-myfamilypies- Emma Hix - Secret Agent Step Dad... -

Behind her, she heard the soft thump of the stairwell door opening, and her stepfather’s voice, calm and steady:

Mark Hix, secret agent stepdad, looked at her with the same exasperated fondness he’d worn the time she crashed his car at sixteen. -MyFamilyPies- Emma Hix - Secret Agent Step Dad...

“Because, Emma,” he said, pressing the drive into her hand and closing her fingers around it, “I’ve been a liar, a thief, and a ghost for three decades. But I have never, not once, been late for your mother’s book club. That has to count for something.” Behind her, she heard the soft thump of

Emma palmed the USB and slid it into the hidden compartment of her boot heel. Then she did something they never taught in training: she opened the apartment door and stepped into the hallway. That has to count for something

“Emma.”

The rain over Vienna was a persistent, gray whisper against the window of Apartment 4B. Emma Hix adjusted the earpiece, a tiny, flesh-colored device that pulsed with a single, low beep.