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crouched down, tinkering with something that looked like a homemade explosive. “We’ve been looking for him for years. He’s thought to be involved in the Bali outdoor market bombing back in 2009. Thirty-three people were killed, including four American tourists. And this man here?” He pointed to another commando in the background. “We think he was involved in a foiled bomb plot against the American embassy in Manila back in 2010.”
    Kelsey couldn’t take her eyes off the video. Now they were thrusting guns in the air and cheering as someone hoisted a mannequin from a tree limb. The mannequin was clad only in combat boots and an American flag, and the crowd cheered as someone set fire to it. Her stomach knotted as she thought of Gage.
    “So much hate,” she murmured.
    Blake squeezed her knee. She looked up at him.
    “What happened to your hands?”
    She glanced down at the razor-thin cuts on her knuckles and fingers.
    “Oh, you know. Corrugated boxes and packing tape.” She stood up and glanced around. “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”
    He looked irritated by her formality. “You know where it is.”
    She took her purse with her and shut herself in the guest bathroom. She couldn’t explain the sudden tightness in her chest. Maybe she was tired. Or still feeling the emotions of her trip to California. Or maybe it was watching that training video and seeing what a mob of young men were so eager to do to an American soldier. To soldiers like Gage.
    She bent over the sink and splashed water on her face. She looked in the mirror.
    Eight months. Eight months and still she couldn’t stop worrying about him. She’d thought when she and Gage broke up that it would magically go away, that she’d be free again to watch the news and read the paper without this terrible dread in the pit of her stomach. But she still thought of him everywhere she went. She still dreamed about him. She had conversations with him in her head, and even though she knew it probably meant she was crazy, she actually enjoyed them. She enjoyed joking with him and laughing with him and flirting with him.
    She needed to get past this. It was time to get over Gage Brewer and move on with her life. He had dumped her. Flat. She’d given him a choice: her or the teams. And—big surprise—he’d chosen his precious SEALs.
    His rejection still stung, even though she should be over it by now. But the reality was, she missed him—somuch sometimes that it put an ache in her chest. Some nights she lay awake, thinking of all the ways she could have settled for less and how they might still be together if she’d been willing to put up with being an accessory in his life instead of an equal partner.
    Kelsey took a deep breath. She’d made her choice. He’d made his. And if her visit to San Diego had proven anything, it was that nothing had changed.
    She dug a bottle of ibuprofen from her purse and downed two tablets. Then she ran a brush through her hair and used a tissue to dab away the makeup smudges under her eyes. What she needed most was a good night’s sleep. She’d leave the file with Blake and get it back from him later. Nothing good was going to come from hanging around his place all night.
    She stepped into the hallway and was surprised to see two men standing in the foyer—Trent and a short, stocky guy she didn’t recognize. And Blake . . . was on the floor, motionless. What on earth?
    Kelsey saw blood.
    She gasped and both men looked up, startled. They exchanged glances. Trent jerked his head in her direction, and the short man lunged toward her.
    For a split second she couldn’t move. Then adrenaline kicked in and she dashed into the bedroom. She slammed the door and turned the thumb latch. Shrieking now, she watched as something rammed against the door, making it shake on its hinges. She glanced around frantically. She rushed to the glass door leading to the balcony.
    A muffled pop pop! Bullet holes in the wood. Sheclawed