Page 37 of Unmade

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I was walking hurriedly to the elevators when Kristen called, and I wanted to punch a fucking wall. It’d be so easy to let her go to voice mail, but let’s face it. I’d done that too many times already.

“Yeah?” I answered as I swiped my card. Fourth floor, let’s go.

“Hi, it’s me. Where are you?” she asked.

Huh? “I’m at work, and now’s not a good time?—”

“You were supposed to be here at five, Bo!” She immediately got pissy, and I winced. I couldn’t blame her. Fuck, I’d completely forgotten. “You know what? I’m fucking done. If you wanna make this work, give me a call.” She hung up before I could say anything, though I wasn’t sure what that might be.

She’d pulled the trigger on her asshole of a boyfriend. I was free, right? Girlfriend number four had dumped me much like the previous ones had.

I scratched the side of my head. No more commitments, all right? Not a fucking one. It was the same old story every time. I had to work late, I had to work extra, I had to cover for someone else, I had recruits… And the last ten or so months, everything had been about Alex and finding the fuckers who’d shot my brother.

I blew out a breath and stepped out of the elevator.

Leighton hadn’t asked for other reasons people left Hillcroft.

This was one. Our work barely left time for a personal life. The divorce rate was through the roof, and no fucking wonder. We couldn’t divulge much about our jobs, and communication and openness were kind of a deal-breaker in most relationships. Just look at Riggs and his ex. They’d had the advantage of working at the same firm, meaning they could be a little more open with each other, but at the end of the day, they led two separate lives. David wanted children—Riggs was done in that arena—and to eventually retire and move back to the UK, and Riggs didn’t want a life at all. He worked, spent time with his kid, and worked some more. He was never gonna change—and not for anyone else.

As much as I liked the guy, David had done the right thing by leaving. David viewed the divorce as losing someone he’d loved deeply. Riggs viewed it as the result of an operation he’d failed.

Shira was waiting for me right outside the Operations Central, so I shook the sad tales of breakups and refocused.

“What do you have for me?” I asked.

“Two sightings,” she replied. She led the way, and I followed her down a hall. “The ship is back in Mogadishu, but it’s not as relevant anymore. One of our operators came across a few of Hahn’s men in Galveston this morning.”

Holy fuck, so they were stateside. At least some of them.

“You gotta reinstate me,” I told her. “I’m the only one who’s seen their faces?—”

“And they’ve seen yours,” she pointed out. “Believe me, Bo, you will work this case again, but we’re not going to do anything rash.”

Just because I knew she was right didn’t mean I liked it.

I clenched my jaw and followed her into operation room four, where I was surprised to see not only Coach and Emerson but both Tenley brothers. Had they been brought in as consultants? The only way to tell them apart was the fact that Reese had more visible ink. River tended to avoid shaving more too.

Reese tore his gaze from the wall of computer screens first, and he extended a hand to me.

“Good to see you again, buddy. How’re you holdin’ up?”

I shook his hand firmly. “I’ll be better once I can put this assignment behind me.”

He’d been the first former Hillcroft employee to reach out to me when he’d heard about Vince. They’d worked together numerous times, especially in Asia.

“I bet. Hopefully, today’s developments will put us back on track,” he replied. He’d saidus, which was interesting.

“Can you zoom in on screen six?” River asked. “The dates don’t add up with the intel we got from Hudson.”

Coach did as requested, and I squinted at the screen too. At first glance, it was just data, but then I started seeing what I assumed were names of ships, ports of origin, and time stamps. They had to be logs, presumably from Galveston or Mogadishu.

“Is this Texas?” I asked Shira.

She nodded. “Hudson is in the area working another assignment, and he overheard names of interest being mentioned at a bar last night. And this morning, he could confirm that they were working for Hahn.” She glanced up at me. “I trust you understand that we wanted to double-check everything before we called you.”

Yeah, yeah, that was fine.

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