Page 3 of Hidden Attraction

Dante sat back in his seat, biceps flexing as he folded his arms over his expansive chest. “Do we really need permission? I can get what we need. No lines. No waiting.”

Con grunted. “We know you’re a highly skilled hacker, but we need to attempt to go through the proper channels first.”

He shrugged. “Your call. But in fifteen minutes I can get what you need. When you’re ready to cut through the red tape, tell me.”

Con didn’t respond to that. His gaze shifted to the whiteboard and Chase’s wild diagram of the team he’d lost before returning to the big screen. “We suspect that bomb we were following to Fort Leonard Wood—then lost track of—is what was used in the bombing at the ICE facility.”

Henner leaned forward. “Bigger question is how did a bomb getin? May and I saw the size of that crate. It’s not easily concealed. It’s gross negligence that a bomb could even make it inside the facility.”

May Lin, the explosives expert working with Charlie team—and Henner’s girlfriend—sat near the foot of the table. She stared at the image of the destroyed school building for a long beat. “We don’t know it’s the same bomb.”

Con said nothing as he turned back to the screen. He clicked a button on the remote to roll new video footage.

Chase’s gut clenched as he watched the events unfold on the news in real time. Live footage from Mexico. Political fury. Outrage from the citizens. Then the coverage switched back to the bomb site. The press swarmed the street and smoke still curled from the rubble.

“Mexico is furious that their citizens were involved in the attack. It’s a miracle we haven’t been pulled into a full-blown international incident yet. Which is why May and Henner will be going to the site to investigate the bombing.”

The pair nodded at the order.

“And we have a diplomat to protect.” Con pointed at the screen again, just as a woman stepped into view.

Sleek black hair. Dark sunglasses. She was surrounded by suits and security, then swept into a black car.

Chase squinted.

“Wait.”

Everyone silenced once again with unspoken questions and rising concern. Nobody even twitched an eye as they waited to hear what new chaos Chase would unleash on them.

The lump sitting in his throat felt jagged as he forced it down in a swallow.

“What is it, Cobra?” Con asked.

He didn’t swing his stare away from the woman on the screen. His words came out slow, measured with an ounce of uncertainty.

“I think I know her.”

* * * * *

Alyssa Vargas couldn’t breathe. Not because her blouse was too tight, though it was—and maybe the fabric wasn’t the best choice for the boiling day in Mexico City—but because this was turning into the kind of day that made even seasoned diplomats weep into their coffee.

It all started with the explosion had rocked the world before dawn. A former school converted into an ICE processing center…wiped out. Forty-one people—staff and immigrants—had been inside. Forty-one lives.

Forty-one reasons why Alyssa couldn’t afford to panic.

Now she was being flown to New York City to meet with the secretary-general of the United Nations in person. She was used to being in the thick of things, but this was big. As the liaison between two countries, the responsibility to smooth tempers rested on her shoulders.

Alyssa gripped her phone. It had been vibrating nonstop ever since she got the news of the attack. She’d already taken so many calls that all the names were a blur in her mind.

A new tsunami of text bubbles flooded in from her chief of staff. Then a flurry of messages hit from her contact at Homeland Security…

Oh god. Even her mother was texting. Why did it seem like her mother always had a finger on the pulse of world events before Alyssa did?

Worst of all, the press was completely blowing up her phone.

Somehow, word had already spread before Alyssa found time to brush her teeth.

She hurried into the hotel bathroom and rushed through her morning routine. When she walked out, she saw her assistant Kennedy had entered through the room through their adjoining door and stood at the side of the bed. Alyssa’s suitcase was open.

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