Page 13 of Hidden Attraction

Her shoulders drooped.

Above all, it was her job to think clearly, and she had allowed those masked men to rattle her.

“Denver, take their phones,” Chase ordered. “I don’t trust our charges.”

Anger ignited inside Alyssa. “Excuse me?”

Those eyes met hers in the rearview, and she saw something there—lethal calm edged in frustration.

“You want to get yourself killed, be my guest. But not on our watch. You do things our way and that means following our instructions.”

A large hand reached between the seats, palm up. She stared at the half-moon calluses on Denver’s hand before reluctantly slapping her phone into it. Kennedy did the same.

Alyssa’s temper spiked, hot and way more irrational than it should be. She’d faced shooters. Negotiated with criminals while a bullet waited an inch from her brain stem. She wasn’t easily shaken, yet Chase was sending her into a fit of anger after only a few barked words.

When he pulled into a parking lot and popped the console, she and Kennedy shared another concerned look. Neither of them knew what the man was doing.

Chase extracted something black. Something cloth.

As he twisted in the seat and fixed her in his stare, her heart performed another of those flips. “Put this on.” He held out the black object.

She fused her spine tighter against the seat. “What is that?”

“A blackout hood. It’s protocol that you wear the hoods to enter our base.”

She started to sputter a protest, but he tossed the hood into her lap and another to Kennedy.

Being taken against her will to what was clearly the top-secret base of a ghost op team was one thing. But it didn’t begin to touch her mortification that she had to wear a hood.

Chase leveled her in a pointed stare that told her that she hadzerochoice in the matter.

She needed to take the lead in all things. Kennedy looked to her for guidance on government matters as much as Alyssa looked to her for fashion advice.

She plucked the hood out of her lap and held it up in front of her face. With a fortifying gulp, she slipped it on.

“Oh god,” Kennedy murmured, probably as the darkness swallowed her senses too.

Alyssa extended her fingers along the leather seat, searching for Kennedy’s. When she touched her assistant’s fingers, she clasped them. They might be out of their element, but they had each other.

A second later, she felt the car roll forward. The following minutes pulsed bywaytoo slowly. Neither man spoke again, but every muffled noise seemed amplified despite the hood. Alyssa’s other senses kicked in too, giving her a strong awareness of each turn they made and the amount of time they were driving.

When the car finally stopped, she rocked forward in her seat. Before she settled again, she straightened her spine and waited for what came next.

The door opened. Air currents teased at her clothing. Then strong fingers gripped her shoulder, and she turned toward the man that must be Chase.

“Swing your legs out of the vehicle and stand up.”

She drew a deep breath and did as he asked. The faster she got inside this mysterious base, the sooner she could get this damn sack off her head.

He clasped his fingers around her elbow, guiding her blind. The sound of her boots on cement changed to the subtle click of her feet on some interior flooring. Tile?

Marble.

Where was she?

A new male voice came from her left, echoing, indicating that wherever they were, the ceilings were pretty high.

“Take them to the rooms in the back. Split them up.”

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