In unspoken agreement, he walked out of the war room and Opal kept pace. He stopped at a room filled with equipment and pushed open the door. “In here.”
Once they were inside the dim room, he turned to Opal. “I need more on Ellory.”
Her expression was serious, and the small crease between her brows that had never left her entire first month on base, returned. Then she nodded, and her expression cleared like a storm cloud blown away by a warmer breeze.
“Ellory is brilliant. She sees things no one else does. Her brain…” She shook her head. “All I can say is whoa. I’m sure you discovered how amazing she is.”
“I figured all that out. Opal—”
She went on, gushing over the woman who had as much mystery surrounding her as Opal herself did. While the team now knew Opal’s origins, Ellory was still an enigma. “I’ve never seen a harder worker. When we worked a case, I swear she never slept.”
“Is Ellory part of Project Lazarus, like you and Sinner?”
A quizzical look passed over her face. “It’s not out of the question, but I’d be really surprised. She doesn’t have trainingthe way Sinner and I do. What she has is natural talent. Her abilities with numbers and patterns is insane. When we worked on that case, a bunch of people involved gathered in the room just to see her in action. Andmen? They love watching her,period.”
He made a sound in his throat that was too grating to not be a growl.
“But she’s oblivious to it,” Opal went on.
That tripped him up. “What do you mean oblivious?”
“My jackass handler was drooling all over her, and I offered to punch him for her. She wasn’t even aware of his interest.”
“How is that possible?”
Opal smiled. “Brothers. All older brothers. She told me once she’s the youngest. Also, here’s something else you need to know, Ash. She’s really by the book, and she never backs down.” She folded her arms and cocked her head to study him. “Now…it’s time for you to tell me whatyouthink of Ellory.”
She’s smart and sexy and she’s driving me crazy.
And I want to taste her again.
“We only have six more minutes until debriefing.”
She leveled him with a sharp look that would make weaker men whimper. “What…about…you?” she pushed.
“What about me?”
“Don’t play games with me, Angelo Ash.”
His lips twitched. “Wow. My government name. I’m in big trouble now.”
Opal’s lips curved into a smile that was far too knowing for his peace of mind. “I talked to Sinner about you. He told me you were a recruiter who couldn’t fill the vacant spot on Charlie. When Denver left, you tried to get his brother Theo to fill his place. But that fell through…and you took the spot instead.”
He shrugged, but it didn’t alleviate the knot of tension sitting between his shoulder blades. “It made sense. I couldn’t leave the guys light.”
“Right.” She bobbed her head in mock agreement, her black eyes glinting with understanding he hoped like hell she was wrong about. “I think you joined Blackout because you wanted to be dead.”
The air stopped moving in his lungs.
She wasn’t just guessing—she was peeling layers back faster than he liked.
“So…be dead to the world, Ash. But you better not be dead to this team.”
He didn’t know how to react to that. “You’re the one pulling people together now? Not long ago, anybody who tried to get close to you risked getting a black eye.”
Opal chuckled. “Must be Sinner’s influence on me. Blame him.”
“I will. Are we finished?” He feared nothing—yet every instinct told him to put distance between himself and the hundred-pound woman who saw far too much.
