Page 97 of Austen

Stein glanced over with a frown.

“I know you’re thinking about Phoenix.”

A muscle pulled in Stein’s jaw.“She’s probably fine.She’s scrappy and smart and...”He sighed.“Truth is, she probably ditched us.Again.”

“Why?”

“She’s...Let’s just say she has her own agenda.One that doesn’t involve getting picked up by American officials.So my guess is that she took that off the table.”

“Is she in trouble?”

“Sheistrouble.”But Steinbeck’s mouth hitched up one side when he said it.

Interesting.

“We met on a joint operation three years ago—both trying to rescue an asset who’d been kidnapped by...you guessed it, our friends the Russian Bratva.The Black Swans wanted him for their purposes...and we wanted him for ours.”He shook his head.“We got tangled up together for a couple days sorting it all out.In the end, she won.Betrayed me and left me for dead after her team blew up a café trying to extract her.”

“Left you for dead?”

He ran a hand across his mouth, sighed.“She called for help, but...I don’t know.It’s complicated.”

“That’s what bounced you out of the military.”

“Medical separation, two bionic knees.I should have recognized her in Barcelona, but my brain just didn’t click in fast enough.And then I caught her hunting your AI program in Mariposa, and...well, she’s rather unforgettable.Even when she’s disguised.”

Declan grunted in agreement.

Steinbeck wore that distant look again, as if scrolling through memories.Finally, he sighed.“I should probably try to, though.”

“Try to what?”

“Forget her.”He met Declan’s gaze.“Or maybe figure out why I can’t.”

Declan sensed there might be a third option, one that involved Steinbeck in something off-books and extracurricular.Yes, Stein definitely wore a “mission not over” expression.

Declan got it.Please, God, let Austen’s EPIRB be working.So apparently, he was all over the humbly-asking-for-help thing.“Whom have I in heaven but you?”

The thought hung on to him as the sun settled into the sea, as the stars came out, glistened on the waves.

They drank more water.Shared another bar and huddled in the raft, trying not to freeze as the wind and night cast them into the waves.

He woke at the sound of a seagull calling into the dawn-lit morning.Declan sat up, watched it circle, then fly away.

They couldn’t be that far from land.

Another seagull cried, and then he spotted a fin in the water.

“Is that a shark?”Steinbeck had woken too, and now sat up, watching it.

“I hope not.”

The animal surfaced, sprayed water from its blowhole.

Dolphin.In fact, an entire pod of them, now circling the raft, blowing, diving again.

Steinbeck glanced at him, a half smile.

Declan handed him a protein bar and water.They ate in silence, watching the sun rise, and he didn’t want to bring up her name.

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