Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,67

brought him instead. I was thinking I might see if the guy who owns the bar we hang out in wants him. BF could use a pet.”

She tilted her head at the dog. “Didn’t you say Ris and Nan are retiring soon? Maybe one of them can take him?”

Heath shook his head grinning. “I think your idea of retirement for a Delta is different than ours.”

His buddies would be working for HALO Security, a private security and protection company that, last he heard, had started taking a lot of kidnap rescue jobs. They wouldn’t have quite the danger and workload of a DELTA team, but they weren’t going to be sitting behind a desk.

Eleanor snuggled the dog closer as Heath took her bag off her shoulder and carried it for her, slinging one arm around her as they walked.

“He’s so cute,” she purred.

Heath laughed. “You totally want him.”

“I do,” she said. “I could send him to doggy daycare during the day and when I come to visit you here, he could ride with me. He’d certainly fit under the seat.”

“Doggy daycare?” He laughed harder.

She swatted at him. “It’s a thing.”

When they made it to his car, he got her settled in and then ran around to the driver’s seat. He put one hand on her leg as he drove. The little dog snuggled in her lap and put a paw over Heath’s hand.

Damn, he could get used to this. It sucked they had to be in two separate states for now, but he wouldn’t ask her to give up her career for him. They would make it work.

“I have news,” she said, running her hands over the puppy’s small head.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Your team is going to get word of this tomorrow, so I’m not telling you anything that won’t be shared with you or that’s above your clearance,” she started.

He looked over at her but then back out at the road as he navigated the airport traffic.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“They’ve made an arrest at State.” He could tell from the sadness in her tone that this was hitting her hard and he tightened the hand on her leg.

“Who was it?” he asked, knowing she was talking about the person who leaked information on her itinerary.

“Deputy Director Hughes. He didn’t sell the information, but he wanted the talks to fail. They found texts on his personal phone. His belief that we needed to go back to the days of never negotiating with hostage takers was strong and he thought if he could sabotage the talks, people would start to see things his way.”

Heath cursed as his hands clenched the wheel. He wanted to tear the man’s entrails from his body and watch while he bled out. His personal mission to change policy had put Nori in danger. Hell, he’d done more than that. He’d gotten her shot.

“What did he do?”

Eleanor continued to pet the puppy as it lolled in her lap. She was handling this better than he was.

“He let the information about my flight slip to someone he knew would sell it to people who might want to stop the talks. Ironically, he was also the one who made sure your team was sent there to protect me. I think he thought he could keep me safe and make sure it was nothing more than a close call. He was hoping that would be enough to stop the talks. I guess he didn’t bank on them putting a tracker on me and keeping up their efforts after the fact.”

“Do they know who the information was sold to? Who was behind all the attempts to stop the talks?”

“It was Barrera. At least the first few attempts were Barrera. Some of the analysts think the attack when we left the compound that day might have been Demir himself, trying to slow down the talks to give his son more time before he had to give up the doctors.”

“What do you think?” Heath asked. He trusted her gut on that more than analysts who weren’t face to face with Demir.

“I think it’s entirely possible. Demir was torn right from the start. That’s what made him so hard to read during the negotiations. I think he truly believed in his cause and what he was trying to do for his country. But his family is also enormously important to him. Family is everything for a man like Demir. He wanted to save his son, but he also wanted the talks to work for his