Page 67 of Renegade

Miguel let out a quiet snort, and I turned to stare at him. “Twice?”

He glanced down. “Yeah, I kinda…hit him in the nose.”

“You hit him in the nose?” Mac said.

“Yeah,” Sutter said before pointing at me. “And thenhehit me in the nose.”

Jarrett burst out laughing and then glanced at his father before sobering. He shrugged. “Sorry, Daddy. That shit’s funny.”

I smiled and then glanced over at the woman who was watching us all with interest. “Hi. I’m Raven Mathis,” I said, introducing myself as I walked over and held out a hand.

“SAC Sarah Connor. Nice to meet you, Raven. I’ve heard only good things.” She turned to Miguel. “You must be Miguel.”

“Yes, ma’am. Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand, and she pivoted back to the others.

“Well, it sounds like you all have a lot to talk about. Make yourself at home. If you need anything, my office is at the end of the hall.”

“Thanks, Sarah,” Thayne said as she walked out. He shut the door and then held out a hand. “I suppose we should all sit down.” He looked over at Sutter. “That…ah…can I get you some ice or something?” He waved at Sutter’s face.

“No, that’s fine, thanks.” Sutter looked incredibly uncomfortable as he pulled out a chair beside Miguel and sat down. I sat on the other side.

“Take some ice, John,” Miguel said with a hint of exasperation.

John waved it off, looking stubborn.

“You need to be able to see,” Miguel hissed. “Has nothing changed.”

John held Miguel’s stare and sighed, nodding reluctantly.

Ice was brought, and John winced when it touched his face before saying, “I guess you all know who I am.” He glanced at Damon. “It’s been a minute, Thorne.”

Damon frowned at him. “How the hell are you here, Sutter?Whyare you here?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Sutter said, looking almost nervously at the others.

“I should probably introduce you to everyone,” Miguel said. “John Sutter, this is Mac McCallahan, FBI, Mark Evans, retired CIA, Jarrett Evans, ATF, Thayne Wolfe, ATF, and you’ve met Raven.”

Sutter simply nodded as Miguel went around the room. “I know you’re all wondering why I’m here and I want to thank you for hearing me out.”

Miguel cleared his throat. “When Sutter caught up to me today at my friend Vonne’s house, I guess I was kind of shocked to say the least. I know I’ve told all of you some things about him and our past in Afghanistan and now that he’s filled me in on some missing pieces, I wanted you all to hear him out.”

“Why don’t you start at the beginning, Sutter?” Mark said. “It’s my understanding that you’ve been hanging around with a very bad crowd.”

Sutter nodded, looking down at his hands, and for the first time I spotted the thin white scar running through his eyebrow, the same one I’d seen in the photos Miguel had. “Yes, sir. They found me in Afghanistan.” He glanced at Miguel. “You’ve told them everything you know about what happened?”

“Yeah, I’ve told them everything I know about how you were lost in the sandstorm, but I’d love to know how that CIA cell picked you up.”

“CIAcell?” Mark interrupted. “What the hell is a CIAcell?”

Sutter sighed. “That’s what they call themselves, but I should start at the beginning, like you said.” When Mark nodded, he began telling his story. “About three days before we were sent out on the Recon mission where we got caught in the storm, I went to the communications tent to call home.” He looked at Miguel. “I think you know there was a girl I’d been seeing back home that had ended all bar the shouting.”

Miguel nodded. “I’d forgotten. You’d gotten a letter from her.”

Sutter laughed and looked embarrassed. “Yeah, a dear John letter.” When no one laughed, he went on. “Anyway, I thought I should call back home to finalize things with her. So, after I finished the call, I was on my way back to our quarters when I heard laughter coming from one of the supply sheds. It should have been dark and locked up for the night, but the light was on, so I made a short detour to see what was going on. That’s when I spotted Lance Bishop, John Mendez, and Alex Filmore coming out. They were carrying a footlocker…well, it looked like a footlocker…same size and all. Anyway, I ducked back into the shadows so I wouldn’t be spotted, but one of them did. I heard Filmore tell one of the others to go see who it was. I took off running but I think they might have caught a glimpse of me.”

“I knowallthose guys,” Damon said.

“They were all operatives on base?” Mark asked, typing their names into his phone.

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