Page 19 of Hidden Attraction

He looked like he was one twitch away from detonating. His jaw flexed. The ropes of muscle on his forearms clenched as he gripped the wheel tighter.

“Two survived. I was one of them. But I’m the only one left standing.”

God. She didn’t work closely with the military, but she knew they were close-knit. They banded together to form a new family, an impenetrable brotherhood. And Chase had lost all of his brothers, every last one.

“I’m sorry.”

He only blinked once in acknowledgement. Then he continued where he left off before she interrupted. “Our second focus of this mission: the Red Cross facility that was bombed.”

Surprise slithered through her un-caffeinated brain. “I wasn’t involved in either event. I’ve only been to Syria a couple times. The last when I was negotiating a hostage exchange.”

It hadn’t been easy on her either. Hostages were never given good treatment, which was difficult enough to see. But women in those situations were treated like sub-humans, and a female investigative journalist was in danger of being executed with only hours left on the clock. Despite her victory, the event continued to haunt Alyssa for years.

She smoothed her damp palms over the thighs of her linen trousers. “Tell me more about the Red Cross bombing.”

He took a right turn, pausing to let a donkey laden with water jugs cross the street with its owner.

“The Red Cross was set up on the border of the shopping district. They were there to hand out supplies and administer simple medical care.”

“The organization was targeted? I thought the Red Cross was supposed to be a universal hands-off—neutral, peaceful.”

He gave her a brief nod. “The bombing took place the very same day you freed those hostages. My team was called out to both places, and Echo was spread too thin.”

She fixed her wide eyes on him, waiting for him to say more.

His throat worked around a jagged swallow. “We were informed of the bomb threat at the Red Cross, but we were ordered to secure the area with the hostages…and protect you.”

She sucked in a heated breath. People had died becausesherequired protection?

She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to wrap her mind around what he was saying. “My god…”

He whipped his head to pierce her in his gaze. Those dark brown eyes didn’t look as cold as they did before. “It wasn’t your fault, Alyssa. There are threats every day. Many a day. Most never take place.”

His use of her name chiseled away a little of her armor, and what he said pierced her. Her throat thickened. “But this one did.”

“I know survivor’s guilt. I deal with it every damn day. But this isn’t your fault.”

They fell silent as he drove the last leg of their journey. When they ended up at the US military base, she still hadn’t recovered from what he told her. She curled her trembling fingers into fists and tried to make sense of the senseless of it all.

Five minutes later they were standing in front of the base commander. The man was a military lifer—tall, rigid, with an unwavering stoicism. He gave Chase a nod in greeting but only skimmed over Alyssa.

He waved a hand for them to sit. Chase offered her the chair first, and she sank to it with her guard way up. She didn’t like any of this, least of all being so easily dismissed by the commander.

She reminded herself she could talk a man down from a ledge—she could sweeten up a misogynistic man too.

Once she and Chase were seated, Commander Thorne appraised them both. “I was informed by Commander Barrett that you have some questions about certain matters that took place on this base.”

“That’s right.” Chase shot Alyssa a sideways glance before launching right into the first order of business.

The commander listened attentively to what Chase had to say. When he finished, Thorne sat back, fiddling with a pen on his desk. “The crash took place…what? Two years ago?”

One year after the bombing, after she freed the hostages.

“Yes.” Chase’s voice was a rough rasp.

“Accidents happen. They aren’t all grand conspiracies. Sometimes they’re just…chaos.”

The tendon in Chase’s jaw ticked. “That crash killed fourteen men.”

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