Page 40 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

Chapter Nineteen

Millie

Virginia Beach, Virginia

2020

When I drive past the guard gate at the base, I glance over to the last place I saw my dad alive. For the first time, it doesn’t fill me with dread. I’m trying to keep my promise to Chase, but despite my best efforts to suppress it, I can feel a little glimmer of hope growing inside me. I pull into the parking lot and see Raine waiting for me as usual. She’s not even trying to control the smirk that’s growing on her face.

“I knew you couldn’t stay away from all of this,” she says, sweeping her arm dramatically in the air like she’s Vanna White introducing the next puzzle.

I grab her into a hug. “You told me I couldn’t stay away from the agency. The truth is I couldn’t stay away from you.”

“I knew it! That’s the real reason you’re having problems with Mason,” she says, laughing.

“We’re not really having problems. Just small stuff.”

“He proposed to you, and you said no. That’s not small stuff. And I believe that’s two guys who have made that mistake. Or am I forgetting someone?”

“You’re not forgetting anyone, smart-ass,” I say, flicking her on the shoulder. “And the two situations are completely different. The first was a definite no. This one is a—not now, but maybe later.”

“I’m sure that made Mason feel so much better about it,” she says, rolling her eyes. “And you cannot tell me if Alex hadn’t been transferred to Moscow, you wouldn’t be married to him right now and raising your gorgeous-ass babies.”

I shrug. “I guess we’ll never know.”

She pulls me to the side before we go into the building.

“I got a call from the director’s office,” she whispers. “They said you requested me on a mission to Iraq. I’m supposed to be briefed this afternoon. What’s going on?”

“Let’s talk about it after this meeting. It’s about my dad. I need you to work on a recon mission with his friend Chase. You met him a few months ago when we got back from Bosnia.”

She looks at me warily, but nods. We start back toward the situation room.

“So what’s my new team like?” I say as we arrive at the door. “Which team did I get?”

She frowns. “What do you mean, your ‘new team’?”

“I asked Culver to assign me a new team, so I wouldn’t have to work with Mason. Who’s my new team leader? Do I know him?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Yeah. You know him.”

She punches in the security code and swings the door open. “You know what they say—everything old is new again.”

As I walk through the door, I see Mason leaning against the wall—arms crossed defiantly in front of him—staring at me. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t nod. He just glares at me with a look that could melt paint right off the wall.

“Hail. Hail. The gang’s all here.” Coming from the corner of the room, I hear a Southern drawl so deep it has to be Butch. I turn toward the corner to see him grinning at me. “And I guess you thought you were rid of us. Surprise. Surprise.”

I look around the room to see Mason’s old team all staring at me with varying degrees of disdain and delight on their faces. They’re all here—JJ, Bryce, Hawk, Ty, Mouse. JJ is glaring at me. I’m guessing he knows about my request to waive their team off this mission, which of course means Mason knows.

Captain Culver walks over to me. “Agent Marsh. Glad to have you back.”

“Captain,” I say quietly. “From the look on Mason’s face, I’m guessing you told him about my request.”

“I’m guessing I did.”

“And do we really think that was necessary?”

“Yes we do. As I’ve told you before, my teams need to know everything before they take on a mission.”

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