Page 82 of Dangerous Devotion

As soon as May received another text stating the training would take place the next morning, Henner damn near broke a tooth from grinding them. Everything inside him screamed red alert.

But they were halfway there. Getting through this op meant they could move on with their lives…and figure out what came next between them.

In a short time, Chase relayed Con’s orders…then there was no choice but to move forward with the op.

They parked the car and climbed out. He and May met in front of the vehicle. The soft breeze teased at the fine strands of her hair. Henner folded his fingers to keep from reaching out and touching her. Now wasn’t the time nor the place.

“You good?” He pitched his voice low, even though nobody was around at this time of day, all the militia wrapped up in drills and any office personnel locked away in cubicles.

“If you don’t quit asking me questions like that, I’m going to start screaming.”

His lips tipped up at one corner. “That’s the May I know and love.”

She made a small noise in her throat and barely avoided rolling her eyes at him. They approached the entrance and were admitted into the building.

A lieutenant was assigned to show them to the hangar, and they followed him through the building and through an exit at the southwest corner. That spilled onto the field they walked before with Simpson.

As they reached the area where Simpson started getting nervous, Henner and May exchanged a look. He scanned the bighangars perched like concrete insects, gray against the backdrop of pale blue sky layered with wispy clouds.

Nothing gave off an ominous aura, but that didn’t mean darkness wasn’t lurking just beneath the surface. He darted his gaze to the hangar on the far left of the grouping. The location of the bomb.

May arched a brow at him, and he gave her a scant nod of affirmation that the tracker showed this as the location of that crate they followed all the way from a port in Virginia.

A stiff figure appeared from between the structures.

“Here comes Major General Simpson now.” The lieutenant’s voice held a note of respect and maybe a little awe too.

Simpson strode across the small plot of grass to meet them. His uniform was as crisp as ever with not an iron-gray hair out of place beneath the military cap he wore.

“You’re right on time.” He turned to the lieutenant. The man gave the major general a salute and then turned and walked off with a stiff gait that, if Henner had to guess, he was using to mirror his lieutenant’s posture.

His sharp eyes took in May and Henner. “Good to see you both.”

“Thank you for inviting me back to do this training. I hope you won’t mind if my husband sits in on it.”

Henner’s attention zeroed in on Simpson’s face, waiting for a reaction to May’s comment, but the man was composed, inscrutable.

Simpson waved a hand for them to walk with him. “Let’s go. The training begins at 1100.”

Henner’s fingers twitched toward May’s spine, then he thought better of touching her. When she went into business mode, she was totally focused on the task at hand.

He slid his hand into his pocket, running his fingertip along the edge of his phone again. The urge was strong to pull it out and check on that little pin on a map where the bomb was located.

The hangar was massive, a beast of metal and steel. In the front, folding chairs had been arranged in three rows.

“Looks like we’re expecting a good amount of people,” May said conversationally.

Simpson grunted. “Yes, and they’re going to be late if they don’t hurry up.”

May moved into the space, looking around in awe at the industrial interior. He cast another glance at her before following.

Their boots clicked against the concrete and fluorescent overhead lights buzzed. May wandered to the front of the space and faced the empty seats. Henner slid into a chair at the end of the back row.

May and Simpson spoke quietly. She was amazing, pulling off her part without a hitch. The ease with which she spoke to the major general disarmed him enough to make his shoulders relax.

For long minutes, the pair talked…but nobody entered.

“What on earth is keeping my trainees? I know I sent that memo out. They should be filling these seats by now.” Simpson stood at the front, arms folded and legs braced apart. His stance exuded command but his words sounded heavy with an undertone of irritation.

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