Page 49 of Caught By the Chief of Staff

Captain Black’s eyes narrow on me for a split second. His judgement is evident and finding me lacking.

“Ouch,” Grace whispers.

“She was blackmailed,” Rick adds.

“What?” Jake barks out.

“I was sent pictures of Rick overseas and told that if I didn’t leave him, he would die by friendly fire that night,” I answer them.

“So you left,” Jake adds.

“Yes.”

“To protect Donovan,” Black adds as he openly appraises me, only this time I don’t feel like he finds I come up short. I don’t know why his approval matters; it just does.

“Yes,” I answer him, meeting his gaze and showing him that I’m neither lying nor afraid. He accepts my answer with a nod.

“When was this?” Jake asks.

“March,” Rick and I reply at the same time.

“About when we were assigned to cartel op?” Jake asks with a raised brow.

“The one and the same,” Rick growls.

“Well,” Jake says, steepling his fingers together and reminding me of the little poem Rachel would recite when she was a toddler as she folded her chubby fingers the same way. “That is interesting.”

“That’s what I thought,” Rick states casually, making Captain Black lose his patience.

“Care to share with the fucking class?” Black barks.

“Yes,” Jake says, clearly enjoying riling up his aide. “As you know, Rick and I were on the same SEAL team. On one deployment, we were presented with an off-the-books mission. It seemed… off. But we were young and dumb and weren’t necessarily in the market to question orders that came from way above our pay grade.”

“Or we would have, if I hadn’t been on a one-man suicide mission,” Rick adds, making me gasp.

“No,” I say before I can stop myself.

Rick gives me a sad smile. “I was pretty messed up after my wife left me,” he says. “I jumped at any mission they gave me. It didn’t matter how dangerous. And if it seemed like a one-way ticket, even better.”

“Rick—”

“And I was there for my brother,” Jakes says. “And I had no intention of running for office when my dad retired.”

“But this one was different,” Rick finishes.

“Different, how?” Black asks.

“It didn’t go as planned and people died,” Rick admits.

“And you think this mission is connected?” he asks the two of them.

“Yes,” they both say in unison.

“Why?”

“Because of what the blackmailers mentioned,” Jake replies.

“They said, ‘Old ghosts will rise, and others will pay the price. Pass the bill or pay the price,’” Black recites.