upset to talk.”

“So, she wasn't home, Nessa. What makes you think something happened to her?”

“Come on, Jase. She starts talking to that man on the computer and then her house burns down? Has it occurred to you that someone might be after her?”

Sure, it had occurred to Jase. The day after their blind date, Briel had pulled together a team to complete the mission that she had begun with the Millers the month before. Though when she began the original job, Briel had claimed to work for Brendon Miller, she had in reality sought access to Brendon's computer files. These files contained information that would help Briel fulfill her real duty, which Jase found out later to be the retrieval of a Mexican diplomat's daughter from human trafficking.

To complete the mission, Briel had taken a crew to Mexico a week before and ensured the release of Emilia Alvares, the diplomat's daughter. When Briel had returned, though, Jase had noticed a skittishness about her, an uncharacteristic nervousness. He suspected that something happened in Mexico, something Briel did not wish to reveal.

“Yes, it's possible that someone did this to hurt her,” he agreed, “but let's reason this out. Since we're talking about Briel here, and the likelihood of someone besting her is remote, let's assume she's fine. Unless you have something else you want to tell me?” If Nessa told him the truth about Mexico, Jase would likely have more luck with finding Briel.

Nessa bit her lip, shaking her head in a slow denial.

“Well, then,” Jase didn't press. “Who would Briel call if she needed a place to crash?”

Though she tried to suppress it, exasperation managed to flash across Nessa's expression at Jase's collectedness. “Fine, I'll be rational,” Nessa shot him a contemptuous glance. “Briel would have called me, but that obviously didn't happen. She might possibly have called Drew, but he had to meet for another run at 4:30, so she couldn't have contacted him.”

“What about Ginny or Adam?”

“No way,” Nessa insisted. “You know Briel. She likes them, but she's very protective of her personal space. She wouldn't call them unless she'd tried me – and maybe even you – first.”

“What about Liam?” Jase reasoned. “I mean, I know Briel broke up with him, but you don't just eradicate someone from your life after a seven-month relationship. Maybe she called him.”

Shaking her head, Nessa adopted a skeptical expression. “I seriously doubt Briel would contact him under any circumstances,” she answered. “Liam had taken to irritating Briel, calling her annoying pet names and pushing to accompany her on the debrief mission. Briel felt really frustrated with him. Why risk reopening that wound?”

“Well, let's just call the people we've mentioned, and if that doesn't work, we'll go look for her. I'll call Liam, and you call Ginny and Adam.”

Reluctantly, Nessa dragged her cell phone from her purse and punched in the numbers. After fifteen unfruitful minutes, Nessa hung up the phone and turned to Jase. “Any luck?” she queried.

“No,” Jase replied, irritated. “Did Liam go run with Drew? He's not answering his phone.”

“Not likely,” Nessa insisted. “Drew likes Liam well enough, but Liam stays to himself, kind of like Briel. In that sense, Liam and Briel made a good pair. What do we do now?”

“Well, we really know nothing since Liam's not answering his phone. Let's zip over there and see if he answers his door.”

When the pair finally loaded into his car, the ensuing drive spanned less than ten minutes, and Jase could see Liam's red convertible in the parking lot of the complex as soon as he turned in. “Looks like he's home,” Jase offered, pointing out Liam's car to Nessa. “Do you know his apartment number?”

“Hold on,” she requested, taking out her phone. “I have access to the network at work. Let me pull it up...It's number twelve,” she informed Jase.

During his brief walk to Liam's apartment, Jase caught some of Nessa's anxiety. He pounded insistently on Liam's door. After a few seconds, Jase rapped again, this time calling out with as much authority as he could muster. “Liam? Liam, it's Jase. I need to talk to you.”

After several seconds of silence, Jase heard the clicking of locks, and the door finally swung open revealing Liam Monroe's seemingly murderous glare. Jase didn't flinch.

“Did you hear about the fire...?” he began, but then his eyes caught sight of a movement across the room and through an open doorway. Immediately, Jase recognized the characteristics of Liam's stance, the mantle of control he had adopted. Through the bedroom door, Jase could make out Briel's reclining form, lying somewhat disheveled on Liam's bed. Her minimal clothing and obvious state of embarrassment made Jase pause. For an instant, chagrin crept into Jase's mind as he considered that he had let Nessa's nervousness affect him.

He only had a moment's regret, though, because Nessa pushed past the two men and rushed anxiously to Briel's side. “Oh, Briel!” Nessa gushed. “You're okay!” Though Briel looked uncomfortable with the contact, Nessa wrapped her arms around her friend. Jase thought a look of relief passed over Briel's countenance, but he couldn't know for sure. The look could just as easily have denoted embarrassment at the situation or irritation at the interruption. Before Jase could decide, Briel swung her legs off the bed and moved to stand. Whatever her motivation, she used the interruption as an excuse to leave.

“I'm fine,” Briel murmured without enthusiasm. “Actually, I'm glad you're here, Nessa. Liam and I were just lamenting the fact that I couldn't call you. I had your number stored in my phone, which was, I guess, destroyed by the fire. I would love to borrow some clothes until I can buy some,” Briel continued, glancing at her pajamas. Her self-consciousness seemed to have fled as she strode more confidently toward the door.

“Of course,” Nessa acquiesced.

Briel steeled herself against some internal struggle, then glided confidently to place a kiss on Liam's cheek. Surprised, Jase coughed to hide a chuckle. She seemed to have regained total control.

“Thanks,” she crooned, a sound that Jase would not have expected to escape her lips. The exaggerated expression of power, ironically, seemed to hint at an earlier sense of helplessness. Though she would not show it, Jase wondered if Briel had felt trapped before he and Nessa showed up.

For his part, Liam reacted with surprising gentleness to Briel's teasing. He leaned in close, almost whispering in her ear. “I really think you should rest,” he hinted. “Nessa can bring your clothes over here. Ten minutes ago, you were unconscious.”

Briel's swagger faltered a tad, apparently affected by Liam's proximity, but she forced her eyes to his, then held them firmly there. “I told you, I'm fine,” she claimed. “I'll call you later. Maybe we can go out to dinner tonight since I don't have a kitchen.”

Weaving her arm through Nessa's – Briel seemed to need more support than she had let on – the two ladies strolled out toward Jase's car without a backwards glance. Before Jase could join them, Liam called him back.

Jase turned and stared into the eyes of animosity.

“Do you realize what just happened to her?” Liam hissed.

“I do,” Jase leveled coolly. “She just escaped you.”

“She just left the safest place for her. Whoever burned down her apartment will come after her again.”

Unfazed, Jase leaned against the nearby rail. “As far as I could tell, Briel was glad to leave here, and I am just as competent to protect her as you are, if not more.”

“I know Briel a hell of a lot better than you -”

“Yet, she left with me when given the opportunity. Maybe she knows you too well, Liam. Maybe she would prefer to be out from under your 'protection,' if that's what you call it.”

“When they come after her, you'd better watch out for yourself, and for that girl Briel calls her friend. Nessa will be right in the line of fire.”

Jase did not let himself react, though he wanted to punch Liam in the face. For one thing, Liam spoke the truth; whoever came after Briel might run into Nessa in the process, and Jase found the thought inexplicably disturbing. Too, though the words sounded threatening, under similar circumstances, Jase would have meant them as a warning rather than a threat. Most likely, Liam meant no more with his words. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to give Liam so much credit.

“I'll take that under advisement,” Jase mocked.

Turning from the disgruntled ex-boyfriend, Jase strolled casually to his car, unwilling to seem affected. In truth, Liam's words had bothered Jase, as did the possibility that Nessa might find herself in Briel's crossfire. Jase, though, did not intimidate easily. If anyone decided to go after Briel – or Nessa – he would have to go through Jase.