Page 53 of Walking the Bird

“Areyou going to sit there and look crazy or answer my question? What was your call sign?” In Eleni’s experience, getting a man angry could go one of two ways. Either he flew off the handle and stomped off to do something about his aggression. Or he held it all in, brewing like a boiler until all hell erupted. She was hoping for the latter.

“It’s no wonder Havoc wants a divorce, you’re fucking annoying.”

“Funny,” Eleni mocked him, scrunching up her nose. “Now answer the question.”

Miguel rested his forearms on his thighs, dropping his focus to the leather of his shoes. He was growing impatient as the minutes ticked by and there was no appearance of the men he’d expected to come rescue the damsel in distress. Maybe Eleni was right, perhaps he did pick the wrong one. Reaching for his phone, Miguel opened the app for his security camera, aggravation filling his chest as the halls leading up to the door remained clear. He couldn't understand it, he had intentionally disabled his firewall, so those misfits should have tracked his fingerprints by now. He’d planned each detail; from keeping Eleni and Alex apart, to allowing Ryan to catch a glimpse of him wearing Ziere’s hoodie, guaranteeing they would chase Ziere into his office and down into the sub where he would kill them both, finally tasting the sweetness of revenge.

“He can't answer the question, Eleni, because he never got one.”

Jumping to his feet, Miguel pulled his gun from the middle of his back, aiming at Eleni’s head.

“Viper,” Miguel scoffed. “Isn't this a surprise.”

“Why? I was the one who signed the paperwork, sent it up the chain to the Commander.”

Elation and sadness struggled for dominance inside Eleni. A part of her was relieved Viper was there to rescue her. Sadly, an even bigger part wanted to trade him for Havoc.

“It was Havoc who told you. He could have come to me, instead he went running to you like a little bitch.”

Keeping his gun trained on Miguel, “Havoc didn’t do shit. I tried to tell you during the investigation, but you were too stuck on stupid to listen. I may have written you up for Walking the Bird, but getting caught with those drugs in your bag was all on you.”

Shifting his gaze to Eleni, “You okay, darlin’? This piece of shit hurt you?”

Shaking her head, the emotions of the moment became too much as fat tears streamed down her face.

Drifting his attention back to Miguel, “You’ve got me, now let the girl go.”

Shaking his head, a sinister smile covered Miguel’s lips. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“Stupid?” Viper echoed. “No. Clever as fuck? I’ll give you that.”

A sense of pride filled Miguel's chest. He’d worked hard to build his business from what it was to the empire he had now.

“Tell me, Manguez. How the fuck did you pull all this off?” Viper knew one thing about the rogue SEAL standing opposite him, he was conceited as fuck, craving any attention that would cast him in a favorable light.

“You remember the scrubbed mission we went on?”

“Down in Columbia?” Viper confirmed.

“Yes. While you guys were playing cards and shooting the shit, I met up with a guy who offered me a lot of money if I would mule some drugs back to the states. I figured, what the hell, it ain't like they are going to search the bag of a SEAL.”

“Except, they did.”

“Yeah, ‘cause Havoc went running to you about it.”

“Wrong!” Viper shouted, startling Eleni so severe she let out a scream and jumped to her feet. “The DEA was conducting drills when we landed. Your ignorant ass chose the wrong day to be the fucking bad guy.”

Unable to tell whether Viper was telling the truth, Miguel darted his gun toward Eleni. “Sit the fuck down!”

“Stay where you are, Eleni. It’s me he wants, not you,” Viper calmly spoke to her. Shifting his focus back to Miguel. “Keep talking.”

“Diablo called for his money.”

“And you didn't have it,” Viper surmised.

“He wanted to talk about working it off, but I knew better. So I killed him before he could kill me.”

“Chief got a call from your mother, accusing him of killing you.”

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