“Because you were inside,” he said. “Because I had spent six years trying to get a source into that family and there is no source you can put into a family like the Vances.

They vet, they surveil, they marry their own. And then my daughter — who is better at this than I ever was, who has a Level 12 and a face that reads as harmless — walked into their house through the front door with a ring on.”

“I was your *asset.*”

“Yes.”

“Say the rest of it.”

“I told Maya Ellis that some families are built like fortresses, and the first key to breaching the gate is usually held by the woman they think they’ve locked inside.”