Page 66 of Operation Heartbeat

“I don’t know much, only that they’ve been looking for him the entire time we’ve been in Turkey. We had a lot on the guy—location, access to his phone records and emails, but they still hadn’t found him as of yesterday. They finally pinned him down to bring him in for questioning, but when they entered the apartment, he was already dead.”

“Did he take himself out to keep from being arrested?”

“Not likely. He had a bullet in his back and no weapon found on the premises.”

“Oh god, Ryan. That’s so scary. What happens now?”

This was all so real. So raw. And too close to home for her.

“Maybe I can help.” She made a shift toward the laptop on the desk. “One of those cryptograms might reveal something.”

“No, Sophie. We’re going to the safe house. Get your things together.”

At his sharp tone, worry and fear balled in her stomach. She stood frozen for a moment, unsure where to start.

All at once, her feet unglued from the floor and she hurried to the bedroom. Tossing a look around the room, she located her bag set neatly against one wall. She grabbed it and began tossing everything she had scattered around into it. High heels, the discarded Princeton T-shirt. The black shirt that Con loaned her was balled up on top of her bag, and she hesitated about whether to give it back to him but finally stuffed it into the bag with her belongings.

She was just exiting the bathroom, both hands full of toiletries, when Con walked in and started packing his bag.

“The car will be here in three.”

Her gut clenched. She let out a noise, and he stopped, turning his head to look at her. Whatever he saw on her face made him abandon his task and cross the room to her.

He drew her against him. “You’re safe with me. With Charlie team.”

She nodded against his chest.

He smoothed a hand over her hair before releasing her.

“Should I change?” She looked down at her loungewear.

“You’re fine.” He zipped up his bag. She stuffed her toiletries in her luggage. Con grabbed both of their bags and headed out.

As they passed by the glass door, she sent a look into the darkness, wishing for one final glimpse of the beautiful pool and terrace. Both were obscured from view, and she caught only the faint outlines of her and Con’s reflections in the glass. Con standing close behind her.

“I wish we’d had more time here. Together,” she whispered.

Saying nothing, he just squeezed her hand before urging her out of the room, out of the hotel and into the night. This time Mason didn’t have the car waiting for them. Another man sat behind the wheel.

Con looked inside, and Sophie saw his shoulders tense. “Jesus Christ.Denver.” Con’s voice rumbled with surprise as they jumped into the back seat. “What the hell, man? When did you get out of the hospital?”

The man was mostly obscured by darkness, but the faint lighting from the dashboard skimmed along the angled planes of his face. “Two days ago. They were going to send me Stateside, but I heard y’all were in Turkey, so I made my way here.”

“Without orders from the cake eaters?”

The codes they seemed to be speaking in didn’t make sense to Sophie, but she was too scared for even her overactive curiosity to pique.

Denver Malone waved a hand in dismissal. “I wasn’t going back to base without my team.”

“Glad to have you. Damn, it’s good to see you, brother.”

“You too, boss man.” The car sped through the sleepy city. When they reached a tall, narrow building perched on the corner of two streets, Denver pulled around behind it.

When Sophie stepped out, she had the dizzying sensation of stepping into a black hole. The inky darkness seemed to swallow every lumen of light. She clung to Con, trusting him to lead her. Out of the darkness, a faint orange light loomed up, revealing the outline of a door.

Only Con’s arm around her kept her feet moving. Her body wanted to freeze in fear.

Sophie hunched her shoulders. Her mind knew that Con would never lead her into the path of danger, but everything felt too frightening.

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