Navy SEAL Noel. Liz Johnson

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      The features of her face were still pinched as she pointed toward the outside wall. “How? You can’t exactly climb over that fence. And there are guards everywhere. How are you going to get us out of here?”

      “I’m not sure yet. But I’ll come up with something. Just give me some time.”

      Her eyes grew wide. “We don’t have time. I don’t know what they’re planning to do with the toxin, but it’s going to happen soon. All day my guard has been muttering to himself that he only has to deal with me for eight more days. I think they brought me here to release the Morsyni. What if they get impatient? What if we don’t even have that long?”

      A slow grin spread across his face, and she stopped her frantic speech. “What are you smiling about?” she demanded.

      “Nothing.” But it wasn’t nothing. Jess had said we. She was going to stick with him. She trusted him enough to think of them as a team. And the rest of the trust he had to earn back...well, that would come with time. “I will find a way out, all right? And until then, I’m going to be by your side as much as possible. You just have to pretend that you don’t know me.”

      She uncrossed her arms and leaned against the sink, her palms resting on the lip of porcelain. It looked as if it took all of her strength to stay on her feet. “Why?”

      “The powers that be inside this drug cartel think they brought me here to help you release a bioweapon. They think I’m an engineer.”

      “But you’re not, are you? What do you know about science?”

      “About as much as I picked up in our sophomore-year chemistry class.”

      “So why do they think you can help me?” She squinted, the turning cogs in her mind nearly visible beneath the fair skin of her forehead.

      “A friend of mine in the DEA used one of her undercover contacts to spread my name—well, the name William Darrow—around as an expert on Morsyni, and this cartel took the bait. They hauled me in—just like they did you.”

      She blinked fast, pressing a palm against her forehead and swaying slightly. It was a lot of information to take in at one time. A lot to think about on severely limited sleep. He got that. “So we don’t know each other,” she finally said.

      “Right. They’re going to drag me to your lab tomorrow and introduce us. I need you to act like you’ve never met me before in your life.”

      “All right.”

      He rubbed his palm up and down her arm, either to steady her swaying form or to see if this time she’d accept his touch, his comfort.

      Definitely the first.

      Probably.

      No, it had to be the first because there could never be anything more than friendship between them.

      “We’ve got to stay under the radar and keep the guards off our scent,” he said. “Can you help me maintain my cover until we get out of the country?”

      “Panama.” Her tongue slurred the word, her eyes squinting into the space over his left shoulder.

      “Right.” With a gentle hand, he held on to her elbow, keeping her upright. Some of the tension in her face eased, and she leaned toward him slightly. “You need to get some sleep,” he said. “Tomorrow we’ll try to work out a plan.”

      “What kind of plan?”

      Will glanced toward the ceiling, hoping to find answers there. But all he discovered were big patches of green mold marring the once white tiles. For a multimillion-dollar drug lord, whoever was running this cartel sure had let his compound fall into disrepair.

      “Probably something like tonight. I’ll break into your room and we’ll get out of here.” He rubbed his shoulder, which would have a bruise the next day. In a lighter tone, he added, “Maybe next time try not to hit me with your wrench.”

      The teasing was lost on her, but she nodded.

      “Listen, when we leave here, I need you to have the strength to run and the presence of mind to think on your feet. This sleepwalking bit you’re pulling isn’t going to cut it. You’ve got to get some rest.”

      Her eyes flew wide open, her head whipping from side to side. “I can’t.”

      “Why not?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he recognized his stupidity. She’d been waiting for him, weapon in hand, when he’d crept into her room. She had been prepared for anyone.

      Because it might not be him sneaking into her room.

      His stomach rolled at the thought, bile rising in the back of his throat.

      He squinted at her, trying to guess what she’d endured at the hands of these monsters. Her guard had laughed at her when she’d fallen into the mud that afternoon. How much worse had it been? Will tightened his grip on her elbow, but she didn’t shy away, instead leaning more heavily against him. “Have you been— Has there been—” Words failed him at first, but he pushed on. “Has someone else come in here?”

      She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. “Not yet.” Her voice had barely enough force to reach his ears.

      A rock fell in his gut, thudding heavily. “But they’ve threatened to?”

      “It’s more the leers and foul gestures. And the noises late at night. You know what I mean?”

      He nodded because he didn’t want to hear the tremble in her voice for another second. Some men—twisted men—took pleasure in frightening and harming women.

      Those men made Will sick.

      Others were just too self-centered to notice a woman’s discomfort in the face of crudeness.

      And Will knew a thing or two about the latter. At some point in history, sailors had earned a reputation for language and conduct unbecoming of gentlemen. And there was still a group of them determined to carry on that tradition. He’d even been one of them when he’d first joined up. Too arrogant to recognize his own impudence.

      But that was before he’d met L. T. Sawyer, Rock Waterstone, Jordan Somerton and the other men of SEAL Team Fifteen. Before he’d joined their ranks.

      Will wasn’t that cocky boy any longer. And he would do whatever it took to protect Jess.

      Stabbing his fingers through his hair, he snatched several quick breaths. His pulse slowed to almost normal when he closed his eyes and forced himself not to think about Jess in jeopardy.

      “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to make sure that you’re safe. Every night.”

      Drooping eyelids lifted with hope, but uncertainty still masked her face. “How?” she asked.

      “I’ll be right outside your door from midnight until the first movement in the morning. I won’t let anyone near you.”

      She wanted to believe him. He could see it in her eyes.

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