by Stewart, Anna J. ; Sasson, Sophia; Carpenter, Beth; Jensen, Muriel
He waited for Dan to complete the scan.
“Nine right now. One hasn’t moved since yesterday—they’re in a room in the southwest corner of the house. The rest are mobile.”
Luke smiled. His brother had picked good men. They didn’t need to be told how to do their jobs.
“How does it compare to the surveillance from the last mission?”
Dan paused. He was most likely checking the old reports. “We are plus one for stationary and plus five for mobile.”
Luke clicked off. That scenario was completely consistent with Ethan being held there. Luke and Alessa had visited the site of the previous safe house and, as expected, found a tunnel underneath the depression she’d seen on the satellite images. Ethan was alive and if he was being held at Azizi’s house, there was no telling how much longer he might be there. In these situations, even the slightest threat could make their target move Ethan to a new location—or worse. If that happened they might never find him.
“You’re thinking we should pick up Azizi tonight, not even wait until tomorrow.” Alessa’s voice broke through his reverie.
“I think I should check out the situation.”
She stood, setting the tablet on the rickety coffee table. “I’ll get ready.”
He shook his head. “I need to go alone.”
The look on her face told him that this would be a battle. He stepped into her personal space and she put her hands on her hips.
“Luke, you need backup. You can’t go in alone. Wasn’t that the whole point of your switching apartments?”
“No, the point was for you to cover for me when I need to slip out, like I do now. Besides, you know what the doctor said, any strenuous activity and your shoulder could get worse. You could do permanent damage.”
She stepped toward him, coming within touching distance. “What’s the real reason you don’t want me to go with you?”
“Excuse me?”
She took another step, now just inches from him, her chin tilted stubbornly. Her brown eyes blazed and there was a hint of color in the freckles on her nose. His heart drummed so loudly he was sure she could hear it. She placed her hand on his chest, and the contact made it hard to breathe. He put his arm on her good shoulder, mostly to stop her from coming any closer. As it was, he was having a hard time focusing on their discussion.
“Why are you hell-bent on protecting me when I don’t need it? Or do you have another secret mission you don’t want me to know about?”
She moved her hand from his chest and put a finger to his lips, her eyes as dark as a moonless night. He grabbed her hand. If she kept it there, he’d lose all sense of reason.
“I thought I told you not to touch me without permission.” Her voice was soft and teasing but he released her hand and began to step back but she was faster. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to her, then planted her lips on his.
That was when all conscious thought left his mind. All he could do was feel. The softness of her lips against his, the smoothness of her arms as they circled his neck. He felt her strength, the power in the small woman before him. She was a partner who could stand by his side, one he’d fallen hard for. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her even closer, and a whimper of protest escaped her mouth.
“Oh, God, did I hurt you?” he breathed, his voice thick.
She shook her head. “You just caught me by surprise.”
She’s lying. He could tell by the way she shifted her shoulder. He closed his eyes and stepped back from her. What was he doing rough-handling her again? And kissing her? I could, and probably should, be court-martialed for this.
“I’m sorry…” he muttered, opening his eyes to find her staring unblinkingly at him.
“What for? I kissed you.”
Right. So she did. But I’m her commander.
“I shouldn’t have let it happen.”
“I felt like we needed to get it out of the way,” she said matter-of-factly, her face maddeningly neutral save for the tinge of pink on her cheeks, neck and ears and the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
“I didn’t realize it was on our to do list.”
“Neither one of us can deny the attraction between us, and that’s why you’re behaving so erratically, wanting me close to you, then pushing me away. We can’t go on like this.”
She was right. There was too much at stake and he was having a hard enough time figuring out what to do to deal with the added distraction of his feelings for Alessa.
He held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “What do you propose we do?”
“I propose we admit that that was the most incredible kiss of our lives and we owe it to ourselves to see if it happens again.”
She’s serious! He was not going to ignore an invitation like that.
* * *
ALESSA HAD NEVER been so brazen with a man. At least not in a romantic way. She’d punched, kicked and dropped many men to the ground, but never had she demanded a kiss. In fact, she and Aidan had only kissed once. An awkward, fumbling moment reminiscent of a high school first date. Never had she experienced such soul-burning intensity. A feeling she’d never truly experienced. Love. It was intoxicating, and she wanted more. She was done with rational thinking. A fire burned through her, screaming at her to grab hold of this feeling while she could.
Luke closed the distance between them and cupped her face. His mouth met hers with the lightness of a feather. He was still asking permission, making sure it was what she wanted, and she responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, hardly noticing the protest of her shoulder. She weaved her fingers into his hair, letting the soft strands caress her fingers. Pressing closer to him, she deepened the kiss and the fire that burned inside her intensified. Apparently Luke felt the same way because she couldn’t tell whether she broke the contact or he did. She had hoped that the second kiss would be like a wet cloth to cool her soul, but it had only stoked the flames.
“We can’t,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want to…”
“But now is not the time,” she agreed. “Let’s get through this mission, then we’ll figure out what we have and what to do.”
They both nodded in unison. She didn’t want to emerge from the warm cocoon she was in, savoring the lingering feel of his five o’clock shadow on her cheeks. But she had to. Once this mission was over and they found Ethan, Luke wouldn’t be unit commander any more. He could leave the army and they could be together without any risk. It was just a matter of time. She’d waited thirty-five years for something resembling love; she could wait a little longer for the real thing.
‘Luke, trust me to tell you what I’m up for. I’m strong. I can handle a little injury.”
“I’m sorry, Alessa, but you can’t come.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
IT HADN’T TAKEN long to organize all of the pieces. The team knew what they were doing and the stakes were high. As far as the unit was concerned, Ethan had died for this mission and they were going to complete it.
“I feel like Parrino should be here, being a pain in all our behinds.” Rodgers said into the comms system. Dan and Dimples muttered their agreement and Luke’s chest warmed. He was like a teenage boy; even the mention of Alessa made his heart flutter.
“You know I couldn’t risk it with her shoulder.” There were sounds of agreement. In truth, it had been a hard sell to get Alessa to stay behind, but she’d finally agreed. His concern for Alessa’s shoulder was real; he didn’t want to risk exacerbating her fracture. More importantly, there was a good chance the team was walking into an ambush. She’d fought him, but he’d convinced her that he needed someone to mount a rescue if anything went down. She was the designated survivor. Last night, they’d come to this house and surveilled it. Luke hadn’t gleaned any new information but hoped t
hat the stationary person they were seeing in the southwest room was Ethan. It was the only room that didn’t have any windows. If Luke were keeping someone prisoner, he’d put them in that room.
His phone pinged. It was Boots.
I am in the tree eighty degrees clockwise from you. I see all of you. StinkySocks.
It took all of Luke’s self-discipline not to whirl around and to continue to do a visual sweep as he would have if Boots hadn’t called attention to himself. Even though he was staring right at him, it took Luke a second to spot Boots. He was well hidden.
Think Ethan is the stationary in there.
Adrenaline was already coursing through him but the news electrified every sense in his body. Could he trust Boots? Luke had a lot of questions for him but his gut told him to trust Boots for the moment.
Why are you hiding from the team?
The answer was instant and Luke went cold.
I think we have a leak.
Who?
He knew it was a fruitless question even as he asked it.
There was a pause, then his phone buzzed.
The only thing I know for sure is that it’s not me, and it’s not you.
The only thing Luke knew for sure was that it wasn’t him and it wasn’t Alessa. While he had every reason to mistrust his team, he couldn’t believe it was any of those guys, either. Including Boots. There had to be another explanation.
“Five more tangos than we had yesterday.” Rodgers’s voice crackled in his ear.
This was not a rescue mission for Ethan but a snatch-and-grab of the target. If someone shot at them, they would shoot back. Had they been compromised? The surge in guards was not a good sign. Should he order a retreat? Ethan had walked into the safe house alone. Luke was taking his entire team in. He was doubly glad he’d forced Alessa to stay behind.
“Looks like we may need to shoot through the house. Collateral damage is likely.” Rodgers came through again. He was supposed to lead them inside.
The team needed to know that Ethan was in there. His instincts had gotten him this far.
“I have intel that the stationary person inside is Ethan.” He had toggled the comms so the entire team could hear. There was a beat, then everyone began talking at once.
“No time to explain, just be careful who you shoot.” He was about to tell them about Boots but something held him back.
“Okay, let’s go.” Rodgers got into position to kick down the door. Luke would bring up the rear.
“Guys, don’t go into the house.” Alessa’s voice screamed into the comms.
“Stand down.” Luke ordered. “Petaldust, where are you?” he said, using Parrino’s code word. She must be nearby, because the comms system had a limited range, but she was supposed to be well, well outside that range.
“To your ten o’clock, Leopard,” came her reply. He spotted her and strode over. She was hiding behind a giant banyan tree, its branches elegantly reaching out under dark green leaves.
“You’re supposed to be in the apartment.” They had talked about this half the night. Why is she so stubborn?
“Look.” She pulled up her tablet and showed him a satellite map of the house, zooming in on a fuzzy corner of the house that was hidden under tree branches and leaves. “These are pictures from late last night, after we did our surveillance.”
“What am I looking at?”
She zoomed in some more. “Look more carefully now.” That’s when he saw it.
“Something was moved into the house yesterday.”
She nodded. “We’d need an expert to tell us what it is. My skills aren’t that good.”
“This is no reason to stop us going in. It could be anything—groceries, alcohol…”
“Yes, but look at pictures from about an hour before you got here.”
His blood ran cold. It was a clear image of the target getting into a car and new men entering the house. According to the meticulously consistent schedule Azizi kept, he shouldn’t even be awake.
“This is a setup.”
Alessa nodded. He looked back at the house, then slammed his fist into the tree trunk in frustration. His instincts had been wrong. He’d been about to get his entire team killed.
“You couldn’t have known.”
Then he remembered. He spun toward the tree Boots had been hanging out in. He was gone.
* * *
“HOW LONG HAVE you known Ethan is alive?” Steele glared at Luke. They were back at Luke and Alessa’s apartment, squeezed into the tiny living room. Luke was in the hot seat on the couch. No one had taken the spot next to him, despite the prime sitting real estate. Most of the team were standing. Alessa was the only one seated on one of the chairs from the dinette, her hands flying over satellite images.
“I don’t know if Ethan is alive. It’s a theory,” Luke answered wearily. They’d gone over the mission and the team disagreed as to whether they should have gone in. Luke shared the evidence he’d given Alessa. It was time to come clean with the team.
“Why did Parrino get to decide that we abort?” Dimples asked quietly. Luke saw Alessa sit up straighter.
“She didn’t. I did. I made a field call based on her intel. It gave me enough cause to abort.”
“For what it’s worth, I think he made the right decision,” Alessa chimed in.
“You would,” Rodgers muttered under his breath.
“Okay, look, we need to focus on our next step. After what happened to Ethan, it’s good to be cautious. I don’t want us compromised,” Luke said firmly. He needed to pull the team together and channel their energy toward a shared goal.
“We need new intel before we take a next step. Parrino, I want you to keep on those satellite images. Rodgers and Dimples, I want you to pound the pavement, go around to known associates and see if you can spot the target.” He barked out orders to the rest of the team and dismissed them. Some of it was busywork until better intelligence came around, but these were army men; they needed to keep working, especially since they were all hyped up on mission adrenaline.
The team snuck out of the apartment but Rodgers hung back. “Any word from Boots?” Luke and Alessa shared a glance. Alessa knew about Boots’s contact. Luke shook his head; he wasn’t ready to tell Rodgers about Boots. Not yet.
When Rodgers had left, Luke let out a long breath.
“For what it’s worth, you made the right call.” Alessa said softly.
“Which call? The one to walk into an ambush or the one to let you stop it?”
“Both, technically. The call to go in was made based on the best intelligence you had and the call to stop it was the same.”
“That’s nice of you to say.” He rubbed the back of his neck and she sat down beside him.
He lifted her hand and kissed it. How does she make it feel all okay? She put her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her and the two of them sat there just enjoying the warmth and comfort of each other.
“I’m going to need your help,” he said.
“Whatever you need.”
“You set up everyone’s phones and emails. I need you to go over all the text messages, phone calls and emails they’ve sent over the last month. If any of the operational details for this mission have been compromised, it would have happened in that time frame.”
She took a sharp breath. As team lead, he had every right to review those communications. But it still felt like a breach of trust.
“I really don’t think any one of them is betraying us.”
“After today, I’m almost positive the leak is coming from the team. It can be nothing else. Azizi hasn’t changed his schedule in months and then suddenly…”
“If the guys find out I’m spying on them…”
“Then I’ll tell them I orde
red you to do it.”
She bit her lip. “There’s something I have to tell you,” she said softly.
He frowned. A couple of days ago, he’d sensed something was going on with Alessa but she’d hadn’t said anything so he’d let it go.
She took a breath, then began telling him about Julia’s disappearance and how Rodgers had helped. He clenched his fists. Why had she kept such a thing from him? Just when she needed him, she’d turned to Rodgers. His chest burned. He would’ve left and gone to California to help her, turned the entire state upside-down to find her sister. Yet she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about it.
He wanted to tell her all of these things and ask her why she hadn’t told him. Instead, he stood and went to the kitchen and took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He took a big swig, hoping the cold water would calm the fire inside him, then turned to Alessa.
“Look over those emails, and this time I’m ordering you to tell me what you find. Do not to lie to me. Think you can do that?” His tone was much harsher than he intended and he could tell by the look on Alessa’s face that he’d just broken her heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“I CAME TO tell you that I’m on your side.” Luke was back at the target’s house on surveillance duty trying to see if there was anything that would give him a clue as to Azizi’s whereabouts. He turned to find Boots beside him.
Luke put a hand on the soldier’s shoulder to make sure he wasn’t just imagining him. The sun had begun to set, illuminating the dust in the air. Boots looked around before speaking. There was enough ambient noise between honking horns, sputtering car engines and random merchants that there was little chance of anyone overhearing them in the street.
“Listen, I know you don’t trust me, but I’m asking you to give me a day to show you what I’ve been working on. Don’t make any decisions until then.”
“That won’t work for me, Boots. If you’re on my side, you need to read me in or you’re off the unit.” Luke had never taken such a hard line with one of his men, but he was dead serious this time. Boots raised a brow, probably just as surprised as Luke was.
