Page 32 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

“That he wanted to disappear. That he was afraid Millie’s life was in danger and he wanted to fake his own death to protect her.”

“Let me get this straight. You’re claiming Mack came to you and asked you to help him disappear,” Chase says. “That’s insane. Mack would never do that.”

“He did it. He came to my office. Told me he had been approached by a friend of Millie’s mother. The friend told him Yusef Hadzic was looking for Millie to use her as bait to pull Azayiz Custovic out of hiding.” George takes a deep breath and turns to look out the window. “And we did it.”

“He never would have done that without telling me. Never,” Chase says.

“If he told you, would you have helped him?” George looks at the expression on Chase’s face. “Exactly. That’s why he didn’t tell you. You never would have agreed to it.”

“I never would have agreed to it because it’s the craziest, stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. And I still don’t think Mack asked you to do shit for him. You’re making this up so Millie will think he’s alive, and it will give her incentive to come back to the agency. And that really does make me want to kill you.”

George shrinks back in his chair as Chase walks toward him again.

“Prove it,” I blurt out.

“What?” George looks from Chase back to me.

“Prove it. If you helped my dad disappear, prove it. Where is he? Surely the agency has kept in touch with him. I mean you supposedly helped a Navy SEAL fake his own death and put him in hiding. Prove it. Tell us where he is.”

George stares at me for a minute and then looks back up at the ceiling—shaking his head.

“When Mack left my office that day, I called my supervisor in DC immediately. After I told him what was happening, he told me he would call me back. He called me back in less than five minutes and told me he was handling it from that point forward. He told me to keep my mouth shut and continue on as if nothing had happened. The next day, I saw Mack being pulled into a meeting with navy brass.”

“I saw that, too,” Chase says. “Mack told me it was about his retirement.”

“C’mon, Chase. How many SEALs get that level of brass to attend their retirement meeting?” George turns briefly to look at me. I think he senses I’m starting to put all the pieces together.

“I thought it was because he was the first one of us from that mission to retire. Maybe it required extra safety protocols or something,” Chase says, shaking his head. I can tell he’s starting to figure it out, too.

“Did the brass come in for your retirement? You were the team leader. You knew more than anyone. Did they come in for you?”

Chase sits on the bed. “What happened next?” he says, looking down.

George continues. “The next thing I heard from my boss was a couple days later when we’re headed to Iraq. He told me to brief your team on the raid where Mack died, or more accurately, where he disappeared. The information I gave you on the village that day was fake. There were no insurgents anywhere close to that area. I told my boss that it was false information. He told me again to keep my mouth shut and give the information to you. When the building blew and you started receiving fire, I didn’t know any of that was going to happen. But the way it went down—with everything that had just happened with Mack—I knew immediately when you called in his death that there was more to the story.”

“I remember the enemy fire wasn’t hitting that close to us that day. I just thought they were bad shots,” Chase says. “And they were all shooting from one area. They had the high ground on us. If they would have fanned out, we would have been sitting ducks. I always thought we got lucky.”

“I’m assuming we were running that enemy fire to get you to call for an evacuation, so you wouldn’t poke around the house looking for Mack’s remains. I don’t know, though. I was told to stay in my lane, and I did. I didn’t ask any questions after it happened. All I know is that I was given a promotion soon after that and moved to DC.” George looks back at me. “I put it behind me until five years later when the CIA director came to my office personally and told me that Mack’s daughter just completed training at Langley. He said she was being assigned to me and that I had two directives regarding her: Keep her away from Sayid Custovic’s network and don’t tell her anything about my association with Mack.”

I feel like I’m going to pass out. I put my head in my hands to try to stop the spinning.

“George, how could you keep this from me?” I ask without looking up. “All these years. You know how much my dad’s death devastated me. You thought there was some chance he was alive and you didn’t even mention it to me?”

“Millie, I’m sorry, but this isn’t personal. If there’s one thing you know about me, it’s that I’m a company man. I was told what to do, and I did it. I’m not a free spirit like you. I do what I’m told. I wish you weren’t finding this out at all because it’s getting your hopes up again. I really don’t know if he’s alive. When Azayiz went missing, the director told me to get you back in the fold. You wouldn’t come back, so he told me to tell you that your dad might still be alive and that Azayiz would know.”

“So is that a lie?” I look up at him. “That my dad is alive?”

“I really don’t know, Millie. I suspect we helped him disappear that day. I suspect Azayiz had some involvement in it. But beyond that, I don’t know.”

“Mills.” Chase squats down in front of my chair and takes my hands. “Let’s just go home. It’s not worth it. It’s been nine years. Even if he was alive that day, he’s probably not now. He would have contacted you. Or me. Let’s just go home.”

I look at him for a minute and then turn to George. “I want to meet with the director.”

“Millie,” George says quietly.

“No, George. If you want me to go to Pakistan, I meet with him first. If not, Chase and I will go home.”

“I don’t know that I can make that happen.” George stands up and looks at Chase for permission before he starts walking to the door.

“That’s up to you—to the agency—but if you want me back in, I talk to the director. Final word.”

George nods as he walks out the door. “I’ll call you later today.”

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