Page 48 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

“What? No. George didn’t know Millie’s dad.”

I nod my head slowly. “He did. He had your job here when Millie’s dad was on the teams. He knew him well.”

“Wow,” she says, leaning against the wall. “This is even weirder than I thought.”

“Yeah. Millie—” I’m cut off by the sound of someone punching the security code into the door. Raine dives behind the back of the lockers as the door opens. It’s Alex.

“What are you doing in here?” I stand up to block his view of where Raine is now hiding.

“Hey. I’m looking for Raine. Have you seen her?” He smiles broadly like he’s trying to hypnotize me with alarmingly white teeth.

“Naw, man. I haven’t seen her. She doesn’t really hang out in here. Really an operator-only area.” I’m trying to keep my tone somewhat civil.

“Ah, yeah. Well someone saw her come in here a few minutes ago.” He’s still smiling. I’m wondering how many people have fallen for his bullshit charm and why Millie was one of them.

“You’re welcome to look around,” I say, mocking him as I gesture around the small room. “Maybe she’s hiding in Hawk’s locker.”

He glances over at Hawk, who is lounging back in his chair. Hawk spreads his legs a little wider as he hugs his rifle lovingly to his chest. “Knock yourself out, man,” Hawk says, nodding toward the small opening he’s left to walk into his locker. Alex ignores his challenge. I guess he’s a little smarter than he looks.

Bryce comes around the corner pushing the laundry cart—full of towels and T-shirts that were just washed yesterday. And I’m guessing Raine is underneath there somewhere.

Alex eyes Bryce suspiciously. “A couple hours until wheels up and you’re doing laundry? Kind of late for that, don’t you think?”

“You know what they say about idle hands,” Bryce says as he tries to walk around Alex. Alex stops the cart with his foot and looks directly at me.

I smile. “You know, Bryce, laundry is a rookie job. Alex is more of a rookie here than you are. Maybe he’ll do the laundry for you today.”

“I don’t think we’re in need of anyone doing laundry right now,” Alex says, looking down at the basket.

“Friend, that depends entirely on how you want us to smell for the next ten hours on the plane.” Butch puts his arm around Alex and looks at him with his best I-dare-you-to-challenge-me smile.

JJ takes his shirt off as he walks over to stand on the other side of Alex. He tosses the shirt in the laundry basket. “My shirt needs to be washed while you’re at it, Alex.”

Alex’s smile slowly fades away as he looks up at JJ flexing his massive pecs. “Naw, bruh. I’m going to pass. You’ll let Raine know I’m looking for her if you see her?”

“Sure,” JJ says. “Bruh.”

Alex turns around slowly and lets himself out. As the door clicks shut, I reach into the basket and lift Raine out. “Bryce, you’re never in charge of strategy. Worst plan ever,” I say, shaking my head. “Go put this laundry in again in case he’s watching.”

Hawk pulls Raine behind the door as Bryce wheels the laundry cart out. “I’ll take her out in my duffel bag,” Hawk says as he pulls her into his locker.

“What? I’m not going to fit in your duffel.” Raine tries and fails to walk around Hawk.

“You’re barely over five feet. I’ve fit grown men in here,” Hawk says as he picks her up and starts stuffing her body into the bag.

“In fairness, the men were dead, though,” Butch says as he watches Raine protest fruitlessly. “Dead bodies are usually more malleable, you know?”

Just before Hawk pulls the duffel string closed over her face, I say, “Wait until our plane takes off, and then call Chase. I’ll text you his number.”

From somewhere inside the bag, she says, “Don’t text me. They might be monitoring my phone. I hope I’m being paranoid, but we can’t take any chances. You think there’s any way Culver is in on whatever this might be?”

“Not a chance in hell. He has Chase’s number. Get him involved. And let me know what you find out in your briefing.”

Hawk easily slings her over his shoulder and starts out the door.

I grab Butch by the shoulder and push him after them. “Go with him. After you dump her somewhere, gently extract Millie from wherever she is and bring her in here. Make sure Alex doesn’t see.”

“Roger that,” Butch says as the door closes behind him.

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