Page 12 of Operation Heartbeat

“Oh Christ.” Con couldn’t contain his groan. The guys used mealtimes as a way to unwind, but that usually escalated fast. The professor shouldn’t be subjected to this.

True to form, Steele crossed the kitchen, doing his best bump-and-grind dance everyone else was used to seeing and ignored. But Sophie burst out laughing.

Whether the feminine sound brought more men to the kitchen or the smell of food did, Con couldn’t guess, but suddenly, the whole team was there, introducing themselves to Sophie and pulling out chairs for her to sit down.

She carried her plate to the long table and accepted a seat from Steele, who’d danced his way over. “Thank you. What did I walk into?”

He rolled his hips and chest in opposite directions. “You have to love the beat of this song.”

“Isn’t this a cover from another band?”

Steele stopped dancing and looked at Con, brows raised high. “Not many people know that.”

“No. They don’t.” Con wasn’t much of a music buff, but he’d spent enough time with these guys that some trivia had stuck. He stalked over to grab a plate and filled six hard taco shells with fixings. When he returned to the table, two of his men had taken positions on each side of Sophie and were chatting her up like they were at a bar on Friday night.

He set his plate down at the head of the table but remained standing. “This is a working dinner. We have things to discuss.”

Everyone silenced and gave him their full attention. Sophie sat with her hands in her lap, those dark eyes sucking it all in.

“You’ve all met Ms. Edwards.” He waved a hand toward her.

Several guys nodded in response.

“Today a man was detained at JFK airport by security before boarding a flight bound for Turkey. He was on a watch list. During his visit, he was caught on camera. It appears he took photos of the Federal Building, which has received a recent bomb threat.” He swept a glance over the group.

When he stated these facts, he was looking at Sophie. Her lips compressed into a line. Con could almost see the weight of what they were asking her to do settle over her. Until now, he hadn’t given her the entire story. She didn’t know why deciphering that cryptogram was imperative.

“They just let the guy go?” Henner asked from a few places down the table.

“They didn’t have any physical evidence of the photos until it was too late and he was onboard that plane. But more than photos were hidden in a cloud—there’s a cryptogram.”

Henner set his taco on the plate. “What the fuck?”

“Hey—language! There’s a lady present,” Mason cut in.

“It’s fine,” Sophie hurried to assure them.

“What’s the cryptogram say?”

She cleared her throat. “I haven’t figured it out yet. A little more information on the man’s background can make a big difference. For instance, the person who created the puzzle could speak either Turkish or Kurdish. It will help if I know how his mind works before I dig in.”

“Good thing we’re right on the coast—” one of the guys started to say.

Con issued a low growl of warning, and his brother-in-arms snapped his mouth shut as he realized his error.

Sophie picked up her taco. “You don’t need to worry about me giving away your location. I already know we’re in New Jersey. It’s not like I spend a lot of time in this area, but I’veseen neighborhoods that are similar on TV, and more than a few professors have homes here.”

Con’s head snapped toward her. “How do you know we’re in Jersey?”

She gave him an ingratiating smile. Like he was some kind of idiot trying to pull one over on somebody with smarts like hers.

“Come on. The flight was too short to go anywhere else. Plus the multimillion-dollar house gave it away.” She took a bite of her taco and chewed, eyes lighting up as she tasted the spicy food.

“Maybe I should have blindfolded you.” He sank to his seat and dragged his own plate closer.

Some of the guys chuckled. The other Blackout teamdidblindfold every person without clearances when they brought them to their base in Washington, DC. Con had heard more than one amusing tale about how people reacted to that requirement. But since they’d just relocated to this base a couple months before, no outsiders had visited. Sophie was the first.

She flashed a smile at Con’s grumble. “Oh, blindfolding me wouldn’t have helped either.”

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