Page 100 of The Art of You

No damn way was it a coincidence my former teammate was hired for an assist by the man causing chaos in our lives. We really had been playing a game of Clue all this time with Mr. Green of all fucking people like some sick joke.

“My team was already tracking everyone connected to the ambassador. We had their vehicles tagged, including Chris’s truck, which had been parked at the gas station,” he resumed his explanation. “We saw your pal here,” he added while eyeing Constantine, “take out multiple men outside the party, including the one down the street in the van. That’s when I realized you were probably there for the ambo’s daughter.”

I was a second away from revealing the truth, but I opted to keep my mouth shut and let him continue. I needed to know how he ended up with my Glock and why I was down a round.

“Go on.” Constantine’s command cut over my shoulder toAlfie.

“We still had concerns that someone on the ambo’s team was an insider, so when I saw Chris’s truck on the move, going the opposite direction of the city, we followed him. I didn’t expect they’d lead me to you,” Alfie shared. “Realizing the tracker had stopped moving before we had visual contact, we parked on another road and made an on-foot approach with night vision. Eduardo was in the middle of removing a tracker from the Porsche while Chris took the gun from your hand. You were unconscious. Realizing too late they had company, Chris fired off a round, and it caught my teammate, Keith, in the arm. We’d wanted Chris and Eduardo alive to question, but I couldn’t run the risk they’d hurt you. Sirens were in the distance. We were short on time.” He’d whipped out the play-by-play so fast, I had to slow down his words in my head to really absorb them.

I closed my eyes, bowing my head.You saved Bella.He really did deserve the name Triple A. He’d been my insurance that night. Come to my rescue.

“We took Chris’s and Eduardo’s phones, your Glock, and the tracker Eduardo removed from your Porsche. I also made sure you and Isabella had a pulse. We had to take off after that, covering our tracks.”

That also made me look guilty of murder.I let that slide and kept my thoughts to myself as I looked up at him. “So, what are we doing in Spain? Why’d you ask me to come here? Clarity could’ve come over a secure line.”

“Because the terrorists had a backup plan. They already hit the black site yesterday,” he revealed. “Based on that wide-eyed look of yours, you’re not aware their boss is now free?”

I turned to put eyes on the Costas. “The Spanish government must’ve lied to POTUS. Didn’t want him to know they’d been compromised and lost the terrorist.” I could see thathappening. Lie after lie in a big game of CYA.Cover your asses.The resounding theme to our problems.

“We have a fix on the terrorists’ current safe house, and we’re going after them ourselves. The chatter suggests they’re moving during daylight today, presumably because no one would suspect them to roll out in the afternoon,” he let us know. “Since we’re after the same people, I thought it’d be best to join forces rather than get in one another’s way. Prevent any unintended casualties and provide each other an assist.”

I swiveled around, facing him. Was he really asking me to go on a mission with him?

“We were hired by the ambo to save her daughter,” I finally admitted, cluing him in to how we were involved. “My guess is you were hired for two reasons.” I lowered my eyes to the Glock still in my hand, everything finally clicking together. Everything except why Green was after us for the death of his wife.

“And those reasons are?” Alfie asked.

“I don’t doubt that Green wants revenge against his wife’s killers, which also means he more than likely masterminded this whole plan to get the terrorist leader free from the black site. Hewantedhim to escape. He probably spoon-fed the terrorists the intel they needed when he was ready, knowing what they’d do.”

“Green couldn’t kill the boss as easily if he was behind bars,” Alfie said, not questioning me, but seemingly following along.

I set aside the Glock, deciding I believed Alfie, and he was no longer a threat. He’d saved the woman I loved after all.

“What’s the second reason my team was hired?”

“Your connection to me,” I said bluntly. “Green’s out for my blood, too.” I gestured toward the Costas. “Maybe theirs as well.”

Alfie jerked his head back. “What the hell did you do to him? You weren’t responsible for his wife’s death.”

I squeezed the back of my neck where pain lingered. “That’s the question we still don’t have an answer to.”

“Something seemed off with this, and then with that reporter leaking the intel about our operation from fifteen years ago . . . it felt too coincidental,” Alfie acknowledged. “I should’ve dug deeper. But we were short on time, and since he worked for the Pentagon, and all that checked out, I just thought?—”

“We were all played,” I cut him off. “He’s been pulling the strings for a long time. Orchestrating everything. You couldn’t have known. I sure as hell didn’t understand much of anything until five minutes ago,” I admitted. “Green wants the truth exposed about what happened to his wife, but he can’t make it just about her. It alone won’t garner attention from the media, and it will pull scrutiny of who leaked it solely his way as well.”

“Which is why there were twenty files he’d planned to have that reporter share when the time was right,” Alessandro tacked on. “Including the one he discovered about your op to really screw with our heads, too.”

But Kit and Clarke pulled the trigger early, just targeting me.

“One problem at a time.” Constantine lowered his rifle. “Even if Green maneuvered us like chess pieces to get us here to do his bidding, we still need to stop these terrorists from escaping before they kill more people.”

“I also don’t think we can turn this over to the government here to let them step in,” Alfie said. “We run the risk they’ll sit on the intel too long and get caught behind more red tape. They may miss the chance to get them.”

I was in agreement with him on that. The Spanish hadn’teven fessed up to POTUS that their black site was already hit when President Bennett called them.

“Green didn’t just bring us here to be his tool against his enemy. He sees us as one, too,” Constantine remarked before setting his sights on Alfie. “But we can’t let these terrorists get away with murder. So, we’re in.”

I checked my watch. Fucking daylight op, not ideal. “When do we spin up?”

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