Jon stood next to his brothers, staring the front entrance of the bunker and the steel door that had been left ajar.

Shit. They’d been infiltrated and he was to blame.

“This is my fault. If I hadn’t lost the keys—”

“No, it’s mine.” Jack rubbed his forehead. “I was the one who said it would be fine if we left—”

“Will you two stop?” Jordan said. “Be reasonable. Even if we had secured the door, if someone really wanted in, they would have just broken the lock. Locks are only deterrents, nothing more. The problem is that our location has been compromised. How did they know where we were? How did they find us? How did they arrive and leave the area without us noticing?”

Jon looked to Jack. “Wait. Didn’t you say you smelled a female?”

“Yes, but there are female spies in the world.”

“She was alone?”

“I believe so.”

“Do you think she’s still in there?”

They all turned back to the door.

The eldest placed his hand on the handle. “I guess we should find out. Are you ready?” When Jon and Jordan nodded, Jack swung open the heavy steel. The tunnel was empty. “Let’s go”

As they navigated the dim passageway, Jack leading the way and Jon bringing up the rear, an interesting thought came to Jon’s mind. “Hey, if she has a weapon and our lives are in danger or something, we can shift into bears and eat the bitch, right?”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Jordan responded with blatant condensation. “That would make us cannibals. No, we’ll just kill her and be done with it.”

“We’re not killing anyone,” Jack muttered. “We disarm, restrain, and detain—preferably without shifting. Then at the first opportunity, we turn her over to the US government. I’m sure our clients will know what to do with her.”

“I just hope she’s still here,” Jordan said. “I hate to think she got away with a copy of our files. We don’t know who she’s working for. Or how they’ll use the information, and what our clients will say when they hear about the security breach.”

“You both encrypted all your files, right?” At their nods, Jack then asked, “And you both have the fail-safe program embedded in all of them?”

Again, they nodded. The fail-safe was a computer program invented by Jordan that worked hand-in-hand with the encryption. If someone tried to bypass the encryption, or used the wrong key in their attempt to decrypt the files, then the fail-safe program would switch on and corrupt the information within the files, thus making it unreadable. And then, as an added bonus, the files would delete themselves.

“And you both remembered to add the tracer program?”

“Yes,” they both replied in unison.

For once in his life, Jon was actually glad that his eldest brother had been such a stickler about security, insisting that they all apply the extra protective measures—even if it meant extra work. Jack’s paranoia might have just saved their asses.

“Then we have time,” Jack continued. “Encrypted or not, if she so much as sticks our files on a computer with even one outside connection, we’ll be able track her down. Once we’ve zoomed in on her location, we’ll tell the clients where to find her, and they can send someone after her.”

They rounded the corner only to find the second door also ajar.

“Was the woman raised in a barn?” Jon whispered. “How hard can it be to close a door?”

“Shush,” Jordan hissed.

Jack stuck his head in. “I don’t hear anything. I think she’s gone.” He pushed the door open wide.

The three entered the living room.

Everything appeared normal. “She must have gone straight to the office,” Jon offered. “She obviously knew what she was looking for.”

“The hell she did.” Jordan moved toward the dining room.

Following close behind, they all gathered around the table, staring in disbelief. Damn, the woman must have been hungry. She had helped herself to the fruit and cheese platter, nearly finishing it off, and there was nothing but crumbs left in the breadbasket.

Jack picked up his dirty spoon. “It looks like she tasted my stew.”

“I think she sampled mine as well,” Jordan remarked dryly, studying his dish.

“Well, at least she only tried yours.” Jon held his bowl in the air, then turned it over and shook it for emphasis. “She ate all of mine.”

The strange sensation of déjà vu swept over Jordan. He felt like he had lived this moment before, or dreamt of living it. Paramnesia. While his mind tried desperately to grasp a fleeting memory that wasn’t there, Jordan willed the analytical part of his brain to mentally record the phenomenon. He wanted to remember every detail of the experience so he might effectively log the incident in his journal for further study.

“Let’s check the office,” Jack said.

Pulled from his musings by the suggestion, he followed his brothers to their work area.

Jordan was pleasantly surprised to find that the room hadn’t been ransacked. The only thing that seemed out of order were the—

“She moved my chair,” Jack grumbled, rolling it back onto the floor mat before his desk.

Poor Jack, he didn’t like anyone sitting in his chair. “Well, she sat in and adjusted mine,” Jordan offered, indicating that the seat to his chair was higher than usual.

Thump!

They swung around to find Jon’s chair tipped over backwards—with him in it, his feet dangling uselessly in the air.

“Fuck,” Jon growled, rolling the toppled chair over to its side and crawling out of it. “First she eats all my lunch, then she breaks my chair. What’s next?”

Again, that eerie feeling of déjà vu assaulted Jordan. “Does this seem vaguely familiar to any of you?”

“Perhaps it’s one of my psycho ex-girlfriends,” the youngest continued as he climbed to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head. “One who’s tracked me down to dish out petty revenge by booby-trapping all my stuff.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Go check the rest of the bunker while Jordan and I finish up here.”

“Gladly.” Jon moved toward the exit. “Be sure to check my computer for rigged explosives. I don’t want to hit the space bar and lose a finger.”

Jack waited until Jon left the room before approaching the large safe in the corner. He looked over his shoulder as he began twirling the dial. “I’m going to run an inventory. You can start checking the equipment.”

“What? So I’m the one who loses a finger?”

Jack smiled. “Take it as a compliment. You’re a genius when it comes to technology. You’d know better than I if something’s been tampered with.”

Jordan was just about to offer a smartass retort when movement in the doorway caught his eye. He turned to find the youngest sibling standing there with the most perplexed expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked Jon.

“Um…not to sound all mother goose or anything, but there’s some blond chick in my bed.”