Page 80 of Deep Cover

“For Ryss.” He looked at her, faint color rising up his neck. “It’s got scenic running trails, mountains, all of it playing on the screen while you work out. I figured it will give you something to stare at besides a concrete wall.”

Her eyes flew wide, and her chest flooded with warmth at his gift that showed her that he expected her to be here to use it, that their future stretched ahead of them.

“Reid! Really?” She grabbed his hand.

He squeezed it, grinning down at her, uncaring that all his fellow SEALs were grinning and elbowing each other at their teammate being so smitten.

Cannon issued a grating noise and swiped a hand down his face. “First the cutesy little desk. Then a painting of a fake window and curtains. Now this.” He gestured at the box as if it offended him. “Are we running a ghost ops base or a Pinterest board?”

He turned, waving a dismissive hand even as Caryssa caught the small twitch of his lips before he walked away.

She was still smiling over it an hour later, alone in the war room reviewing the case, when her phone lit up with Doyle’s name.

She brought the phone to her ear. “Lane.”

“Good to hear your voice. Heard you’re on the mend.”

“I am. What do you have for me?”

Doyle paused for a breath and then dove straight in. “East Coast warehouse came back clean.”

She blinked into space. “What do you mean clean?”

“It’s empty. Not a paperclip to be found. Whoever’s running this operation scrubbed it the second Bill went down.”

She logged that intel to add to her board later. “And the men who shot at us at the warehouse?”

“O traced them to hired muscle. Several dead. They captured one, but he’s not talking. The FBI’s leaning on him hard for names.”

She pressed two fingers to her temple. “So we’ve got nothing.” Frustration was a wave crashing through her.

“We’ve got confirmation that the work you’ve done got close enough that somebody’s willing to burn evidence and put a bullet in a federal analyst.” He let that sink in before going on. “That’s not nothing, Lane.”

She blew out a breath, not really accepting the small nod to her work as important enough.

“That sheds light on how big this actually is. You got those laptops, and from them, O mapped how the theft worked, how the goods were moved. That’s a win for you and O both. We just don’t have the name at the top yet. We don’t know how many teams are involved either. We already suspected more supplies were skimmed off other bases, things nobody’s ever tracked.”

She was eager to get to work, but exhaustion and frustration tangled in her chest. “I hate this. I’m used to running the intel, not waiting on scraps of it.”

“I know.” He paused. “Cannon and I had a hell of a talk. You and Sierra need to be working this together, not in parallel.”

“He’s right,” came another voice into the room.

She jerked her gaze to the doorway. Cannon stood in her doorway, leaving her absolutely no question about who he’d come looking for.

“I’ll take it from here, Doyle,” he said.

Her boss chuckled. Actually chuckled.

She was still stunned by that development when the line went dead. Cannon stepped into the room.

“Got a minute?”

She stood to face him. “Of course.”

For a moment, neither spoke. Then her brain kicked in.

“Doyle reminded me about the possibility more supplies were skimmed from other Blackout teams. Where can I find supply lists and shipping receipts to see if Sierra’s missing supplies?”