Page 63 of Ground Zero

She set her phone on the kitchen counter, her movements careful, deliberate. “You heard what you wanted to hear. Or maybe what you expected to hear.”

“Don’t.” The word came out sharp. “Don’t try to spin this. You were talking to Cook about me.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Then who? Who requires a one a.m. phone call that you had to hide from me?”

Sheridan crossed her arms, her posture defensive. “I wasn’t hiding. You were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Convenient.” Maverick moved closer, noting how she didn’t back away. “You know what I think? I think you’ve been playing both sides this whole time. Keeping me close to see what I know, who I might contact. Building your case.”

“That’s ridiculous?—”

“Is it? You’re FBI, Sheridan. Duty, honor, protocol—it’s in your DNA. You really expect me to believe you’d throw all that away for someone you arrested for terrorism?”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “I expect you to trust me. The same way I’ve been trusting you.”

“Trust?” Maverick laughed bitterly. “You were just on the phone discussing my whereabouts with someone.”

“You don’t know what you heard.”

“Then explain it. Make me understand.”

They stood there, barely three feet apart, the accusation hanging between them like a blade. Outside, the ocean continued its relentless rhythm, indifferent to the human drama playing out above its shore.

Maverick waited, watching Sheridan’s face in the moonlight, searching for the truth. Part of him—the part that had started to care for her, maybe even fall for her—desperately wanted her to have an explanation. The other part, the soldier trained to survive, was already calculating escape routes.

“Well?” he demanded when she remained silent. “Who were you talking to?”

Then he waited for her answer.

CHAPTER 36

Sheridan felt her own anger rising, hot and fierce.

Maverick wanted to accuseherof betrayal? After everything she’d risked for him?

“You want to talk about secret phone calls?” She stepped closer, getting in his space. “How about the one you made two nights ago? The one you thought I was asleep for?”

Maverick’s expression shifted, surprise flickering across his features.

“Yeah, I heard you,” she continued. “Whispering to someone from Blackout. Telling them you were innocent, asking if they believed you. For all I know, you told them exactly where we were.”

“I called Ty,” he admitted, his voice deep and almost a growl. “My boss. I needed to know if anyone at Blackout still believed in me.”

“And did you tell him where you were? Where I was?”

“No. Of course not.”

“How do I know that? How do I know you didn’t set up this whole elaborate scene—the poor, framed operative who just needs someone to believe in him?” Sheridan was on a roll now, all her doubts and fears pouring out. “Maybe you’ve beenworking with Jake all along. Maybe this meeting tomorrow is just to eliminate the one FBI agent who knows too much.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“I don’t know what to believe!” The words exploded from her. “I was on the phone with Danny’s widow, okay? Rebecca. She deserves to know something about the investigation, about who might have killed her husband.”

Maverick went still. “Danny’s widow?”

“Yes. She’s also at the Norfolk base. She works in the comptroller’s office.” Sheridan’s voice cracked slightly. “She’s having a really hard time.”