Page 7 of Lethal Game

She studied him. That sounded like the truth.

All well and good, but that didn’t necessarily make him the right partner for her.

“Are you prepared to spend eighty percent of your time planning for possible missions that might never happen?” she asked him. “We might never getout there, but if we do, I need you focused on this job, not your old one.”

His jaw clenched. “When I take on a mission, a partner or a team, I give that mission and those people everything I’ve got.”

Sounded like macho bullshit to her, something she had no time for. She went back to her microscope, muttering, “You don’t even know what I do.”

“Give me a chance to find out.” He took a step toward her. “I have a buddy who works with one of the other doctors in your team. He says it’s the most challenging work he’s ever done. That’s what I want. I want to push myself and expand my skills.” He spread his hands out in supplication. “I want to make a fucking difference, even if only the two of us know it.”

Make a fucking difference.

The same goal she set for herself every morning when she woke up. She didn’t want to be impressed, but of all the things he could have said, that was the one sentiment she’d been hoping to hear.

Now that she had, she couldn’t quite believe it. Everything he’d said and done tumbled through her head.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours to prove to me you’re in this for the long run, you have something to contribute, and you really can work with me. If you don’t, you’re gone with no bitching to Max.”

He gave her a slow, calculated smile that shot Arctic air through the room. “Deal.”

***

Con left Sophia’s officewith the adrenaline of an accepted mission speeding through his system. She’d thrown down a gauntlet, one he was happy to pick up.

Someone should have warned her not to goad a Special Forces soldier like that. He wouldn’t back down from a challenge. Hecouldn’t, not if he wanted to maintain his reputation as a man who got the job done. Period.

What he needed now was information. He headed for the young soldier who occupied the desk outside Max’s office.

“Walsh,” Con said to the private. “I need the names of the previous Special Forces soldiers Dr. Perry washed out.”

The kid didn’t have to think about his request at all. He immediately wrote down a list of four names and handed them to Con.

He knew two of the four. Both were good men who had plenty of experience in adapting to whatever mission they were assigned. The other two he didn’t know, but he could find out more without difficulty. What the fuck could they have done to get rejected and ejected?

Eugene was staring at him like he was one of those impossible-to-solve mind bender puzzles.

“What?”

“She didn’t fire you yet.” He sounded almost disappointed.

“This is the Army. We don’t fire people, we tell you exactly how you screwed up at a volume that makes it obvious to everyone within a mile.” He didn’t want her to scurry behind his back to get rid of him. He’d have to make sure she didn’t.

“She doesn’t do that.”

Con’s smile came back. This kid was sharp, and Con would bet his left nut the private knew all about Sophia, what she wanted and how she operated.

“So, what did the other guys do wrong?”

“Everything.”

“I’m gonna need more than that, kid.”

Con found himself on the wrong end of a measuring glance he himself used on newbies who thought they were king shit of Turd Island, but balked at doing the dirty work when shit hit the fan.

“They took one look around here and rated us way down on the priority list. Then they looked at Sophia and dismissed her because they decided she was too young to have any real responsibility or authority.”

“That was dumb.”

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