Page 39 of Dangerous Mission

She’d changed her hair color from the photo Terri had showed Axel of her ex-assistant. Cy had dug into the woman’s past, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary except her balled fists at her side, though it wasn’t uncommon for an employee to hate the person who’d fired them.

Axel pressed his hand to Terri’s back a little harder. “Honey, it’s almost time for your speech. Why don’t we go get ready?”

“Okay.”

Axel turned toward the senator. “Have a good evening.”

The man pulled a card from his pocket and held it out. “Why not have your dad give me a call?”

Axel glanced at it but didn’t grab it. “If he decides he wants to talk to you, he’ll be in touch.”

Terri took Axel’s hand and dragged him out of the main ball area to a hallway. “God, I hate that prick. He’s stonewalled a few of the projects I’ve brought forward. He has it out for me, but I’m not sure why.”

She was so cute when she was mad, and he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her to his chest and pressing his lips against hers. No matter how many times they’d kissed in the past couple of days, he couldn’t get enough of her. He trailed his fingers down her bare arms, past her waist, and settled them on her ass. They almost hadn’t made it out of the house on time when he witnessed her put her dress on with no underwear, and he knew if he dipped his hands down the small opening on the back, he would be rewarded with her bare ass.

Terri deepened the kiss, tugging at the button of his shirt. If he didn’t stop them, they would strip each other naked in the middle of the hallway, where anyone could catch them having sex.

Axel pulled away, and Terri leaned into his arms. “I hate Senator Wilson so much,” she ground out.

“He’s old school and has the mentality that the world owes him for his service. You did perfectly well sticking up for yourself.”

“My ex-assistant being with the senator makes a lot more sense now. I’d asked her a few times not to schedule meetings with him.” Terri took a deep breath. “No matter how many times I asked, he ended up on my schedule, but she didn’t put his name, and I was blindsided. That was one of the reasons I got rid of her. Along with the fact that she was horrible at her job.”

Axel had an uneasy feeling wash over him about the senator.

Gumby’s voice came through his comm. “Isn’t Senator Wilson pushing for the president to stop the human trafficking task force? I’m sure I read somewhere he thought the money was being wasted and wanted to use the funds for a new top-secret military program. He won’t say what the project is.”

Terri gave him a puzzled look when he answered Gumby. “You’re right. I remember seeing someone fighting the program. I think his campaign for that started about six months ago.”

“You have a comm in your ear.” Terri squeaked. “They heard us K-I-S-S.”

Gumby burst out laughing. “She does realize SEALs can spell, right? Now, if a Marine were on the other end, it might be another story.”

Axel pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Yes, they could hear your cute little whimpers.”

Her face flushed. “My day just keeps getting better. What else could go—”

He placed a finger to her lips. “Please don’t jinx us by tempting fate. I need more information on why the senator kept meeting with you.”

“It started when I pushed for the task force. He wanted me to push some weapons agenda, but I never looked into it. When I finally got the funding, Dad turned the task force over to Director Ernest, but you know all this.”

Gumby said, “Ask her if the FBI came to her dad or if her dad went to the FBI.”

Axel repeated the question.

“Not sure. The plan I drew up was to create a new task force. The project has close to a hundred million dollars earmarked. To get the money, certain numbers need to be met, and the very base is.”

“So the FBI is getting the money with only doing the basic. Remember Director Ernest mentioned he felt someone was working against him,” Cy grumbled.

“Cy, can you or Tex look more into the senator?” Axel asked.

“Already on it.”

“Fucker,” Gumby said. “Senator Wilson just had the two people at your table moved to his.”

Axel's gut told him something wasn’t right.

Clicking came through the earpiece. “That’s strange,” Cy mumbled. “Ask Terri why they’re allowing the media into the ballroom. I’ve never seen a charity event with this type of price tag allow all media in. Even paparazzi with no passes got in.”

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