Page 2 of Collision of Winters
That seemed to confuse him. “You haven’t seen combat in years.”
It didn’t matter.
Besides, this was personal. “It’s you they’re coming for, Chris. It’s not a random op.”
He inclined his head, conceding.
“Don’t fucking get killed,” I told him.
He deflected with humor, as always. “You’re more likely to get killed once Kayden figures out why we’re keeping him in Alaska.”
Well. He’d learn one of the reasons. It was a two-birds-one-stone situation.
“You get him there, and I’ll make sure he stays,” I said. That was our plan. I was flying up tonight, and Chris would pick up Kayden in Texas next week.
Because of my strange relationship with Kayden, I couldn’t be there when he got out. I knew he was beyond embarrassed, and he’d never been able to admit weaknesses around me. He’d proven that he would rather flee the scene, something we couldn’t risk. But, if given the chance, I knew how to get through to him, and for the first time ever, we’d have the opportunity to get to the bottom of things. I wasn’t going away for work, and he couldn’t escape.
“Forgive me for sayin’ this, but I kinda wish he’d stay in jail another few weeks,” Chris admitted.
I furrowed my brow and smacked him upside the head.
“I said forgive me!” he hollered, rubbing the spot. “Jesus, bro. I’m just saying he’d at least be safe in jail.”
“He’ll be safe with me too,” I replied firmly. “Any updates on the confirmation, by the way?”
He blew out a breath and nodded, then went to sit behind the desk. “They used his name in the last interaction we intercepted, so yeah.”
Goddammit. The one person in our family we’d kept completely out of the loop, far away from Hillcroft, and now he was a target because of who the rest of us were. Actually, just Chris this time. At some point, the people coming for Chris had seen him with Kayden; we were guessing it’d happened around Christmas, the last time Kayden had visited.
“How’s Quin takin’ it?” I asked. “He’s been busy lately.”
He shrugged. “Kinda like you, I reckon. He bitched to me about it the other day. He said, ‘I went from Operation Hellfire to budget meetings where I’m trying to reason with the K9 unit that we need to cut their budget in favor of buying more ammo.’”
I grimaced. Yeah, life had changed. More for Quin than for me, so I could only imagine how frustrating it was for him to take a back seat. Especially in this case. Kayden was a son to him.
“All right. Unless there’s anything else…” I rose to my feet, itching to leave his office. I had to go home and pack.
“That’s it.” He rounded the desk once more, and we briefly pressed our foreheads together. “See you in Alaska.”
I nodded and headed for the door?—
“Wade?”
I stopped and looked over my shoulder.
Chris hesitated for a beat. “Do you still think it was a good idea for us to keep Kayden outta Hillcroft affairs?”
I…didn’t know. Given recent events, it seemed it didn’t matter, because hostiles could still put two and two together. That’d been the top reason anyway—to keep him safe and disassociated from at least Quinlan and Chris because of what they did for a living.
Kayden knew Quin ran a private security agency and that Chris worked there too, but we’d always downplayed the risks Hillcroft operators exposed themselves to.
“You remember how he reacted when I was injured in Fallujah,” I pointed out.
That had been the other reason.
As much as Kayden denied it, he struggled with anxiety, and he’d been in and out of panic until I had recovered—and until I had promised I wasn’t going overseas anymore.
“I know.” Chris nodded with a dip of his chin. “I just… I don’t know. Over the years, I guess I’ve reevaluated. Being kept outside of things never did me any good.”
