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Truth was, he hadn’t been sleeping all that well since that bogus article about him had made front-page news in Coran’s tabloid and dredged up memories that refused to stay buried. He’d loved Nick like a brother. All the guys had. To be accused of his murder, even by some trashy outlet that no one believed, hurt. Big time. It felt like a betrayal of all they’d been and done together as a team.
Not as much as the intense scrutiny they’d had to endure from the Navy, of course. The whole thing was a goddamn mess—especially the way that everyone seemed to want to point fingers at them to keep anyone from looking for the real culprits. They hadn’t been formally charged with anything yet, but there were plenty of implications being thrown around. On top of which, someone with a considerable amount of clout had tried to coerce one or another of them into taking the fall to “protect” the rest of the team. It was a nightmare on every level.
Thank God, Commander Brighton had assigned them on the down-low to search for Nick’s killer themselves. Staying busy had been their salvation, keeping them focused and preventing them from drowning in the sorrow they all felt at the loss of their friend.
Still, even after years of combat and more missions gone FUBAR than he could count, the dreams had never been quite this vivid before. Hoping to take his mind off the horrible images still circulating in his head, Spencer sat up and grabbed Toni’s abandoned e-reader from the seat beside him, flicking on the screen to see the pages of one of the books that came preloaded on the device. A children’s book by none other than N.T. Smalls, also known as Natalie Matthews. She didn’t even write children’s books usually. All her other titles were romance novels, published by Coran Williams Publishing, of course. This onebook was the exception—available only on the e-readers, with the explanation that the author had donated it to the foundation to be used as a literacy tool. It got great PR, of course—but it also happened to be one of the files they believed were being used to spread intel to terrorists. And since it came on all the e-readers Coran Williams had provided to the charity foundation, it had already been distributed to countless readers worldwide. Hayley was working on the puzzle around the clock, trying to crack the encryption and find the secret SHEEPSKIN network codes, but time was against them. Terrorists already had the devices—and they had been given the keys to the codes.
The fact that the book was on Toni’s device didn’t concern him. The fact that she’d had it open and was reading it did. He’d started to let his guard down with her, but this was a reminder that she might be more in cahoots with her father than she was letting on.
He scrunched his nose and scrolled forward several pages, scanning the words without really reading them, still thinking about the other players he and his team were dealing with in this messed-up game. There was Michael Becks, who might be the actual triggerman. He certainly had the skills—and the ruthlessness. A former Navy SEAL himself, he’d betrayed his own team and killed them all in the jungle, setting fire to their corpses. He’d kidnapped Anna, coerced Natalie, and even joined forces with some crooked FBI agents to try to bury their team. If Spencer ever got his hands on that deep-fried turd-biscuit, he’d make goddamned sure Becks rued the day he’d been born.
Shaking his head, he tossed the e-reader aside and stared out the window at the blanket of white clouds below the plane. It was a beautiful sight, even if he’d rather enjoy the scenery closer to hand, once Toni came back from the toilet or wherever she might have gone. He knew better than to get involved with her, but there was no harm in looking. And restricting himself to looking would also mean he could avoid the drama of getting involved with another woman just to have it crash and burn, the way it always did. Maybe the tabloid had been right about one thing—when it called him cold as ice. Every one of his relationships failed because he’d never been able to truly love or trust the woman he was with.
Spencer wanted what his grandparents had—their level of commitment and trust and honesty—and wouldn’t settle for less. End of story.
Restless, he pushed to his feet, heading for a minibar and pulling out a bottle of OJ. He’d just cracked the cap when he heard a door open behind him.
Glancing over his shoulder, Spencer was brought up short at the sight of Toni. She’d changed and was now wearing a crisp white sheath dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair and makeup were also done to perfection, just enough to enhance her already pretty face, but nothing too heavily applied or bright—nothing that would be considered offensive in Jubail’s traditional culture. And yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her. In truth, she might be the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen.
Toni gave him a small smile, pretty pink coloring her cheeks. “Do I look all right?”
Momentarily speechless, Spencer lowered his bottle of juice and faced her, taking her in from the tips of her sensible white flats to the top of her head, her dark hair still slicked back in a low ponytail. Throat tight, he forced the words out. “Uh, yeah. You look…uh. Wow!”
Her smile grew, and his pulse pounded in his ears. “Thanks.”
He nodded, not sure what to do next. “So.”
“So.” She walked over to where she’d stashed her laptop. “I don’t usually stress about these presentations, but this one is special. Initial reports from the sheik’s assistant said they were expecting several thousand people for the initial PR spot at the airport alone.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Yeah.” She smoothed a hand down the back of her skirt before taking a seat. Spencer couldn’t help following the movement with his gaze, wishing it were him running his hands over her body. “Important too. If I can get Sheik Saaed and his allies on board, this could be huge for the foundation. The goal is to get our e-readers into the hands of children all over the country, including some of the remote desert tribes.”
“Remote desert tribes?”
“Yes, some of the outlying provinces in the mountains. A few along the borders too.”
Spencer chugged his juice, then stashed the empty bottle in the seat pocket. If Kyle’s hunches were right and those tribes were part of SHEEPSKIN’s network, they’d be ripe for radicalization…and those e-readers would play right into the terrorists’ hands. In fact, word from some of his buddies still working in black ops said there were some major cells of rebels lurking in those outlying regions.Crap.He needed to let Kyle know so the team could be ready to provide extra security, if needed.
On top of that were the normal security concerns that he’d be dealing with even if he weren’t trying to uncover a massive conspiracy. If someone tried to hijack one of Toni’s PR events and took her captive to gain access to her father’s media feeds—or, worse, killed her simply because she was a high-profile US citizen…
“You’d better get changed,” she said. “We’ll be there in about an hour.”
“Right.” Spencer forced his tense muscles to relax and unclenched his fists. He grabbed his garment bag and his polished dress shoes. This case would put him in the public eye more than usual, as he would need to stick close to Toni’s side during her appearances, so he needed to look the part. Plus, he didn’t get many opportunities to dress up in his line of work, so he liked to make sure he looked fine as hell when he did. He opened the door to the airplane bathroom. “Be out in a bit.”
“Take your time,” she replied. “We won’t land for at least an hour.”
He stripped and took a quick shower in the tiny space provided, then shaved before pulling on a crisp black suit. There wasn’t much room to maneuver, especially for a guy of his height and build, but Spencer had dealt with worse. Finally, he knotted his emerald green tie in a perfect Windsor knot and gave himself one last once-over before exiting. Not exactlyGQcover model, but he’d do.
He put away his garment bag, then returned to their seats, doing a quick mental rundown of all the things he needed to handle once they landed. Assess the area, coordinate with local security, contact Kyle to let him know they’d landed safely and get the location of their team’s next rendezvous point.
Spencer glanced at Toni and bit back a grin at her lingering appraisal of him. Her gaze traveled over him from head to toe and left a trail of awareness in its wake.
To distract himself from the pink rising in her cheeks and the way she was biting her lower lip, he pulled down his carry-on bag from the overhead compartment and strapped on his waist holster, only to hear Toni gasp. Spencer swiveled to face her, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“Is that necessary?”
“What?” He scrunched his nose. “You mean my gun?”
