Page 5 of Covert Temptation (SEAL Team Blackout Charlie #4)

D ante stood outside the interrogation room with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. When the team took over the mansion for their base, a big pane of two-way glass had been added to this space. His gaze was fixed on it so hard that the glass might crack under the force of his stare.

Inside, Alyssa sat across from Kennedy. Their working relationship had morphed into a natural friendship, only to be shattered by betrayal and distrust. The tension coiled between them like a serpent, almost too ugly for him to look at.

Kennedy appeared composed, but he’d been on enough battlefields to know when someone was barely holding the line.

During the chopper ride, he’d spent a lot of time studying the woman. He didn’t know what he was searching for in her face, but he never found it.

What he’d discovered was that her eyes still held a softness, a vulnerability even when she was glaring at him, which was every chance she got.

As he looked on, she pulled her black coat around herself, almost huddling into the depths. The overhead lights were high quality, not those harsh lights of a standard interrogation room, and they caught the golden streaks of her hair.

Everything about Kennedy was too perfect, too polished, like she didn’t know a damn thing about the kind of dirt the world could throw, even though her job as the assistant to the ambassador must have taught her a lot.

While she and Alyssa talked, her eyes—warm brown like espresso—took in everything. They weren’t sharp or guarded, but aware.

She was the kind of woman who turned heads without trying, who walked into a room and made it brighter just by existing. And that made Dante suspicious. He couldn’t tell if she was truly soft, or simply knew how to move through shadows without making a sound.

Maybe Kennedy wasn’t soft at all. Maybe she’d just learned to look like it.

The speaker outside the room projected every word they said. He watched the whole interview, shocked to hear the workings of Kennedy’s mind spoken out loud to Alyssa, when she’d been close-mouthed with him.

She spoke with intelligence, had thought things through.

But he couldn’t help but wonder if she was manipulating Alyssa, casting the suspicion on someone else.

The interview concluded, and he stood back from the door as Alyssa exited. She stopped when she saw him.

“I never would have forgiven her that easily,” he said.

Alyssa drew up straighter. She was small but carried herself with the authority of someone much larger and older than her years.

“I’ve had some time and space to gain a fresh perspective.

Over the past few weeks, I realized Kennedy did nothing to hurt me.

She was just doing her job, doing her best to survive, like everyone else. ”

“So you believe she really didn’t know about the spyware on her phone?”

Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t believe she knew.”

“I guess time will tell. She’s still under watch.”

She slipped her fingers through the hair on her temple, brushing back the dark, glossy strands so opposite of Kennedy’s. “And I hear you’re going to be her personal bodyguard now.”

He jerked his head. “What?”

Alyssa gave him a small smile. She knew exactly what she was doing when she leaked that information.

He raked his fingers through his hair but there was no way to alleviate the annoyance rippling over every inch of his body. Not only was he always stuck behind a computer screen instead of in the field, now, once he actually got in the field, he was relegated to common guard duty?

She patted his arm. “By the way, you should know Kennedy is afraid of the dark.”

What the hell? The dark? Why would he care about that?

Alyssa walked away, moving quickly down the corridor and turning the corner that would take her back to Chase, who didn’t have any problem at all hunkering down against threats with the woman he’d fallen head over heels for.

Dante turned back to the one-way glass. Kennedy was on her feet, facing the glass and glaring at him like she knew he was out there.

Alyssa might have forgiven her, but Dante wasn’t so quick to jump on that train. No matter how convincing Kennedy sounded, he wasn’t buying it. Not completely. She’d been trained in protocols for working with the ambassador, had access to the same secure systems as the rest of them.

If her phone had been compromised, it wasn’t because she didn’t know better—it was because she’d stepped outside the lines. Whether by accident or design, she wasn’t owning up to her part in it. And that was a problem.

His jaw clenched as an old memory flickered, sharp and unwelcome—his parents breaking rules with so much carelessness. In the end, it hadn’t been them who paid the price. It was him and his four younger siblings, scattered into the system like grains of dust.

There were always choices. Every damn day people stood at the crossroads of right and wrong, and Dante devoted his life to pulling them back from the edge—or cleaning up when they jumped.

People liked to say life was shades of gray. Complicated. Messy. But not to him. For Dante, life had always been black and white. And Kennedy? She was still hiding something in the shadows. Eventually, he would uncover her secrets.

He found Con in the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge. He used his shoulder to nudge the door shut and turned to the big granite kitchen island with sandwich fixings in hand.

Seeing Dante, he grunted. “You want a sandwich?”

“No. I want answers.”

Con didn’t ruffle easily. He only arched a brow at him. “About?”

“Alyssa says I’m going on Kennedy watch.”

He spread four slices of bread on a paper plate and began layering them with ham and roast beef. “How is that different from what you’ve been doing?”

“I was in charge of check-ins. And now we can’t trust her not to run.”

Con resealed the packages of deli meat and reached for the sliced cheddar. “People with much higher rank than you or me want to keep her alive, and that means you’re following orders.”

No point in arguing in that case.

“We’ve got bigger issues than Kennedy right now.”

Dante leaned on the bar. “I’m listening.”

“None of the crime syndicate members or their associates were on the street when Shaw was shot.”

He stared at his CO for a long beat. “The footage was combed through thoroughly?”

He gave a single nod. “I called the TV stations too. Turns out they received a tip to be at the courthouse.”

“Distraction before attack. We’ve seen it before during some of the bombings. It’s Cipher’s fingerprint for sure.”

He nodded. “We can’t take any chances with the one person who might give us a link to him. I know you don’t like this, but you’re taking Kennedy into protective custody.”

He felt his muscles lock from the base of his spine to his nape, each vertebra setting into a rigid line. “The apartment?”

Con added two slices of cheese to each sandwich.

“No, that was compromised the minute she walked out and bought herself a train ticket. Command found a place for you outside the city, far enough away that there aren’t cameras on every pole.

And close enough that we can still support you with a chopper flight.

Plus, you’ll have the ability to work on finding the sniper who took out Shaw, and look into the Red Cross worker’s son. ”

The entire reason the ambassador was targeted in the first place. Alyssa and Chase just spent time in Syria to uncover why the attack on Alyssa and another special ops team took place. They discovered a single event—a Red Cross worker had died in a bombing that could have been stopped.

Now, the team suspected her son could have acted on revenge.

It was important work. Work that would make a difference. But watching over a woman who constantly broke the rules—and put herself and others responsible for her in blatant danger by running away—didn’t sound like a good time.

He’d rather walk into a den of lions after soaking in meat than share a safe house with Kennedy Bloom.

Con topped his sandwich with lettuce and mayo and then the final slice of bread. When he gathered it in one hand and brought it to his mouth, he was watching Dante closely.

He had to try to win this argument. “I can’t help but think there are other guys on the team who would be a better choice. I’m more of an asset staying right here, where I have access to my computer system.”

“Decision’s made, Dante. We’re down a man since Denver left. You’re the one who can still be pulled from the team if we get the call.”

He expanded his lungs with air. Though they felt itchy and hot, he held his breath for several beats before letting it out in an even trickle.

“I know you don’t like hearing it, but you’re the only player who can still be on the gameboard providing us with backup while protecting her.”

Framed like that, the order made a little more sense—and Dante felt a slight bit better about carrying it out.

Sure, babysitting Kennedy wasn’t his idea of a good time, but this wasn’t just about her.

Someone had murdered Secretary-General Shaw.

Someone was targeting the last member of Echo team.

Someone had it out for the ambassador…and possibly Kennedy too.

The team suspected everything led back to a single, bloody point—a bombing at a Red Cross facility in Syria. A woman had died. Her son, grief-stricken, later disappeared, ruled a suicide. But his body was never found.

Now Dante had the unenviable task of unraveling the truth behind all of it.

He reached for a slice of meat and a hunk of bread, chewing over more than just the facts. If he was about to go off the grid with Kennedy, he’d need to keep up his strength just to keep from throttling her.

Even more disturbing? In his imagination, his hands weren’t exactly around her neck… and she wasn’t complaining.

* * * * *

Kennedy was never in the mood for one of Dante’s moods, but she really wasn’t in the mood now.

He sat rigid behind the wheel, his forearm locked like steel, while he ignored her.