Page 32 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

Chapter Seventeen

Mason

Sarajevo, Bosnia

2019

I’m having a beer with the team on the roof of the embassy when I see that guard from the Petrovic interrogation come through the door, looking around for someone. He sees me and walks over.

“Master Chief Davis,” he says.

“Yeah, what are you doing up here?” This is an operator-only area. No other personnel allowed.

“I just thought you would want to know that the agent from earlier tonight, the blonde woman, is with the suspect again.”

“Wait, what? Agent Marsh?”

The guard nods affirmatively. “She’s with him right now.”

“What do you mean she’s with him?”

“She came down about eleven, and told me to wake the prisoner up. She wanted to talk to him again.”

I glance at my phone. It’s almost midnight. Why the hell did he wait so long to tell me?

“Is she alone with him?” I already know the answer, but I’m hoping someone had the sense not to let her do that again.

“Yeah. She wouldn’t let us come in with her,” the guard says.

I jump up. “Holy crap, I’m going to kill her.”

Butch stands up with me. He’s seen this look in my eyes before, and it never leads to anything good. “Everything okay, Mase? You need me to come with you?”

“The only thing I’m going to need is an alibi after I kill Agent Marsh.”

Butch grabs at my arm, but I am already through the door and down a flight of stairs. I break into a run toward the interview room. Just as I round the corner, she comes out of the room.

“What in the actual fuck,” I say as I’m closing in on her.

“What in the actual fuck am I doing?” She cuts me off. She’s pissed again. “My job, Mason. I’m doing my job.”

“I told you not to be alone in the room with him. I asked you to get me before you talked to him again.”

“I don’t work for you.” She tries to walk past me, but I block her with my arm.

“While you’re here, attached to my team, I’m responsible for your safety.” I’m pissed, too. I don’t like when people defy my orders. Usually, no one ever does.

“I relieve you of that responsibility.” She tries to go under my arm. I wrap my arm around her, and hold her still. She attempts to break my grip with an quick and hard jab to my ribs. It doesn’t budge me, but I’m impressed.

“You can’t relieve me of the responsibility. That’s not how it works, Millie. Going into that room alone with him was dangerous.”

“It wasn’t, and it was the only way he was going to talk to me after you attacked him,” she says. “Look, I know this is the first time we’ve worked together, but I’ve interviewed hundreds of these guys without a problem. This is my job. I know what I’m doing.”

“There’s always a first time. He tried to attack you this afternoon.”

“He tried to touch me, Mason. He tried to touch my hand, and you fucking tried to kill him.” She tries to shrug off my arm, and I let her this time. Her eyes are telling me I’ve gone too far.

“Did he tell you anything else?” I try to calm my voice down to a normal level.

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