Page 17 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Maybe we pause the Tom fuckery,” Cash suggested. “And fill Jonas in. He looks like he could use a bubble bath.”

As much as I appreciated him moving the conversation along, I still flipped him off. “Not me who likes a bath.”

“Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it. There’s nothing like a nice long soak in some lavender-scented bath oil after a day of torturing intel out of a pissant.”

When he put it like that, it didn’t sound so bad.

“Have you tried eucalyptus salts?” Derrika asked. “I find they help work out knots better than the oil. But, lavender is relaxing.”

Cash shot me a shit-eating grin before he transferred it to Derrika. Though when his grin hit her it became far more flirtatious than I was comfortable with.

“I haven’t, but if you’d like to share?—”

The growl that came out of my throat sounded prehistoric to my own ears. I knew I was right when Cash chuckled.

“Chill, Four. I was going to ask your girl if she had any she’d like to share.”

Sure he was.

And my girl ?

Thankfully, Smith had mercy on me and got to the heart of the conversation I wanted to have.

“The man on the right.” He pointed to a screen, “is Jun De Chen, Bolin’s brother.

The man on the left is the man who took you and Derrika hostage, John Wu.

Canadian-born to Chinese parents who were in Canada on visas. ”

“Visas?” Derrika asked.

“The mother was there on a student visa. The father a work visa.” Kira explained. “This was in the early seventies.”

“Are his parents’ families wealthy?” Derrika continued.

“No.”

“The People’s Republic of China’s outbound travel policies during that time were limited,” I pointed out. “And until the late seventies, China was mostly closed off to the rest of the world. How’d the parents get visas if they didn’t come from money? Ties to the government?”

“According to the weasel John brought with him,” Smith rejoined.

“His name is Liam Gagnon, by the way, and he, too, is Canadian. Liam was all too happy to talk— fuck Americans and America will fall were his two favorite phrases. When I pushed why he hated us so much he explained John had shown him the truth. The American people are immoral, filled with greed and self-righteousness.”

“So, John radicalized Liam,” Derrika surmised.

“Sounds that way,” Cash said.

“What did John have to say during his interrogation?” I asked, glancing at Cash.

“Nothing. Not a damn word. Zipped his lips and hasn’t uttered a word.”

That was shocking. Cash was good at making people talk.

I looked over at Zane and raised a brow. He read my look and answered my unasked question, “If John’s parents were planted in Canada as some sort of long game assets, he’ll die for the cause before he speaks. His indoctrination would be seen as an honor. He won’t disgrace his parents by turning.

“I called in a favor from an old buddy up in Canada. Former CSOR. He’s gonna dig into the parents. Garrett can run the intel he gathers but we need someone on the ground. Mark’s gonna be that person.”

The Canadian Special Operations Regiment is Canada’s special forces. If Zane called in a favor from this Mark guy, no doubt he was badass when he was operating.

“Did Liam say why he wanted Derrika?” I asked.

“Death to all Americans,” Smith mocked, and rolled his eyes.

“Taking Amy was Liam’s way of pledging allegiance to John and the Wu family.

The dumbfuck doesn’t understand he’s nothing more than muscle and John’s little helper so he doesn’t have to get blood on his expensive suit.

The Wu’s would never welcome a round-eye into the family. ”

Kira scoffed and shook her head at Smith’s derogatory term.

His hands came up off the table and he held them out in front of him in surrender. “You might not like my delivery but it’s the damn truth and that’s exactly what Liam would be called.”

Before Smith and Kira could get into it, I pointed to the picture on the flat screen. “John Wu and the MSS agent.”

“John Wu and the MSS agent,” Cash repeated. “Strange bedfellows. Garrett’s still trying to piece that together. But that picture does substantiate our thought that John’s parents are long-term plants.”

“So, they’re basically Chinese sleeper agents living in Canada,” Derrika cut to it.

“Looks like it.”

I glanced at my watch, then around the table. It was pushing midnight. We’d all been going at it hard all day.

“We still have a lot to go over but how about we hit it fresh in the morning?” I suggested but kept my eyes on Layla.

I didn’t miss the gratitude staring back at me. Nor did I miss the narrow-eyed silent inquiry.

“I think the cat’s out of the bag,” I said out loud.

“I know,” she returned. “But I’m still pretending it’s in the bag, so if you don’t mind, we’re not discussing it.”

“We’re all adults, Layla,” Zane drawled. “No one’s going to be scandalized when they learn Kevin didn’t?—”

“Wrap it before he tapped it,” Kira cut in.

Zane smiled but shook his head.

“He didn’t package his meat before he gave her a treat,” Kira tried again.

Zane’s smile widened to an obnoxious smirk.

“You know, you’re supposed to be my best friend,” Layla sniped. “Not his.”

“Just because Kevin didn’t listen—and they never fucking do—and now his swimmers have fertilized your egg and you’re growing a whole-ass human in your womb, doesn’t mean you get to take your hormone fluctuations out on MiniMe.”

Derrika’s wide-eyed gaze swung to me.

“Ignore him,” I told her under my breath, then added, “Kira’s his favorite. But only because she’s as sarcastic as he is.”

Kira leaned forward and smiled at Derrika. “He’s not wrong.”

“Zane’s got his cabin.” Layla started to pass out sleeping arrangements.

“Jonas and Derrika are in the one by the red barn. Kevin and I will take the one in the front of the property. Kira, Cooper, Easton, and Nebraska are in the big cabin. Theo, Smith, Cash y’all get the house.

Myles and Gabe are headed to the safehouse by Dulles.

“Linc and Owen are babysitting John and Liam. They’ll be picked up tomorrow,” Zane informed us.

“ Who’s picking them up?” I interjected.

Layla glanced at Zane. I didn’t understand why she was seeking his permission until he answered, “Badger.”

Black Team was coming down from Wyoming.

“What’s the status with Bishop and Wentworth?” Nebraska asked.

A while back, Bishop had been unleashed to track down Austin Wentworth and get us intel on Maddon’s blueprint. So far, Zane had been tight-lipped on what Bishop was up to.

“Black’s handling it,” Zane told Nebraska.

Which was the same answer he’d given me when I’d asked.

“Why are you being?—”

“Black. Is. Handling. Wentworth.” Zane slowly enunciated each word.

The measured articulation wasn’t his style. Sarcasm was his go-to. When he was pissed, he was known for his expletive-laden monologues. But I’d never heard him use a slow, low tone that brokered no further questions.

I didn’t understand but I couldn’t ask without pushing Zane to talk about Black Team. And with Derrika in the room, I was surprised they’d been brought up at all.

“There’s no need to be a dick about it,” Nebraska complained. “You could’ve just told me to shut the hell up and stay in my lane.”

Derrika’s eyebrows flew up, leaving her forehead wrinkled. The urge to reach up and smooth the lines was near impossible to ignore. I wanted this woman in the worst way, which was going to make sharing a cabin with her, even for the night, pure agony.

“He’s getting grumpy in his old age,” Kira tossed out as she pushed back from the table.

“Call me an old man again, MiniMe, and you’ll be demoted.”

Kira snorted like that wasn’t a possibility, and truth be told, it was. “Whatever you say, dimples.”

“I could just fire you.”

“You could, but your life would be sad and boring and you’d have no one to help you make fun of the team if I wasn’t around,” Kira told Zane, suddenly sounding tired. “Jonas, drop us off on your way, yeah?”

The cabin she and Coop were staying in wasn’t even a quarter-mile away. But after the day we’d all had, I didn’t blame her for not wanting to hoof it.

After a round of quick ‘see you in the mornings’ and ‘goodbyes’ to Myles and Gabe, I grabbed my pack and Derrika’s bags and hightailed it out the door before we could be waylaid further.

The short drive to drop off Kira and Coop as well as the second leg to the cabin Derrika and I would be sharing was mostly silent. The only conversation we exchanged was a ‘thanks for the ride’ from Coop and a ‘no problem’ from me.

“Long day,” Derrika mumbled when I stopped in front of the small one-story cabin.

“It’s not much,” I explained. “But the bed’s comfortable.”

The bed.

Fuck.

“There’s only one bedroom. I’ll take?—”

“No way,” Derrika cut me off. “I’m smaller than you. I’ll take the couch.”

There was no use arguing about who was sleeping on the couch, when I wasn’t allowing her to be uncomfortable.

Not to mention, the couch was five feet from the front door and that wasn’t happening either, even though an alert would go out to all of our phones if someone so much as dipped a toe over the sensors around the property.

Like when we pulled up in front of the farmhouse, Derrika was leaned forward in her seat, with her eyes tipped up staring at the cabin. I didn’t think she was admiring the plain wood planks and it was too dark to see much else.

“I take it you didn’t grow up in the city?”

She didn’t take her eyes off the cabin when she answered, “No. Monroe, Utah. Population two thousand.”

The high school I went to was half the entire population of the town she grew up in. I thought back to earlier in her apartment when she told me she had to sleep with the curtains closed.

I’d lived in cities until I spent a decade overseas. The transition back to living in the US had been difficult. It would’ve been more difficult if I hadn’t had Theo, Smith, Easton, and Cash with me. Not to mention, Zane and the rest of Z Corps to guide our way back.