Page 59 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

Mason, In-flight, Rome to Jalalabad, 2020

“You want the good news or bad news first?” Raine says as she sits down on the bench next to me.

“How about you just give me the news?” I snarl. I’ve been in the worst mood since I left Millie in that plaza. She hasn’t answered my calls, and now Mack’s not picking up either.

“Okay,” Raine says as she scoots back from me a bit.

“I’m sorry, Raine,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m in a bad mood, but I shouldn’t take it out on you. Bad news first.”

“We lost the rest of the guys that killed JJ. They disappeared back up into the mountains. We’ll find them, but it could take a while. So, it looks like we’re going to be in a holding pattern for a while.”

“A holding pattern in Jbad or Virginia?” I say, thinking aloud.

“Not my call, but we are landing in Jalalabad, so I imagine we’ll be there for the night at least.”

I take a deep breath trying to keep calm. “Okay, good news.”

“Millie’s not Amar’s daughter. Not even a small chance.” Raine pauses for a second as she tries to read my expression. “Are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know,” I say, turning my head to her. “Are you?”

“No, this is between you and her. I was following orders.”

I nod. “If I tell her, I promise I won’t let on that you helped me.”

“Mason,” she says, looking down. “Millie’s smarter than both of us combined. She’ll know who helped you. I’m okay with that. Tell her if you want to.”

“Wait, you’re not looking at me,” I say slowly. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“What? Nothing!” She tries to look up at me but looks down quickly again.

“Raine, you’re not as good a liar as Millie is—”

“Well that sucks for you considering what you just had me do,” she says, shaking her head. “Talk to Millie. You two give me a headache. I’ll keep you updated on the JJ stuff.”

“Raine—”

Ty comes over as Raine walks away quickly. I want to finish my conversation with her, but it will wait. She’s never been able to keep information from me.

“Culver told me about JJ’s test results,” Ty says as he sits down. “I suspected he was using. I should have told you. JJ could still be alive today if I had.”

“C’mon, Ty,” I say, patting him on the shoulder. “You know the only guy who’s responsible for JJ’s death is the guy who pulled the trigger.”

“Yeah, I do know that.” He locks his eyes with mine. “Do you?’

I shake my head and laugh. “Turning my words against me, huh? You’ve always been the smartest guy on this team.”

“Not much of a competition,” he says, smiling. “It’s not your fault, Mase, any more than it’s mine. JJ made his own decisions.”

“Yeah, I wish I would have been there to protect him though,” I say quietly.

“He’d smack you on the side of the head if he heard you say that,” Ty laughs. “JJ never needed anyone to protect him.”

“Yeah, and after he smacked me, he’d remind me that he’s a better shot than me, so he’d be the one protecting me.” I smile, nodding my head. “He never let me forget that.”

“He was a good guy, Mase,” Ty says, “who made some bad decisions in the end. Best we can hope for is to get the guys responsible. You know how this works.”

“Yeah,” I say, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

---