Page 60 of Operation Heartbeat

“Ew, they’re making out again.”

She jerked. Con ripped his mouth from hers.

She blinked at the flashing lights onstage, registering that the guys had seen everything through Con’s glasses.

“Oh god.” She scrubbed a finger between her eyes.

A low chuckle filled her ear.

“Charlie 3, drop and give me fifty.”

At Con’s order, more laughter burst from several listeners on the line. Sophie pressed her fist against her lips to stifle a giggle, but it bubbled out anyway.

Con wagged his head like a disappointed dad and slipped an arm around her again. The warmth of his arms. The music. The atmosphere. Sophie forgot all about Deniz as the second band took the stage, and she threw herself into the experience.

She’d been to a few concerts in her high school and college days, but she couldn’t recall the last time she’d enjoyed music so much.

She looked up at Con and found him watching her closely. She smiled, and his eyes lit up. His fingers stretched along her back, sending tingles through her lower belly.

As she returned her attention to the stage, she remembered the shipping agent. He still stood with everyone else in the crowd, but he wasn’t swaying to the beat the way everyone else did. He appeared to be separated—in his own world.

She spent a long time watching him, but no one approached the man. Nobody spoke to him.

The last song began. Sophie felt the clock running out fast. Each beat that carried them nearer to the end seemed to speed by faster and faster.

After the final notes carried through the amphitheater and the crowd went wild, her stomach dropped in disappointment. Unless the shipping agent got stopped on the way out of the venue,nothinghappened.

Turning to Con, she realized that half of her disappointment was the letdown that her wonderful experience…shared with him…was over.

Into her communication device, he rumbled, “We have to hurry.” He grabbed her by the hand.

She craned her neck to catch what he was seeing, but it was impossible. She was swallowed by the crowd and people much taller than her. With no choice but to rush behind in Con’s wake, she clutched his hand and let him pull her along.

“I got eyes on him,” came into her ear from one of guys on Con’s team. “He’s alone.”

Several tense beats of silence thudded. Then he said, “He just got into his car and left. Nothing to report.”

With her free hand, she grabbed at Con’s arm. He sent her a sideways glance and a short shake of his head. “Not here.”

The minute they were in the car with Mason behind the wheel again, Sophie turned to Con. “Is this what the job is like? Nothing happened.”

“It isn’t unusual. Sometimes we sit for days and nothing happens.”

“Do you think it was a trap? To catch us out?”

“I considered that, but we’re hidden deep enough. I doubt we stood out in that crowd—there were a lot of Americans there.”

She compressed her lips. Up to this point, most of this job had been fun. Deciphering codes and jet-setting around the world, dressing up for nice dinners… having fun sex with Con.

Even the strangest cryptograms had logical patterns. Her current state did not. Her scholarly mind didn’t work like this.

She was in Turkey.

With a Navy SEAL so deep undercover he didn’t exist in any records.

Pretending to be his wife.

She didn’t belong here.

---