Olivia burst through the door of the flat with Logan on her heels. “He’s building a goddamned harem.”

“I don’t even want to think about what al-Umari is doing with the girls after they’ve served their purpose.”

Olivia shuddered. The criminal gloated about broadcasting beheadings on the internet. He was capable of anything. “We need to get inside. To-freaking-day!”

As if on cue, both their phones vibrated—Garth of course.

“I’ll log in.” Logan typed his password on his laptop keyboard.

In no time, the CO regarded them with a hawkish gaze from beneath his thick eyebrows. “Holy hell.” He’d been watching from the webcam.

Olivia shouldered in beside Logan. “I have to be their next victim.”

“What?” Logan looked at her like she’d grown two heads. “You’re too old.” His eyes dropped to her crotch. “And you’re not—”

She thwacked his shoulder. “I can look like a teenager, especially if Dr. R can give me a filler here and there.”

Logan didn’t let up. “You’ve got to be out of your mind.”

“It makes sense,” said Garth.

Logan threw up his hands. “I beg your pardon, sir, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for Commander Hamilton to infiltrate a harem so soon after the Khalil op.”

Olivia could have decked him. “What the f—?”

Logan clicked the mute icon and pulled her away from the computer’s camera lens. “Dammit, I’ve kept my mouth shut about your PTSD because teammates don’t rat on each other, but you’re not offering to join a freaking pleasure cruise on the Mediterranean this time.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Those girls have to be scared shitless—if they’re alive.”

“You said it. Those girls are being used like whores by a mob of homicidal maniacs that make serial killers look like saints.”

She landed a punch in his shoulder. “That. Is. Exactly. Why I have to go in!” She stomped to the computer and turned the sound back on. “Sorry, sir.”

Garth’s eyes grew wide. “Is there something I need to know about, Commander?”

Logan shook his finger at the screen. “I think Olivia’s being too hasty h—”

Olivia stamped her foot. “No, sir! I’m ready. I’ve bloody well been waiting for my chance to go in deep, and the Boy Scout here is afraid I might get hurt.”

Logan gave her a heated stare. Olivia matched his fire. If he dared utter one word to Garth about her slip ups, she’d lay him flat. She never caved when she was deep inside an op. She only broke down when she was not in the midst of DEFCON 1.

“It’s not going to be easy. Hakim will be suspicious after the disappearance of Maulama Uddin.” Muhammed had made arrangements for Interpol to pick him up. Uddin would spend the next several years behind bars.

“Can you deliver his guns on time?” asked Logan.

“The shipment’s already on the way.” Garth pointed. “Rodgers, you need to stay close to Hakim. Keep your finger on the pulse.”

“Then I’ll have to pose as the next kidnapper. If Olivia is going in, I damned well better have her back.”

“Do you think you can make Hakim trust you enough to let you in that deep?”

Logan’s jaw tensed. “I’ll make sure he does.”

On the screen, Garth gave a pointed stare. “Without compromising the mission?”

“I won’t,” Logan said. “Once the gun delivery goes off, I’ll ask for more. He’s already told me I might have to get my hands dirty to earn his trust.”

Garth nodded. “We have two days to formulate an iron-clad plan. I want you both back at ICE in the morning. Over and out.”

Logan clicked off, then gave her a dead-eyed stare while they stood and scowled at each other. “Let’s just assume Dr. R can make you look seventeen and turn you back into a virgin. Before you say another word, please explain exactly how you’re planning to go into al-Umari’s harem and not freak out the first time someone lays a hand on you.”

“Back up, asshole. For your information, there is such a thing as hymen restoration, and if I put my hair up, I can practically pass for a teenager.”

“You’re too pretty to be seventeen.”

“I beg your pardon? Most models are still in their teens.”

“They’re not as pretty as you.”

She threw up her hands. “You just don’t think I can handle it.”

“That’s right I don’t. And you didn’t answer my question. How the hell are you going to control yourself from snapping and laying someone flat?”

“It’s different when I’m on an op.”

“How so?”

“I can detach.”

“And you couldn’t in the alleyway?”

“I can control that, too.”

“Too? And what about what happened with me? It’s a fucking harem. You’ll be going in as a sex toy.”

Olivia stood her ground, clenching her fists. “I said I can detach.”

“Just not with me.”

“Right.”

Logan slammed his fist into the couch. “Fuck!”

“That’s why I told you the first day it wasn’t wise for us to get too close.”

“Why?” Growing red in the face, his eyes bulged. “Because you can’t detach when you’re with me? You are one messed up filly.” He punched the couch again. “What do you think you’ll accomplish by going in? You’ll probably get yourself killed—or worse, they’ll torture you beyond all horrific imagination and they won’t let you die. They’ll keep you alive for their thrills.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She shoved him in the shoulder. “Don’t you see? There are young girls being held in some godforsaken place and they’re scared out of their minds. They’ve been taken from their homes and deposited into the worst hell on earth…all because they made friends with some jerk on Facebook.”

He grabbed her by the arms and held firm. “You’d better be damned sure what you’re doing.”

“I work best alone and undercover.”

“Yeah? Well I’ve spent enough time in the Middle East to know you won’t get out of this one without a crap-ton of help. You’ll be guarded by al-Umari’s goons twenty-four-seven and, this time, you won’t be sailing on a luxury yacht.”

Olivia gave a single nod while her throat burned. She hated the feelings swelling in her chest. What the hell was that about? Logan couldn’t mean more to her than anyone else in ICE. She couldn’t let him make her feel.

Until he crushed his lips to hers.

Olivia’s knees turned to butter as she shoved her fists between them.

But those big arms surrounded her. “I’m going to make you realize that someone cares for you so deeply, he’d take a bullet for you.”

Melting a little more, she slipped her hands to his waist. “You do?”

“Damn straight I do. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you going in. It tears me apart to think of another man touching you, and you’d better believe it; if anyone hurts you I’ll hunt them down and make them wish they’d never been born.”

Her heart swelled as she watched him speak with conviction in his voice, determination written across his rugged features. Awestruck, she drew up a hand and cupped his cheek. Emotion spilled through her soul as he lowered his lips and kissed her again. Not a gentle peck, but an intense claiming of her mouth, so fervent, his lips rendered Olivia powerless to pull away.