Page 48 of Toxic Devotion

Marco’s lips parted on a silent gasp as he realized what Neil meant.Hewas Neil’s reason for living.Hewas the thing Neil thought was worth staying alive for. Despite everything. Despite how much hurt and pain there was between them. He had wanted Neil to suffer, to feel the same pain he had. He just hadn’t realized that Neil had already been suffering. He’d already been in pain.

Neil turned and walked away while Marco’s heart floundered in his chest. Was it fair to keep blaming Neil for Alicia’s death when he was as much to blame? Was it fair to Rome and Dante to willingly cause them the pain and heartache he wanted so desperately to avoid himself? He knew the answer and a part of him was relieved. Neil was right. He needed to find a reason to live. One that didn’t involve putting that responsibility on someone else.

He released a sigh and pulled out his phone, hitting speed dial, and the second it was picked up, he said, “Gather the men. We have a score to settle.”

Chapter Nineteen

Neil

HE CURSED under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. He was going to have to do something he didn’t want to do. One of his operatives had a flash drive with information on it that he was using to take apart a terrorist cell. Hughes’ terrorist cell. Generally, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, but his asset wasn’t doing it for the Agency. He’d gone rouge. He’d gone underground.

He’d kept his superiors out of the loop so far, but the more noise Colt made, the harder it was for Neil to keep it that way. He needed someone to bring Colt back in and he was extremely short on people he could trust. Langley was overrun with moles. There were more people he knew he couldn’t trust than people hecouldtrust.

Fortunately for him, he’d finally found the missing member of his Raiders, Lieutenant William Stanton. Unfortunately, he was in prison. Though, being in prison wasn’t the part that worried him. He knew Stanton wouldn’t have gotten caught unless he wanted to and there was only one thing worth a stint in prison for Stanton and that was information about his brother’s killer.

He wanted to keep the Raiders as far away from that as possible, but he wasn’t surprised that Stanton had gotten this close. The man was good at what he did and if there was someone who could find Colt, it was Stanton. Not only that, buthe had faith the man could convince Colt to stand down in his pursuit.

He stepped through the door to the prison, ignoring the claustrophobic feeling washing over him, and handed over his belongings before stepping through the metal detector. He followed a corrections officer to an interview room and waited for confirmation that the cameras weren’t recording before he walked into the room.

Stanton was a big man, and he dwarfed the table he was sitting behind. The second Stanton’s eyes were on him, he knew Stanton’s walls had gone up.

“Hello, Lieutenant,” Neil said and walked to the table, ignoring Stanton’s dark scowl. He sat down in the chair opposite Stanton and put his arms on the table, leaning forward. “My name is Neil.”

“Does Neil have a last name?” Stanton asked, a drawl of sarcasm in his voice.

They were playing a dangerous game and as much as he didn’t want to be on Stanton’s bad side, he needed to share information with him that would likely make Stanton hate him.

He let Stanton know that he’d been involved with the Raiders, but he kept his exact involvement vague. It didn’t stop the rage filling Stanton’s eyes.

“I didn’t have anything to do with Derek’s death, but I know who did. I know who ordered it,” he said.

His heart skipped a beat, though he did his best not to let it show. Stanton looked ready to jump across the table and beat the shit out of him and considering he wasn’t cuffed to the table, there was a very real risk of that actually happening.

“If you want to keep breathing, I’d suggest you shut up and leave. Now,” Stanton said through gritted teeth.

“I know what you’ve been doing all these years,” Neil said, staring into Stanton’s eyes. “I want you to keep doing it.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“I think this might make you a little more cooperative.”

He pulled a photograph out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and slid it across the table. While Stanton looked at the picture, Neil put on a mask of indifference and when Stanton resisted, he pushed the man just enough to make him do as he asked. He had the right kind of motivation and as much as it killed him to use it, he did what he had to. He needed this whole thing to go away. He needed Colt back under control before he got them all killed. Before it all blew up in his face and, most of all, he needed Stanton back with the Raiders if they were to stand a chance against Hughes.

He gave Stanton four hours to finish what he’d started when he’d gotten himself inside that prison even if he could’ve easily shared the information Stanton was seeking in there, he knew Stanton wouldn’t take his word for it. He knew Stanton was looking for confirmation of Hughes’ involvement as well as the name of his CIA mole. Said mole was, unfortunately, still breathing. He needed the information the man had. It could be the difference between them losing and winning this war with Hughes.

Stanton only used two of his four hours and as he walked out of the prison and headed toward Neil who was leaning against his car, Neil couldn’t help his smile. The man had always gotten shit done. It was one of the reasons he’d made Stanton the team leader of the Raiders. It was also one of the reasons he hadn’t been surprised when he’d gone against orders to go and try to save his brother. Stanton was a man you could so easily end up following blindly and the Raiders had done just that.

It was the reason the black ops team had ended up being dissolved. When Stanton had gone awol, they rest of the squad had floundered. They’d found their footing without Stanton, but it had been a struggle for them. Especially for two of them. He’ddone what he could for them, and they all seemed to be doing well for themselves now.

“Impressive,” he told Stanton who ignored him to walk around the car and get in the passenger seat.

Neil shook his head, a smile still on his lips, as he got behind the wheel.

“What do you need me to do?” Stanton asked, a note of annoyance in his voice.

“I need you to find a rogue operative. He has information?possibly on a flash drive?that we need.”

“And byweyou mean…?”

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