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The letters might have arrived by now—or they could be another six months or lost forever—but Rowena didn’t even know about the letters, and she still held out hope.

The race between the letters and the DNA results was just another thing he couldn’t control, but as soon as they were within sight of land…

“Shane Livingstone, another former Green Beret, from Alabama. Southpaw. He’s our breacher or was until he broke his arm.”

He grew somber. “The man who replaced him was his best friend, the operator who was killed on New Year’s Day. Dave Monteith. ‘Scotty.’ Left behind a pregnant wife and two kids.”

“That’s awful.”

“Scotty was a great guy.” He stared at his hands and wished he’d had the chance to tell the man how much he’d meant to him. What they all meant to him. He wasn’t known for his effusive nature. He regretted not saying the words now. If he ever got the chance again, he’d make sure they all knew.

“Who else?”

“Okay, let me think. Aaron Nash, we call him ‘the Professor.’ Former biologist. Always thinking things through from all the different angles and coming up with smart solutions. Plays Devil’s Advocate like Lucifer himself.

Luke Romano, former Army, flies our drones.

Seth Hopper, Cas Demarco, and Elliot Zerowski are all former Navy SEALs, but we try not to hold it against them.

JJ Hersh, a sniper, one of the few married guys on the team.

We have a bunch of former law enforcement officers—Grady Steel, Sebastian Black, Jonah Church, Levi Cruz, Wyatt Voss.

Church and Ford Cadell are our main K9 handlers.

Cadell is former Marine and a bit of a wildcard, but he’s started to settle.

Hey, if dogs ever run at you, hold perfectly still.

Don’t run. Even if they latch on, don’t move. ”

She gulped audibly. “They’d bring dogs to a ship?”

“Sure. Damien Crow, a.k.a. Birdman for obvious reasons, another former Marine, is a tough nut to crack but loyal as a pit bull. Malik Keeme has a good head on his shoulders—always wins at poker. Tobias Hayashi flew fighter jets for the Air Force. Fluent in Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Thai. Most of our guys know at least one other language fluently.”

“What do you speak?”

“French. German. Dutch. Some Spanish. Enough Portuguese to get myself into trouble.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Oh yeah?” He smirked at her. “How impressed?”

“I’ll show you later.” She tangled her long leg with his and stroked his foot with hers. “You have a lot of former special forces people on the team.”

He shrugged. “The job lends itself to that. Plus, they get accelerated into the program, and don’t have to serve in the FBI for as long as non-military agents before they can apply to HRT. It’s a pretty attractive second career for these guys.”

“Cool.”

“I guess. Who’s left? Noam Levitt—former Army medic and should have been a trauma surgeon.

The sort of guy girls want to take home to meet their mothers.

Guy’s brilliant. Keir Turley and Ian Rockwell round out the sniper team—both quiet but solid professionals.

Best friends even though Turley comes from a dirt-poor background and Rockwell’s parents are the ‘house in the Hamptons’ variety. Then we have the three FNGs.”

“FNGs?”

“Fucking New Guys.” He grinned. “Donnelly and two former FBI agents out of Atlanta who helped take down that anthrax terrorist ring last year.”

“I heard about that. Scary.” Rowena shuddered and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Will Griffin and Hunt Kincaid. Kincaid was an engineer before he joined the Bureau. Griffin lost his girlfriend—a fellow agent—to those same terrorists. I was worried how he’d cope, but he’s figuring it out. That leaves only Ryan Sullivan, a.k.a Cowboy.”

“ Cowboy ? Is he bad at his job?”

Kurt laughed. “No. The guy was a literal cowboy. Family has a ranch in Montana, and he can ride like I’ve never seen and is probably the best goddamned natural shot I ever saw.”

“So he’s a sniper?”

“Hell, no. He’s one of our explosive specialists. Has a different girl on his arm every week.” He cocked a brow. “By on his arm I mean?—”

She laughed. “I know what you mean.”

“If you meet him, don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth, and don’t take the bait.”

“I suspect you’ll be the one taking the bait.”

Damn. She was probably right.

“Aside from his sexploits, Ryan’s probably the best all-round operator on the teams, but he has a few blind spots.

He lost his wife also about eight years ago.

Cancer. She was pregnant with their little girl when diagnosed and refused treatment until she gave birth.

She died not long after, and from what I gather Ryan went off the rails for a few years. ”

“He’s a single dad?”

“Kid lives back on the ranch with cousins around the same age. I know he misses her, but it’s probably the right decision, given we never know when we’ll get a call.”

“Like you and Daisy?”

“I guess.” He pulled a face. “But you’ll probably meet him and fall in love, and then I’ll have to kill him.”

She kissed his cheek. “Probably. Always a sucker for a hot single dad.”

Kurt laughed. Jealousy was lowering and not something he’d ever had to worry about before. “He will flirt with you. He can’t help himself. Women honestly seem to love him, young and old.”

She squeezed his hand. “I think you love him too.”

He sent her a look. “I do. I love them all. I just never told them. I’m not the type to say it out loud. Out of practice, I guess.” Emotion crowded his throat.

“They know.” She sounded so sure.

“I love you.”

“I know.”