Page 76 of Operation Heartbeat

She scrubbed a hand over her face. “I thought you said you guys aren’t supposed to have families.”

A squeezing sensation in his chest made speaking difficult. How to explain this anyway? Alpha team had created their own rules. Charlie, by contrast, adhered to those set for them.

There was a reason for the rules. When they went into dangerous situations, a SEAL’s loved one could be used as a pawn to draw them out. After it had happened several times, the rules got stricter.

They were dead men walking. And they walked alone.

“We can’t have families, Sophie. But if you work with Blackout, we’ll be near each other.”

The small tightening of her lips was one he’d seen from her a lot while she worked. It meant she wasn’t going to jump in without a lot of consideration.

“It’s a really good offer, Ryan. I’m flattered that your boss thinks enough of me that I made the cut. But I need time to think.”

“You don’t have to answer immediately.”

She turned her attention to the horizon, shot with swirls of translucent clouds in the sea of blue. “I’ll give you an answer by the time the mission is over.”

His stomach twisted at the thought of her walking away.

* * * * *

Sophie lifted her fingers from the keyboard and picked up a pencil instead. She turned to the notepad next to her and began scratching out letters, then scribbling them out.

Drawing her lip between her teeth in concentration, she began again. After fitting several of the letters into spots, she shook her head and drew a darkXthrough them.

For hours she’d been chasing these patterns around and around, going in circles and getting nowhere. The half-drunkcoffee that Con had brought her sat at her elbow. She picked it up and took a sip, wrinkling her nose at the bitter flavor.

Walking away, taking frequent breaks, was part of the process, but she was glued to this table on the terrace by relentless determination.

“I have to be missing something,” she murmured, leafing through pages of notes. Her fingers trembled. The coded message was written across several of the pages. It wasn’t only a jumble of letters—it was a breadcrumb leading to something huge, something that would result in deaths if she couldn’t interpret it.

She flipped a page over, then stopped. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. She snatched up the pencil again, plugging letters into the coordinating spots.

“Aha!” Sophie lifted the paper and waved it wildly at Con where he sat across from her.

He shoved aside his laptop to take the paper from her. “You got it?”

“Yes!”

He looked at her over the top of the sheet. “What took you so long?”

She rolled her eyes at his question and rushed around the desk to stare at the words she’d written.

He stared at the paper too. “Jesus Christ. This is another location.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. The entire time she’d been deciphering the latest cryptogram, her stomach was sinking by degrees. She wasn’t even sure she was on the right track until the final piece of the puzzle snapped into place…and she saw it was a military base.

“Fort Leonard Woods. Where is that?” she asked.

“Missouri. It’s in the Ozarks. They train Army and Marines.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

They stared at each other.

“Do you think it has something to do with that shipment? The one they set up with Deniz but never came through on?” She was probably shooting in the dark with the question, but Con nodded.

“It could be. Our intel located several ports that he ships to.”

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