Page 28 of Stealthy Seduction (SEAL Team Blackout Charlie #5)

It wasn’t much—two operatives against unknown odds, charging into what was certainly a trap—but it was better than abandoning the woman he loved to whatever fate Cipher had planned.

* * * * *

The shipping container smelled of rust and fetid water. Its corrugated metal walls wept condensation in the humid air of the Hudson River pier.

Izzy’s wrists burned where a thick cord cut into her skin, her hands bound in front of her, but the post made her back ache from sitting so stiff in the metal folding chair that had become her prison.

Through the partially open container door, she could see the Manhattan skyline glittering in the distance—so close she could almost touch it, yet impossibly far from the safety of Hudson’s arms.

The man she’d sacrificed everything to meet sat across from her in another folding chair, looking nothing like the monster she’d built up in her mind.

Her journalist’s eye took in every detail about the man who called himself by a name meant to inspire terror—Cipher.

Yet Daniel Sheen was nothing at all like she pictured when she sat inside the safe walls of the Blackout Charlie base and researched him.

He was younger than she’d expected—early thirties, with sandy brown hair and the kind of unremarkable features that easily disappeared in a crowd. He could have been anyone: a tech worker, a graduate student, someone’s neighbor who kept to himself and never caused trouble.

Except for his eyes. Those were the eyes of someone who’d already died inside, leaving behind something cold and calculating that wore human skin like a costume.

“You’re really him.” Her voice came out much steadier than she felt. “Cipher.”

She was maybe the first person to see him since he faked his death.

Daniel smiled, and the expression was all wrong—too bright, too pleased with himself.

“I have to admit, Izzy, this is working out even better than I’d hoped.

I can’t wait for your SEAL boyfriend to charge in to rescue you.

You thought you were smart, didn’t you? Poor, sweet Izzy.

” He shook his head in mock admiration. “That was beautifully stupid.”

“You know they’re coming for you.” She lifted her chin despite the fear clawing at her throat. “They’re going to rescue me.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it.” Daniel’s smile widened. “That’s the whole point.”

The words hit her like ice water. “What?”

“Did you really think this was about you? That I’d go through all this trouble for one washed-up journalist with PTSD?” He leaned forward, his eyes bright with malicious glee. “You’re bait, sweetheart. The perfect lure to bring everyone I want to kill right to me.”

“No.” The word tore from her throat as the horrible truth dawned on her. “It’s supposed to be just me! Take me! Take my life for a life!”

“A life for a life?” Daniel laughed, the sound echoing off the container walls.

“Oh, Izzy. I’m not interested in one life.

I want all of them. Your boyfriend, his team, maybe even those pretty girlfriends they all think they love—as if love is real.

Everyone who played a part in letting my mother die. ”

The consequences of her mistake tightened around her throat like a noose. She hadn’t saved anyone.

She’d doomed them all.

After a long moment of crushing despair, something else kicked in—her journalist’s instinct that had kept her alive in Syria. She’d watched several lives of Americans get snuffed out right in front of her eyes, but she’d managed to stay alive, and she chalked it up to her quick wits.

If she was going to die here, if Hudson and his team were walking into a trap because of her choices, she was damn well going to understand why.

“Give me this much.” Her voice found a strength she didn’t know she still possessed. “If you’re going to kill me, if this is my dying wish—let me understand. Let me interview you.”

Daniel tilted his head, studying her with the fascination of a scientist observing an interesting specimen. “You want to interview me?”

“I count on you wanting to boast about your actions. Most killers do, given the chance.”

“Most killers,” he repeated thoughtfully. “I suppose that’s what I am now, isn’t it?” He settled back in his chair, looking genuinely delighted by the prospect. “You know what? Why not? We have time to kill before your rescue party arrives.”

Izzy took a steadying breath, slipping into the professional persona that had carried her through war zones and hostile interrogations. Izzy Cruz morphed with Callie Northwood in a smarter, savvier version of the two personas she claimed.

“Let’s start with Alyssa. It doesn’t make sense to target her. She was just doing her job, trying to negotiate the release of the hostages. She was trying to save lives.”

“My mom was just doing her job too.” Daniel’s casual tone was at odds with the darkness in his eyes. “Look how that turned out for her.”

“So you blame everyone who was involved in the hostage situation in Syria? What about the soldiers on the military base? Those servicemen failed to respond to the Red Cross bomb threat too.”

He shrugged with chilling nonchalance. “Their time will come.” He smiled. “Just like the journalist who needed someone to free her instead of just dying like the rest.”

The evil oozing from him sent goosebumps rippling over her skin. But she refused to react to him, to show him a single weakness.

His smile was as sharp as broken glass. “Do you know what it’s like to see your mother’s burned body, knowing that if a bunch of Americans had just done their jobs properly, she’d still be alive?”

Izzy forced herself to ask the next question, though every instinct screamed at her to stop. “What did you feel when you killed the man you hired to act in your stead when you donated to the charity? What did you feel when you had Drysdale killed?”

“Relief,” Daniel said immediately. “Like finally scratching an itch that had been bothering me for years. He was just a loose end, really. I saw him die, you know. The men I hired to kill him were wearing body cams. Watching the life leave his eyes...” He paused, seeming to savor the memory. “It was remarkably satisfying.”

She gulped down the bile in her throat. “And Dr. Webb? The man who tried to save your mother? Will he die like the rest?”

“Oh, I’m not going to kill him.” Daniel’s expression brightened. “He may still serve my purposes.”

The casual way he discussed murder and psychological torture made Izzy’s skin crawl, but she pressed on. “What about the people who had nothing to do with Syria? The innocent bystanders who might get caught in your traps?”

“Collateral damage.” Daniel waved his hand dismissively. “Every war has casualties. The difference is, I’m honest about what I’m doing. Your government friends like to pretend their hands are clean while they order drone strikes on wedding parties and call it counterterrorism.”

“You really believe you’re justified in all this?”

“I believe in consequences.” His voice took on the fervor of a true believer.

“My mother dedicated her life to helping people in war zones. She saved hundreds of lives, and what did she get for it? A bomb delivered to her workplace because someone decided her facility was a good place to make a name for their resistance group. No one was held accountable. No one even remembered her name six months later!”

Izzy felt sick listening to him, but she couldn’t stop. This might be the only chance anyone would have to understand the mind behind the terror. “So you decided to become judge, jury and executioner?”

“I decided to balance the scales.” Daniel’s eyes glittered with conviction. “Every person who failed my mother dies. Simple as that. And if other people get in the way…” He shrugged.

The container went still except for the distant sound of water lapping against the pier and the musty stench of wrack.

It had been hours since she left the Blackout base.

Since then, she had watched the sun climb in the sky until it began its descent down the other side of the skyline and cast shadows along the ground.

Where was Hudson? Did he even know she was gone? He might still be in the thick of that op. He could be—

She cut off the thought, unable to let it seep into the cracks of her mind. Otherwise, what was she even doing this for? She had sacrificed herself to save him and the team and the women she called friends.

No, they were all her family now.

In the gathering shadows, Daniel looked even younger, almost vulnerable. But Izzy could see the madness behind his facade—the broken mind of someone who’d taken grief and twisted it into something monstrous.

“You know what the beautiful thing is?” he said suddenly, leaning forward again.

“Your boyfriend is probably planning his rescue mission right now. Gathering his team, checking his weapons, all of that tactical preparation they love so much. And he has no idea that every step he takes toward this pier brings him closer to joining Echo team.”

Izzy closed her eyes, thinking of Hudson’s face the last time she’d seen him—fierce, his eyes filled with emotion, holding her close in the early morning darkness.

She’d never told him she loved him, not to his face. Only as she left the base, on her desperate rush to meet Daniel Sheen at the pier.

And oh, Hudson deserved to hear those three big words as she gazed into his eyes with all the love bursting inside her.

Now she never would.

“He’s going to come for me.” She barely got the words out without them breaking. “And when he does, you’re going to try to k-kill him.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

“I’m not going to try, Izzy.” Daniel’s voice was soft, almost gentle. “I’m going to succeed. And the last thing Hudson Steele sees before he dies will be your face, knowing that you’re the reason he’s here. That your choices led him straight into my trap.”

“You’re wrong about one thing.” Izzy opened her eyes to meet his gaze directly.

“What’s that?”

“He’s not going to die. And when he kills you—and he will kill you—it won’t be for his team or his mission or his country.” Her voice grew stronger with each word. “It’ll be for me. And that’s something you’ll never understand, because you’ve never loved anyone enough to die for them.”

Daniel’s smile faltered for just a moment, and in that brief crack in his mask, Izzy saw something that might have been human once. Then it was gone, replaced by cold calculation.

“We’ll see about that,” he said. “We’ll see about that very soon.”