Page 59 of Deadly Betrayal

His words thick with emotion, Rémi echoed thevow, “Shoulder to shoulder.” There was silence for a few momentsbefore he continued. “You have no idea what this means to me.”

Kaden did have a pretty good idea how Rémifelt after having his tribal membership revoked for choosing Alyssaover the dictates of his people: isolated, hurt, betrayed. It wasexactly how Kaden had felt when he’d returned to the United Statesafter the ambush. Until he’d started to work for Nic.

“We do, man.” Nic’s voice cracked.

“Are we going to start sharing clothes andreadingCosmotogether now?” Jake said, a flush on hischeeks.

His teasing had the desired effect. Everyonelaughed and started joking the way they always did, but beneath itall, Kaden sensed a stronger connection between them. These men,their women and children, were his true family.

After hanging up, Nic excused himself to goto the restroom. Kaden leaned in close to Jake. “So what did youfind out?”

“After that speech, you’re going to keep thisfrom Nic?” Jake’s brows rose.

Kaden sighed. Jake was right. Still… “He’sgot enough to worry about.” When Jake just continued to stare,Kaden snorted. “Fine. But not here.” He angled his head towardAzita’s slumbering form.

“Gotcha.” He lowered his voice. “I contactedHoffman and the guys from the unit who are still here. Hoffman saidthe trades didn’t stop with the captain’s court-martial.”

“Any more ambushes?”

“A few at first, but in the last nine months,the MO has changed.”

“How so?”

“The warlords are in on it. And now they’revery upfront about what they want, and it isn’t medicine.”

Kaden rolled his shoulders as tension built.“Let me guess, weapons?”

“Yep. Brand new, US-issue M16s.”

“Fuck.”

Jake sat back. “Yeah.”

“I wish I knew who shot at us. If it was oneof our guys who spilled…” His fists clenched on the table. Afterseveral deep breaths, he relaxed his fingers and pressed his handsflat against the scarred wood. The bullet that had killed Sanchezhad come from one of Rashid Abdullah’s men. There were enoughwitnesses to attest to that. The one that had hit him had come froma sniper perched on a rooftop. That didn’t preclude the sniperbeing on the warlord’s payroll. But if he were to bet on it, he’dsay they were dealing with a third party.

“Talk to your connections. See whatinformation you can get on Rashid Abdullah, who he deals with, anyalliances he has. Someone either on our side or his side leaked theinformation.” During their last tour, they’d done several jointmissions with various ISAF teams as well as members of the CIA,MI6, and SAS, all of whom seemed to gravitate to Jake. Maybe it wasbecause they underestimated him. Whatever the reason, Jake had anamazing network of connections that virtually spanned theglobe.

If Kaden had any chance of successfullyrescuing Laila, he needed more information about the man he was upagainst, and Jake was his best shot at getting it. “And if you can,get me maps of Khan Tariq’s camp outside Fayzabad. How many men hehas, munitions, whatever you can get me.”

“I’ll have an update for you at our nextcheck-in call.”

“Thanks.” Kaden’s palms grew sweaty as histhoughts went back to the ambush. Something had always bothered himabout it. Something that didn’t make sense. The shot that had damnnear killed Kaden had been meant for Jake. Why? He’d been fairlynew to the team, so he didn’t have much intel on upcoming missions.Could the hit possibly have had something to do with his time as aPOW? Or perhaps with all the connections Jake had?

“What’s on your mind?” The kid could alwaystell when Kaden was holding something back.

“I know you don’t like to talk about yourtime as a captive, but could there be a connection? Something youlearned that someone wants kept quiet? They might have figured outthat you’d learned Dari and Pashto. Maybe you overheardsomething.”

As soon as Kaden had started speaking, Jake’seyes had taken on a distant look. Cold and desolate. Shit. “Listen,man. Just forget it. We’ll figure this out.”

Jake didn’t react. Didn’t move a muscle.Kaden wasn’t even sure the guy was breathing. He snapped hisfingers in front of his friend’s face. “Jake! Jake. You okay,man?”

Kaden didn’t dare shake Jake by the shoulder.If he was having a PTSD flashback, a simple touch could earn him afist to the jaw.

Nic came out of the bathroom and immediatelyzeroed in on Jake. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Right, Jake?” He had to get Jake tocome back to them, or he’d have to tell Nic what was going on.Since it was Jake’s story to tell, Kaden nudged the other man’sfoot, ready to jump away if things went batshit. When there wasstill no response, he kicked his shin. That worked.

Jake’s eyes widened and the lost lookdisappeared. “Ow,” he said dryly. Too dryly. Jake hadn’t revealedeverything that had happened to him as a POW, just enough to makeKaden’s flesh crawl. Most of the time, Jake hid the lingeringeffects well. Every now and then though, like today, he struggledwith it.