Breach of Trust by Jodie Bailey

you stared down the killer and he bolted. Why leave you alive?” She shoved away from the desk, ripping out the cords to the external drive as she shut down the computer with the other. “There’s no good reason except one. He’s playing a game. And we walked right into it.”
    Tate moved instinctively for his gun. “Then we—”
    From somewhere along the hallway, a door cracked open and footsteps echoed, edging closer.

SEVEN
    M eghan stood, reaching for her weapon as Tate took a position to the left of the door. Adrenaline shot through her in the face of impending confrontation. She steadied her nerves and waited.
    â€œMeghan?” The female voice echoing through the hallway robbed Meghan’s muscles of their readiness.
    She holstered her weapon and tugged her T-shirt over it, waving a flat palm at Tate to stand down. “It’s the principal.” Yvonne Craft had a habit of working odd hours, even on weekends, her responsibilities never ending.
    Yvonne opened the door and strode in, her dark hair piled in a topknot, a Michigan State T-shirt over khaki shorts. She looked like exactly what she was: a school principal on summer break.
    But her face...
    Meghan held her ground, though she wanted to run. Yvonne was the most easygoing person Meghan had ever met. She’d hired Meghan fresh out of the army, even though Meghan’s views on God didn’t quite line up with the school’s theology. As often as Yvonne had tried to convince Meghan that God cared about her daily life, Meghan had returned fire with the fact He’d never proven it.
    Even then, Yvonne was rarely angry. The one time she’d ever worn an expression this stormy was when the school had been vandalized.
    Meghan leaned forward, ignoring the way Tate stiffened as she eased closer to her friend. “Yvonne? Is everything okay?”
    The other woman flicked a glance at Tate, then focused on Meghan. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was deeper than usual, weighted with anger...and something else.
    Behind Yvonne, Tate straightened. He’d heard it, too. His gaze caught Meghan’s with an unspoken question of what she wanted him to do.
    Nothing. Something might be off the rails, but the principal wasn’t a threat.
    Still, Meghan slipped the external drive into her pocket, unwilling to fully explain. That would require telling Yvonne who Tate was, and that couldn’t happen without blowing his cover even further. “I had to come in and—”
    â€œYou’re no longer employed here.” Yvonne stepped closer, hand out, words sharp enough to leave scars. “Keys.”
    Outside the army, this school was the only family Meghan had ever known, and now she was being forced out? Meghan’s mouth opened but refused to produce any sound.
    She focused on Yvonne and avoided Tate. If she saw even one trace of sympathy, Meghan would splinter. There was only so much a girl could take in twenty-four hours, and she had hit the valley. Hard.
    Yvonne’s open palm stayed between them, unwavering. “Keys.” She bit the word off as if it were acid.
    â€œIs this because I resigned?” Meghan fished her key out of her pocket, hoping Tate and Yvonne wouldn’t notice she was shaking. She’d faced armed gunman and fought grown men with nothing but her skills, but nothing had rattled her this way, one of her two closest friends ripping away from her for no discernible reason.
    â€œIt’s because we have questions about what’s been happening on our servers while you’ve been working here.” Yvonne’s fingers closed around the key, knuckles whitening. “Leave, Meghan. Take your friend with you.” She stepped aside, clearing the path to the door. “And never come back.”
    â€œI can explain what—”
    â€œI’m sure you can, and I’m sure it would all be a lie. You can go now, Meghan.”
    If it was going down