Page 67 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mason

Islamabad, Pakistan

2020

Millie hasn’t contacted me since she went into the spa. I asked her to text me at least once an hour. It’s been almost ninety minutes. She’s either blissed out from her massage or something’s wrong.

“Stay here,” I say to Butch. “I’m going to check on her.”

As I descend the spiral staircase to the spa welcome area, the man at the desk eyes me suspiciously. It’s the same guy from the gardens last night. I put my hand on my pistol still concealed in the back of my waistband.

“Good afternoon, sir,” he says as I reach the bottom of the stairs. “I’m sorry, but our spa is closed for the day. Perhaps you will come back tomorrow.”

“I’m here to check on my wife. She came for a massage around ten and hasn’t left yet,” I say, looking toward the door behind him.

“That’s quite impossible, sir. The spa has been closed all day.”

I pull my gun out. “Open the door.”

“There is no one inside, sir,” he says, his voice beginning to shake.

I walk around the desk, grab him, and shove him toward the door. “Open the door now or I shoot off the lock.”

As he pulls out his keys, I call Butch. “There’s something wrong. Call JJ. Get them over here immediately with all the supplies. Get Ty and Bryce down to the valet to see if they saw Millie leave. Have Base track her phone and then get down here.”

The spa is empty and quiet as we enter. I quickly pat the man down. He’s not armed. I keep him in front of me and make him start opening treatment room doors. We’re three doors in when Butch comes charging through. I throw the man to him and clear the rest of the rooms quickly. When I get to the end of the rooms, I see an exit door.

“What’s through here?” I say, looking back at the man.

He doesn’t say anything. Butch puts his gun to the man’s head. “What’s in there?” Butch demands.

“A dead body,” the man says quietly.

I kick open the door with my gun drawn. I immediately see a man’s body to my right. It’s Alex. He’s lying face-up—shot in the forehead. And as I get closer I see a leg wound.

“Looks like the head shot is a .38 round from at least twenty feet away,” Butch says from behind me. “Definitely Millie’s gun. Either her or someone disarmed her. It’s dead-center in his forehead. Can she make that shot?”

“Yeah,” I say, taking a deep breath to try to clear all of the thoughts running through my head. “She can.”

My phone rings. It’s Culver.

“Give me a sit rep now,” he says before I can say anything.

“Agent Laskin is dead—back room of the hotel spa. Agent Marsh isn’t here. Where’s her cellphone?”

“It’s showing in the hotel.”

“Butch,” I say, looking at him. He’s already slammed the man against the wall.

“Where’s her cellphone?” he yells, his pistol pressed firmly against the man’s head.

The man starts to reach into his pocket. Butch grabs his arm and pins it back to the wall. He reaches in the man’s pocket and pulls out a cellphone. He tosses it to me.

“We found her cellphone,” I say to Culver. “She’s not with it.”

I type in her passcode. The screen opens to an unsent text message to me.

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