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“Yes, but they’ll be with us until we hand you over to Bravo Team. The guys here, aside from Griffin, can keep an eye on Alyona and her men.” I couldn’t let Alyona put eyes on the rest of Falcon.
“Bravo Team,” she echoed, no longer fixing her hair. She’d moved on to tidying up her overall appearance, and it was distracting. Reminded me of what happened between us. “You trust them, I assume, or you wouldn’t turn me over.”
“Five of the best operators on the planet, yes.”
“Okay.” Again with no resistance, which was what I wanted.
So why in God’s name did part of me wish she’d fight me on this? Beg me to protect her instead? It felt like tearing out a piece of my beating heart knowing I’d be parting ways with her again. And why did that fucking organ, one I’d thought died years ago, only come alive when she was around?
Shaking out my arms, trying to rid myself of the tension there, I tapped my ear. I’d been so distracted, I hadn’t realized I’d double-muted the comms, unable to hear anything from either team. Not just the other way around.
Of course, Griffin would’ve knocked and interrupted if something was wrong. Unfortunately, no one had banged on the door to stop the madness of my tongue entering Diana’s mouth.
“We ready to roll out?” I directed the question to the team on-site.
“Yeah,” Griffin answered. “Do we have a secondary location to escort Alyona and her people to?”
“I’ll work on that once we leave.” We’d be driving again instead of flying, so I’d need both my pilots to head over to Poland in the meantime.
“What are we doing about the two in the shed?” Easton piped up over the line. Shit, I’d nearly forgotten about them.
Diana was now sitting on the bed, quietly packing her bag, staring off in a daze.
I let go of a heavy, anguished breath and said, “Kill them.”
That had her attention. “Kill who?”
I muted the comm to tell her, “The pieces of shit we were questioning. We can’t take them with us.”
On her feet, eyes wide, she came over to me. “You can’t just kill people like that.”
“Why not? They sell people for a living. You want them in jail playing an Xbox instead?” Screw that.
“You can’t just go Hammurabi’s Code on people.” Arms folded in challenge, she stared me down.
That boldness had my dick and hand twitching, not that my cock had yet to settle down. No, it was still ready to go. Ready to claim her. “I can, and I will.” I dipped my chin to better meet her eyes so she’d clearly see the wolf she was facing down.
“I don’t know the kind of man you were after she . . .”
Died.
Her lashes fluttered. “But that’s not who you were before then. You were a good guy. Delta Force. You wouldn’t kill an unarmed man.”
But she was wrong. So wrong. I would’ve, if someone ever hurt her. Rules of engagement or not, even on Delta. “You didn’t know me then, and you don’t know me now.” I needed to do a better job to fortify my walls, erect some solid emotional barbed wire, to keep this woman from getting to me again.
“I know what you’re doing. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.” She shook her head, eyes narrowing. “Go ahead, be a dick to me if you think that’ll help you get over what just happened between us.” She lifted her chin, standing her ground. “Let me know how that works out for you.”
Oh this woman.
Our little staring contest ended, but only because she clearly decided it was over, going to her bag and zipping it up.
Unsure what the hell to do, I tapped my comm and hissed, “Don’t kill them.” She spun around, but I squashed that hopeful look by adding, “Because I’m going to do it myself.”
35
CARTER
KOLONIA, POLAND
