“Rose . . . that’s madness. That can’t be true.”

That was what she’d thought too when she’d found out about the list.

“That’s why I had to steal it. It can’t be allowed in Keegan’s hands. He’ll use it to gain control. He’ll be able to eliminate those who oppose him. He’ll be too powerful.”

“What do you think he intends to do with it?”

“He’ll turn vampires to his side, create an army.”

Quinn clicked his tongue. “That’s not that as easy as you might think. Nobody is that convincing!”

“Keegan is.” A cold shiver ran down her spine as she remembered an incident while with Keegan. “I saw him use mind control on a vampire once.”

Quinn stared at her. “No vampire is foolish enough to employ mind control on another of his species. Whoever is attacked with mind control will instinctively defend himself. It’s inborn; there’s no way to fight that instinct. And it’s always a fight to the death. Nobody’s ever been known to break it off before its inevitable conclusion. There’s no way Keegan can use it to impose his will on another vampire. The other one would fight him, and if Keegan is stronger, he’ll kill his opponent rather than control him.”

“Keegan was able to control him without killing him. He was drained after it, almost had a breakdown, but he can do it. If he has managed since to perfect what he was capable of with difficulty then, he will be able to control vampires and have them do his bidding.”

“Shit!” Quinn cursed and ran a hand through his hair. “What makes you think this is the only copy of it? If he had it in his possession for any length of time, he’s probably already made a backup copy.”

“Impossible. The drive is encrypted. You can’t copy it; you can’t even print it. Somebody wanted to make sure this remained the only copy.”

“Where is it now?” The urgency in Quinn’s voice was undeniable.

“It’s safe.”

“Where?”

She shook her head. “Quinn, please don’t ask. It’s better for you not to know.”

It was safer if he didn’t know, safer for him. At least Keegan couldn’t torture it out of him.

“Better? You still don’t trust me!”

“That’s not what this is about.”

“It’s exactly what this is about. You didn’t trust me back then to keep you safe, and you don’t trust me now. Isn’t that the truth, Rose?” He shook his head as if trying to shake off a bad memory.

Then he stared back at her. “You have to destroy it. Nobody can ever be allowed to have this kind of information at their fingertips.”

At his words, she felt relief flood her. He didn’t want the flash drive for himself. He didn’t want the power that came with it. The Quinn she knew was still in there somewhere. Honor still drove him as it had back when he was human.

Without realizing it, she reached out her hand to stroke his cheek. “My—”

He recoiled from her touch.

My love, she’d wanted to say, but the words got stuck in her throat. His eyes looked at her, hurt sitting deep within them. There was so much she had to repair, so much she had to do penance for. She didn’t want to hurt him any longer. And she didn’t want to lie any longer.

“Samson needs to know about this,” Quinn suddenly said and turned away, pulling out his cell phone. When the call connected he only said a few words. “We need you at the house, now. It’s important.”

Then he turned back to her. “If we’d known what this was all about, we could have gone in full force from the beginning and smoked him out before he had a chance to find us. Now he’s got the upper hand.”

***

Quinn waited in the office for Samson. It took his boss only ten minutes to arrive. Quinn heard Amaury greet him at the door, then the two of them entered the office. Amaury gave him a grave look. It appeared he had overheard the heated conversation he’d had with Rose. Just as well.

Quinn summarized the situation in two sentences, bringing Samson up to speed within seconds.

“That changes everything,” Samson announced. “Where is it now?”

“She won’t tell me.”

“We’ll have to find it and destroy it.”

“I told her that.” But she had simply looked at him as if he didn’t understand. Her touch had confused him even more.

“She’s not going to do it, is she?” Samson asked.