The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann Page B

I’d made a rather large mistake. Of course, when my new husband found out how old I truly was, that I’d basically tricked him into marrying me, he was furious and . . .” Eve laughed softly. “If I’m going to tell this story properly, I should start at the beginning, shouldn’t I?”

    “But did you save him?” Amy asked. “Your first husband? At Dunkirk?”

    The old woman sighed and shook her head. “No,” she said quietly. “I didn’t.”

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Six

    ENSIGN STARRETT WORE only a pair of shorts.

    Alyssa Locke tried to focus on the video monitor, but the well-muscled, too-damned-handsome-for-his-own-good SEAL had positioned himself directly beyond it, right smack in her line of sight.

    Of course the shorts were a big improvement over the barely there towel he’d had wrapped around his waist when he’d first come out of the bathroom.

    If he’d been surprised to step out of the shower to find that the hotel suite he was supposed to be sharing with Lt. John Nilsson had become command central for this op within an op, he hadn’t let on. In fact, upon hearing the news that Meg Moore’s daughter and grandmother had been kidnapped by K-stani Extremists and that they had to keep all information about this from becoming public knowledge for their protection, Starrett had merely nodded and drawled, “Thought it had to be something like that.”

    Locke was glad Nils had brought her over here. She was pleased to be part of this top secret operation, glad to be already in position when Max Bhagat was brought into the room and brought up to speed, glad to be working in a small team with Lt. Tom Paoletti again.

    But she wasn’t glad that Sam Starrett was part of the team, with his bimboy body, his redneck prejudices, and his smart mouth.

    Sweet thing.

    As if she’d ever, in a million years, fall prey to his questionable charms. Sweet thing, pah. She wasn’t sweet and she was no man’s thing.

    WildCard Karmody looked up from where he was figuring out how to create the equivalent of a digital tape loop with his computer.

    “The Welsh singing thing was very smart,” he said, taking a moment to stretch and run his fingers through his already messed, mad-scientist hair. “Meg’s using her brain. And it makes sense for her not to want to just stand there and have a whole conversation in Welsh with Nils. Anyone listening in would know right away that there was an exchange of information going down. But this folk song thing was brilliant. Have I mentioned that I think I’m in love with this woman?”

    “Yes.” The answer came in unison from Starrett, Wolchonok, and another SEAL Locke had just met, a shiny young ensign with a pretty face named Mike Muldoon.

    Without yet having had the chance to talk with her further, Nils’s theory was that Meg had created this entire hostage situation as a way to get the FBI’s attention. This way, she could get their help without putting Amy at risk.

    And as unlikely as some people might think it would be for the Extremists to have infiltrated the K-stani embassy in Washington, Nils seemed convinced that such a thing was possible. Locke suspected he was being overly cautious, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he’d spent a considerable amount of time in the Pit.

    Surveillance of the men’s room would continue across the street at the makeshift FBI headquarters in the K-stani embassy. To the K-stani officials and anyone else there that might be listening in, it would appear as if the FBI and SEALs were continuing with their plan to sit and wait. To try to starve Meg out.

    Meanwhile, over here at Troubleshooter Central, this new, secret team of SEALs and FBI agents were hard at work, devising a method of getting Nils into that men’s room undetected so he could talk to Meg.

    The plan was for Nils to deliver the handcuffs Meg had demanded, and somehow