Chapter 6 #2
The men crowded around the table in full gear that rustled with every shift in their posture.
Con gave final orders, and the men broke away.
Chickie strode out first, followed by a few others.
When Opal walked straight up to Sinner and wrapped her arms around him, Ellory realized the SEALs were rushing out to take leave of the women they loved.
Sinner’s hand slid up Opal’s spine, anchoring her against him for a moment so touching that Ellory had to pull her gaze away.
Blinking at the screen she was pretending to focus on, she marveled over how it happened. The Blackout team wasn’t supposed to get close to anyone. When they joined, they severed ties with their pasts—their families, friends and everyone else.
But these men had forged new ties, not only with each other, but they’d created a family with the women they loved.
She darted a glance at Opal again. She and Ellory were similar in a lot of ways. Opal was driven to succeed and prove herself, and Ellory fought just as hard for her place.
Now Opal stood in the center of the room with everything Ellory once told herself she didn’t need. Not just her career and respect, but a man who looked at her like she was the one thing he would never gamble with.
Maybe I can have that too.
She felt heat stroke along the side of her face. Without turning her head, she knew Ash’s stare was riveted on her.
The path of her thoughts, coupled with her awareness of Angelo Ash, sent romantic images flipping through her mind.
Then Ash stepped up beside her, and any calm she’d built since their last kiss splintered. He didn’t touch her, but he stood close enough that she felt the heat of him through the thin fabric of her borrowed blouse.
“You find anything new?” His rough tone slipped to a place low and private inside her.
“No.” Her own voice was too breathless.
His shoulder came within a micro-inch of hers as he leaned in to study the screen, and the scent of him—clean soap layered over something darker and undeniably male—left what remained of her concentration in tatters.
Instead, she remembered his arms around her, the solid press of his chest as he supported her after that man tried to gun her down.
The way he had shielded her without thinking.
Her pulse tripled.
“You’re blocking the screen.”
He glanced at her, the corner of his hard lips lifting in something not quite a smile. “Am I?”
God, those lips. She couldn’t even convince herself that he had halitosis along with body odor and a hairy ass because she knew he tasted like spearmint.
She wanted those lips on hers again, stealing her breath—her cries—and feeding her those low, hypnotizing growls that made her whole body shiver.
“Yes. Move over.” She tried for authority but got hormones on overload.
Opal’s quiet laugh carried from the other side of the room. She glanced up to see her watching them.
Ellory felt heat climb her neck and realized too late that she and Ash were far closer than professional colleagues needed to be. Worse, she knew exactly how he’d been looking at her.
If she was honest, she’d been looking at him the same way.
When she glanced around, she saw the team had gone, leaving the rest at their command posts. As if everyone in the room suddenly realized the amount of work it would take to support Charlie in the field, they snapped into their roles.
Luckily, so did Ash. After he stepped back, there was suddenly more space in her lungs and some of her brain cells returned enough to dive into her work.
After a while, a cup of coffee appeared at her elbow, and she looked up to see Izzy holding a tray. She murmured her thanks and received a smile in return before the woman moved to Opal.
Ellory picked up the mug and took a sip. It probably tasted delicious, but her tastebuds weren’t in charge right now. She was staring at a string of code embedded in the financial file.
“Sophie.” Excitement quivered in her voice. “Can you have a look at this?”
Sophie jumped up and hurried to Ellory’s side. She felt it when the woman registered what she was seeing.
Sophie’s breath came out in a rush. “Zoom in on that sequence.”
Ellory adjusted the display. “My eyes aren’t playing tricks? You see it too.”
“It’s not there by mistake. It’s too patterned.”
Ash hovered behind them, his presence threatening to short-circuit her senses.
“It could be an account number.” She trapped her lip between her teeth as she sifted through her memory banks for a similar number sequence.
Ash dragged a chair beside Ellory. She thought he was going to sit, but to her surprise, he gestured for Sophie to take the seat. As soon as the woman did, she pulled the laptop closer.
Ellory focused on what the brilliant cryptologist was doing and pushed her glasses up her nose when she heard a low sound coming from Ash’s throat.
She glanced over to find his stare locked on her mouth. Her body prickled and she had to tear her gaze away and concentrate on something besides the hot SEAL who was obviously focused on her too.
Minutes turned into an hour. The clock was ticking down until the dual teams infiltrated the offices in upstate New York and Wyoming. She and Sophie went back and forth, cross-analyzing the code with the financial records.
When Sophie issued a small gasp, Ellory leaned in. “You see something?”
She nodded. “You’re right. It’s another account number.”
“Let me see.” This was her strength.
She felt the room still around her as she studied the number string. She only needed one number to jog her memory. If she’d seen it once, she’d recall it.
Ash didn’t speak, but she felt him watching her. When it was time to move, his focus shifted away, and she was able to breathe again.
Ash stepped fully into command mode, and the shift in him was immediate. His shoulders squared. His voice rang out with authority. Whatever heat lived between her and Ash was banked behind his sharp discipline.
“Wyoming, give me your status.”
Denver’s voice came through the speakers. “Two minutes out. No exterior movement. Thermal’s clean.”
“Copy. New York?”
Con responded. “Stacked. Waiting on your go.”
The room stilled around Ash’s voice. “Both teams, hold at thirty seconds. Sync on my mark.”
Ellory discovered she wasn’t looking at numbers but at the glorious flex of his back muscles and jerked her attention back to the screen. But his tone cut through her focus in a way that made her pulse leap.
Ash in command did things to her insides that she didn’t have time to examine closer.
“Wyoming, confirm breach points.”
“Front and rear entries set,” Denver replied.
“New York?”
“Rear stairwell and side office window. Thermals still clean.”
Ash twisted to glance at the central clock, muscles rippling.
“On my count.” His voice was impressively calm. “Three. Two. One. Execute.”
Through the speakers came the muted thunder of simultaneous breaches. A door splintering somewhere in upstate New York. Glass shattering in Wyoming. Boots pounded into controlled chaos.
“Wyoming inside. Clear left. Clear right.”
“New York?”
“Moving.” Con’s voice cut through the room. Next to Ellory, Sophie stayed tense. “Two office doors closed.”
Ash tracked both feeds as live body cam footage flickered across the main display. “Wyoming, second floor first. On the lookout for hard drives. Pull everything.”
“Copy.”
“New York, talk to me.”
“Offices clear. Found a server room. Taking everything.”
“Copy.”
Her stomach fluttered as he guided the teams through the op.
But underneath it, dread.
If they found Cipher, they might find someone with him. Someone who’d gone undercover and thrown himself into Cipher’s dark world to stop him. Her brother Archer.
Either one of these teams could find him today. She didn’t let herself finish the thought about what condition he’d be in.
She laced her fingers together in her lap and said a silent prayer.
Then she centered herself and got back to work. The code string was just as important as what was happening around her. Sophie had every right to be distracted—the man she loved was in the trenches—but the woman was pounding keys faster, peeling back layers, exposing more.
Ellory wasn’t as good at ignoring Ash. His voice threaded through her concentration like a stroke of his hand.
“Wyoming, basement access?”
“Locked,” Denver came back.
“Blow it.”
A few beats followed, then the sharp crack of a charge.
“Basement open. Moving.”
Ash widened his stance, shoulder muscles bunching as he folded his arms over his broad chest. Every muscle in him was coiled.
Ellory found her stare fixed on the footage as the men cleared empty offices in two different states, unable to think about them being in danger while she sat here perfectly safe.
Minutes passed, and she wiped her clammy palms on her thighs.
“Wyoming, basement?”
“Empty. Hard drives wiped. Looks like they pulled out fast.”
“Bag and tag everything. Pull the routers. I want everything they didn’t take. New York—status?”
“Server room’s a ghost town,” Con said. “Drives gone. We’ve got two desktops still live.”
“Pull them.”
Ellory’s heart jogged as she held her breath, waiting for them to find someone. But they didn’t. Cipher had moved.
Ash watched both feeds. “Any sign of recent occupancy?”
“Coffee’s still warm in New York.”
Sophie’s fingers paused, and she sucked in a low breath. Ellory reached out to touch her arm in an attempt to offer comfort.
“How warm?” Ash’s jaw flexed.
“Within the hour.”
A flicker of apprehension passed through the war room. So close.
“Wyoming?”
“Dust disturbed. No bodies.”
Ash exhaled slowly. “Both teams, listen up. Cipher’s not on site. We treat this as an intelligence recovery only. We regroup with data.”
There it was. The final order.
“Wyoming, secure and extract in ten. Denver, you’re wheels up as soon as evidence is logged.”
“Copy. Good to play again, brother.”
Ash’s face was in profile, and Ellory was looking at him when a smile ghosted across his face.
“New York, same timeline. Sinner, you’re point on transport.”
“Copy.”
Ash was still, gaze fixed on the feeds until the very last.
Ellory’s fingers took off across the keys again, and Sophie issued a low breath she’d been holding. Not far away, Opal’s head was bent as though she was giving thanks.
No fire. No casualties.
But no Cipher.
Just another move in a long game.
Ash waited until both teams confirmed they were outbound. Then he nodded once. “Good work. Stay tight. We’ll debrief when you land.”
The feeds shifted to vehicles moving. Only then did Ash’s spine relax, like steel flexing under the awareness of what he’d just done. The change in him was subtle but unmistakable.
At least to Ellory.
She realized her eyes were burning from staring at the screen and small spots danced around the edges of her vision.
Ellory looked at Sophie. “I need a minute.”
Sophie didn’t glance up. “Go on.”
Ellory stepped into the hallway, enveloped by a sudden stillness after the layered noise of comms and commands.
She pressed her fingertips into her temples.
“You were chewing your glasses earlier.”
Sucking in a gasp at the low rumble so close to her ear, she whipped around to face Ash. He’d followed her.
“What do glasses have to do with anything?” She folded her fingers into a fist to keep from reaching for him.
He stepped closer, and she backed up until her spine met with the wall. When he planted his hands on either side of her and leaned down, her breaths came in fast puffs.
He didn’t touch her.
That was the problem.
He was close enough that his body heat scorched through the thin fabric of her blouse. Close enough that she could see the pulse at the base of his tanned throat.
Close enough that if she tipped her chin just a little bit, her lips would brush his.
But she wanted him closer.
His dark eyes blazed down into hers. For one pulsing heartbeat, she didn’t even know if she could stop herself from sliding her hands up his chest and pulling him down to her mouth the way she’d imagined all day.
“You have work to do.” Her words lacked conviction.
“I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
The concern in his voice undid her more than any hunger would have.
A ragged breath slipped out before she could stop it. “I am.”
His gaze dropped briefly—to her mouth. Then back to her eyes.
“Then we’ll shelf this for later.” Another beat passed, sounding like thunder in her ears, then he pushed off the wall.
He took one step toward the war room.
Her hand shot out of its own accord and she wrapped her fingers around his forearm. Solid muscle flexed beneath her touch.
He stilled.
Slowly, he dropped his gaze to her hand where she held him, then lifted back to her face.
His expression was darker now, and she saw control fraying behind his eyes.
“Where?” she whispered.
His jaw tightened once, the crease bulging.
“My room. I’ll come for you.”