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“Is The Brotherhood what you thought it would be?”
“No, sir.”
“Were you a beat cop or a detective?”
“Detective.”
“Are you open to returning to law enforcement?”
Colton opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Seth studied him a moment. “You should,” he whispered. “Soon.”
The other man was silent for a beat. “When?”
“Be packed and ready.”
More silence, then, “I knew something was going on in this camp. I won’t like it, will I?”
“No, Colton, you won’t. For now, follow my commands only. You hear me? I’ll do what I can to help you. My entire team will.”
“You’re undercover,” he murmured. “I wondered why an elite Special Forces team would land in this place protecting that blowhard Peters.”
“The men on my team are detectives with the Ardmore police. We could use more detectives on the force, Colton.”
“Think I’d have a chance after being here?”
“If you want a chance, I’ll put in a good word with Lt. Burnett for you.”
“I want it. Bad.”
“Consider it done.”
Colton inched closer. “What about Jillian?” he whispered. “Tell me you’ll get that kid out of here.”
Seth’s phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen. Relief swept over him. Jillian and Rubin were out of the compound. He looked at Teagan and nodded, then refocused on Colton. “It’s done.”
The former cop sighed, his expression mirroring Seth’s feeling of relief. “Thank God.”
“When someone asks, you heard and saw nothing tonight.”
“No problem. Anything I should ignore?”
“My teammates for the next four hours.”
A nod. “I’ll do anything you need to help.”
“My orders only, Colton.”
“You got it, sir.”
Seth clapped him on the shoulder and signaled for Teagan to follow him. They found another guard smoking marijuana while on watch. Seth dressed him down, then said, “You’ll be assigned another task, Neal. I won’t have a man who can’t be trusted guarding me or my team. With an offense like this, no second chances. Dismissed.”
Neal cursed at him and Teagan, threw down the butt of his joint, and stomped away.
Seth sighed. “Got another suggestion for his replacement?”
“Shelly Vance. She was military police.”