Page 15 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

Fucking awesome.

The more she hesitated, the louder Declan’s cry got. Really, what was the big deal? Jake had seen her breasts before. Many, many times in the past. He even had the pleasure of watching her labor and finally deliver Fawn. She peeked over to where Jake sat with Fawn. They were preoccupied with each other, so she pulled up her shirt, unclipped her nursing bra, and gave her boy what he’d been crying for. There was no reason for her to be embarrassed, so what gives? Why did she feel shy with a man she’d had sex with years ago?

Jake stayed, never taking his eyes off of whatever Fawn had been showing him.

Ginger relaxed marginally and when she was just finishing up, someone knocked at the door. Jake stood. “I ordered dinner. I can’t stay but figured I’d swing by in the morning, and we can have breakfast together.”

“Yeah!” Fawn exclaimed.

Jake took care of the door, then set their dinner at the tiny kitchen table. Once he returned, he placed a kiss on Fawn’s forehead and went back to work. It wasn’t until Declan was asleep in his pack n play, and Fawn was fast asleep in her bed that she located her phone and called her boss.

Chapter 4

Since their little tête-à-tête in the interrogation room while Ginger was present, Asher had allowed the guy in the box to stew. Also, the man who came up after he left Ginger and Fawn to eat dinner, to meet them and be their translator, wasn’t Drew. Drew had restructured his duties and was busy picking up his step-daughter from school. Damn, shit really had changed since he’d been kicked off the team. When their guest refused to talk to the interpreter, they called it a night. Jake had gone back to his apartment, changed his bandages and went to bed. He was exhausted and hurting not only physically but mentally, too.

He should have taken one of those damn pain pills Rae offered him.

Instead, he suffered.

Before coming back down to the cells the next morning, he ate breakfast with his daughter, got to know Declan a little better, and watched as his ex-wife slowly slipped into herself because of what happened. Jake hated seeing her that way. Ginger was life. When she stepped into a room, everyone hurried to greet her. This version of her hurt his soul. He missed his wife—ex-wife. Missed her tart mouth. Missed the way she’d lit up when she was happy or excited. The cloud of uncertainty hanging over her at the moment stole her wings. Stole what made Ginger, Ginger.

The door across from where he sat opened and Asher stepped in. The man always had a look of consternation plastered on his face. However, the lines were deeper now. There was a tightness in his shoulders and an unease in his eyes. Something had happened. It was plain as day to Jake, but what, Asher would have to tell him.

“You’re going to need to come with me. AJ broke the encryption on the thumb drive, and it doesn’t look good, especially for Ginger.” Thankfully, the man who watched him on the other side of the glass didn’t appear to understand nor hear what Asher had to say.

“What the fuck?” Jake said, holding his side as he stood. The pull of his stitches caused his stomach to throb and his insides to pinch and burn. “What do you mean, especially for Ginger?”

“It’s better that we don’t talk about it until we’re in C&C.” Asher strode to the elevator and hit the button.

“Don’t freeze me out like this, Asher,” he said, hating the fact that he’d put all of them in a position to not trust him.

“I’m not,” his commander said. “The information is sensitive. I’d rather we speak where others can’t gossip.”

Nothing Asher said eased the knot forming in Jake’s gut. “Fine. I’m eager to find out what was there, anyway. If it leads to answers, I’m there for it.”

“And if those answers hurt you?” Asher cocked a brow. “Can I count on you to have my six, or are you going to destroy the team again?”

He deserved that. Jake fucked around and found out rather quickly what trying to divide the team could do. Lost four years with men he called his friends and family, and his bullshit also cost him his marriage to Ginger. He wouldn’t go back down those roads again. Not for anything in the world. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” When they arrived at C&C, Asher lead him over the sound proof conference room and closed the doors behind them. Murray was on video. AJ and Scotty sat at the table while carrying on a conversation with Thomas, who must have been there via conference call. “All right, settle down. I retrieved the last piece of this puzzle. You want to start from the beginning, AJ?”

“Sure.” She placed the thumb drive on the table. “This little stick contains one file.” She handed him a folder with a printout of all the information. “It appears Oscar Madison was not only working with Thomas but also alone on a unique case. The Yamamoto Syndicate.”

Jake deflated in his chair. “Are you talking about Daisuke Yamamoto?” He flipped through the paperwork, the words blurring together into a blob of black and white. If Oscar was investigating Ginger’s boss, did that mean he was also investigating her? Had the entire plan to marry her been a way to get closer to the crime boss? Fuck, was Oscar’s murder a by-product of his investigation? Jake thought he was going to be sick.

“It appears,” Thomas said, “Mr. Yamamoto used the marina shop as a front for a sex trafficking operation. Women would arrive by boat or truck at the business, been corralled like cattle into the basement and held there until a cargo ship came through the port so they could be moved to the head business, Nekoma Incorporated, in New York City.”

“It seems perhaps from the notes I’ve been able to read through in such a short amount of time,” AJ added, “this information was just gained by Oscar. He’d only made the connection a few days prior to his death.”

“Shit.” Jake closed his eyes. “Let me guess, you think Ginger knows about the Syndicate and her boss?”

“You tell us,” Asher answered.

No. There was no way in hell Ginger would know a damn thing. She allowed Mr. Yamamoto into her house and around their kids, including Declan. If she had any idea her boss was Yakuza, she would have quit her job and never looked back. “No. She couldn’t have. Of all of us, Asher, you know her the best. Ginger would have carved that shit out like a cancerous growth.”

Asher grunted. “He has a point. Ginger would’ve been the one to call it in, even if it caused more issues than not.”

“The business itself,” Murray started, “is legitimate. Mr. Yamamoto doesn’t have a single violation and all of his taxes have been paid on time. His business is one of the best in the area, and Ginger has won many awards since working with him.”

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