Page 21 of SEAL's Paradise
And if they both enjoyed themselves during their days—and nights—of matrimonial bliss?All the better.
“When are you seeing her again?”Wyatt asked.“We’ve got training all day, and if you’re pulling this off quickly, like you explained in the locker room, you don’t have much time to get the ball rolling.”
“Tonight.My future wifey and I have a date.”
Chapter 9
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RILEY MOVED THROUGHthe crowd at Coconuts Monday evening, her eyes landing on the familiar group of military men hanging out at the bar.Their loud laughter filled the area, but she watched them with a critical eye.Some of them had been on her original list of possibilities of the man involved in the illegal arms trade, in addition to Sawyer, and she needed to figure out if one of them could be the guilty party.She’d wasted precious time following Sawyer around, incorrectly suspecting that it was him.Had her perception been skewed by her attraction to him?Riley was usually able to look at situations in a professional, unbiased matter.To observe and analyze, not rush to judgment.Yet from the moment she’d first spotted Sawyer, she’d been drawn to him, and she’d hated it because he’d seemed like such an arrogant womanizer, the type of man she’d never be with.
Had she wanted the traitor to be Sawyer just so she could label him as the bad guy?
She was losing her edge, if that was the case.Going soft.Emotions didn’t matter in this business—finding the enemy did.
Riley ran over the original intercepts in her mind, the intelligence she’d gotten about the man selling out his country.The buyer had initially met the traitor right here in Oahu.At Coconuts of all places.The job had practically fallen into her lap—and if she’d been more intuitive, maybe she could’ve stopped this entire mess before it began.The first missiles were long gone, however, and she’d do whatever she needed to in order to stop the sale of more.
There’d been a new intercepted message early this morning, passed on to her through her DOD contact.Fortunately, she’d been able to switch her schedule around at Coconuts and work tonight.This was her chance to find the man who’d been in contact with the buyer, and she’d be a fool to mess up this golden opportunity.
Slip him the address tonight so he can collect a partial payment in advance.
Look for stripes and whiskers.
Stripes and whiskers.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
All of the military men were usually clean shaven or with no more than a five o’clock shadow during the work week.And stripes?Well, that could narrow it down some, she supposed, if one of the suspects walked in wearing something obvious.That was the trouble though—Riley doubted anything about it would be obvious.
Besides that, who was slipping the traitor an address?Not the buyer, given that he’d already met the guy.He wouldn’t need a description of the man to meet him here, and she doubted he’d risk flying back to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when they could communicate through encrypted messages.No doubt there could be a hired messenger, a man or woman otherwise uninvolved in the cash for arms scheme and potential terror plot.
Nerves skittered through her.
She needed to focus on waitressing and keep her ear to the ground.Figure out what was going on.And if that wasn’t enough to worry about, Sawyer was coming over later.They’d spent an hour together Saturday evening back at her place, Riley filling him in on the specifics of exactly what she knew so far.She’d been shocked when he’d suggested a phony marriage, but in a way, it worked.She’d get an ID and be able to drive into parts of base without question.It would speed up her investigation, especially if he got deployed on an op.She could fade into the background and search for what she needed.Riley was skilled in collecting information, being who she needed to be.She’d run assets overseas as a government employee.Spied for her country—gathered intelligence and gotten the job done.
The idea of marrying Sawyer was somewhat preposterous, except it would benefit them both.She was short on time and running out of ideas.Working alone was a far cry from her government days, when she had endless resources at her disposal.With Radley potentially joining up with a new organization, that would change both of their circumstances.
