Damn right. That rite of passage was branded every bit as much on her mind as it was on her left hip. “Motto?”
“Lima Uniform Delta.”
Loyal Unto Death. Damn straight. “Nickname?”
“Itchy. But you called me Itch, and I called you Twitch.”
A wide smile broke over Chloe’s face, her throat thickening with an unexpected surge of emotion. “Itch, is it really you?” Her voice was a bit rough.
Megan laughed softly. “Yeah, Twitch, it’s me. God, this is surreal. How are you, sistah?”
“I’m…hanging in there,” Chloe said with a stunned laugh. “How the hell did you find me? And who’s this guy you sent?” He wasn’t an operative like them, that much was certain.
“It wasn’t easy. We’ve been trying for months to track you down.”
“We?”
“Yes. I’ve got so much to tell you, but it’ll have to wait until it’s in person. I’ve got access to a private plane and can be there in a few hours. That cool with you?”
“Sure.” But if Megan had found her, then it was a good damn thing Chloe had gotten out of Paris when she had. Dubois would have looked at the security footage from Dom’s office and the train station by now. He’d have people after her. “And the guy is?”
“Heath Barrett, my boyfriend’s best friend. I haven’t met him yet, but they served together as security contractors for a few years.”
Chloe’s eyebrows went up at the first part. “Yeah, tell me about the boyfriend part.”
Another laugh. “Like I said, there’s a lot to fill you in on.”
“Apparently.” She had a hard time imagining Megan getting that serious with a guy. It was dangerous.
“Heath’s former AFSOC,” Megan added.
Ahh. That helped explain the calm head he’d kept during the whole knife thing. “What did he do for them?”
“Pararescue.”
“Really.” Well, wasn’t that interesting. He had SOF training, yet he hadn’t hurt her, even with the knife to his groin. “Ty didn’t tell him what I am.”
“No.”
“So he thought I was a civilian.”
“Yes.”
Yikes. That explained a lot. Now Chloe felt kinda bad for what she’d done. Poor guy had honestly been trying to help her for whatever reason. She hadn’t realized there were any men like that left in the world. “I may have pulled my blade on him. And I may have nicked him in a sensitive spot when he didn’t talk fast enough.”
Megan chuckled. “Poor Heath. I’m sure he’ll get over it. Eventually.”
Chloe frowned. “Well now I feel bad.”
“Don’t worry about that. I want to know about you. Is the job you were on finished? Or is there more?”
“I’ll talk to you when you get here.” Even with an encrypted phone she wasn’t going to risk saying anything too sensitive.
“Understood. We’re working on something big, Twitch. Really big, and I want to bring you in on it. Do me a favor and look up a major news story from London back in September. You’ll know it when you see it.”
“Okay, I will.”
“No, now.”