“I’ve got something, alright,” she mumbled. “Sometimes I think it would be so much easier to have a regular job. I was watching the servers at your restaurant. They were chatting with their customers, having fun with each other. At the end of their shift, they leave, and they don’t take their work home with them.” She sighed. “That sounds like a dream job, but I know that after a few weeks, I’d get restless. I’d read about a jail break by a bunch of convicts or how a convicted murderer was accidentally released from prison, already killed someone, and is on the run. I’d find out about a human trafficking ring or killerspies in the US and I’d be ready to jump back in the game. Being a sharpshooter and chasing the monsters is what I was born to do. I just need to find the balance.”
“Well said, Sydney. Maybe that’s my job, to help you find balance.”
She barked out a laugh. “You? You’re just as much of a workaholic as I am, and you love it just as much. I’m confident we’ll burn down the city to clear out the predators, then move on and do the same thing somewhere else.”
“Nope,” he said. “I think we should take the afternoon off and go ring shopping. I’d like us to design an engagement ring.”
She moved onto his lap, put her arm around his shoulder, and kissed him. “You are amazing. I would love that, but not today. We’ve gotta regroup and focus on this event. That football game can’t turn into a catastrophe. Plus, I don’t usually wear rings because I’m concerned they’d get caught in my guns.”
“We’ll wear breakaway wedding bands.”
She kissed his forehead. “I love that.” They shared another kiss before she said, “I don’t want a long engagement. I know we haven’t been together that long, but?—”
He stopped her with a kiss as he folded his arms around her. “I’d marry you today. I know you’re my person.”
“How?”
“There’s the obvious,” he began. “You’re gorgeous, very smart, and we have similar work ethics. Family is super important to me, same for you. Those are things I can check off a list, if I had one. But there’s one fact that stands out.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m my most authentic self around you. I’m more comfortable with you than with anyone else. Being with you feels solid.”
She smiled. “I totally get that, one hundred percent. We justclick. That might not sound romantic, but it’s true. I like you… a lot. I think that’s something couples don’t think about. They get caught up in the love or the gaga phase or the sex. Yes, those are all amazing, but I genuinely like being with you.”
They shared another kiss before she scrambled off. “I’m changing outta these fatigues, then we’ve gotta come up with a plan for the game.”
In the doorway, she turned back. “I’ma need help washing my back in the shower. Interested?”
He pushed out of the chair. One step at a time, he made his way over to her, placed his hands on the sides of her soft face, and kissed her. “Hell, yeah.”
“I thought you might,” she said with a gleam in her eyes.
FRIDAY MORNING,while they were packing their SWAT gear for Saturday’s football game, Teddy checked the private chat rooms on the Dark Web for a response from the terror cell.
“Whoa, Sydney, we got a reply to the pics of the fuel truck explosion.”
She stopped packing. “Read it to me.”
“It says, ‘When we bring our wrath on the US, the world will see our true power.’ There’s a GIF of President Garrison’s swearing-in four years ago, along with a burning US Flag.”
A growl rumbled out of her.
“I’m taking a screenshot and sending it through the portal to Greystone,” Teddy said. “He’s gotta let the President know.”
In the hangar, they loaded their overnight bags. Sydney had packed her rifles—the HK416 and the MK12—along with her 9mm SIG Sauer and her 9mm Walther. “I feel like I’m headed into war.”
“We kinda are,” he said. “I asked Evelyn to get us a tour of the stadium and to sync up with their head of security.”
Sydney pulled a black cap onto her head. “What about Secret Service?”
“Greystone’s arranging a briefing with their lead agent,” Teddy replied. “He and Caroline are getting to the stadium the same time we are.”
The drive to Baltimore was filled with music from their playlists, but very little talking. At one point, he glanced over. Sydney was staring at a layout of the stadium on her phone.
“You okay over there?” he asked.
“There are so many points between when the President exits his vehicle and arrives at the stadium box where he’s vulnerable. Even with security posted everywhere, Haqazzii and his men could be dressed as law enforcement or even as a vendor. All the West Point and Naval Academy students will be in their uniforms, so it’ll be super easy to blend in.”
