Page 74 of Renegade

“That I do, son.”

I sighed. “I’m gonna go call Vonne.” I stood and looked down at Raven. “We have a long night ahead of us, Sunshine.”

Raven smiled at me. “Yeah, we’re among friends now.”

I smiled back. “That we are.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

RAVEN

I was happy to see Vonne again, even under these circumstances. When he walked in, he appeared to be anxious, looking around, probably for John who’d opted to stay in the conference room while Miguel and I went out to greet him in the reception area. After hugging me and slapping Miguel on the back, he frowned.

“What’s he doin’ here, Trigg? You didn’t tell me anythin’ on the phone except that I was supposed to come here, and that Sutter had somehow turned himself in to the ATF.”

“Well, that’s not exactly how I meant it,” Miguel replied. “He didn’t turn himself in. I asked him to come in because a lot of people were worried about the people he’s been associating with over the last several years. He wanted you to hear him out the same way we did, so that you could make up your own mind about it.”

He nodded, looking cautious. “And you’ve heard him out?”

Miguel shrugged. “We all have.”

He glanced around the offices before turning back to him. “And why are the Feds involved if he hasn’t turned himself in?”

“Because the people who work here are honorable men and women and most all of them are retired or former Special Forces,” I said, pointing down the hall toward the conference room. “And you’re about to meet the former Associate Director of Military Affairs for the CIA. He’s helping us.”

Vonne looked aghast. “You’re shittin’ me.”

“No,” Miguel said. “We’ve been friends with them for a while and I want you to meet them.”

I cleared my throat. “I’ve known most of them longer than Miguel,” I said, glancing at him before looking back at Vonne. “You know Cassidy Ryan and Mike Williams.”

“Of course. Known ‘em almost twenty years since…ah, since Trigg’s parents died.”

“Good, then I hope you’ll give Sutter the benefit of the doubt and listen to him simply because Cass and Mike have known and worked with these guys during many national security crises. Iftheytrust them then you should too.”

Vonne grinned at me and then looked over at Miguel, hooking a thumb in my direction. “I really like your new spokesman. He’s doin’ great spin.”

Miguel smiled and slung his arm around the shorter man’s shoulders. “It’s not spin when it’s all true and Raven speaks for himself, not for me. Come on. Let’s go talk to John.”

I followed them down the hall and waited outside, watching through the glass while Miguel led Vonne into the conference room. He made introductions all around and then stopped when he got to Sutter. As soon as he was introduced, I watched as John’s face crumpled. He slowly sank into his chair, hung his head in his hands, and began to sob. Miguel walked over to Vonne, putting a hand to the small of his back as the others silently filed out of the conference room to join me on the other side of the glass.

A few seconds later, I watched Vonne turn his face up to Miguel and say something before Miguel glanced over at me. There had been tears in his eyes. Vonne sank down into the chairacross from Sutter. As he lowered his head and began talking to him, Miguel joined us in the hall. After a minute or so, Vonne got out of the chair and inched closer to John before dropping to his knees in front of him and pulling him into his arms. I turned away, feeling like I was watching something I shouldn’t be.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see Mark standing behind us. His other hand was on Miguel’s shoulder. “We should start planning on how to scoop up the bad guys. Come on.” He dropped his hands and canted his head toward a large office at the end of the room. “Sarah’s got a nice big office where we can talk.” With that, he turned on his heel and started down the hall.

I glanced over at Miguel as we followed. “Did you ask Sutter why he gave Daniel Vonne’s address and not yours?”

Miguel shook his head. “No, but it makes sense in a way. As you can see, the two of them had a lot of unfinished business.”

“Do you think they’re going to work it out?”

“Sure, they will. I did, didn’t I?”

“You really never said how you felt about it, Miguel. You kept a lot of it to yourself and when we’re alone, we’re going to talk about that. Your days of being the big, scary, stoic Recon Marine who is too tough to tell the man you love how you feel about things—even if they’re scary, confusing, or painful—are over.”

He pursed his lips for a second, pausing at the door to the SAC’s office for a minute. When he smiled, I hadn’t really been prepared for it so when it came, warmth flooded through me. “You’re pretty smart, you know that?”

“Yeah.”

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