Page 9 of Dangerous Devotion

He scrubbed a finger over his upper lip. “At least the poor bastard who went down in the plane doesn’t have to put on a tux for this gala.”

Their gazes met.

“Dark humor too much right now?”

“Little bit, Henner. Little bit.”

In no time they arrived back at the Blackout base. He jumped out and grabbed both of their bags before she could. She had to jog to catch up with him as he crossed the lawn in long strides. They circled the house to see the chopper at the ready, perched like an insect on the helipad.

He jerked his head toward the chopper, and May ran forward, ducking beneath the blades. Once they were situated and strapped in, he passed her a set of headphones.

Her mind bounced between all the information they knew and what she and Con suspected—and Henner too. That their bomber was responsible for that plane blowing up. That it was possible the catastrophe was a diversion from what might be an even bigger event—the bombing of a major military installation.

She went over the plan. First, they would land in Washington, DC and attend the gala. Then they had to locate that bomb and follow it so they could stop it from harming a lot more people.

After they were in the air for some time, Henner tapped her arm. She looked up at him. Through the headphones, his deep voice filled her ear.

“Before we land, I need to blindfold you.”

She recoiled. “You’re joking.”

He gave her a solemn shake of his head. “It’s the rule. No outsiders can see where a Blackout base is.”

“But I saw whereyoursis.”

“That’s different. You were invited to ours. You had Con’s approval.”

“I thought we determined I have a higher clearance than you!”

His blue eyes narrowed into laser beam sharpness. “There’s no clearance high enough for me to break protocol when it comes to Blackout.”

She silently fumed for the rest of the flight. When the buildings below began to clump together and form a city, Henner pulled out a black hood.

She shook her head hard. “No damn way!”

“May.” His voice sounded with a warning.

She held firm. “I refuse.”

He stared at her for a heavy beat before directing his attention to the front of the craft. “Pilot? Circle around.”

She sputtered. “Wait—no. We don’t have time for that.”

He held up the black hood, indicating that they did this his way or she took responsibility for delaying them.

Letting out a low groan, she yanked the hood out of his hand. “Fine.” She gulped as if it were her last breath before tugging it over her head.

Without all her senses, everything felt frightening. Her head swirled with every change of altitude and motion. The chopper descended quickly. She curled her fingers on her thighs.

Fortunately, the ordeal ended quickly. As soon as she felt the chopper touch down, she reached up to remove the hood.

Henner’s warm, rough hand grabbed hers. “Not yet. We have to get inside.”

She let out a huff of annoyance and received a low chuckle from him in return. The bastard. The minute she figured out a way to get even with him for this, she would enact her revenge.

She still wore the hearing protection when they got out of the chopper so she heard him loud and clear over the noise of the blades.

Henner planted his palm over her head. “Duck!”

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