Page 101 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

"Now you can give him what he deserves," Ian snapped. "Or I will."

Diego's lips twisted bitterly as he lifted his gaze to Ian. Kira saw the pain, a flash of anger, and a soul-deep sadness she knew the other man had no right to feel.

"I cannot kill a maid who would give this information to our enemies, but I may kill my cousin who was like a brother to me since his birth?"

"You demanded the right to seek retribution." Ian shrugged. "You can take it, or as I said, I will. I have no problems killing the bastard. Liss was another story, Diego, and you don't want to remind me of that one."

"Then you may have the pleasure." Diego shook his head wearily.

"Growing soft, pop?" Ian snapped. "Maybe it will help you to know that Muriel was behind the attempt to blow my limo to hell last week. If that doesn't faze you, try the meeting with the Misserns and the fucking assassin waiting for me there. He's going to die, and he's going to die before he can contact his good friend Ascarti again and warn him that we're on to him."

Diego's eyes narrowed. "You have proof of Ascarti's involvement with Sorrell?"

"I have something a hell of a lot better than that," Ian growled. "I need you ready to move at a moment's notice. When the call comes in we'll be meeting with Sorrell himself, and we'll end this war once and for all."

Ian was frighteningly cold. Kira watched him warily, seeing the fury he had kept under control for so long edging to the surface now.

Diego, Jansen Clay, and Sorrell had taken great delight in torturing Nathan Malone, the SEAL they had held for more than a year and half. Ian knew Diego had been involved in the torture, knew he condoned it and added to it even after Sorrell had believed the SEAL had been killed.

Regret might be a fragile light buried somewhere deep within him, but she knew in that moment that Diego was a dead man walking.

"And you have arranged this how?" Diego moved from his chair to the bar across the room, his hand shaking, Kira noticed, as he poured himself a drink and brought it to his lips.

It was tossed back quickly and another poured before he turned back to Ian, his brow lifting in question. "I believe I asked you for details, son."

Kira saw the slight tension that tightened Ian's shoulders, the natural defensive block against the flinch that nearly betrayed his disgust at that word.

She could feel his pain. She couldn't see it, but she ached for him. Ached because this man was his father, this monster that shed blood, filled children with drugs and destroyed lives without a thought to the tragedies that resulted from his actions.

Ian faced this man daily. Faced the horror and the agonizing realization that he had come from this man's seed. Kira wondered if she could have borne that pressure without breaking, and knew she couldn't have. Something inside her would have died had she been forced to play the game Ian was playing.

"I don't have details for you, pop." Ian's voice was savage. "I have something he wants

now, and he'll come for it."

Brutal fire flickered in Ian's gaze then. "I'll take care of your cousin, you get ready to move, we may have to leave at a moment's notice."

"You are allowing me to play now?" Sarcasm filled Diego's voice. "What? Hell has frozen over? To what do I owe this glorious surge of allegiance that you would finally involve me in my own business?"

Pain. Kira watched the pain that burned in Diego's eyes as Ian mentioned killing Muriel.

"Give it up, pop. I promised you, when the time came we'd do this together, and that's what we're doing," Ian snapped, the disrespect in the title nearly causing Kira to flinch now. If she didn't know Ian as well as she did she might believe he was enjoying this. But she saw the subtle shifts of color in his eyes, saw the tension that tightened his body.

Diego stared at him silently, his face creased with sorrow, before he nodded wearily and turned back to the bar. The room was thick with tension, with the powerful opposing force of the two men and the connections that bound them, as well as set them on opposite courses.

For Kira, it was heartbreaking, though she knew to Ian it was finally the beginning of the end of this mission, the end of the lifestyle he had been forced to live and the blood that was shed daily.

Ian fought the knowledge that Diego was hurting, fought the memories, the pain of regret as he relived the times he too had been betrayed by those he had trusted. Not that it had happened often; Ian had never been a particularly trusting sort. But he knew the pain, the shame, he knew how it cringed inside the soul and left a lasting scar.

How Diego Fuentes could feel such shame because of a betrayal, Ian wasn't certain. The man should have burst into flames and died a thousand deaths from the horrors he had perpetuated over the years.

Hope lit a fragile light in Diego's eyes though as Ian told him they would be working together. Like a child that had been kicked one time too many, the older man quickly hid the emotion.

What the fuck was he doing? Ian asked himself. He should have never taken this mission, should have never put it into action in the first place. He should have just put a rifle scope on his ass and pulled the trigger despite orders.

The DEA wanted him alive. DHS wanted him alive. Everyone wanted him alive and Ian had sworn to kill him. He would kill him. God as his witness; no matter how despicable the action would be, there was no other way. He couldn't allow another SEAL, another friend, to suffer because he had betrayed Diego as well.

"When do you expect this meeting to take place?" Diego's voice was oddly weary, resigned.

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