Page 31 of Renegade

“Hundreds of millions,” Thayne said. He and Jarrett exchanged a knowing glance before they both turned back to us.

“Without divulgin’ anythin’ classified here, we can confirm that’s true,” Jarrett said. “Thayne and I were involved in the recovery of some of it.”

I nodded. “The CIA didn’t only trade in U.S. currency…they also traded in gold and jewels. Rumors of missing hoards of cash seemed to be rampant on the various bases where my team and I were stationed. Maybe the Mulberry diamond as well as the pigeon’s blood ruby were part of some of a missing stash.”

“But Mrs. Flores said the ruby had been in her husband’s family, passed down through generations, Miguel,” Raven said.

I turned to him. “That might have been a lie he told her or she might have been lying herself, Raven. Perhaps Flores got hold of it another way, and it might help explain what’s going on here with the CIA fucker who accosted us this morning, if he really is an operative.”

“It’s entirely possible, Raven,” Jarrett said. “Who knows what’s goin’ on here.” He frowned. “I do know one thing, though. CIA involvement in that activity is held close to the vest, but maybe my daddy can shed some light on it.”

“And you think your buddy, John Sutter was involved in it?” Mac asked, looking skeptical.

“I hate the idea but we won’t have any answers until we find Sutter,” I said bitterly. “I sure as hell hope he wasn’t involved. I know he wouldn’t willingly help the CIA in something like that. He served his country honorably and I just can’t believe he’d do anything like that in good conscience.”

“The CIA has methods of persuading people to do just about anything,” Mac said. A muscle in his jaw ticked.

“This is all speculation,” Raven said, putting his hand on my arm. “We won’t know anything for sure until we find John to ask.”

I nodded before turning back to Mac and the others. “Anything you can find out will be helpful. I know we’re keeping you. Thank you so much for meeting with us on such short notice.” I felt a little embarrassed that we’d kept them so long but I felt they all needed the background in order to justify the huge favor I was asking.

Mac smiled widely and held out his hand. “Like I said, I’ll help any way I can.”

Jarrett rubbed his hands together gleefully. “A new mystery to solve.”

I smiled, grateful to these men. I shook all their hands and so did Raven.

“And I’ll talk to my daddy as soon as we’re done in the office, Miguel,” Jarrett said with a big smile.

“We can’t thank you enough, guys,” Raven said. “It means a lot. The last thing we want is to face the guy with the gun again.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Mac said. They walked away and Raven and I headed back to the truck. Some of my worry for Raven’s safety fled and I felt hope for the first time since John had resurfaced in my life.

Chapter Ten

RAVEN

We went back to the office to do some research on Henry McNulty’s company and the security system HoSecMo but I was thinking of the man we’d met in the stairwell. As much as it had freaked me out to have a gun pointed at my chest, the way Miguel had acted on instinct and stepped in front of me, bothered me just a little bit more than it probably should have. I knew my big, beautiful warrior had a protective streak in him a mile wide when it came to me, but that didn’t mean I liked it. It made me feel like a baby. I didn’t need to be coddled. Things weregoingto happen to me. It was just the nature of our job. I knew I’d have to call him out on it at some point, but the time wasn’t right for that. Protection came second nature to Miguel.

Judy left us alone in our back office to gather as much information as we could about McNulty while she went to her front office desk and began searching for connections between the Mulberry diamond and the Flores ruby. I was pretty sure she wanted to be in her own space not only because she needed privacy to search the dark web, but because she was freaked out about what had happened to us in the stairwell. All the way back to the office, we’d debated telling her about the man with the gun, but we needed her incredible computer skills. If Mac, and Jarrett’s father couldn’t find anything out about him, maybe she could. She was just good like that.

I glanced over at Miguel who sat in his desk chair frowning at the screen. My heart went out to him. After living and working in close quarters with him these last few months, I knew what wason his mind. I’d grown used to the dark cloud that descended on him at times. He’d had so much heartbreak in his life and had struggled just to keep a roof over his head since leaving the Marine Corps. John Sutter was a fucking bastard for dropping back into his life and fucking with his head like this.

Even though I’d been sure he hadn’t expected to see Miguel when we met with our client, the fact that he’d been there at all still made me angry. What had he been doing there? Had he intended on spying on the meeting, looking to take out the recovery agent with his crazy CIA skills, assuming he’d actually gone over to the dark side? Or had he been following the theft of the ruby just to see who’d be looking for it? That was the most logical answer but not knowing why he’d shown up at the restaurant or how deadly he’d become in the last eleven years, still bothered me.

Sutter hadn’t reached out to Miguel, and I knew it bothered him more than he’d said. They’d been close for so many years—intimate even—and the bastard hadn’t even tried to get in touch. Why? If he was working for the CIA as we suspected, surely, he knew how to get in contact with Miguel. He’d most likely shared his knowledge of who Miguel was with the man who’d threatened us, but that only made matters worse. I was angry about it, so I couldn’t even imagine how my better half was feeling. When Miguel started stabbing keys on his keyboard and cursing, I knew it was time to quit for the day. He was too distracted to work.

“Baby?” He was trying his best to school his features and hide the frown he’d been wearing. He looked drawn, as if simply sitting in his desk chair was too much for him.

“Yeah?”

I almost flinched at the gravel in his voice. “Why don’t we quit for the day? I’ve already researched Henry McNulty and his company as much as I can. I think the guy is legit. He’s got a lot of reviews and most of them are very flattering.” I pointed at my screen before turning my monitor, so he could see the list of five-star reviews from past customers. “Most of these are from celebrities who’ve got his HoSecMo security system in place.”

Miguel reached up and ran his hand through his hair, an unconscious gesture that signaled he was either stressed out about something or nervous. He was probably both. He scrubbed both big hands over his face and sighed. “Might as well go home. I can’t concentrate on anything for shit.” He sounded so miserable.

I stood up and held out a hand. He took my hand but instead of getting up to follow, he pulled me down onto his lap. My arms went around his neck as he leaned up to kiss me. His lips weren’t gentle. Instead, his kisses were demanding, almost cruel, as he quite literally stole my breath. He yanked my dress shirt out of my pants as his hands worked their way up under it, tracing the muscles in my back as he moaned into my mouth. I felt my dick grow hard inside my slacks. By the time he finally broke the kiss, I was panting. I leaned my forehead against his.

“I love you, Sunshine,” he said in a voice laced with arousal. It made my cock even harder.

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