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of caution faded that he was able to force himself to
relax a little.
    “It’s not all guts and glory like the media makes it out. Chances
are we aren’t going to need to fire on anything. And if we do, I give you the
coordinates and the grade of weapons to be used. All you have to do is follow
orders and fire.”
    “Sounds as if you expect an uneventful run, sir.”
    “Uneventful is always the objective.”
    But he knew there was no way this mission was going to be as
calm as she hoped. His goal was so close he could almost touch it—literally. There
was no way he was going to fail. He felt the small flutter of a victory in his
gut but quickly suppressed it. “Yes sir.”
    She nodded and then started to turn to leave but stopped.
Her gaze was locked on the reader that rested in the palm of his hand. “I’m not
one for leaving things unsaid, no matter how embarrassing or awkward they are.”
    His throat tightened as she continued to stare at the device.
She couldn’t want to talk about what’d happened between them any more than he
did, though her motivations for silence were undoubtedly different than his. Still,
he watched her swallow and take a deep breath and knew that was exactly what
they were about to discuss.
    “Today you had a dalliance with someone happy for you to
think she was a whore. Don’t try to make it more than it was or try to
understand it.” She finally looked up but turned to face the door before he
could read any emotion on her face. “And for the love of the deity, delete the
communication account I gave you.” Without looking back again, she punched in
the security code and stepped through the door.
    The girl had balls. He’d give her that. Not many would face
their indiscretions as directly as she had. Then again, judging by the way she
was in bed, the woman was nothing if not direct.
    Damn.
    He shook his head in irritation as he recognized the spark
of admiration. Or, if not admiration, intrigue at the very least. Not that he
had anything against her personally. He’d never even heard her name before he’d
been given this mission. No, his problem was with the government she served. But
if working missions with the Coalition for the last three years had taught him
anything, it was to never get involved with a mark.
    And that’s what she was, leverage and nothing more. Her
safety was going to convince her father, Chairman Holt, to vote correctly on a
piece of very important legislation. Adam had to remember that.
    Fortunately she’d made it clear she didn’t plan on a repeat
of this afternoon’s activities so it wasn’t as if there was any real threat of
them becoming emotionally entangled. And he was willing to bet she’d probably
be even less inclined after the whole kidnapping thing.
    He took his first easy breath since she’d walked through the
door. The mission was still on track. He just had to make sure it stayed that
way.
    Focusing on his assignment helped him get his priorities
straight once more. He had work to do and obsessing about their afternoon tryst
wasn’t helping him prepare. She was smart, his research into her background had
told him that much, but now he knew she was bold and unconventional as well. It
was a combination that was bound to make this more difficult.
    He went through his top three obstacles—access,
communication and exit strategy. She was right, this was a small ship. He
couldn’t exactly lure her away from the bridge without anyone noticing. He
couldn’t even go into the command center to study her routine without drawing
suspicion. Getting access to her was going to be challenging.
    Communication was easier though. He had a partner on the
ship. They hadn’t been able to work out a secure channel without knowing which
ones the crew used first but now that they were on board it was the first thing
he was going to address.
    He pulled out one of the wires that ran from the wall into
his console with a violent tug before tapping on his