Page 64 of Code Name: Admiral

The conversation between us was awkward and stilted, which was to be expected. The confident man I’d come to know, who walked with a swagger, didn’t hesitate to call someone out on their shit, and refused to take no for an answer, had been replaced with a guy unsure of where he stood. Was he innocent and worried about being framed? Or was he guilty and worried about being caught?

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

“Head back to the city if you want.”

Grit shook his head. “I told you I want to be a part of this. When the real identity of the mole is uncovered, I want to be able to look him in the face and tell him what a piece of fucking shit he is.”

The venom in his voice seemed too authentic to be faked, but like Tank said, he might be one hell of an actor.

“Vincent Castellano’s gone dark.”

Grit raised his head from where he unwrapped one of the burritos. “How long ago?”

“Not exactly sure, but maybe sometime in the last twenty-four or thirty-six hours.”

“Do you want me to see what I can find out?”

Did I? There was a lot I was unsure of, but having Grit be anywhere near Alice was out of the question. “Be careful of potential bleeds.”

“Roger that.”

“Report whatever you find to Tank or Diesel.”

He nodded, picked up his coffee and burrito, and walked out.

“It’s tough,” Alice said from behind me as I stood near the window, watching him return to the small camp.

“Think he’s our mole?” I asked.

“Honestly?”

I turned to face her. “Of course.”

“I don’t.”

“I wish I could be so confident,” I said under my breath.

“Trust your gut, Pershing.”

My eyes bored into hers. “You sound like a commander.”

She cringed. “Ew.No. God, I’d never want to be that.”

I chuckled, but then grew more serious. “On a scale of one to ten, ten being Grit is one hundred percent our mole, what would you give him?”

“Zero,” Alice responded without hesitation.

I was stunned. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume you don’t have evidence to back that up.”

“If I did, you’d know it. But it’s obvious someone is trying to frame him. Finding what I did was way too easy. A guy can’t be a high-level G-man, working with a crime family as powerful as the Castellanos for years, and suddenly, the information we need to take him down magically appears. No possible way.”

“I’m going to ask something of you.”

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t want you anywhere near him. I’m going to make it clear to Tank and the others that if he approaches you, I want them to intervene.”

“Got it. My turn to ask you something.”