Page 8 of Brooks

“How do you verify the intel you receive?”

“It depends on the region. Sometimes, I’m strapped to a platoon, normally Army. Other times I’m on my own.” She turned her face from the sky and looked at me. “Aren’t you getting tired?”

“No. I can do this all day.”

“Of course you can. Drownproofing, phase one.”

Her reference to my BUD/s training gave me pause. She’d read my file, knew I was a former SEAL, and Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL school wasn’t top secret, however most people don’t know the different phases. Or that there were different phases.

“That and I’ve spent a lot of time in the water. What do you know about the phases, anyway?”

She looked back to the sky and was quiet for so long, I didn’t think she was going to answer. And when she did, she shocked the shit out of me.

“I was married to a SEAL. He was an instructor.”

“No shit. Who?”

“James Monroe.”

“Monroe? Chief Monroe from ST-1?”

“Yep. That’s him.”

Holy shit, that guy was a dick. And it explained so much about her attitude. He was an egomaniac and was dangerous. Monroe was infamous among team guys. During an extraction he’d refused to listen to the four-man SWCC crew, took over the special operation craft and crashed it. His stupidity had almost killed everyone on board. He was sent to BUD/s to be an instructor. The SEAL equivalent of being benched.

“So yesterday when you said you were familiar with men like me, you were comparing me to shit-for-brains Monroe?”

At least she had the decency to wince. “Not exactly him. I was generalizing. I’ve worked with SPECOPS guys before. You’re all pretty much the same. Arrogant alpha males with big egos.”

“I think you’re mixing up arrogance and confidence.”

“All the same.”

“No, Doll. Not even close. An arrogant man will tell you how good he is. A confident one will remain silent. He doesn’t need to tell you what he’s capable of and most of the time, he doesn’t want you to know.” I’d spent years working with the best of best. Not only with the men on my team but men and women from other agencies who would prefer no one knew what their job really was. “You said was married. How long have you been divorced?”

“A few years.”

I heard a faint whine of an engine and scanned the area. We were sitting ducks out here in the water. There was nowhere to hide. Tatiana was finally relaxed on her back floating but I didn’t think she was ready for another sixty-second trip underwater.

“If I tell you to go, you go. Swim deep and as far as you can go in one breath. When you come up, you do so slowly. Turn on your side, only take your mouth out of the water and dip back down. Do not wait for me. Do not try to help me. You leave. Understood?”

“But—”

“No buts, Doll. Understood?”

The boat was drawing near, she’d seen it, too. I had no time to explain why I needed her away from me and on her way to safety.

“Understood,” she clipped, obviously not happy with my demand.

Tough shit. I couldn’t do much to protect her while we were in the water. I was impressed with Tatiana. When she’d finally caught her breath, she hadn’t freaked out about the boat exploding. Hadn’t said a word about me tossing her overboard. It made me wonder how many times she’d been in a similar situation. She didn’t even appear to be scared. Most people would be freaking out, but not Tatiana, she was a cool customer. I was going to tell her to start swimming when I finally heard the three sharp whistles I’d been waiting for.

“We’re good. It’s the guys.”

“Don’t you have to do something? Should we wave or something?”

“Nope. Just float. They’ll find us.”

“So. Um. Thanks for…saving me.”