Page 29 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

“George says Dad faked his own death to prevent my family from finding me. The Azayiz woman he was talking about this morning—my great-aunt—asked the agency to help him disappear after she found out Yusef Hadzic was looking for me. The agency thinks she might know where Dad is. And now she’s missing.”

“Millie,” I say, opening my eyes, “that’s a lot of bullshit. I know you want it to be true, but this George guy is trying to manipulate you into coming back. He knows if you have any hope your dad is still alive, you will stop at nothing to find him. He just wants you back working for him. That was pretty obvious this morning.”

“Exactly what I said,” Chase chimes in from across the room. “One weird thing, though. I just found out this George is the same George who was the agency strap to our team. He knew Mack really well. He never told Millie that.”

My muscles start to tense up quickly. I look at Millie. “That just means he’s been manipulating you for years instead of hours.”

Millie tilts her head and raises her eyebrows—her warning look before she’s about to get pissed about something. I saw it many times on our first mission together. She turns from me to Chase.

“George told me something else,” she says slowly. “Azayiz is the informant credited with locating bin Laden. She was acquainted with his courier—the one they followed to his compound in Abbottabad. She knew his family growing up. They were both Pashtun from around where the FATA is now. She told the agency the courier worked for bin Laden. It’s what eventually led to the raid.”

Chase stops breathing. I immediately know from the look in his eyes that his team was part of the UBL mission. For their own safety, the identities of those operators have been a closely held secret—even from those of us on the teams. But looking at him now, there’s no doubt in my mind that he was there—which likely means Millie’s dad was there, too.

Chase’s eyes narrow. “What else did he tell you, Millie?”

“That Dad was on the UBL mission, too.”

Before she can say anything more, Chase stands up abruptly.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he says, suddenly looking like he’s back at the lead of his team. “Is George still in town, Millie?’

“No. He was leaving for the airport when he left me. He’s probably on his way back to DC by now. He’s hoping I will join him tomorrow.”

“If you go, I’m going with you,” I say.

“Nope. Nope,” Chase says. “You’re staying here for now. You have a job, and BUD/S is going into Hell Week. You can’t go AWOL. And besides, this is between George and me. I’ve got a lot I need to say to him, and it’s not going to be pretty.”

“If she’s going to Pakistan,” I say tensely to Chase, “I’m going with her.”

“No one is going to Pakistan. Millie and I will go to DC tomorrow and have it out with George. We’ll call you when we know more. Like we both said, this is just some bullshit fantasy to get her to rejoin the agency. No one is going to Pakistan.”

“No. There’s no way I’m staying here. Culver wants me to take back the lead of my team. I’ll do that if I have to, but I’m not carrying on like nothing is happening.”

“Mase,” Millie says as she reaches for my hand, “I don’t even know if I’m going to get to Virginia Beach. I might only be in DC for a few days and then back here. If you go, you’re in for three or four months at least. Right?”

“Yeah, but it sounds like this one is going to get pushed through. One of the teams is going to be attached to this mission. I’d rather it be my team, with me at the lead.”

“Yeah, but even if that’s the case, there’s no way Culver is going to assign your team. He knows about us,” Millie says. “It’s a huge professional conflict of interest.”

“Millie. If you’re going to Pakistan, I’m going with you. Not negotiable. I’ll get Culver to agree to it.”

“Honestly, I think he would prefer Mason and his team. They’ve worked with you already. And as far as your relationship goes, it’s not like you’re the first agency liaison to be sleeping with one of the operators,” Chase says. He quickly adds, “Not that you two are just sleeping together, but you know what I mean.”

“Mase,” Millie says, “please give us twenty-four hours before you commit to four months. Okay? We’ll call you tomorrow night. Nothing is going to happen in a day.”

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