Free Shadows to Light (Shadows of Justice 5) by Regan Black

with safety or propriety.
    Thankfully, he stood up, pulling her along with him and she let him lead the way back. They didn't talk and in the silence, Mira realized she wasn't the least bit tired from healing him.
    Interesting. She supposed her own adrenaline was running high.
    To anyone watching, they must have looked like any other couple out for a stroll during a date. They just wandered in no apparent direction, until Jameson paused near a dark doorway and pulled her into another embrace.
    She tipped her face up, expecting a kiss, but he was all business this time. She couldn't see what he did with his hands and the door, but she appreciated the relief and the warmth of the vestibule when he pulled her inside, away from the bitter icy wind of the Chicago night.
    "Wait here."
    Mira hated the idea of being alone, of letting him out of her sight for even a moment. Feeling out of her depth, uncomfortable with this need for him pooling inside, she focused on the building itself. Not the most elaborate architecture, it didn't quite blend with the aesthetics of the rest of campus, and yet it felt familiar.
    Why?
    Inexplicably drawn, she followed him out of the vestibule and turned, knowing there would be a lounge on her right connected by a pass-through counter to a square kitchen. She had a flash of her mother setting a plate of cookies on that pass-through. What is this place?
    "Mira." She looked up to see Callahan watching her with blatant curiosity from the stairwell. "My guy looks pretty good. The comm tech must have misread the biofeedback."
    She shrugged. "He fought well."
    "Sure. I taught him."
    Mira knew he was waiting for her to elaborate, but she just couldn't do it. Was she protecting Jameson or herself? She didn't know the answer.
    "Come on. We're up here."
    She trailed him up two flights and down the hallway, peeking into open suites along the way. It was an old dorm, once built for families. How did she know that? She followed Callahan to a room recently re-purposed for banks of computers, monitors, and other gadgetry she couldn't name. Jameson watched a dot traveling across a grid flickering on the only live monitor.
    "Where is everyone?" She expected a bigger crowd.
    "I let them go. This site's a bust."
    She looked closely, but didn't see any signs of trauma. Of course she couldn't be sure unless she touched him and she didn't feel much like touching Callahan.
    "What does that mean?"
    "It means I screwed up," Jameson muttered, his eyes on the monitor.
    "His fight raised too many red flags," Callahan confirmed.
    The fight wasn't because of Jameson. She'd screwed this up. It was on her to fix it.
    "We'll have to find another way to get your dad out of there."
    "He's still in the lab? You saw him?"
    "No, couldn't get close enough to see him. But yeah, I followed the red dots in the tunnels straight to the lab where he's working. There was still plenty of action, which I take to mean he's still there."
    "Then you can't give up."
    "Not my call."
    Mira wasn't sure she believed him. "You're angry." He arched a brow, daring her to go down this road.
    "I get it." She was angry too. At her order for driving out her dad. At the Five for sending enforcers to drag her back to that ridiculous inquiry. How had they found her so fast?
    "You had comm gear during the op?" She assumed the eye roll meant 'affirmative'. "Do you assign any other biometric gear? Other than the stealth suit?"
    "No. Go home, Mira."
    "Thanks, but I don't have one." She wasn't counting the room at Leanore's. "Can you confirm my cell card's clean?"
    "Sure. If you promise to leave."
    "I will. Eventually." A frightening theory was blooming in her head. "Can I make a call?"
    "Anything for you, dear."
    Mira kept from snarling, barely, as she accepted his cell card and used it to connect to Leanore's. Kevin answered.
    "Hey, it's Mira. Did Stacy make it back okay?"
    "Yeah, she and Leanore came in just after you left. Along with some suit that met them at the