Page 1 of Justified Lies
One
Kapone Hanson hated anyone who arrived late. His mama had taught him the importance of showing up on time. She had been married to an Army man, and she had taught school. She was a bit of a tyrant. So, even at the age of thirty-five, he broke out in hives when he was late.
Like right now. He rushed into the TFH headquarters, irritation running up and down his spine. He understood it was insane. It didn’t, however, make it any easier to deal with being fifteen minutes late to a job where he didn’t have to be on time. Team Bravo’s captain was laid back.
The moment he rushed into the common room, the energy was off. Robbie Ramirez, better known as Rami, and Nikki Kekoa were huddled together. For once, they weren’t fighting. When Robbie Ramirez looked up at him, he shook his head.
“They’ve been looking for you, Kap.”
“I’m fifteen minutes late,” he said, exasperated.
He rolled his eyes. “Not that. You know they don’t bust our balls about that.”
Since the two active teams were always considered on call, they got a lot of leeway in their schedules.
“Then what?”
“Jesus, Rami,” Nikki said, rolling her eyes. “It has to do with a case Alpha got last night. Some victim found dead in Haleiwa.”
He frowned. Bravo was a search and rescue team. Granted, they often ended up helping with various cases, but their primary focus was searching for missing people. Alpha team handled more prominent cases. Things that involved foreign dignitaries and…fuck. Government officials.
In his life before TFH, Kap had been an NCIS agent. He didn’t want to deal with the headache that came with that old life.
The door to the commander’s office opened.
“Kap, we need you in here,” Seth Harrington called out.
The office was entirely made of glass, so he could see Adam Lee, Team Alpha’s captain, along with the commander, of course.
He knew there was no way of avoiding this shit, so he strode into the office.
Martin “Del” Delano was sitting behind his desk. The former Army Ranger had been the original commander of what became Team Alpha. At mid-forty, he was still in top shape. The massive Hawaiian sported his signature bald head and was wearing a TFH polo shirt and cargo pants. He still looked like a hard ass. The only thing that softened him was the multitude of pictures featuring his wife and kids surrounding him.
“What’s up?” Kap asked.
“We had a case last night, and we thought you might be able to help us,” Adam said.
“Sure. Something to do with NCIS?”
Seth and Adam shared a look.
“What?”
Seth sighed. “The guy was former CIA.”
His stomach dipped. Of course, that was the reason they’d pulled him in. It was Monday, and all Mondays were shitty.
“Is that a fact?”
“Yes,” Seth said. “And he worked with Eden Carlyle at one time.”
Fuck. Yep, Mondays were always ballbusters.
“I didn’t know that part of her life then.”
And he didn’t. She’d hidden it from him.
You were dating for only a month.
