Carol Ericson - Navy Seal Spy

She wrenched away from him. “Absolutely not. He’d been clean and sober for years. It was Tempest.”

“You keep saying that, but how was Tempest responsible for his suicide?”

“They recruited him to be an agent—just like you—and after he’d made the grade and had worked for them for just over a year, he killed himself.”

Her words slammed against his brain, and he blinked to clear the fog. Sebastian Cole was the Tempest agent who’d killed himself? He’d known about the agent but didn’t know his name...until now. He didn’t want to color Katie’s perceptions or lead her on, so he kept his tone as neutral as he could.

“Why are you laying his suicide at Tempest’s gates?”

She threw up her hands and took a half turn in the small space. “Because I saw him before and after. He was in a good place. He was thrilled Tempest wanted him. While he was in the marines, he’d heard rumors about the covert agencies and how much good they accomplished under the radar.”

Liam pressed his lips into a thin line. As a SEAL he’d heard the rumors, too, but it was Prospero, not Tempest, who ruled the shadow operations. Tempest had always been second best, and then the agency had turned to the dark side, but no one knew to what extent.

“Then what? He came here?”

She nodded. “Yes, he came here as a recruit. I saw him once after he completed the training and already there was something off about him, but he seemed happy so I was happy.”

A pulse danced in his jaw and he rubbed it into submission. Did Tempest start in with the recruits while they were still in training? “What was off about him?”

“He seemed a little detached, distant. I chalked it up to the covert nature of his training and work.” She fluttered her lashes. “R-reminded me of you when you first got back from a mission.”

Great. If she’d thought him detached and distant when he’d been a SEAL, what would she think of him as a covert ops agent?

“You saw him again?”

“It was worse the next time, the last time I saw him.” Her bottom lip trembled, and he wanted to kiss away her pain. “He was angry, cold, closed up. He pushed me away.”

God, just like he’d done when he’d decided to do another tour of duty while she’d been busy planning a life with him. Katie-O deserved so much more. This fearless woman at least deserved the truth.

He looked her straight in the eyes. “And then he shot himself in France while he was on an assignment.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she took a step back. “How do you know that?”

“That’s what I’m doing here, Katie.”

“You’re here because of Sebastian’s death?”

“Partly.”

Crossing her arms across her chest, she tilted her head to one side. “You’re not a navy SEAL anymore, are you?”

“I’m working for another covert agency.”

She snorted before he could finish. “That’s swell. So you’re over here, what? Stealing their secrets to success?”

“Katie.” He grabbed her fidgeting hands. “Tempest is bad news. It’s not just Sebastian’s suicide we’re investigating, and no, I didn’t realize the dead agent was Sebastian Cole. Another Tempest agent went on a rampage and had to be stopped. Another agent is on the run.”

“What is Tempest doing to them? What’s going on?”

“Drugs, brainwashing, mind control.”

“I suspected as much.” She sagged against him. “Why? What’s their goal?”

“Their overall goal? We’re not sure yet, but their goal for the agents is just that—mind control.”

“To turn them into robots that’ll do whatever they’re told, no matter how unscrupulous.” Her dark eyes widened. “That’s what Sebastian was, some kind of robot.”

Tears streamed silently down her cheeks, and she did nothing to stop them or wipe them away.

He cupped her face with his hands and smoothed his thumbs across the wet trails on her flushed skin. “I’m sorry, Katie. I know how much Sebastian meant to you.”

Her body jerked, and she grabbed two handfuls of his jacket. “And what are you? Some kind of canary in the coal mine? If your...agency already knows what Tempest is doing to its agents, why do you need to be here to experience it firsthand?”

“We know what Tempest is doing, but we don’t exactly know how, and we don’t know when it all starts. It was important for someone to infiltrate the compound.”

“Why does it have to be you?” Her voice rose, almost on a wail. “Why does it always have to be you?”

He put two fingers to her soft lips. “Shh. It’s going to be okay. What’s not okay is your presence here. You need to quit and leave as soon as possible.”

“You need me.” She wiped her sleeve across her nose. “I’m getting close to hacking through Tempest’s firewalls. When I do, I can bring them down financially. I can hit them where it hurts. I’ll make them pay for what they did to Sebastian.”

The fire in Katie’s eyes practically lit up the dim stairwell, and a thrill zapped his body. This was exactly why he’d fallen in love with this woman, exactly why she terrified him.

He pressed his lips to her hot forehead. “The computer stuff would be great but not necessary right now, not worth your safety.”

“I am safe. I went through a lot of trouble to get this gig, and I’m not giving it up—for anyone. Did you give up your job for me?”

A flash of heat claimed his chest and crawled up his neck. He hadn’t. He’d done what he believed was his last mission for his SEAL team, was ready to settle down with Katie when he got the call. They’d needed him, needed him more than Katie with her prickly, standoffish attitude.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Exactly.” She pushed the hair from her face, pushing his hands away at the same time. “I have a job to do here. I have to avenge Sebastian’s death, and I’m gonna do it with or without you.”

How the hell could anyone resist a woman like Katie?

“Then we work together. You keep me posted and I’ll keep—”

Katie grabbed his wrist and dug her fingernails into his flesh, while pointing at the ceiling.

Then he heard it—someone jiggling the handle on the metal door on the floor above. Good thing he’d rigged it.

Katie dragged at his arm and whispered. “We need to get out of here.”

“He won’t be able to get in for several minutes because I jammed the door. Let’s go downstairs.”

Placing his hand on the small of Katie’s back, he propelled her down the stairs ahead of him. They passed the third floor and headed to the second, which was on the same level as the bridge to the parking garage.

He jerked his thumb at the door.

She shook her head and pointed down. Then she leaned in close, her hair tickling his chin, and whispered, “I have to do some cleanup on the security camera footage and my access badge.”

Katie had a brain that wouldn’t quit and a body to match.

“What time are you leaving? It’s probably not safe in that parking structure after hours.”

“Are you kidding? Nobody can get on and off this compound with the tight security Tempest has. Only employees are allowed in the parking structure.”

“That’s what worries me.”

They jogged down one more flight. Placing his hands against the metal door, he cocked his head and listened. He inched the door open and peered through the resulting crack. All clear.

He grabbed Katie around the waist and turned her toward him. “Be careful. This ain’t no video game, Katie. This is life and death.”

“I know that.” She touched his face with her fingertips. “Don’t let them do anything to you, Liam. Don’t let them change you.”

“Don’t worry.” And then he did something he’d been dreaming about for the past two years. He kissed Katie O’Keefe, intrepid sleuth, hacker extraordinaire, woman of his dreams, on the mouth.