His stupid hand just reached out and grabbed hers. “No. Stay.”

She smiled, something slow, and wove her fingers through his.

And just like that, everything whirring inside him—his chest, his head—slowed.

“You feeling okay? Your heart beating normally?”

Not in the least, but, “Tip-top.” The last thing he was going to do was mention the strange tightness in his chest, and the bout of nausea a few days ago.

Or last night, when he’d taken a night run with Fraser and had to take an ice-cold shower to slow down his heart.

It had occurred to him that maybe he wasn’t ready for a full-out op. But maybe it was just, “I’ve never been out in the field with my brothers. Not like this.”

“Your brothers seem pretty capable. Ranger seems to have worked everything out.”

“Along with Ham, yes. There will always be contingencies, but . . .” He’d never forgive himself if they died on his watch.

“Colt. Your brothers know what they’re doing. They did get you out of Nigeria.”

“Yeah.” He gave her a smirk. “But Ranger had to get married to do it.”

“I don’t think he minds.”

Probably not. He’d seen Ranger go upstairs in search of his wife before Colt had left for the beach.

“Still. This feels different than our fun and games a couple days ago. I keep wondering if we should just hand the op over to the FBI, but Roy and Logan are keen on keeping this in-house with the Caleb Group. Says if the FBI knows, then Congress knows, and then suddenly the general population finds out and we have a worldwide panic.”

“I can see that. He brought in a couple more guys tonight.”

“Yeah, that’s Skeet. He’s on protection detail with us. And Orion, a former pararescue jumper who works on the SAR side.”

“And who’s the girl?”

“Oh, she’s his coms person, Scarlett. She’ll run a drone over the compound. It’ll keep us alerted to their movements.”

“Which means you’ll know what you’re getting into.”

“It’s not satellite coverage, but it’ll work. And Orion and Dodge will be sitting overwatch to the north and south of the island. Ham and Fraser will run point on two different teams. Ham, North, Skeet, and I are going in through the road entrance, via the forest, while Fraser, Jake, and Logan are going in by boat.”

Probably he shouldn’t give her all the details, but she could have overheard anything during their briefings the last few days.

“We’ll give them a two-front war. And in the meantime, Ranger and Roy will retrieve the package.”

“Do you know where the bioweapon is being kept?”

“Pete says the pool house, but Ranger worked out a couple other places they might have put it. If not, I guess we’ll get one of the guys and start asking questions.”