From the corner of his eye, he saw her fingers pause on the buttons of her blouse. After a heartbeat, they slowly continued.
“And?”
When he hesitated a beat too long, her only reaction was a series of jerky movements as she finished dressing and put on her boots. “It was Cipher. You don’t have to tell me. I already knew it.”
“I’m driving you to work.”
She was shaking her head before the sentence left his lips. “That’s not the directive. We stick to the plan, Sinner. If we vary the routine now, it’s going to wreck everything.”
He closed the gap between them and wrapped his fingers around her wrists. “I won’t have you endangered more than you already are.”
She wouldn’t meet his stare directly, her gaze hovering around his chest. “Danger is my way of life.”
He issued a growl. “Not anymore.”
With a tilt of her head, she studied him, softness playing around her eyes. “Caius. I’ve got this. You take the bus to the construction site, like always. I go into the office. I’ll see you tonight for check-in.”
His throat clamped tight, and he couldn’t force himself to tell her that he was expecting a call from the team any time. She would hate being left out of the loop, but they had their orders. Opal would go to the office.
After she grabbed some coffee, she headed out immediately. Sinner drifted to the window and cracked the blinds. He watched her climb into her car and drive away, the taillights a red blur in the gray morning.
The instant she was out the door, he had the tracker app pulled up and was monitoring her movements.
He paced the room. He stepped onto the balcony, but the scent of sewage and rotting trash surrounding the hotel did the exact opposite of clear his head.
He went back to watching Opal’s pin on the map, the tiny dot moving in miniscule increments along the route.
He didn’t even make it out the door to go to work when the call came in. Con’s face filled the screen, his expression as grim as death. Chickie, Chase and Steele flanked him in the war room, but Sinner knew everyone was present.
“Charlie,” Con addressed them. “We know for certain Opal encountered Cipher last night. What we don’t know is where the hell he is now.”
Sinner’s pulse hammered in his throat. “Opal stabbed him. He’s come after people for less. You have to get us out of here—but point us in the right direction. I won’t walk us into a goddamn trap,” he bit off.
A twitch at the corner of Con’s eye was the only indication that he registered his request. “Dante and Elin have pulled all the street cam footage they could find. The grid is expanding by the minute. They worked all night on it. We’re doing everything we can to keep you safe.”
“Safe isn’t good enough.” Sinner’s voice came out sharp as a blade. “I need a location. A direction.Anything.”
Before Con could respond, movement in the background caught Sinner’s attention.
Kennedy appeared on screen, her hair mussed and exhaustion shadowing her eyes. She moved to stand beside Dante, one hand resting on his shoulder. Kennedy’s appearance backed up the claim that Dante was up all night working to find the terrorist.
She looked around the table. “Cipher is big on revenge. It’s his whole personality. He’s going to be out for blood.”
Kennedy didn’t tell them anything the team didn’t know. But she had firsthand knowledge of just how bad this could get.
Sinner dug deep into the well inside him and drew up all the self-control he could muster or else he’d defy direct orders and hunt down Cipher himself.
He glanced at the little pin moving on the map as Opal drove the usual route to work. His hand tightened on the phone until the case creaked.
Talk resumed for long minutes. Every kernel of intel was shared, from possible sightings of Cipher after he fled the warehouse to how he contacted Opal through the task app without leaving a digital trail.
Dante patched in the FBI, and more intel about the scene at the warehouse was disclosed. On every single op, Sinner listened with laser focus. But now that the woman he loved was involved, his concentration slowly swirled around the drain of despair.
He kept jerking his attention back to the discussion, only picking up every other word.
Thiswas the reason Blackout SEALS were dead to the world. The reason they weren’t allowed to have wives, families, girlfriends, and severed ties with everyone from their old life.
Because there wasnothinghe wouldn’t do to save Opal.
