Free Burned by Kaylea Cross Page B

count on me. You know that, right?”
    A tremulous smile quivered on her lips, as though his words had touched her deeply. God, did she feel that alone? It was killing him not to touch her. “Yes, I do trust you, and that’s why I wanted you to go with me tomorrow night. In light of all this I’m not sure if I’m still going, but I’ll let you know, okay? I just really need to talk to Alex right now.”
    The man who’d recruited her after whatever tragedy she’d experienced. Sean found that point very interesting.
    Recognizing that the conversation was over and that he wouldn’t find out anything more from Zahra, Sean relented with a nod and opened the door for her. Zahra walked quickly down the carpeted hallway and waved to Ruth, who was at her desk. “How did your interview go?” she asked her.
    Ruth lowered her gaze, looking tired and drawn. “Fine. Just glad it’s over.”
    Zahra reached out to rub her shoulder in silent support then lowered her hand. “Is he free now? I really need to see him.”
    Ruth met her gaze questioningly then nodded. “Go ahead and wait for him in his office. He should be nearly finished by now. I’ll have him come straight up when he’s done.”
    “Thanks.” Zahra strode for Alex’s office at the end of the hall, pausing there to look back at Sean over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”
    Since there was nothing to say at that point he nodded and turned left to head to the conference room. Hunter and Ellis came in shortly thereafter and together they reviewed all the new intel with Evers, the FBI agent attached to their task force. About an hour later the door opened and Sean looked up as Gage walked in with Claire.
    Hunter smiled and stood to shake his second-in-command’s hand, whose bright blue eyes were still bruised underneath from the explosion. “Hey, man, good to see you.”
    “It’s good to be back,” the red-headed former SF master sergeant replied. “Hearing’s not a hundred percent yet, so y’all make sure to talk loud if you want me to hear you.”
    “Sure thing, old man,” Hunter teased.
    “Heard that, you fucker.” In his early forties, Gage was still in prime physical condition despite his recent brush with death and his skills in the field were sharp as ever.
    Hunter reached for Claire and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, gorgeous, how are you?”
    “Much better.” Cute and curvy with shoulder length light brown hair and gray eyes, she was a computer genius and one of the only people he’d seen Zahra hang out with socially. She eased back and acknowledged the rest of them with a smile. “So, how’s the investigation coming along?”
    “Got some interesting leads to follow up on, so it’ll be great to have more hands on deck,” Sean said.
    “Yeah, but mostly I’m just happy to see Gage because I’ve missed his cooking in the worst way while you guys were gone. Dunphy almost killed us the other night. Spiked our food with a bottle of weapons grade ghost pepper hot sauce,” Ellis put in.
    “Guilty,” Sean admitted.
    Gage’s blue gaze landed on him, a twinkle of admiration there. “That so?” he asked in his North Carolina drawl. “Well, I’m glad you boys missed me because I’m itching to get back to work.”
    Claire shook her head as she rounded the table to sit next to Sean, muttering something under her breath about stubborn-ass alpha males. “All right, bring me up to speed,” she said to him.
    Sean showed her what they’d uncovered in her absence and Hunter coordinated the team’s activities for the next twenty four hours. He and Gage divvied up and doled out more recon assignments for them, Sean and Ellis. This Amir guy, whoever he was, was in a world of hurt once they locked onto him.
    On his way to the parking lot, Sean stopped at Alex’s office and knocked on the door.
    “Come in.”
    He found Alex alone, at his desk, and shut the door behind him.
    Alex looked over at him, away from the document he’d been