Page 29 of Operation Heartbeat

That’s me. Doing the right thing. Not fucking my cryptologist after waking up with her in my arms.

He fixed himself a cup of coffee and carried it back to the sofa. Sophie now held a phone in her hand.

The one that had been confiscated by airport authority.

Con sank to the sofa beside her. “What did you find?” He brought the coffee to his lips and gave it a tentative sip. It still scorched his mouth, but he forced it down his gullet.

She bubbled with excitement, squirming on her cushion. “This. It’s big, Con. It’shuge.”

He fought back his first response to her outburst about something else that was huge—he’d lived with rough men too long—and took the phone from her. After a quick glance, his gaze snapped to her.

“You should have woken me up for this.”

“I tried. You…” That flush was back, and she ducked her head to hide it from him.

He knew damn well what he’d done. His cock wasn’t going to let him forget.

He eyed her. “How did you find this when Kit didn’t?”

“Kit?” Confusion lit her pretty face.

“A hacker who works closely with our team.” He turned his attention back to the screen. “Sophie, this is bigger than we thought. This gives us proof of that. We knew he had taken an interest in the Federal Building, and again, this is proof that will hold up in a court of law. But there aremore codes.”

“I know and I think I might have one solved!”

His eyes bugged. “Well, what does it say?”

She had set the laptop aside and drew it into her lap now, twisting the device so he could see. She’d pulled up a blank document and typed a series of letters into it.

Tick-tock—by now you’ve felt the first tremor of my message.

Con gripped Sophie’s thigh. “How did you do that?”

She tripped over her words. “Studying the first cryptogram allowed me to unravel this one much quicker.”

“You did this last night?”

“No, it came to me while you were in the bathroom.”

He blinked. “You’re joking. Sophie, I couldn’t have been in there more than five minutes.”

She tucked her chin down and averted her gaze to the screen as if embarrassed by her own prowess.

He grabbed his phone. “We have to get this to my commanding officer. We’re going to transfer everything we know in a secure file. Start compiling everything you have into a document. The names you have, the signature, everywhere he was, every step he took in the US.”

She shook her head. “He didn’t have maps history on while he was in the US. We only have a couple addresses and charges on his digital wallet. And hotel records.”

“We have an entire team of FBI and CIA agents behind us to dig up more.”

She got to work as he put in a call to Commander Barrett.

The call revealed far more than he was expecting. As he ended the call, Con slid a glance to Sophie.

She had moved to the table and continued digging through the phone. He could see this was fun for her. A puzzle to be solved.

He approached her. “I have news.”

She looked up from the phone, waiting.

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