Page 58 of Logan

He almost laughed but kept his face neutral.If she only knew how SEALs were trained to change in an instant. Alter plans. Rethink missions. Step in when someone else is better suited or in proximity to do something. Hence, the reason the LSI branches almost always hired former special forces.Clearing his throat, he said, “Okay, good. I can work with this.”

“Promise you’ll listen to everything?”

“Viv.”

“I suppose that one utterance of my name is to indicate that you will,” she quipped, pursing her lips. “Okay, here it goes in a nutshell. I need to be the one to go inside the Zamans’ house?—”

“Abso-fucking-lutely not!”

“Logan! You promised!”

“Viv, if you think for one minute?—”

“You promised to hear me out! You owe me that,” she pleaded, plunking her bottle on the table next to his.

Not one to renege on a promise, he dropped his chin to his chest, silent for a moment as he tried to tamp down the irritation. Lifting his gaze, he saw her staring at him, her focus not wavering. “You’re right. I promised. It won’t change my mind, but go ahead. I’m listening.”

“Listen andabsorbwhat I’m saying, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, but he already knew his answer would not change.

“In order to create the samples I need, I have to have a certain amount of the solutions in certain combinations. I need them to be marked carefully, or I won’t be able to tell anythingabout what I’m looking at, or it will take a lot longer to determine what they are. By studying the cameras of them working in their lab, I understand what they’re working on and how their space is utilized. They have codes on the labels that won’t mean anything to you but will to me.”

Vivian eyed him warily, but he was listening. His expression might be all hard lines, stormy eyes, and frowns, but he was listening.

Continuing, she said, “If I send you in, I will have to give explicit, step-by-step instructions, and since biochemistry isn’t your thing, it will be much harder for you to know what you’re looking at instinctively. Yes, I could be watching, and I’m assuming you’ll have some kind of camera on you and an ear thingy so I can talk to you, but that’ll take time. Precious time.”

Leaning forward, she placed her hand on his leg. “And honey, you can’t make a mistake. That’s what scares me… there is no room for error. If they come back before we expect them, and you’re still inside, you can’t just rush out, jiggling the samples. Too much is at stake. And I sure as hell don’t know how to create a diversion…unless I set the grill on fire.”

His lips twinged, but he fought to remain stoic.

“You, on the other hand, would make a much better outside person.” Seeing him about to speak, she said, “I’m not finished. You’ve got to give me this.” When he settled back on the sofa, his eyes still on her, she continued, “You could get me in, then stay on watch outside. I go in, quickly and efficiently get what I need and label in a scientific shorthand, while leaving enough solution that they don’t suspect anything… hopefully. Then I come back out to you. You do your super-spy lock up, and they’ll never know. Or, God forbid, they come back early, you’d know what to do to give me time to get out.”

Sitting on the worn sofa in a little, somewhat shitty house in the middle of nowhere Alaska, Logan stared at Vivian, his heartfilled with everything she was. Smart. Funny. Daring. Beautiful. Resourceful. And he hated like hell to admit it, but she had a point. A really fuckin’ good point.

Logan sat with his arms crossed, filled with the fear that comes from the unknown. He’d agreed to present Vivian’s plan to his Keepers and now wondered if he’d lost his damn mind. Vivian sat next to him in front of the laptop screen, where they used the secure connection to the Keepers at the compound. The screen just held the LSIMT logo so she couldn’t see anyone, but they would be able to see him and Viv.

She had been nervous at first, but her voice was steady as she laid out her plans to them, just as she had for him. When she was finished, he turned the laptop and nodded. Their faces around the compound table appeared. He cast off a hard stare. “So? Comments? Ideas? Discussions?”

“She sounds badass to have come up with the plan,” Sadie said, lifting a brow as though to dare Logan to disagree.

Dalton’s lips curved. “She’s made it this far and managed to get the necessary information. She knows what’s at stake.”

“She’s right about working faster than you being able to on this plan,” Cory said. “The time it would take to instruct you as you go?—”

“And the possibility that you don’t get one of the right chemicals,” Sisco interjected.

Cory nodded, then continued. “You’re more likely to make an error.”

“She would be safe with you on the outside,” Tim added.

Logan’s jaw tightened as he listened, but then slowly eased. He trusted these people. He’d made them Keepers and workedto instill how they needed to rely on each other.What would it say if I didn’t do that now?Blowing out a breath, he moved his gaze to Landon and lifted a brow.

Landon nodded. “Her reasons are solid, boss. Her plan is sound. They’ll be in the mosque in Fairbanks on Friday, giving you and her the most time to do what needs to be done. And it gives you tomorrow to practice. I think it has the most chance of success.”

With that, he ignored the off-screen fist pump from Viv sitting close to him and simply nodded. “Okay. But I want every scrap of intel you can give me from when they leave, following the tracer on their vehicle, and eyes on the other three.”

Murmurings of agreements sounded out. Disconnecting the video conference, he turned to Viv. Her eyes were on him, guarded but bright. “Looks like we’ve got a lot to get ready for because the day after tomorrow, you’ll be in the middle of the mission.”

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