Page 84 of Operation Heartbeat

Guilt blasted through Con like a missile strike.

She left because she was trying to save me.

In a few short sentences, Con explained what was going on. The guard scrambled to pull the footage of Sophie leaving the hotel.

As soon as her image popped onto the screen, a knot constricted Con’s throat. Sophie ran outside, purse tucked close to her body. She looked around and then took off toward a taxi, hand raised to hail it.

“What’s that taxi company? Get them on the phone now!”

The guard grabbed the phone and made a call. The man brought his gaze to Con, his face pale. He lowered the phone from his ear and swallowed hard. “The taxi company doesn’t have a car with that number.”

* * * * *

Sophie wasn’t a fan of dimly lit rooms. Or the prison-chic décor in this space. A single bulb hanging from a peeling ceiling wasnot her style at all. Nor was the splintered wood chair her captor plunked her on and tied her hands to.

Voices echoed from another part of the house, too faint to make out even if she could have understood the language.

She should have studied languages more. That knowledge would have come in handy. Instead of reading through Con’s file on the plane, she could have been working on a language app and learning something useful.

She glared at the door they’d left partially open, willing the driver of that car to come in here so she could find a way to kick him in the balls. Anger rolled through her like battle tanks flattening every scrap of hope inside her.

While a burning fury raged at her captors, she wasjustas angry with herself. She should have known better than to leave the hotel. What was she thinking? She knew exactly the kind of people they were dealing with.

Was Con even in danger? For all she knew, she’d been taken in by a scheme to draw her out. She’d fallen straight into the trap, too.

No way would she ever work for Charlie team now. Even if she had agreed, she would back out. She wasn’t cut out for spy games. She was a professor. She’d stick to her whiteboard and her midterm exams. She’d keep her crappy parking spot and deal with wet clothes and an awful ex.

She’d be safe.

She’d also be lonely. Having Con drop into her life was the most thrilling thing that ever happened to her. Working with the special operator was exhilarating. His mind, stimulating. She didn’t want to let that go, no matter how terrifying it was to love him.

Light footsteps on the plank floor signaled that someone was coming. She gripped her fingers together where they weresecured behind her back and lifted her jaw in defiance just as her captor cleared the doorframe.

He was thin with a delicate bone structure and hunched shoulders. What he didn’t have in physical presence he made up for with a cruel streak.

When he paced toward her, she braced herself. He whipped out a fist aimed straight at her face. His knuckles glanced off her cheekbone.

Pain exploded through her, and she felt skin split and the hot trickle of blood. She bit back a cry—she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction he was so blatantly searching for. Holding it inside took a supreme force of will. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. Keeping them from falling took effort worthy of a Navy SEAL.

The man stared at her face, eyes narrowed as if she was pulling something over on him.

“You have a call,” he said in a broken accent.

Her mind reeled from the blow and pain echoing inside. But she latched on to what he was saying. A call? Her stomach pitched. It had to be Con. Nobody else could find her.

When she nodded that she understood, stars flashed across her vision. She could not pass out.Wouldnot.

“Untie me.”

He stared at her impassively. She glared back. When he moved forward, she caught the scent of body odor and spicy food. Her stomach clenched in abhorrence, and bile lingered in her throat.

He held out a phone. “Talk.” He pressed the phone to her ear with a painful bite.

Sophie’s breaths came fast and furious. “Hello?”

“Professor Edwards.” The person spoke English. He sounded American.

But it wasn’t Con.

---