Page 44 of Shadow Lies

He shook his head at her joke. “Please don’t leave China without eating something authentic.”

“I did. No worries. I’ve had noodles and also dumplings.”

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll accept that.”

She cut her burger in half and was much more delicate in eating it than he had been shoving the whole thing in his mouth.

“One more question, when you’re done chewing—”

Alexis chewed and swallowed, then nodded. “What is it?”

“Any word from Charley?” he asked.

Her expression spoke volumes. “Um. No.”

His eyes widened. “You have your cell powered off again, don’t you?”

“Um. Maybe.”

“Tsk. Tsk.What’s Charley going to say?”

“I guess we’ll find out because as soon as we’re done eating, I’m going to call her.”

He groaned. “Great. Something to look forward to.”

Yup. Alexis was definitely right. He was overly fond of sarcasm.

ChapterFifteen

Alexis couldn’t ignore the shake in her hand as she tried to pop the SIM card back into the cell phone.

What was it about calling Charley that had her nervous?

She thought about it and realized it was because Charley reminded her of her boss—former boss—at the CIA. Which reminded her of the horror of losing her job. The humiliation of being escorted out by armed guards.

This wasn’t the CIA and this wasn’t her career. This was a one-time job for which she’d already been paid. And paid well. Keeping that in mind, she steeled her nerves and resolved to stop letting Charley get in her head.

She glanced at Kane. “Ready?”

He raised his dark eyes to her. “Are you ready? This is your op, not mine.”

Scooping up the last of his fries while talking about ops, Kane seemed more SEAL than monk.

In either persona, he was still all warrior. And she was as much in love with him now as she’d been when she was a teen.

More so after being with him. Which was why this had to work.

She had to convince Charley to redeem Kane’s name and reputation. The best way to do that was to figure out who was really behind the camps.

After a big inhale, she hit the contact listing to make the call, then hit the icon to put the call on speakerphone so Kane could hear.

Charley took all of four rings to answer, which was about three more than usual. Interesting.

“Yes.” Charley’s short greeting sounded rushed, almost breathless.

What was happening there that had the unflappable woman flustered? Had their information turned the mysterious organization upside down?

Alexis didn’t dare think anything she had found could do that. Then again, what she’d found about the Warner group had turned both her and Kane’s lives upside down.

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