Page 39 of Hidden Attraction

“There’s nothing to eat or drink in the house. We’re going to find a restaurant where we can talk. A busy one.”

There was safety in numbers. While he might just be picking up some undercover’s secretive movements that had nothing to do with him and Alyssa, he couldn’t take any risks.

When they found a restaurant with seating both indoors and out, he indicated that they’d like to sit outside. The table was situated beneath a canopy that offered shade and a measure of coolness. Once again, he positioned his back to the adobe wall with Alyssa inches away on his right.

If he needed to defend her, he could easily throw his body in front of hers or flatten her to the ground with a swipe of his arm. He touched his weapon along his spine just to satisfy himself it was ready.

Alyssa was tight-lipped, not uttering a word until they had drinks and food in front of them—more flatbread with spiced oil and this time a small plate of cured meats to share.

“What’s the real reason why we didn’t go to the safehouse?”

He hunched his shoulders. “I picked up on something.”

“Something.”

“It’s just a feeling I get.”

“Youget, or all special operatives get?”

He shrugged, his only response to the question. “It could have been nothing, but I don’t take chances.”Especially with you.

“Okay,” she said quietly, picking up a chunk of bread. “Let’s talk about the base. You go first.”

“Rezvan was definitely nervous.”

“You think Thorne warned him not to speak to us?”

He nodded. “I do. But I also think he will make good on his promise to see us around the city. He just wants to do it on his terms, maybe when the commander doesn’t know and can’t question him about it.”

She let out a sigh. The buzz of conversation around them, in addition to the traffic on the nearby street, provided the perfect cover to this discussion. But she still pitched her voice low and leaned closer to Chase when she spoke. The sweet notes of her perfume filled his nostrils, and lust stirred low in his gut.

She swallowed a bite of bread. “I asked the commander a lot of questions about the original matters I mentioned. But I dug a bit further too.”

“And?” He stuffed some meat in his mouth and chewed, surprised by the delicious spices. He really did enjoy traveling and sampling new cuisines.

“I asked about the helicopter.” She leaned closer, voice hushed. “Did you know that Echo team had their own pilot assigned to them?”

“That’s typical protocol.”

“Thorne also assured me that the inspection met standards that day.”

He scanned the area before dropping his gaze to the bread in his hand. He knew that too. Had read it in the reports. But there was more behind the crash, and everyone at Blackout knew it.

When Alyssa brushed her fingers over the back of his hand, he jerked his stare up to hers. The golden-brown depths of her eyes burned with sympathy. “What did you learn?”

He darted another glance around them, at the other guests enjoying their food and then to the cars passing on the street. “Somebody opened a portal that day.”

She stopped with her hand in the air, the oil-drenched bread inches from her lips. “A portal?”

“Things like that are used to allow access to the system, usually for techs to get in and perform system repairs. But this seems like this was something else.”

Her stare didn’t shift from his face. “You think someone gained access and tampered with the system, somehow causing the helicopter to crash?”

“Dante said as much. The system was scrambled. Those birds run on complex avionics, all of it tied into onboard computers. If someone hacked the network, introduced a command override at the right moment, it could’ve caused a catastrophic failure. I didn’t close the portal—Dante’s still inside the base’s system and in Thorne’s personal computer too. If there’s stronger evidence of tampering, he’ll find it.”

A shadow of fear crossed her face. “That’s so scary.”

“It goes to show thatanyonecan gain access to your life.” He searched her eyes for more shadows—ones she tried to conceal.

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