Apparently, the only thing he’d had going for him was his active-duty SEAL status. Without that, there was no point in sticking around. Not when continuing the relationship meant taking care of him after each round of surgery.

He’d met Audrey in a situation where he couldn’t use his status as a SEAL to impress her. He’d just…been himself. Well, except for the part where he couldn’t talk about himself, because any word out of his mouth, about his life, would tip her off that he was military, so he’d kept the focus on her and liked everything he learned. Given his evasions to her questions, there’d been no way she would have responded to him if Jae hadn’t been there to vouch for him.

But Jae had been there, and she’d responded. She’d wanted him even when he had no special forces or even military credentials. She’d wanted the low-calorie, no frosting version of Xavier, and it had been a heady feeling, this idea that he didn’t need to be an active-duty SEAL to appeal to a woman who had a PhD from Cal.

And then she’d shot down his permit, and his world imploded.

Getting the training approved was a national security imperative, but that could hardly be revealed in the application. Even though it fit the technical parameters, they couldn’t slip it through operations—which weren’t subject to environmental review—without putting the eventual mission at serious risk.

When the rejection came, in desperation he’d floated to his superiors the idea of going around the park archaeologist, suggesting that they could lean on her boss to sign the FONSI and override her objections if he presented evidence the park archaeologist was biased against the applicant.

He hadn’t really expected them to bite, but his supervisors had jumped on the idea, not even flinching when he offered the argument he eventually presented to the park superintendent and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

The Navy didn’t know or care if he’d really banged the archaeologist. They just wanted the permit. All was fair in war. Love had nothing to do with it.

But still, he’d hesitated. How could he do that to her? Then there’d been the chemical weapon attack in Prague. A dozen people hospitalized, two dead. According to intel, they had precious little time.

February was approaching fast, and it looked increasingly likely the attack would happen.

The team needed to prepare. Run every scenario possible to determine the best strategy. If the mission failed, many, many deaths would follow.

Still, he’d hated himself for using their night together against her.

Now, here he was, in the frigid rainy forest, and his actions in December could well make Audrey the next victim in an invisible war.