Dante and Elin continued sharing their data. They expanded the map and marked clusters. They flagged states with heavier concentrations of the safety-deposit boxes in bright yellow. They all looked on as the skeleton took shape in real time. It was obvious the only way to take down Cipher, once and for all, was to seize every asset he held.
Cut the purse strings, stop funding the terrorism.
Ash suddenly realized why Ellory was here.
“I might have something that helps narrow it down further.” Her voice cut through the room, clean and confident, proving she knew the value she offered the team.
Con gestured for her to continue.
She pushed back from the table with the grace of a dancer. His gaze dropped to her bottom half and he realized he hadn’t prepared himself for the sight of her jeans clinging to her hips like a second skin.
He filled his lungs with air and held it, SEAL style, until his senses stopped rioting and his nervous system calmed down.
“I’ve been cross-referencing Daniel Sheen’s tax returns with the locations you uncovered. There are purchase records that lead back to some of these banks.” She picked up a tablet that lay on the table in front of her. New data populated the screen.
She laid it all out for them—money transfers pointing to rental properties and even some holdings. “It looks like the corporation has brick-and-mortar offices, but my guess is most of them are probably empty. He’s buried money to fund his activities in legitimate-looking businesses.”
She glanced up. Straight at Ash.
The look was brief, but it was entirely too pleased with herself.
And it set off his body like an alarm.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. Several of the guys shifted in their seats, glancing away from her like they didn’t want to notice just how damn sexy she was. Ash ground his teeth.
Dante drew a circle around a location, a big red beacon on the screen. “This one stands out.”
Ellory nodded. “It’s an office rental with a short-term lease. Paid six months in advance through the shell. No utilities in the company name.”
“But consistent after-hours usage,” Elin supplied for the next layer.
“That’s our entry point.” Ash didn’t realize he’d spoken until all eyes swung to him.
The room shifted immediately. Chairs scraped back and bodies leaned forward. Con paced in front of them, barking directives as the analysis turned into an op. Ash forced his focus back to the map as routes were debated, his mind already breaking the location down into access points, blind spots and timing windows.
Ellory stayed in the flow, adding data when asked, answering questions before they were fully formed. Every time the plan tightened, it did so because of something she supplied.
She wasn’t just background support. Now he saw why Con ordered Ash to bring her to the base.
An accountant was an asset to Blackout—one they’d make sure to use carefully and protect accordingly.
Ellory wasn’t going into the field, but the operation didn’t move forward without what she brought to the table.
That meant Ash wouldn’t be able to escape her sexy cardigans and her habit of nibbling her glasses stem.
* * * * *
As a kid, Ellory wanted to become a veterinarian. She loved animals, like any other kid. But when she got straight A’s in math without even trying, numbers started to be more interesting than learning about animal habitats.
She won the math award every single year. In high school, she joined the math club and wore the nerdy sweatshirt with pride. She won scholarships and finally achieved her dream of attending college on a full ride, something her parents and four brothers were proud of.
What she didn’t anticipate was how she would use her degree.
She never planned to land a government job. Or to uncover patterns and discrepancies that earned her a reputation with agencies she’d never dreamed of working with.
This wasn’t her first time working with the military—she was often an asset. But being in a war room with a ghost ops team was one of the highest levels she’d achieved.
The room hummed with quiet energy. Sophie pushed a laptop across the table to Ellory, and she began cross-referencing financial transactions associated with the shell corporation with various bank records.
