Page 32 of Forgiving His Past (Eagle’s Nest Securities #5)
“What the fuck did you do?” Van stormed into the team’s conference room with a bubbling rage coursing through his angry veins.
It was the weekend, which meant the rest of the office was empty aside from him and his team. Not that it would have made a difference either way. He was pissed as hell, for a bunch of damn reasons, but one of the biggest had just turned his way.
Logan stopped mid-sentence, abandoning whatever he’d been about to say as Lucky, Archer, and Chase looked over at Van, as well. The claws of betrayal reached deep into his chest as Logan’s hazel stare gave away the man’s guilt.
“Whoa, take it easy, big guy.” Lucky hurried toward him before sliding directly into his path. With a palm against Van’s chest, the tech genius said, “Just take a breath, and tell us what’s got your panties all up in a twist.”
“Ask him.” Van jutted his bearded chin toward Logan. He could easily make his way past Lucky, but the truth was he was grateful for the excuse not to pound Logan into the ground .
Everyone in the room turned to Logan, who was already shaking his head.
“It’s not what you think,” he started to explain.
But Van wasn’t in the mood for bullshit excuses.
“What I think is that I just finished having a nice little chat with your close buddy, Webb. Who, by the way, had two men pull their fucking guns on me while they forced Kam to go with them against her fucking will! ”
“Wait, what?” Lucky frowned, moving out of Van’s way to turn his attention back to Logan.
At the same time, Archer let out a shocked as hell, “They did what? ”
Chase’s wide-eyed gaze slid back and forth between Van and Logan as the four of them waited to hear what their fearless leader had to say. But when he started talking, it became clear that Logan was just as surprised by the news Van had shared.
“What do you mean Webb’s guys pulled their guns on you?”
“Just what I said,” Van grumbled. Was the guy not listening?
“Kam and I had just gotten back, and we found an SUV with government plates intentionally blocking us in. A man in a suit was standing outside; a second guy got out of the driver’s seat, and then…
there was Webb.” Van reached around to his back pocket and pulled out the court order the asshole had so smugly provided.
“He gave me this.” Van slapped it against Logan’s chest. “And then he threatened to arrest both me and Kam for interfering in an official federal investigation if we tried fighting him on it.”
“Wait…official investigation?” Chase’s blue eyes filled with confusion. “I thought this whole thing was being kept under wraps.”
“It was.” Logan took the crumpled paper in his hand and gave it a cursory glance. “But Webb called to say his flight was coming in early, and?—”
“And you told him exactly where we’d be.”
His teammate didn’t deny Van’s claim, which was just as good as a full-on confession. Instead, Logan explained why he’d given up his and Kam’s location despite Van having specifically asked him not to.
“ And… ” The other man continued his previous thought, looking almost as pissed as Van felt.
“I told Webb we were all on board with the thought that Kam wasn’t the one who put a hit out on our team.
When I passed along your thoughts and why you feel so strongly in her innocence, he said he wholeheartedly agreed. ”
“He did?” Archer’s dark brows turned inward. “I’m surprised you were able to convince him so easily.”
“It wasn’t just me,” Logan added. “Apparently, there was some new intel that came in from one of his assets over the last twenty-four hours, which all but exonerates her.”
“What intel?” Van demanded. “Webb didn’t say shit to me about any new intel.”
“That I don’t know. He said he wanted to get her settled somewhere safe.
I tried arguing, but his mind was made up.
He said he’d give us a call as soon as he could to fill us all in.
” Logan swallowed. “He also said that, in light of this new evidence, he decided to read the president in on what we’ve been up to.
Said he pleaded our case, and the president is totally on board. ”
Lucky spoke up next, asking, “What’s that mean, he pleaded our case?”
“It means he told the president everything,” Logan explained. “How we’ve never stopped looking into what happened to Hunter. How Webb has been helping us along the way. All of it.”
“And he never gave you even a hint as to what this supposed new intel was?”
The man who may not have betrayed him after all gave a slow shake of his head.
“No. And to be honest, I didn’t ask. But that’s only because he said he’d fill us in later.
Whatever it is, it must be pretty damn solid because according to Webb, it’s how he convinced a judge order her federal protection. ”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Van growled. “You could have at least given me a heads-up that he was going to be there.”
That the smug bastard had planned to take the woman I’m pretty sure I love away.
“Because I knew if I told you what Webb was planning to do, you’d probably never show up at that marina.
” Logan took a deep breath and paused, running a hand over the light scruff of his jaw.
“Listen, Van. I know you’re worried about Kam, but Webb promised me he and his men would keep her safe.
And the fact is, we need this to happen. ”
“I hate to say it, brother…” Chase met Van’s angry stare.
“But Hayes is right. I mean, less than a week ago, we were all ready to kill Kam ourselves. And now we’re standing around going at each other’s throats because you’re more worried about her than the fact that we might finally be getting Hunt the justice he deserves? ”
“You don’t understand.” He turned to Chase. “Kam’s…important.”
Lucky scoffed. “Well, yeah, she’s important. She was the last known person to speak to Farzad Akimi before he died.”
“Akimi didn’t give her a name before he died,” Van argued the man’s point. “Just that the person who ordered the hit was someone with high political connections.”
“Either way, she’s now a federal witness,” Logan continued with his point. “And…she’s also no longer our problem.”
“She’s mine.”
All eyes shot to his. Because the way he’d said those words…
“Uh…what does that mean, exactly?” Lucky stared back at him and waited.
Van took a few seconds to consider his teammate’s question. Up until the moment he’d said those words, Van wasn’t sure he knew what they meant himself. But now, after hearing himself staking claim on Kam…out loud and in front of his closest friends…
He met each of their gazes, determined to make himself crystal fucking clear. “It means she’s mine .”
The breath in his lungs refused to move while he waited. It didn’t take long for understanding to fully sink in.
“Ah, hell.” Archer hung his head, rubbing the muscles behind his neck. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Yeah, he did.” Lucky’s mouth spread into a wide, knowing smile. “So you and the terrorist, huh?”
Van was moving before he even realized it, his fist filling with the front of the other man’s shirt. “Kam’s not a fucking terrorist,” he seethed.
But Lucky just lifted both hands in the air while his shoulders shook with laughter. “Dude, chill.” He laughed again. “It was just a joke.”
“It wasn’t funny.”
“Duly noted.” The other man nodded with a grin.
“Wait, so you and Kam?” Chase spoke up again. “Seriously?”
Van released Lucky’s shirt as Archer chimed back in.
“Well, Cass will be happy.” The explosives expert looked over at him with a smirk. “She thought Kam was super sweet.”
“Scottie, too,” Chase agreed.
“Same with Nat,” Logan joined in. “And, for the record, I believe she’s innocent, too.”
Well, that was something, at least. But there was still the matter of her being taken away by Webb. And since Kam was safe and under the government’s care, Van did his best to turn his focus—for now—on the guys who shot up his fucking boat.
Switching gears, he asked Lucky, “You get a hit on the dead guy from this morning?”
“I was actually filling Logan in on that when you got here.” He went over to the table and grabbed the tablet that was never very far away.
“Guy’s name is…or was…Damon Young.” Lucky tapped the screen and pulled up an electronic police record and mugshot.
“Guy’s got a sheet a mile long. Assault. Burglary. Attempted murder.”
“American?”
“Born and raised.” The other man nodded. “Which I thought was weird, until I remembered what Kam said about Akimi mentioning someone within our government being involved. When you think about it like that, having American hit men makes a perfect kind of twisted sense.”
“You get a look at the driver of the boat?” Logan asked.
Van’s head slid back and forth. “Kind of, but not really.” To Lucky, he asked next, “What about the guy’s known associates. Anything pop there?”
“None that I found. I mean, his record includes about a dozen bad actors the guy was known to consort with.” The brilliant man tapped the screen again. “Here. Take a look and see if any of them could be your driver.”
Van took the tablet from his teammate’s hand and began scrolling through the mugshots on the screen. He looked through the line of photos fairly quickly, skimming each one without a hint of recognition.
He was about to give up and accept that none of them were his guy when his hand froze over the screen, and every muscle in his body locked down tight.
“What the hell?”
“What?” Logan came to his side, looking at the screen from over his shoulder. “Is that him? Is that the guy who was driving the boat? ”
Van stared at the familiar face as a rush of unprecedented fury began to boil within his gut. The face he was staring at wasn’t the man from the boat. His name…
Felix James.
“That’s one of the guys Webb had with him at the Marina,” he told the others.
“Are you sure?” Archer asked as he glanced down at the electronic pic.