They met in Ian Black’s war room. It was secure, a smaller room surrounded by a metal cage inside a bigger room, which meant nobody could pick up any transmissions. Both teams were there, with the exception of their five missing operators who were arriving later tonight.

“My source says he’s still in the palace,” Ian Black said. “But Okonjo isn’t leaving for two more days, and Conti could have moved by then. I’ve got people watching the gates, but it won’t be easy to tell who’s coming and going.”

“Anybody watching the ship?” Viking asked.

“I’ve got a guy… but it would be better if you put one of yours on it.”

“All right. What about weapons and gear? We’ll need dive gear if we’re going to infiltrate a ship. We also need Rapid Diver systems.”

“I’ve got what you need. It’s military grade, though not all of it’s strictly American, if you know what I mean.”

“Comm?” Cody interjected. Because that shit was important too.

“Just like you use back home,” Black said with a grin. He walked over to the computer and brought up a map of the presidential palace that appeared on the monitor. “Conti is here,” he said, pointing to a room in the east wing of the vast palace. It was an exterior room, which was even better for them because it would make grabbing him easier if they had multiple points of entry. A point right into his room? Bonus.

“How do you know?” Money asked.

“Multiple reports place him there at night. Conti likes the ladies, and he’s had several brought to him in this room during his stay. They spend the night, sometimes more than one at a time, and then go on their way the next morning. The local madams have been delighted with his appetite for women. Always new ones, never the same girl twice. It’s noticeable, which is good for us. And the madams are happy to let the girls tell my people where they were taken.”

“If he’s bringing in women, why not send one of us in to take him down? I could neutralize him before these guys show up and extract us.”

Cody gaped at Miranda. Instantly, everything inside him went still. “No,” he snapped before anyone could agree. It was a stupid idea. A dangerous idea. And he needed some reason other than he couldn’t stand the thought of her in danger. “He’s seen her,” he added, looking at his teammates. “She looks different than she did then, sure, but it wouldn’t take him long to realize she’s the same woman.”

Miranda arched an eyebrow. “You don’t know that. He doesn’t look at women twice. Well, at least not their faces. If the tits and ass are there, that’s all he cares about. He’ll glance at me, and then he’ll want me on my knees with my mouth wrapped around his dick.”

Anger swelled inside him like a tidal wave. The idea of her on her knees in front of anyone but him was enough to make him want to commit violence. “And how far would you let it go before you neutralized him?”

Her brows drew down. It was an indication of just how pissed she was because Miranda was usually damned good at masking her emotions. “As far as I have to in order to take him down,” she snapped. “Which wouldn’t be far. A hand on his balls and it’s over.”

Lucky snorted, and Cody tried not to glare at all of them for refusing to take this seriously.

“Good God, don’t remind us,” one of the Alpha Squad guys said. “Every time I think of that night, I sweat.”

Lucky grinned. “Sorry, Ice.”

“In case y’all are wondering,” Kev said to the SEALs, “my sweet wife took down the world’s most wanted terrorist with an application of, uh, pressure to his balls.”

“So it works,” Lucky said. “Which all of us in this room know. And Cowboy?”

He looked directly at her because he knew she was waiting for him to do it.

“That wasn’t a fair question of a fellow operator, and you know it.”

He felt the sting of that statement. “No, probably not. But Jane here is CIA. And I’ve seen the lengths they’re willing to go to.”

Miranda knew what he meant. That statement hung in the air between them like a poisonous cloud until she cleared her throat and drew everyone’s attention back to her. “Nevertheless, it’s still a good plan. Send one of the women in as a prostitute. I’ll volunteer since I’m sure Lucky and Victoria are needed in other capacities.”

“It’s a bad idea,” Cody said, trying to remain reasonable about the whole thing. “You don’t need to go in. We can do the fucking job without you taking that risk.”

“Enough,” Viking said. “Can we get on with this? You two can argue later. And Jane,” he added, “that’s not a bad plan. We’ll put it into rotation. If we’re lucky, it won’t be necessary and we’ll get to him another way. But thanks for volunteering.”

“Whatever it takes,” Miranda said, her voice sounding firm and determined.

But Cody was equally determined that it wasn’t going to happen. They’d just have to see which of them won the battle.

* * *

Miranda knew Cody was pissed at her, but there was nothing she could do about it right then. They spent the next hour discussing plans to infiltrate both the palace and the ship. Ian Black didn’t have a schematic of the ship yet, but he was working on it. Still, it seemed as if the SEALs already knew what they’d find. It was a cargo ship, but what Conti was shipping was anybody’s guess—though it wasn’t likely to be good. Especially considering the money he’d been sending to Okonjo for the past month or so.

He could be buying guns, sure. He could also by buying something far worse. Nuclear material. Chemical weaponry, which Okonjo possessed because he’d used it on his people. Or he could be buying human beings, which was the most disgusting choice of all and yet also very likely.

Victor Conti had made pornographic films back in Vegas, but he was also suspected of engaging in sex trafficking. As if the films weren’t enough. As if the young women willing to let their bodies be bought for the price of drugs or, hell, just the chance at a certain kind of fame weren’t enough for his operation. He’d made money off those films. When was it enough?

The meeting wrapped up, and everyone headed for the storerooms where Ian Black had the weapons and gear. Miranda didn’t go with them. Instead, she went outside and stood in the courtyard, listening to the traffic moving outside the walls. It was steady, though not fast. The rubble and general state of disrepair in this part of Cape Lucier dictated that.

She could hear a dog barking and then a woman yelling at someone. A child cried. There were cooking smells in the air, and the smell of decay as well. Cape Lucier wasn’t a pleasant place, though it had once been. That’s what happened when warlords took control and did what they pleased.

It disgusted her. It’s what she fought against, what she would always fight against. Stopping the world’s assholes from destroying everything good.

She started to turn and head back inside when a shape appeared out of the darkness. It was a large shape and adrenaline surged in her veins as her fight response kicked in—but then the man moved closer and Cody materialized in front of her. She could feel his confusion and his anger. She didn’t want to disappoint him or upset him, but this wasn’t about what she wanted. It was about what was right for the mission.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked.

“Thinking.”

“There’s a lot to think about.”

“There always is.” She folded her arms, hugging herself. “We do what we do because we have to. It’s the same for both of us.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But sunshine, you don’t have to risk yourself. We’ll get the bastard without you putting yourself in danger.”

She didn’t bother to point out that he’d be putting himself in danger—that they all would—in order to get Conti in the first place. “Ideally, yes. But shouldn’t we be prepared for every possibility? Women are a weakness for him—don’t tell me you didn’t think of this solution the first moment Black said he’d been using prostitutes. All of you did.”

He hesitated too long. “It’s not what we do. The CIA might send you in to play a fucking madam or porn purveyor or whatever, but it’s not the way we operate. We don’t need to operate that way. And we don’t involve noncoms in our missions.”

She sighed. “Cody, I’m not a noncombatant. I’m an agent. I’ve been in plenty of battles, though not the same sort of battles you fight. But I still volunteered to put myself in harm’s way for the sake of my nation. Could you please stop acting like you’re the only soldier here?”

“Sailor,” he said.

She blinked. Oh yeah, Navy. She’d forgotten for a second.

“Well, I’m not a sailor and never have been. But I’m definitely a soldier. Just not the kind who wears a uniform. So stop trying to protect me. I can protect myself.”

He blew out a breath like he was patiently trying to explain his obviously superior position to an idiot. Her hackles rose. Damn stubborn man!

“I can’t help it,” he said, his tone no longer superior but sounding tired instead. The anger rising within her subsided just a little bit. Like blowing cool air on a pot of boiling water. She was still angry, but not in danger of boiling over just yet.

“Try, Cowboy. Try to realize I’m your equal, even if you can’t quite comprehend it.”

“I keep thinking about that day,” he said. “You were lying in the dirt, blood spilling everywhere, and all I could think was that I’d failed you. Fucking let them kill you when I’d sworn I wouldn’t.”

Her throat tightened and her chest felt as if someone had punched her and left a hole. If she could change that moment— But God, she couldn’t. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. But I still see it—and I still believe it in some ways. Not that you actually died, but that you could—and if you did, it would be my fault.”

She swallowed. “No, it would be mine. Never yours.”

He raked a hand over his scalp. “That’s easy for you to say. But you didn’t live with it the way I did.”

She took a step forward and then stopped. “I know that Conti sent men after you. I know that’s because of me, because you helped me. Do you think for one second I won’t do everything I can to prevent them from harming you?”

He seemed a bit stunned at first. And then he moved toward her, only stopping when he was right in front of her. Part of her wished he’d take her in his arms, but part of her was scared too. There was something going on inside her, something that made her feel a little bit crazy and a little bit jumpy all at once.

“We’ll get Conti. He’s not going to hurt me—but if you go in there and I have to worry about you— Not a good thing for me, sunshine.”

Miranda stared up into those blue, blue eyes, but she wasn’t expecting what happened next. She wasn’t expecting her heart to crack wide open or a tumult of feelings to race through her. Nobody cared what happened to her the way he did. Nobody tried to stop her from doing her job because they were scared for her. Mark, Badger, Sam. They’d never expressed this level of concern for her.

Hell, her parents had never expressed this level of concern either.

Whoa there, Miranda. Doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean this man wants to tie any knots or have babies with you.

“Why do you care?” she asked, her voice raspy with emotion she couldn’t stuff down. “Why does it matter to you what happens to me?”

“I don’t know,” he said, and her stomach fell to her toes.

Well, what had she expected?

She refused to let her disappointment show. “It’s okay. I was just wondering.”

She started to push past him and head for the room they shared, but he grabbed her and spun her around, pulling her into his arms. She closed her eyes as she gripped his shoulders, put her nose against his chest, and breathed in the scent of him.

Spicy, sweaty, masculine. Cody.

Her heart hurt as she stood there. Physically hurt. She felt so much with him, so very much. He was hell on her emotions, especially now when she wanted him to say he cared but all he’d said was I don’t know. Why had he gotten to her? He was just a man she’d abducted in a casino so she could escape Victor Conti. A random stranger—and now he was in her system so deep she didn’t think she’d ever get him out.

“That’s a lie,” he said, his voice low and rumbling in her ear. “I care because I like you, Miranda.”

Those words were hot and bright and beautiful. They meant something to her, even if they were fairly ordinary. Her blood rushed in her veins, and her chest swelled with everything she was trying to contain. She liked him too. Maybe more than liked him. Not that she understood what any of that meant, but this was definitely more than like on her part.

“I like you too,” she said because she couldn’t say anything else. How could she put into words what she was feeling when even she didn’t understand it?

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks. That’s all I ask.”

Her throat tightened. “Same goes for you, Cowboy.”