Tempted by a SEAL by Cat Johnson Page B

rote response but his mind was elsewhere.
    His thoughts were on the expression on Lydia’s face as he told her he had to leave early. At the odd way she looked at him when he said she should lock up when she left. On how he’d felt when he’d kissed her before they’d said goodbye.
    He never invited women to spend the night, and now he was leaving this one alone in his apartment. What the hell was that about?
    In his defense, she was family now, technically. It wasn’t odd to leave family alone at his place.
    There was nothing normal about this situation. He couldn’t expect to feel the same as he usually did with women. That need to escape. Detach. Not let things get too serious.
    Their parents were married. Couldn’t get much more serious than that, short of marrying her himself.
    Banishing that insane, and thankfully fleeting thought from his mind, he grabbed the door Rocky held open for him and entered the building.
    Like a switch had been flipped, his mind turned to work, his feet taking him without need for thought in the direction of the meeting room.
    He’d changed teams but the nature of the job was still the same. Find the bad guys. Take them out. Repeat.
    Simple.
    Mack liked simple. As he pulled out a chair and took a seat to wait for the big revelation, he hoped he’d get it today with whatever command had in store for them.  
    Within moments, the unit was assembled.
    Grant Milton, once again acting as the team’s commander after a hiatus in training, walked in and directly to the projector.
    The photo of a man flashed onto the wall screen.
    “Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam. Though probably not the mastermind behind the Paris attacks he was most definitely involved. His fingerprints were found in the vehicle that we believe dropped off two of the bombers. Another car he rented was discovered with three AK-47s in the trunk. Photos have surfaced of him purchasing ten detonators, in addition to batteries, at a store days before the Paris attacks. Our newest intel places him currently in Syria . . .”
    With that one sentence spoken by his commander, Mack was ready to venture an answer to Rocky’s question.
    If he wasn’t completely off base, his next stop would be Syria. Or more accurately, a location along the Syrian border. Possibly Turkey or Iraq. Maybe Jordan. Someplace close so they could get in and out quickly.  
    But a DEVGRU team being sent in to track down a suspect who was on the run? That seemed odd.
    Yes, they’d gone in to get Bin Laden, but that was after the CIA spent a very long time gathering proof to confirm exactly where he was holed up.
    Unless there was intel the commander hadn’t revealed yet, Mack wasn’t sure why they were being sent in at this time.
    “. . . which will provide the perfect cover for us to be in the region.”
    After that addition, the command’s intent couldn’t be more clear. The suspect being in Syria was an excuse.
    No doubt catching the bastard was important, for international relations and morale, but that was only one part of their mission. They’d really be there to monitor what their allies were doing, not only against ISIS, but also against each other.
    The commander went over some more details, concluding with the real information Mack had been waiting for. They’d be going wheels up in two hours, giving him just enough time to get his kit together, grab some food, and—thanks to his recent guilt over not making family a priority—call his dad.
    That last item on his short to-do list gave Mack pause. He didn’t usually call home before a mission. Too many questions he wasn’t allowed to answer. Besides the fact that his father’s line wasn’t secure.
    He didn’t really think the phones were being monitored, but that they could be was treading a dangerous line for operational security. The bad guys didn’t need to know where his unit was going or why, just that there were troops on the move.
    There was another reason he was