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Alexa grinned at her. “That man is smitten with you. It’s practically written all over his face. Austin and I are having fun, but you and Wyatt? It’s like true love, soulmate kind of stuff.”
“It’s so fast,” Callie whispered.
“It’s not,” Alexa whispered back with a wink. Callie rolled her eyes as her friend continued. “When you know, you know. Sometimes it’s just that simple. It definitely doesn’t work that way for everyone. Some people break up, make up, then break up again. I mean, make-up sex is pretty great, but....”
“Geez,” Callie said, laughing.
“Austin and I aren’t there yet,” Alexa said. “We’re just having fun. It’s not serious in a forever type of way, but I do really like him.”
“Well, as long as you don’t get hurt,” Callie told her, feeling concerned.
“I won’t. We have fun together, and I could use that with a guy I trust. Now, show me that blog before we spend the entire evening talking about our men—not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she joked.
WYATT CLENCHED HIS jaw as they looked over the latest intelligence the following afternoon. The SEAL team had spent all of Sunday evening on base, briefing with their commanding officer. They’d been reviewing credible information on Hasnawi for weeks. They just hadn’t known what the man looked like. A single descriptive feature from Callie had practically been the nail in his coffin. Prior cables and HUMINT—human intelligence collected from human sources—was being reviewed by analysts and IT staff. Any mention of distinguishing red burn marks and a scar covering half of a man’s face was now a critical key in tracking the mysterious terror cell leader. The disfigured man mentioned in raw intelligence wasn’t a member of the terror cell; he was the leader. He was The Red Flame. The missing pieces had been there all along. They just needed to gather them all together now, adding it to their dossier on him. He wasn’t a mystery anymore. They’d finish their analysis, put every detail in place, and then they would end him.
By the time Wyatt had left base at twenty-three hundred yesterday, Callie had been sleeping. She’d groggily answered his call, and he’d told her to go back to bed and that he’d see her tonight. While he’d hated not holding her in his arms last night after she’d finally remembered the man haunting her nightmares, his thoughts had been churning with the new information on Hasnawi. Wyatt had returned to his own house, where his mind had raced for hours, his focus on the evil man who’d not only masterminded the hijacking of the airliner but who’d also ordered new terror plots threatening airports. Callie’s recollection of the ordeal and description of him had proven more valuable than she’d ever know.
Their CO moved to answer a call on the secure line in the bullpen, and Wyatt’s mind drifted. He’d texted Callie this morning, wishing he could’ve woken up beside her. He’d risen at the crack of dawn to get onto base and had waited until a more respectable oh-nine-hundred to text his girl. Glancing at his phone, he reread their exchange.
Wyatt: Good morning sweetheart. I’ll be in briefings most of the day. We’ve been here for hours but are on a quick break. Sorry I couldn’t come over at a reasonable hour last night.
Callie: I missed you, but I understand. Go get the man terrorizing my dreams.
Wyatt: Be careful. I don’t know why, but now that I know who he is, I have a bad feeling.
Callie: It’s just because you have a face to match the name. Everything is fine here. I’m fine. I’ve got my new blog posts to do today. You do your hero thing. ;)
Wyatt smiled. She’d playfully called him her hero several times, but he knew she was serious. He’d saved her life on that airplane, and he’d put himself in harm’s way again and again if it meant keeping Callie safe and sound. She’d come to mean everything to him, and as quick as things had moved between them, it felt right. Callie was his, today and always. There’s nothing that he wouldn’t do for her.
Wyatt: I’ll do my hero thing if you do the careful girlfriend thing. I’m serious. Please just stay alert today. And do that sexy thing with your mouth later on. ;)
He’d missed waking up to one of her mind-blowing blow jobs this morning—pun intended. Wyatt loved to kiss and pleasure her, enjoying the feel of her pussy fluttering against his mouth, but he sure didn’t hate the way she enthusiastically reciprocated. Nope. Not one bit. Callie was a goddess with her mouth and tongue, and just thinking about her made him hard.
Callie: No problem, sailor. Call me when you’re on your way over tonight. Xoxo
Wyatt: Love you. Be careful.
Wyatt looked up as their CO stormed back over, looking agitated.
“What’s wrong, sir?” Hudson asked, sensing the change in his mood.
“We’ve got a goddamn problem,” the CO said, slamming his hand down on the table. “I just received some intelligence from the ops center. Now that we have a description of Hasnawi, analysts have been combing through old intelligence and photos. They found a picture of him.”
Sawyer’s eyes grew wide. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Now that we have a face, we can move in. We just need confirmation on his location. We’ll go nail that fucker to the wall.”
“You won’t have to go far,” the CO barked. “We believe he’s here in Oahu.”
“What?” Wyatt asked, his jaw dropping. His teammates were murmuring around him, and Wyatt was already sitting up straighter, every muscle in his body tense.
“He’s been visiting airports, surveilling the premises, albeit in disguise. This isn’t some terrorist who’s been holed up in the mountains of Afghanistan. He lived in the city, making trips to assess multiple airports across Asia. Although sources had previously mentioned a short, Middle Eastern man with facial scars affiliated with the terror cell, there was nothing to indicate he was The Red Flame. Hasnawi is well-spoken and highly educated, not a lowlife that rose through the ranks of the terror network, taking over a leadership position by force. Hasnawi and his men were able to keep up the illusion that The Red Flame was hidden away from public view.”
“He’s been hidden in plain sight, no one realizing it was him,” Wyatt said, his fists clenching.
“Yes, which is why he’s been able to travel around seeking new targets. It’s difficult for him to fully conceal his burns, however. With the photo that was discovered, we’ve been running facial recognition software through our system, focusing on airports in Asia and the West Coast of the United States.”
“What did they find, sir?” Hudson asked.
Wyatt waited for the kicker. Their CO didn’t believe Hasnawi was in Oahu based on a hunch. Something had been flagged in the system, with the ops center sending a cable and running the intel up the chain of command.
