Page 57 of Renegade

“I’ll be back when the hour’s up,” she said before shutting the door.

We waited for her to leave before Miguel turned on the switch then walked back over to stand by my side. He gave me a look before turning to the stranger and sweeping out a hand toward him. “Raven Mathis, this is Damon Thorne,” Miguel said. “We worked a lot together when I was in the Corps. Damon is CIA.”

“Was CIA,” Damon corrected, smiling at me as he held out his hand. “I left the Company a long time ago. It’s nice to meet you, Raven.” He frowned a little. “I understand you’ve been having some trouble with people I might know.”

I blew out a relieved breath. “God, I sure hope so. Thank you for coming.” I glanced almost warily at him. I couldn’t help but feel suspicious of him because other than Mac and Mark, he was the only person I’d ever met from the CIA. He didn’t look vicious or ruthless like the man in the stairwell and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been accepted by all these men who seemed to be friendly with him. Besides, Miguel and he seemed to have had a warm relationship, at least in the past.

“What are you doing here, Thorne,” Miguel asked, as if he’d read my mind. “How do you know these guys?”

“I’ve known them for a while now,” Damon replied with a smile. “And, when Mark Evans calls, it’s kind of hard to say no.” He eyed up Mark before looking back at Miguel. “I have onlythe greatest respect for the man, and I’d jump through hoops for him. I also respect these guys a whole hell of a lot. Theyallcame to my rescue several years ago when a rogue faction of the CIA tried to kill me and since Mark knew that, he called me when he learned you were having troubles of your own.” There was something disturbing and very sad in his eyes as if he was remembering the past. “I’m really sorry to hear you think operatives are following you.” Before I could say anything, he glanced back at Miguel. “And as far as you’re concerned, Trigg, I’m sorry they may have something to do with John Sutter’s disappearance in the desert.”

I was intrigued to know what he knew about Sutter’s disappearance but also what he knew about rogue CIA factions. Maybe this man really could help us. Clearly, Miguel and Mark trusted him, so I decided I should as well.

“Thanks, Damon.” He swept a hand toward the two couches in the room. “We might as well sit down so that I can fill everyone in on what’s going on. There’s quite a few more details I need to share with all of you.”

Mark’s face was grim. He nodded and my heart did a flip-flop in my chest, wondering what he’d learned, hoping it wasn’t bad. I could only assume by the expression on his face that it was. We took seats and I took in the thickness of the padding for the soundproof walls, a glass desk complete with two microphones on short stands, and four swiveling chairs tucked under either side of the desk. On a side table lay the broadcast equipment the studio’s receptionist had mentioned. Mark set the closed laptop down on the desk and then grabbed one of the swiveling chairs, sitting beside Mac who took another one so he could spread his long legs out in front of him.

“So, my daddy filled me in on what happened with John Sutter out in the desert,” Jarrett began in his classic southerndrawl. “I didn’t know him even though I passed through that base many times on missions over the years. Probably not as frequently as Thorne here, but still, I met a lot of the operatives assigned to your base.” He scratched his white head. “I thought I’d met all of ‘em, but I might be wrong.”

“We rotated in and out of the region, what with two wars going on over the years,” Thorne said, looking sober. He glanced at me. “I got to know your partner because I ran point on several missions out of that base.” He frowned. “But I knew John Sutter quite well since he was the team leader.”

I nodded. “I get the idea.”

“Anyway, Mark sat us all down and explained what happened to you with the man who approached you in the stairwell and the message your employee was able to find when she hacked into Langley,” Thorne said. He was trying not to smile as Mark interrupted.

“That hole in Langley’s computer systems has been closed, by the way,” Mark said. “If you haven’t done so already, please tell Judy Mendez we know where she lives.”

My eyes widened as I darted a worried glance at Miguel. The way his eyes twinkled, told me that Judy had nothing to worry about…that Mark was simply making a point.

“Yes, sir,” he said, holding up both hands. “She won’t be doing anything like that again.” He glanced at me. “We’ll see to it.”

I nodded my head. “She definitely won’t be. God knows, none of us want to go to jail and who the hell wants their taxes audited every year for life?” I muttered, managing to smile as I looked at Mark. I turned somber when I glanced back at Damon. “So, you know about the message she found.”

“Yes, and I can tell you if there was a CIA outpost near that base, I never heard of it. I confirmed that with Mark.” When Mark nodded, he went on. “But I can say this, and only because it’s been widely reported in the media, a lot of money and other loot which was confiscated from regions over there during the war, has gone missing and was never recovered.”

“You can say that again,” Jarrett said, exchanging a loaded glance with Thayne who sat beside him. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but there was a definite story there. They were Federal agents so there was no doubt a lot of classified things they couldn’t disclose or talk about in mixed company.

“In any case, he told me that the message contained a reference to someone called Sandstorm and that fact seems to jive with what happened to Sutter and your team, Trigg,” Thorne said. “But as I told Mark, I can confirm there was never an operative named Sandstorm. It has to be John Sutter, assuming he was captured as you all seem to think.”

“Well, I can damned sure guarantee John never would have left our Humvee under his own power, blinded by the storm or not, and we never found any traces of him, even though we went back several times,” Miguel said. “We searched for hours, were ordered back to base to complete another mission, but as soon as we got back, we went out to search time and time again.” He shook his head. “We thought he might have made it to an Afghan village but if he had, assuming he was uninjured, he would have eventually come back to base. There’s no way he would have left us wondering what happened to him. We were more than a family.”

“I know how that is,” Mac said.

“Damned straight,” Jarrett drawled. “Someone musta grabbed him and held him. I feel bad for what he must’ve gonethrough since we now know he survived.” He studied Miguel. “There’s no way the man you saw at the Sagebrush Cantina was someone who just looked like Sutter, right?”

Miguel shook his head vigorously. “No. He was my brother. I served with him for more than seven years on our Recon team.” He stared at Mac. “Will you ever forget the face of a man who you called brother?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Mac said.

We both turned back to Mark. “Let’s move on. We’ve only got an hour here,” he said. He glanced over at Miguel and I, sitting together on the couch. “I understand your need for secrecy.” Taking everyone in as he looked around, he said, “But having us meet in a soundproof room must mean you’re afraid our conversation might be picked up by a parabolic microphone, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Miguel said. “We know we’re being followed.” When Mark opened his mouth to ask, Miguel held up a hand. “Please let me explain what’s happened since the last time we met with you.”

“Go on,” Mark replied patiently.

Miguel eyed everyone in the room. “I know Mark filled you in on some facts, but I’d like to add in a few things and answer some questions that I might have by summarizing our problem.”

“Have at it,” Jarrett said, sitting back on the couch beside his husband. I noticed Thayne giving him a look. He nodded, shutting up and turning back to us.

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