Titanium Security Series 4 - Extinguished by Cross Kaylea Page A

beneath the vehicle and showed him the device. They emerged into the sunlight a few moments later, Alex looking more pissed off than ever, and the guard sweaty and pale. Once the guard trotted off to the guard house, Alex turned his attention to her.
    “Let’s unhook it and get outta here.”
    She blinked. Just like that? “Are we still taking the vehicle?” She eyed it with trepidation. God only knew what other kinds of booby traps there might be in there.
    “Nah, I got what I wanted. Let’s get this thing out.” He cast her a sideways look as he leaned over the engine. “Ever done this before?”
    She had some experience with demolitions, but not with car bombs. “No.”
    “This one’s pretty unsophisticated. No trip wires or anything else to worry about.” He sounded damn near insulted by that. “We just have to unhook the leads and get it out of there. Hold the light for me?” He handed her back the pen light.
    Shining it so he could see what he was doing, Jordyn watched closely as Alex dug a pocketknife out of his pants and flipped out a little screwdriver attachment. He unhooked the wires from the battery terminals then checked to make sure he hadn’t missed anything before he got down on the ground on his back and wedged himself beneath the undercarriage. “Man, they wedged this in good and tight,” he said with a grunt as he wrestled to pull the plastic explosives out of its hiding spot.
    “My hands are smaller. Want me to try?”
    “Yeah.” He pulled out and dusted himself off, seeming totally unconcerned that someone had planted explosives in the vehicle they were supposed to have taken. If she’d started the engine, it likely would have detonated. The thought made her go cold all over.
    She handed him the pen light and got under the vehicle. It took a while for her to work the Semtex free but eventually it gave way and she was able to push it upward so Alex could pull it out from beneath the engine block.
    He helped her up. “Let’s head back. The guys and I have more work to do now.” He was already on his phone texting something as he walked away.
    Feeling more than a little unsettled, Jordyn followed him back to their SUV and did a thorough sweep of it with him before climbing inside. Once they were on the road, she couldn’t keep the questions inside any longer. “You said the Pakistani government earmarked that for us.”
    “Yep.” He drove with his left arm propped on the window frame, utterly at ease.
    “So does that mean someone in the government planted that, hoping to kill us?”
    “That’s the way I read it, yeah.”
    The nonchalant tone was really starting to grate on her nerves. She blew out a breath. “And we’re not going to do anything about that?”
    He glanced over at her, his silver eyes intense, penetrating. “Hell yeah, we are.”
    Realization slowly dawned. “You suspected they’d done this?” Someone or something must have tipped him off earlier, which was why he’d wanted to check it out personally. He’d not only anticipated this, clearly he’d had a plan in mind for when he confirmed the evidence. But there was still something that didn’t make any sense to her at all. “And you wanted me to come along because…?”
    “Because if it was hidden under the hood, I knew you’d be able to find it faster than me. You were a big help, thanks.” He clapped a hand on her shoulder twice.
    She forced her gaze away from him to stare out the windshield. “You’re um, welcome.”
    One thing was for sure; she may have spent her entire life surrounded by military men, but she’d never, ever met a man like Alex Rycroft before.

 
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    The call to evening prayer had just sounded from the minarets of the local mosque when Blake arrived back at HQ with Dunphy. Hunter and Gage were already inside after a five hour recon job that had turned up exactly nothing. Everyone was wiped and looking forward to some quality rack time.
    Except for