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The jet came to a stop and all three of them were on their feet, grabbing gear and moving toward the exit. Frost was huge and darkened the entire doorway as he ducked out. Mustang was leaner and roped with muscle. Before he exited the aircraft, he tossed her a crooked grin over his shoulder.
“Got your beauty sleep.”
Ughhh, she knew he’d notice that she fell asleep.
“I don’t know what the big deal is,” she breezed out in her coolest tone. “We catch what sleep we can in the heat of battle too.”
His smile broadened. “Calm down, Graham. Just an observation.”
He launched himself through the exit, leaving her to watch him saunter over to Frost. Was she too prickly? Maybe she was. It was easy to let the guys rile her up, but she’d long ago learned when to roll with their comments and when to push back.
She just didn’t want to appear weak by sleeping more. She reminded herself that Mustang didn’t know why she might require more rest right now. He thought she was on her period.
Someone from the foreign embassy met them on the airstrip. Tall, trim, wearing a suit, an ordinary liaison between the US and a foreign country. She’d seen at least a dozen men just like this one. Only this man had news they needed and that she wasn’t certain she was prepared to hear.
Lena never backed down from any conflict, so she stepped up to the man and squared her shoulders. Her twin French braids brushed her neck as she tipped her head in greeting.
“Special Operator Graham.” She stuck out her hand first, a habit she’d adopted early on to show she was the go-getter on the Blackout team.
“Hugo Martin, Department of Justice, International Crime Investigation Unit.” He clasped her hand with all the power he’d give Frost or Mustang and looked her in the eyes.
Satisfied, she released her grip and stepped back to allow the guys to greet Martin the same way.
Martin twitched his head toward a door leading into a building. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll provide you with the information we have on the missing SEAL.”
Those words slammed Lena. Hearing them from her commanding officer was one thing—but this man was working closely with the authorities to locate Slade. He knew things that Blackout didn’t.
Martin’s long legs covered a lot of ground, and Lena hurried in his wake to keep up. When they all entered an office with a table and chairs, Martin gestured for them to sit, but the last thing she wanted to do after that flight was sit some more.
Still, this was official business, and she had to be professional. She took a seat next to Martin while the other guys sat opposite them. The sterile, pale gray walls didn’t alleviate her anxiety one bit. People received bad news in places like this.
Her mind flashed to the bundle of cells in her womb, then she quickly shifted her attention to Martin.
On the table between them sat a phone. Lena recognized the simple black case as one Blackout used. Twisting her fingers, she battled with herself to keep from snatching it up.
“We received word yesterday that a Navy SEAL went missing in the city,” Martin began.
Reaching a hand toward the phone, she said, “Mind if I take a look?” She wasn’t waiting to hear the same details they’d already been provided.
Martin tilted his head, giving her the go-ahead.
She picked up the phone, and she swore she felt a tingle just from touching the device that Slade held in his hands. The one he used to text her or leave her voicemails every chance he got.
“We think this is Slade Overstreet’s phone, but we haven’t been able to unlock it to make sure. It was found in a bar in a bad section of town.” Martin’s words brought all of their heads up.
Her brain whirred with the possibilities—that someone must have jumped him being highest on her list.
She brought the phone to life and thumbed in a complex code.
The phone unlocked instantly, and she stopped following what the men were saying while she searched Slade’s phone.
Oh yes, it definitely belonged to him. One glance at the screensaver—a shot of the sunset over the water on their honeymoon—twisted a knife in her gut, but she plowed forward, searching every app and his call logs.
His electronic wallet contained a boarding pass to the flight headed to Puerto Vallarta.
“Hold up. Graham, how the hell did you unlock that phone if the authorities couldn’t?”
Oh shit. How was she going to explain?
