Page 62 of Too Broken to Love

“No. It’s not engineered to store, just transmit, as far as I can tell. Have you felt any vibrations from the device? Any heat?”

“No. Nothing.”

“Fascinating. Our earlier prototypes reached temperature hot enough to burn when activated. We reduced the problem to a warm tingle on the skin by the time I retired, but I can’t imagine it’s been solved in its entirety in such a short time.”

“I haven’t felt anything like you described.”

“That’s a good sign that it hasn’t been recording.”

At least that was something. Tessa’s past wasn’t classified, but it was still nobody’s business but hers.

And his now.

He adjusted the ring on his finger. “I trust you’ll let the General know about this.”

“Of course. May I keep the device?”

“Yes.” Anticipation thinned out the slickness under his skin. Someone was in for a surprise when they didn’t get their intel. Things would get interesting when they found out.

The door to the lab opened. Hudson spun. The edge in him eased as he spotted Tessa in the doorway behind John’s wife.

Tessa stepped in and held up a garment bag. “We have a winner. And shoes and a purse.”

John’s wife squeezed her arm. “She’s going to look stunning.”

Hudson pulled Tessa into his side and kissed her temple. “Good.”

She studied his profile for a heartbeat. “What’s wrong? You look angrier than when we left the mansion.”

“Give me your phone.”

Tessa pulled it from her bag and handed it to him without question. He passed it to John along with his. “Can you scan these for bugs? And my car too? And do you have a secure phone I can use?”

John slid off the stool and rubbed his hands together. “And I thought today would be boring.”

“Hudson?” Tessa leaned away from him. “What’s going on?”

He pulled her back into his side and dialed Malcolm. “Just listen.”

Malcolm answered on the first ring. “Hello.”

“It’s Hudson. I’m on a secure line.” He put the call on speaker and reiterated the details about the listening device. “That ring has been in Pop’s drawer for years. Whoever compromised it had to have access to the house.”

Tessa twisted the ruby on her finger. “Or maybe it did leave the house, like to get cleaned at the jewelers.”

“Good point. Malcolm, check with Josie on that. And call the security company and get the video feeds for the past six months.”

Malcolm snorted. “You mean get the feeds since Nathaniel moved in?”

“Yeah. And get someone in to sweep for bugs too. There’s only one reason why someone would want to eavesdrop on my conversations.”

Tessa let out a little gasp. “Your meeting at the Pentagon.”

“Nathaniel is the only one who had access to the ring who might stand to gain from inside intel about the opportunity I’m considering.”

John’s chair scraped across the tile as he stood. “Is this Nathaniel a contractor?”

“He owns a biomedical engineering company. He’s been asking to sit down and get my thoughts on some projects he’s working on since I got home.”