Page 32 of SEAL's Providence
Most of her anger deflated as he watched. As adoctor, she’d be even more concerned. Her oath to do no harm urged her into action. He was lucky she hadn’t already gotten herself hurt, or worse. Providence was smart, and he knew she thought things through. And she needed to think this through, too. If she listened to his reasoning, she’d have to agree.
She mumbled something. He’d swear she said, “I’ll give himsweetheart.” Then she sighed. “Do I have a choice?” Her irritation with him or the situation, or maybe both, came out loud and clear.
“You always have choices, Providence.” He didn’t want to push her too hard. But she needed to understand she was his now, to love and to protect, even if she didn’t want to believe it.
“If you can’t agree to this, then you can go on your own. Maybe Tempest can pick you up? If that’s what you decide, I won’t stop you. Though I advise against it.” If she got out of the car, he’d tail her until she returned home. There wasn’t a snowball's chance in hell he wouldn’t be there to protect her. But she was a grown woman and he refused to take away her autonomy.
“Fine.” She huffed and buckled her seatbelt. “But why didn’t you bring your gun? It was your idea to do this tonight.”
“It was, but we don’t have enough information. I have two of my old SEAL buddies lookinginto active trafficking rings in the area. Besides, we’re not positive this is where they’re being kept yet.”
“Are you sure you’re telling me everything? You’re not secretly planning to go back later and rescue them yourself, are you?”
Tony turned to her. “I know better than to keep things from you. Sure, if you were a civilian, and it was my job to protect you, that would be one thing. But I want us to have a relationship. I’m old enough to know that lying or hiding information from you would fuck up any chances we have. It all comes down to trust. Without it, we might as well give up now. S0, what do you say, sweetheart? Are you all in?”
He held his breath as he waited for her answer. It seemed like he’d been doing that a lot around her. But this wasgotime. She would either take a chance on them or he’d have to let her go. On the surface, anyway. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to walk away.
In the dim light from the street lamps, he breathed a sigh of relief as the tension in her shoulders eased. Then she reached for his hand where it still rested on the center console, and he met her gaze.
“I trust you. It doesn’t make sense why, butsomething tells me that you wouldn’t lie to me. There’s just something...”
He nodded. That same something told him she was it for him.
“We’ll do it your way. But you need to explain why. Just sayingnowill never work for me. Trust or not.”
Tony understood that. She wasn’t a young girl, just making her way in the world. Providence had spent years making decisions, working issues. Her intelligence and determination shone in her gaze. “No problem. It’ll take us about twenty minutes to get to Fremont Street. That should give you plenty of time to ask anything you want, and I’ll answer everything I can.”
“Okay. I don’t like it. I’m worried about them. John, the douchebag, could make them disappear at any time. He’s done it before. We can’t drag this out, Tony.”
“I know, and we won’t. Mike and Pat are already working on it. They have been all afternoon.”
“And you trust them?”
“With my life. More importantly, I trust them with yours. Just as I would trust any of my teams with you. But the circle stops there.”
She drew in her breath and squeezed his hand.Her reaction surprised him. Had no one ever taken care of her before?
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“As a heart attack. Don’t doubt me for a minute.”
“All right then.” She nodded, then turned to stare out the side window.
“Any other questions?” That couldn’t have been the only one.
“I get why we’re waiting, sort of. But why we can’t just check out the surroundings?”
“Mainly because we don’t know the setup or if this is really the location they’re being held. I don’t have equipment to check for hidden devices, or the time to check for cameras. If they picked us up on surveillance, they’d recognize you.”
“Dammit. I didn’t think of that.”
“I go through this process for every mission. We have to focus on the big picture and make sure there aren’t any holes in our operation. There are plans and backup plans. I never let the teams leave without at least three options. And that planning has saved a lot of lives over the years.”
“I guess Tempest would have known not to check things out, right?”
“Yes, she should have. Doesn’t mean shewouldn’t have done it, anyway. But as naval intelligence, she would hopefully know better.”
Providence nodded and chewed on her thumbnail. “There is something else I’ve been worried about.”
