Page 1 of Dangerous Devotion

ONE

The air in the room crackled with tension. Constantine stood firm at the head of the long conference table as the special ops team filed in. Chairs scraped on the floor, and the low murmurs faded.

AJ Henner leaned back in his chair while tracing the line of a jagged scar on his hand, a reminder of past battles. The wound had been deep, but he’d survived worse.

Years in the military had honed his skills, making him an expert at reading a room in a single glance.

Right now, this room screamed bad news.

The last members of SEAL Team Blackout Charlie filed in and took the remaining seats. He looked over two of his teammates, who’d been summoned to base from a short weekend away. Judging by the bags under their eyes, they’d made the most of it, but even they were solemn as they picked up the mood of the meeting.

Con’s stare lingered on the pair for a moment, then he cleared his throat with a slight grunt. “Thanks for getting here on time. We have a situation.”

On the wall behind him was a big screen. It was oddly black, devoid of the typical maps and charts required for the op their leader was about to share with them.

Henner directed his full attention to their commanding officer, but a quiettap tap tapbroke into his focus.

Directly across from him sat a stranger, a woman he’d never seen before. She tapped a manicured fingernail on the tableagain. Itwas the only sound in the room, and a foreign one compared to the rustle of gear or creaking chairs made by men.

He focused on that fingernail for a moment before swinging his attention back to Con.

“Sophie deciphered another puzzle,” Con informed them.

The statement didn’t come as a surprise. Their brilliant cryptologist had been working round the clock to decode cryptograms associated with recent bombings on US soil. When Henner passed by Con’s office earlier, he saw Sophie seated at the big desk, peering with total absorption at the computer monitor. The faint light coming off the screen highlighted the half-moons of fatigue beneath her eyes.

Henner studied his leader. Con wore similar signs of tiredness, which made him question if the couple was worn out for another reason.

A smile tugged at the corner of Henner’s mouth. Anothertap-tapmade him glance up at the woman across from him.

She arched a brow in question. Or challenge?

He raised both of his with a silent question of his own. Who was she and what was she doing at SEAL Team Blackout Charlie’s meeting? She must have clearance to be here, but that only raised more questions in his mind.

“Sophie declined to attend this meeting so she could continue to work.” Con’s sharp gaze swept the group. “We found the path of the bomb.”

The room fell silent except for the small, annoying tapping noise of the stranger’s fingernail on the table.

AJ’s stomach dipped with unease. “The bomb didn’t leave the port in Turkey that long ago. The ship made good time.”

Con gave a hard nod. “We know the transfer details. The crate arrives in port in Virginia tomorrow.”

Tap.

“What comes after that?” Henner fixed his stare on the unknown woman’s face. Her black hair hung in a straight sheet, framing her oval face and contrasting sharply with her porcelain white skin. She didn’t look tough enough to be in whatever position put her here.

Tap, tap.

Irritation slithered through him, but he buried it, along with his doubts about an outsider being on base. If Con was leaving out the introduction, there had to be a good reason.

And Henner didn’t want to think about what it might be. By the way Con looked at him, he knew this was going to behismission. His time to prove his worth to Charlie on a whole new level. They were already at the top, and these opportunities didn’t come up every day.

Con scanned the group. “The crate will be transported by military personnel to Fort Leonard Wood. We don’t know the exact route they’ll take yet.”

Jesus.

The implications of that sank into all of them. A bomb destined for a military installation posed a huge risk to national security. So far, a complex series of clues pointed to several threats and actual bombings carried out by the terrorist, but Charlie team didn’t know nearly enough.

“We mobilize immediately.” Con’s stare centered on Henner. “I want boots on the ground in Virginia tonight.”

---