Page 94 of The Art of You

I continued to remain fixed in the aisle. I wasn’t sure how she was managing to do it, but she slowed down my racing heart with her soft, brown eyes pointed at me.

I could see the three feet in front of me again, which stopped me from concerning myself with the six-feet-deep hole I might fall into later.

Classic Teamguy mentality. One step and day at a time so you don’t dig yourself an earlier grave than necessary.

Clearly, getting roped back into the past this weekend haddone a motherfucking number on my head. I needed to level back up.

“Remember, you’re an elite operator. One of the Navy’s best. Don’t forget it. Got it?” my team leader’s words from forever ago shot through my head.

Why the hell didn’t you let me help you with your addiction?I closed my eyes, exhaling a breath of frustration.

“You need more time?” Constantine was being far more patient than I deserved.

I swallowed and opened my eyes, realizing the turbulence had stopped, but I was still hanging on to this woman like she might be taken from me here and now.Please, God, anything but that. I can’t lose her.“I’m good.”

The reminder of why I had to slip back into operator mode was peering at me with her big worried eyes.

“Sit.” I gestured with my head to Roman’s empty seat, guiding her there so she understood I wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Once she fastened her belt, I dropped down next to her, not wanting to be far. And screw it, I reached for her hand on top of the armrest and laced our fingers.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a flicker of a smile from her, which helped steady my pulse even more.

“What’d Enzo say?” I finally asked, shifting my attention to the others.

“The delivery man was able to identify who gave him the envelope,” Alessandro shared, taking a seat opposite us. “He was, uh, somehow expedient in his methods.”

“Who is it?” I tightened my grip on her hand.

“The woman’s date from across the street. The accountant.” Alessandro dropped his head as if regretting the fact we hadn’t seen this coming. But how could we have? “His name wasn’t on the party list, we checked before this news. Hecould’ve still been at the party under a different one since he left his date’s house at ten that night. That’s enough time to get to Scarsdale. He may have hacked the security feeds, making him our mystery Instagram poster, too.”

“Assuming you already double-checked his background again, I’m guessing no red flags?” At least I was capable of thinking about the case again.

“None.” Alessandro shook his head. “But he could be damn good at altering his identity. If he has the skills to corrupt CCTV footage and is somehow behind the classified files being sent to Maverick, as well as this mess now happening at the CIA, he’d be able to spoof our systems when looking into his identity.”

“Or, this guy is just another Seth Maverick. One more pawn to throw us off the real trail,” Constantine suggested.

“I can’t imagine this guy running the risk of showing his face to the delivery man if he’s the magician behind the curtain to our chaos.” Bella had echoed my own thoughts. “Unless, of course, hewantedus to find him, just like he planted that video online because he hoped we’d find it on X, leading us to his Instagram account.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “If he’s been following you, or all of us, for some time, he knows we’d dig deep. He’s planting clues he wants us to unearth for a reason.”

Thatreasonkept sending me back to the 2010 operation. In my head, this case had to somehow tie to that failed mission. Well, unless we were too close to this thing and missing the bigger picture somehow.

“Enzo and Adelina are almost to the address for him on file now. Single-family home on Long Island. They were already at our parents’ place with Callie, so it’s a short drive,” Constantine shared. “Malik’s with them for backup.”

“I’m assuming you’ve already looked into any possibleconnections between some of the classified cases that were sent to Maverick that he wanted turned over to Clarke?” Roman asked, taking a seat alongside Constantine on the couch off to our left.

From what I knew about Roman, he was not only married to a former CIA officer, he was a certified genius. Between the two of them, they had a lot of experience with cases like the one we were dealing with.

“We have, but no notable connections yet,” Constantine answered.

“Something had to have set them off on this vendetta now,” Roman said, and I had to believe that was true as well. “I think that’s the one missing piece to understand the motive. Until we can lock on to that, we’ll remain three steps behind.”

Right.I let go of a frustrated sigh.

“The answer must be in those twenty files about instances of bad intel leading to servicemen and women dying.” Roman pointed to the nearby laptop on the table at his side. “This has to be an inside job, which most likely rules out this guy Enzo’s going to talk to. They were able to get their hands on classified files and nearly launched their own unsanctioned CIA operation all with the touch of a button.”

When Jesse had shared our concerns with POTUS, it prompted President Bennett to speak with the CIA director. After untangling a mess of encryption, it was discovered operational orders had been sent with the CIA director’s signature from the director’s server.

Assuming the terrorists had a backup plan if their kidnapping scheme with the ambo’s daughter failed, a small U.S. military assault team was already on the ground in Spain, prepared to wait for the terrorists to hit the Spaniard’s black site.

---