Privilege (Special Tactical Units Division 2)

Her smile almost brought him to his knees. He clasped her hands and lifted them to his lips.

“My beach is much more private.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

He kissed her. How could he not kiss her? Then he framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes. “And I’ll be able to keep you safe. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay,” she said, except he was wrong about keeping her safe.

Her heart would not be safe.

How could it be, when it was time to admit the truth to herself?

She had fallen for Chay. She had more than fallen.

She was head over heels in love with her lieutenant.

• • •

Leave no trace of yourself behind.

That wasn’t often important when you were on a mission, but there were times it could be. In the field, it meant leaving behind no equipment, no footprints, no sign you’d been where you weren’t supposed to have been.

Here, it meant something different.

What they couldn’t leave behind was any sign that they’d left the hotel or the city, or any way to follow them.

That made the first thing he had to do the most difficult.

He put in another call to Sanchez.

“Dec. Remember, I asked you about GPS programs? A tracer that might have been programmed into a smartphone?”

“Yeah, dude, I got that.”

“Is there a way for you to find out if something like that’s on a phone without actually having the phone right in your hands?”

Sanchez snorted.

Chay rolled his eyes. “Is that a yes?”

“I assume you have the phone,” Sanchez said.

Bianca’s phone was on the table, next to his. Chay reached for it.

“Got it.”

“Give me her number.”

Chay read it off.

“Okay. Her phone’s gonna ring. Take the call, but don’t say anything. Then give me five minutes.”

It took three. Then Bianca’s phone disconnected.

“Son of a bitch,” Sanchez said. “Yes, there’s a tracer program in there. Dude. What are you into?”

Chay looked at the phone as if it had turned into a venomous snake.