Page 42 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

Chapter Twenty

Mason

Virginia Beach, Virginia

2020

I take my seat at the table just as the door opens and some guy I’ve never seen walks in. He’s dressed head to toe in black—black jeans, black button-up, black tailored jacket. He takes off his aviators and hangs them on his shirt as his eyes dart around the room. He seems to have found his target. I direct my eyes to where he’s looking just as he says, “My girl Millie!”

The tone is way too flirty to be directed at her by anyone but me. I knew I didn’t like him the second he walked in, and now I really don’t like him. He walks over to Millie and pulls her into a hug. Millie doesn’t make any effort to pull away. My body instinctively starts to rise. JJ puts his arm in front of me, blocking me from moving. I settle uncomfortably back into my seat, but my eyes don’t budge off them. His hands are still on Millie’s shoulders, and he’s smiling at her with some bullshit fraternity-boy smile.

“Damn, girl. I don’t look that much older, do I?” He tousles her hair playfully as he takes a step back. After all these years, I’m finally starting to understand why they don’t allow us to bring loaded weapons into this room.

Culver walks over to me. “His name is Alex Laskin. He’s the lead agent on this mission. He’s the new head of Middle Eastern operations. Not sure how he knows Millie.”

I nod as I tune back into their conversation just in time to hear Alex say, “Well I’m not just part of this op—I’m undercover as your husband. Perfect person for the job. Don’t you think?”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I say under my breath. JJ’s arm starts to rise again. I shove it away.

“I know you’re probably a little nervous about your first field assignment,” Alex says, taking Millie’s arm to lead her over to two open chairs opposite of us. “But don’t worry, I’ll teach you everything you need to know.”

As he puts his hand intimately on the small of her back, I stand up quickly, pushing my chair hard against the back wall. Hawk slides in front of me. “He’s going to teach her how to be a field agent, not all the positions of the Karma Sutra. Settle down.”

Butch rolls my chair back behind me, letting it hit the back of my knees as he tries to push my shoulders down. “I’m guessing Mason already taught her most of those positions. From what I hear, y’all been going at it like rabbits out there in San Diego.”

“Shut up, Butch.” I sit down, my eyes still firmly fixed across the room.

“Man, you have been gone too long if you think you can shut him up.” Hawk laughs from behind me.

“Everybody settle in,” Culver says as he walks to the front of the room. “I want to introduce you to Alex Laskin, who will be running point on this mission for the agency. He’s been on the job for close to two decades—most of that in the field. He’s been the head of the agency’s Middle Eastern operations for a few months now. I’ll let him fill you in on the rest.”

Alex pushes his chair back and extends his legs out in front of him, like he’s getting in a comfortable position to watch a football game. His entire posture pisses me off.

“Thanks, Captain,” he starts. “I’ll get right to it. Our target is Azayiz Custovic. She’s a native of Pakistan, but also has Bosnian citizenship through marriage. She’s been a CIA operative since 1995. She has been under our protective custody since 2011. She recently went missing from her safe house in Islamabad.”

“What does ‘missing’ mean? Was she taken? Or did she leave on her own?” Bryce asks.

“Undetermined,” Alex says. “There were no signs of struggle, but we can’t think of a reason she would leave without telling us.”

“Why was she under protective custody?” Ty asks.

“She’s been informing on the Custovic/Hadzic network from day one. Her son, Fareed, was part of that network. We think he was feeding her information. She instantly became a target of the network—particularly of Yusef Hadzic. He’s dead now, but he passed the information on to his associates over the years. Azayiz is one of the most-wanted people throughout the terrorist networks.”

“Why would she run now? What’s changed? Did someone in the agency give away her location?” I ask, glaring at him. I can definitely see this douche being a double agent.

“Absolutely not.” He spins around to face me. “No one gave up her location.”

“It’s essential to find out if she was kidnapped or left on her own. If she was taken by a terrorist group, she’s probably dead. Have you had any ransom demands? Have there been any videos?” Culver says.

“Because we haven’t had any of that, we think she’s still alive,” Alex says. “We’re leaning toward her leaving on her own.”

“Do we have any intel on where she might run to?” Butch asks.

“Limited,” Alex says. “She has contacts all over Islamabad and Peshawar, where she was born. We’re working those sources.”

“So why are we going over now?” JJ says.

“Bluntly, our new strategy is to use Agent Marsh as bait. Azayiz is her great-aunt,” Alex says as he puts his hand on her shoulder. It’s way too intimate. I want to knock his hand off her shoulder and then knock his head clear off his body. “When Sayid Custovic died, we found a wealth of journals he kept throughout his life. Those journals lead us to believe Azayiz was particularly close to Agent Marsh’s mother, Nejra. And that she was likely responsible for helping Agent Marsh’s father locate Millie after her mother died.”

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