Page 57 of Dangerous Devotion

“May.”

All of her concentration centered on the screen.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?”

She gave a small shake of her head. The straight ends of her dark hair swayed over her rod-straight spine. “I have too many questions I need answers to.”

He twisted the deadbolt and added the chain lock before wandering over to her. “May, this is important.”

“So is this.” She tapped away at the keys. The sound reminded him of thetap tap tapof her fingernail.

Leaning in, he skimmed over the website she had in front of her. A painting filled the screen, and she hovered over the artist’s signature in the corner, small and illegible to him. But she had a degree in art history. She must be searching for something she noticed back at Simpson’s house.

Henner had more concerns than a silly painting right now. When he leaned in to inspect one of the sculptures, he’d found a bug already planted there—by someone else.

“May, I planted those bugs.”

“I know.”

“And I found some too.”

Her fingers stilled on the keys. Slowly, she turned her head to gape at him. “Someone else bugged his house?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. I was going to plant a bug in one of the curves of that chain sculpture and there was already one there.”

He was prepared for her denial. Up to this point, she had defended Simpson. But the evidence was glaring—someone with a house filled with listening devices couldn’t be clean.

“What comes next?” May asked.

“I need to talk to Con. We need to find out who’s listening.”

Her expression gave away little as she turned back to her research—whatever that entailed.

Henner started pacing as he pulled out his phone. Con didn’t answer, but another familiar voice filled his ear.

“Cobra. What are you doing answering Con’s phone?”

“He’s in with Barrett right now. He told me to man his phone. Thought you might call.”

Henner pictured one of his best friends and fellow teammates on Charlie team. He and Julian Chase, aka Cobra, had been fighting together for the past three years. During that time, they’d saved each other’s asses at least twice. The guys liked to joke that they were easy to get confused—because they both had an attitude problem.

He could also hear the gruffness in Chase’s tone. Of all the tough badasses on Charlie, Chase was the one motherfucker none of them wanted to cross. He grew up on the streets, fighting for food and places to sleep.

Some of the guys liked to say that Henner and Chase got along so well because one was all seriousness and the other tried to pretend he wasn’t.

Henner compressed his lips. “I have something important for Con, but maybe you’re the better man to talk to.”

“I’m listening.”

In the background came the faint strains of jazz music. Only one guy on the Charlie team listened to jazz.

“Does Steele have KP tonight?”

“Yeah. He claims that he’s cooking Italian but it smells like sewer.”

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