Page 30 of Operation Heartbeat

“There are more bomb threats that match with the intel the CIA has already uncovered.”

“I was afraid of that.” Some of the rosiness in her cheeks faded under a new layer of paleness. “I need to get back to work.”

He settled at the table to work through the information Barrett had provided. Long minutes passed in silence.

Suddenly, Sophie sat back in her seat, a stunned look rippling over her beautiful features. “My god. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”

“See what?”

“I know how to find him now.” She snatched up the phone again. After a few taps, she synced the phone that she held with the new one that he had obviously replaced it with.

Apps popped up all over the screen.

“Holy shit.”

Her words tripped out. “He thought he buried them. But there are footprints. Look at this! Hotel booking. Uber Eats!”

He leaned over her. “Or he wants us to believe this is his information.”

She bit down on her lip. “I considered the possibility.”

He skimmed the screen. “Jesus. We can see he had Thai food at three in the morning. Are there records from lifts he got from point A to B too?”

She dug around for a long, silent moment. Finally, she shook her head. “He didn’t catch a ride from this hotel to the next. So how did he get there?”

“He rented a car. Or he has a friend who picked him up.”

Their gazes locked as they both processed what that could mean. Men like this didn’t work alone. They had whole groups of people helping their cause.

“The even bigger question,” Sophie’s voice wobbled, “is where was he in between?”

SEVEN

Sophie raised a hand to brush a lock of hair away from her cheekbone. It trembled for a moment before she folded her fingers and hid her hand in her lap. She didn’t want a man as strong as Con to see her as the weak link in their team.

He saw it, though. Reaching over, he plucked the phone from her hand. “You’ve been working on this a lot. Take a break. Get cleaned up and I’ll make you some coffee.”

She snatched the phone back. He clamped his grip on it tighter, leaving them in a tug-of-war. She narrowed her eyes.

He narrowed his own back.

“Take a break, Sophie. I’ll order us room service.”

The mention of room service reminded her that they were posing as newlyweds who couldn’t leave each other’s arms—or bed—long enough to even feed themselves.

Seeing the lines deepen between his brows, she realized she wasn’t going to win this hand. She pushed away from the table and went into the master suite to dress. Just one glance at that rumpled, unmade bed had her tingling in places she definitely had no business tingling.

Quickly, she grabbed her bag and carried it into the huge bathroom. She started pulling out clothes for the day. But a glance at the enormous marble-walled walk-in shower made her change course.

Digging up more information about Bayar or whoever he was could surely wait five minutes while she took a shower.

The warm water trickling from the waterfall faucet was well worth her decision. When she had more time, she was going tospend a lot more of it enjoying this shower experience. Stepping out and wrapping herself in a thick, fluffy towel was a reward for her self-control in switching off that faucet long before she was ready.

Through the door came the rumble of Con’s voice as he spoke to someone on the phone. She had a huge case of FOMO—fear of missing out—and rushed into her clothes and ran a brush through her hair.

When she stepped out, he was just lowering the phone from his ear. He swung to look at her.

His stare traveled over her face and damp hair, down her body to her bare toes. She curled them into the floor as if they could keep her from floating away on some wild daydream.

---