Code Name Sentinel (Jameson Force Security 2)

“Right,” he replies, but then he backtracks. “It’s just… until the FBI can finish their investigation, we don’t know if there are other people out there with the same line of thinking as Munford.”

“But I’ve already given the formula up,” I point out. “It’s out in the open.”

Which is true. I’d turned over all my notes and my laptop to the director of my lab and the scientists representing the United States Department of Energy. I’d met with them to go over things and explain my theory. I’d been grilled, as I should have been. They’d tested me as best they could, but let’s face it… if they’d known all this stuff, they could have figured it out themselves.

“Yes,” Cruce counters. “But that’s not public knowledge yet.”

I sigh in frustration. “How much longer will this have to go on?”

“Until the FBI can finish their investigation,” he replies, his tone patient if a bit resigned.

I feel my eyebrows draw inward as something hits me. “Why don’t you just escort me?”

Cruce’s gaze cuts away from me, but there’s a flash of guilt he can’t hide. But just as quickly, he gives me his regard again.

The hardening of his jaw is a foreboding tell.

“I need to head back to Pittsburgh,” he says. I blink in surprise. It was the last thing I thought I’d hear from him, yet… how could I not consider this?

Cruce doesn’t live in D.C. anymore. He has another job in another city. It dawns on me all at once that I’ve been hiding for the last few days—thinking I was ready to return to normality, while having no clue what that actually meant.

“Oh,” I murmur, averting my eyes from Cruce to focus on the bathroom door. Suddenly, I have an overwhelming need to escape this bed.

We’d just re-solidified our intimacy… and for what?

For nothing, I think.

I start to roll away from Cruce, but his arm comes around my waist to stop me. He pulls me back, hand to my chin, and forces me toward him. “I have to get back for a debriefing and to figure out what my next assignment is going to be.”

“I understand,” I reply woodenly. “And I’ve got my own stuff to do. All the reactor testing is actually going to be out in California. I’ll need to be present for that.”

“I know,” he replies softly. “It’s just a tough time for us right now.”

“We’ll survive it,” I reply brightly.

Cruce studies me with a long hard look deep into my eyes, as if he’s trying to fathom what I might mean in those cryptic words. “We’ll absolutely survive it. I promise.”

A smile plastered to my face, I just stare. I’d survived torture and near rape, so I know I can survive if it doesn’t work out between Cruce and me.

Placing my hand on his chest, I lean over and brush my lips lightly against his. When I pull back, I don’t bother looking at him. Instead, I roll off the bed with a murmured, “I’m going to take a shower before heading into the lab.”

He doesn’t reply.CHAPTER 26CruceI bang my fist on the desk, frustrated I can’t concentrate on the fucking report I’m supposed to be writing. Kynan’s a stickler for paperwork, and I have to recount my entire mission from start to finish in a lengthy document that will get placed in a permanent file.

I suppose that’s good news.

I still have a job here at Jameson, which surprises me. Not only had I managed to get our client captured on my watch, but I’d also murdered a man in cold blood because of personal reasons that had nothing to do with safety or self-defense.

That right there was more than enough reason for a justifiable termination if there ever was one, but for some reason… Kynan welcomed me back to headquarters with open arms and a knowing smile.

I know what it means. He’d been in the same exact situation—his woman’s tormentor within his grasp and a burning deep in his gut to end his miserable life.

Kynan merely made a different choice than I had, but it doesn’t mean he thinks it was the right choice. I can see within his eyes he has a bit of respect for what I did. Perhaps even a little bit of envy. As it stands, Joslyn’s stalker will be in prison for the rest of his life, but that doesn’t make Kynan sleep any better at night. He’d prefer the man fade from existence—of that, I have no doubt.

“What did that desk ever do to you?” Saint asks from two desks over. He’s been playing a computer game for the last fifteen minutes. Besides that, he’s gearing up for a mission he and Kynan have been discussing, yet I have no clue if I’ll be called in to help on it or not. It’s not been shared with me.