A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(55)

It was progress at least. “How many more bodies did they find?” He could have called Elliott or Karen or anyone working the case, but since Nathan had known he was coming here, he had decided to hold off and find out from Burkhart.

“Three. They’re still slowly moving all of the remains, but there are thirty-nine total.” Burkhart’s jaw clenched. “And every one in our custody gave birth before they died. Miami PD is finding the same thing.”

Nausea rolled inside Nathan. “I can head back to the lake.” He wanted to help, and after the undercover work he’d been doing, he found he liked doing stealth ops and hands-on work more. It was a startling thing to discover about himself. Months before the explosion, when Burkhart offered him more undercover work, he’d jumped at it, had thought he’d love it. Now . . . he wasn’t so certain.

Seeing Amelia again had disrupted his life in more ways than one. He’d started to allow himself to imagine what it would be like if they started a real relationship. If they did he wouldn’t do undercover work anymore. That thought alone should have disturbed him, but it didn’t. He . . . cared for her. More than simply cared for her, but he wouldn’t even think the words. Forgiving her wasn’t the issue. It was about trust.

Which, maybe he didn’t have a leg to stand on, but at least the things he couldn’t tell her were because of national security. It was hard to swallow that she hadn’t trusted him enough. Or maybe . . . she just hadn’t loved him enough. He didn’t know if that was his bullshit pride or what. But he’d loved her with everything he’d had, had known almost from the start, even at age seventeen, that he’d never meet anyone else like her. Over the years he’d wondered if he’d built up that attraction, that pull to her, but no such luck. So yeah, it stung that she hadn’t trusted him enough to be there for her.

For them.

Burkhart shook his head. “I want you to set up a meet with another of our suspects.”

Nathan nodded.

“Selene arrives tonight and has already set up a meet with Lopez. You’re going with her tomorrow morning.”

He nodded again. He’d be so busy with this case he wouldn’t have time to obsess over Amelia. Right. He never stopped obsessing over her.

“Why’d you get back to your place so late last night—this morning?” Burkhart asked abruptly, his expression completely neutral.

This unexpected shift in topic was intentional. His boss clearly wanted to throw him off his game. Surprised by the question, Nathan kept his face just as passive. “You’re having me followed?”

Burkhart sat back in his chair, his bright green eyes shrewd as ever. “No. When you key in the security code it’s filed in the log. After you left the lab last night, it shouldn’t have taken you long to get back to Miguel’s place.”

God, he just wanted to bury his alias. “I don’t hear a question in there.”

“You went to Amelia’s.” Also not a question.

No need to lie. “Yes.”

“How involved with her are you?” Clearly he knew Nathan was involved in the first place. Not just friends with her as he’d alluded to.

Apparently Nathan hadn’t been as stealth as he’d assumed. He didn’t think Cade, Dax, or Elliott had said anything, but he couldn’t know for sure.

“I don’t know.” Which was at least the truth. He had no idea what was going on between him and Amelia. He’d had a lot of time to think last night, and while he was pissed she hadn’t trusted him, he didn’t know how he could hold something against a seventeen-year-old girl who’d been in a lot of pain. The regret and agony on her face had been real; her apology had been raw and sincere. She’d clearly suffered as much as he had and she’d never had a solid family base like him. She’d had no one because her mother didn’t count. He still cared for Amelia, had never stopped. Hell, he more than just cared for her. But he had no idea what their relationship was. Or if they could have one.

“She’s been a help to us and we’re going to need her inside Mercado’s place again. Soon. We need to eliminate him or go after him hard. More women could go missing.”

Nathan was going to go back to the part about Amelia infiltrating Mercado’s again in a second, but for now . . . “I haven’t had a chance to talk to the team. Do they think Tessa Hall is another victim?”

Burkhart’s lips tightened for a moment. “She doesn’t fit the socioeconomic profile, but she does fit the age group and she’s an orphan. No parents, so she’s technically alone in the world. And she’s got a link to Amelia, which is a loose thread.”

“No tie to the center?”

“Not directly, but she volunteered there when she was in high school as part of her community service credits.”

Another connection to the center. “I’m guessing high school wasn’t that long ago for her.” Amelia had told him she was the hostess he’d briefly met, and she’d looked like a kid.

“It wasn’t.”

So there was a tie. It had to be the center. “Have Elliott or Karen found a link to the center yet?”

“Not yet, but they’re ripping apart the online movements of everyone who works there. Maria’s been a big help getting us info.”