Page 46 of SEAL's Providence
“We need to focus on the rescue mission. I can’t think about anything else right now.”
“Got it. If it’ll make it better, I can leave now. I’ll call you when I hear from Pat. It probably won’t be for a few hours yet.”
“Yeah, they’ll be at the salon for at least another hour. He makes them clean the place after the last customer leaves. And, no, I don’t want you to leave. You’re not getting off that easy. You’ll sit here and tell me the entire plan.” Her gaze narrowed as she met his. “And make sure you don’t leave anything out toprotect me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. I know I fucked up. But I’m old enough to learn from my mistakes if you give me a chance,” Tony pleaded.
Providence nodded. She turned and leaned against the arm of the couch so she could face him. Her tense muscles eased the tiniest bit, but her emotions still simmered just under the surface. The usually happy butterflies in her stomach were dive bombing each other instead. Then it growled. It was loud enough Tony heard, if the down curve of his lips was any sign.Dammit.She couldn’t put off eating any longer.
“Pizza?”
“Yeah. What do you want on it? I’ll call it in.”
“Extra cheese, mushrooms, green peppers,onions, and pepperoni.” She had to compress her lips to keep from smiling at his shocked expression.
“Now you’re just fucking with me, right?” Tony asked.
“Why would I do that? I’m starving. I know you heard my stomach. It’s what I always order. You have a problem with it?” If he was going to give her grief about what she put on her pizza, it might be the last straw. The man had better think about protecting his balls.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that it’s my order. I mean, it’s how I order my pizza, and have since I was a kid. I’ve never met anyone else who chooses those exact toppings.” He looked gobsmacked.
“It’s just pizza. Don’t be getting any other ideas.” She listened as he called in the order. It was kind of cool that they both liked it exactly the same way. It didn’t make any of her mad go away.
It was almost twenty-one hundred hours by the time Pat called Tony. By then, they’d gone over the plan three times, made adjustments, checked it, and made more changes. Tony had come with up with a way to counter each risk they could think of. Providence was ready to put itinto action. This waiting thing was definitely not for her.
“Hey, Pat, you’re on speaker. Providence is here with me.”
“Hi, Doc. I’ve heard good things about you. Don’t worry, we’ll get those women out of there.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Can we do it tonight?” Providence asked.
“I suppose we could. The rest of the team is on their way. Up to you, boss man.”
Providence looked at Tony. Would he go along with this, or was he going to make them wait longer?
“How about we go over what you know first? What time is everyone gonna be here?”
“We’re only waiting on Mike. But he’s the one with the safe house arranged, so we need him.”
“Copy that. Did that fancy new device work like it’s supposed to?”
“Yeah. It’s fucking amazing, really. Sorry, ma’am.”
“No need to be sorry. I could probably cuss you under the table.”
Pat chuckled. “Okay, then.”
Tony cleared his throat. “O’Shea.” His voice had the hint of a threat.
Providence couldn’t figure what that was aboutand didn’t really care. He was right, though. They needed to get on with the information sharing.
“You figured right about the women being kept in the basement. But you said there were six right?”
“Yes, six and a child. The child is definitely in another area of the building,” Tony confirmed.
“Not tonight. There were only five in the basement. There were two heat signatures upstairs in two different rooms. Then there were three in the kitchen, based on the blueprints I pulled earlier.”
“Why would they separate them? Dammit. It’s my fault. When I warned Mary this afternoon.” She’d known it was a possibility, and now she wanted to vomit again. What if the douchebag tortured her or killed her? Fuck.
