Read Chapter 6: — MAYA BENNETT

Daniel discovered the answer by accident.

He and Toby were walking to breakfast when Toby threw an arm around Daniel’s shoulders, stumbled on loose gravel and collided with Maya.

Maya lost balance.

Daniel caught the smaller engineer around the waist.

A voice behind them detonated.

“Mercer! Take your hands off my daughter.”

The entire world stopped.

Daniel released Maya.

Toby slowly turned toward Graham Bennett.

“Your… daughter?”

Maya closed both eyes.

“Dad.”

Graham froze.

Daniel looked at Maya, then at Graham, then back at Maya.

Toby whispered, “I have misunderstood an astonishing number of things.”

Maya removed the scarf later in the privacy of an empty meeting room. She was twenty-eight, sharp-featured and furious.

“I didn’t lie,” she said. “Nobody asked.”

Toby raised a hand. “In my defence, I am an idiot.”

“That is accepted.”

Daniel understood more quickly. A woman on a remote international construction site attracted scrutiny she did not want. The project director’s daughter attracted even more. Maya had hidden both facts because she wanted her work judged before her identity.

“Will you keep it quiet?” she asked.

Daniel nodded.

Toby crossed his heart.

“I would like to remain alive.”

Graham cornered Daniel later.

“What happened this morning?”

“Toby tripped. Maya fell. I stopped her hitting the ground.”

Graham grunted.

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“Good.”

Daniel handed him a hard hat.

“Also, you left this in the office yesterday.”

Graham looked at the hat, then at Daniel.

A strange flicker crossed his face, something between embarrassment and recognition.

“You’re an irritating man, Mercer.”

“So I’m told.”

From then on Maya relaxed around Daniel and Toby. She still kept her identity private from the wider site, but in their small circle she stopped lowering her voice and began showing the dry humour hidden beneath her reserve.

She was also very good.

Better than Toby in the field. More cautious than Daniel. Almost obsessively precise about safety.

And when she argued with Graham about engineering, they used the same impatient hand gesture.

Daniel noticed.

He did not yet know why that bothered him.