Page 44 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Thank fuck, some good news.

“Any mention of the Secretary of Defense or the Pentagon?”

“Nope. But Delcon was discussed. Part of why Ryan was getting fidgety and wants what he calls ‘hazardous pay’ is because he heard about Anson and the Petersons. Ryan’s not happy people are dying. Rutte was cagey about this and told Ryan he was safe as long as he kept his mouth shut.”

The front door to the pub opened. A girl with a stack of books in her arms pushed out. My stomach clenched tighter.

I checked the time for what felt like the fiftieth time.

Twenty minutes.

Any time now, Derrika would be walking out.

“Who’s picking up Ryan?”

“Zane called it in to POTUS, offered to send the Gemini Group guys since we’re spread thin.

POTUS said he was sending in military police.

Apparently against Zane’s wishes, Trent made some calls to people he trusts and had an emergency meeting.

Zane’s breathing fire. POTUS is ready to scorch the earth.

As soon as we have Rutte, shit’s gonna hit the fan. ”

A couple walking a dog stopped in front of the pub. The man was pointing to something inside. The woman got closer to the window. I held my breath and prepared to jump out of the car until the woman tipped her head back and laughed.

Jesus fuck, I was going to have a heart attack if Derrika didn’t hurry up.

“Where are we with Rutte? Have Theo and Smith checked in?”

“Yeah, they’re sitting on the house. No movement and all the curtains are drawn. Cash and Lore are still searching for Rutte. He was supposed to be at a committee meeting at the Capitol this afternoon but he didn’t show. He has a row home in Georgetown. They’re headed there now.”

“Hey, Nebraska didn’t get a chance to tell us; did she get ahold of Dutch?”

Easton blew out a haggard breath.

“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons Zane’s over here doing his best impression of a dragon.

Dutch has Bolin Chen. He’s not giving up his brother.

But since they have Bolin they have his phone and the dumbfuck wasn’t careful with deleting messages.

And his ME Chat app was protected with face ID, not a password. ”

Dumbfuck didn’t cover what kind of idiot Bolin was. Biometric protection wasn’t actually protection; it was practically begging for someone to get into your phone. A password took time. Face ID meant all Dutch had to do was hold the phone in front of Bolin’s face and it was wide open.

“What’d they find?”

“Jun De Chen is in the US and has been for the last three months.”

“How the fuck didn’t we know that?”

“Best guess is he came in using an MSS legend and disguise. Every spy agency knows about Patheon now so Chen would’ve been careful to be fully covered. And masking isn’t out of the ordinary so no one would bat an eye at him walking through the airport with a mask.”

Patheon was Kira’s baby. Facial recognition with a twist—it didn’t just measure the normal facial features, it could detect vein patterns, and her latest version had advanced iris recognition and retinal scanning.

The problem was, now that Patheon was well known, our enemies knew how to guard against it.

I checked the clock again. Another five minutes had gone by. I picked up my phone, scrolled to her name, opened a blank text thread, and shot off a message:

Good?

“How’s everything going there?” Easton asked.

“It’s been twenty-five minutes. I’m coming out of my skin.”

“Know the feeling, brother.”

I bet he fucking did. Before Nebraska joined Z Corps, she was a negotiator.

Not in a boardroom but in the felonious underbelly of society.

She, like her mother, negotiated deals between criminals in an effort to keep their illegal activities from spilling over and hurting innocent people.

Now, she still operated, just with a team, and her man at her back.

“I don’t know how you do it,” I told him. “My gut is screaming at me to go in there. I can’t shake this feeling.”

“What feeling?”

“That shit is going to go sideways and she’ll be taken from me.”

I glanced down at my phone.

No response.

I was giving this five more minutes. If Derrika hadn’t broken Natalie by now, she wasn’t going to.

“She’s it for you, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s everything I never knew I needed, but now that I have it, I can’t for the life of me figure out how I didn’t know.

When this shit is over, I’m taking time off work, locking up in my house, and using that time to convince her to move her shit down from Virginia.

Once I accomplish that, I’m convincing her to marry me.

Then I’m planting babies in her and never letting her go.

” I thought about our lack of condom use and amended.

“Or I might plant my babies in her first, and the rest will work out.”

“Glad to hear it, brother.”

Two more people walked out of the pub. I checked my phone again, regretting letting her go in alone. At the very least, I should’ve gone in and sat across the restaurant.

Fuck it .

“I’m going in and getting a table. In the last twenty minutes, I think I’ve developed an ulcer.”

“Know that feeling, too. Keep me updated.”

“I will.”

I disconnected, grabbed the keys, and jumped out of the SUV.

Each step closer to the restaurant was a painful stab to my chest.

I opened the front door, stepped inside, and before I even scanned the interior, I knew. The feel of the restaurant was all wrong.

Fuck .

I pulled out my phone, hit Easton’s name. I impatiently waited for the call to connect, with my heart slamming into my ribs.

I ended the call and hit send again.

Nothing.

No bars.

Motherfucking shit .

I ran out onto the sidewalk, still no bars. It wasn’t until I was back across the street that I had service.

The call connected, and I immediately interrupted Easton’s greeting.

“She’s gone. And they used a cellphone jammer.”

“Fuck. We’re on our way.”

“I need you to send me a picture of Natalie and one of Derrika if we have one.”

Fucking Christ! I didn’t even have a picture of her.

“I’ll do that now. Do not leave there without backup.”

I hung up thinking, Derrika would give me shit for not saying goodbye.

Cash and Lore were the first two to arrive.

I didn’t know if that was because they were closer or because of Cash’s driving. Not that it mattered, but I vowed right then and there in the alley of a pub never to bitch about Cash’s driving again.

“I talked to the manager and server. Natalie told them she was an undercover cop and she was there to meet with a woman who was selling narcotics. She explained, they’d not only be doing her a favor but keeping the other patrons safe if she was allowed to walk the suspect out through the kitchen.”

“They bought that shit?” Cash seethed.

“Natalie showed them a badge.”

“Cameras?” Lore rotated her finger in the area, motioning toward the restaurant.

“They were taken offline about five minutes before Natalie showed.” I held out Derrika’s phone.

“Found it beside the dumpster. She tried to text me. But the cell signal was jammed. Something the server said he noticed around the time Derrika walked in—he was texting his girlfriend, and his texts stopped delivering.”

“Smith said you called him and told him to stay on the house,” Cash said.

“Keith Mitchell was in the pub. That’s the text I didn’t get from her.”

Keith Mitchell is here. Need exfil. Now.

Need exfil.

Now.

I scrubbed my hand over my beard and tried to fill my lungs.

“I was a hundred yards away?—”

“Stop,” Lore barked. “Nothing good comes from that shit, and you know it. Smith and Theo are sitting on the house where the Merc was last seen going to. Now that we know Natalie’s a fucking twat, Kira’s digging through the woman’s life.

You know her better than I do, so you know she’s a beast behind a keyboard, and she’s got the genius cybersecurity chick there. They’ll get us some action intel soon.”

Soon.

Bad shit happened in the blink of an eye.

Soon might be too fucking late.

“Zane and Easton are on their way, and he called Nixon Swagger and asked him to pull out of whatever assignment he’s on. The whole Gemini Group is converging on the farm now. They’ll stay there to look after Kira and Penny until we have a location.”

That was good news but still didn’t help.

“Wait,” Lore started then stopped and tipped her head back to the sky but closed her eyes. “The house in McLean was rented by a woman. A Cherry, Cherri…”

“Cherri Jackson,” I supplied.

“Yeah. Her. Since we know Natalie’s team traitor and was with Keith Mitchell, I’d bet she rented the house under a fake name.”

“Fuck, you’re smart,” Cash muttered and pulled out his phone.

“I have my moments.” Lore righted her head and opened her eyes.

When she did, they locked onto mine. Concern and anger mixed in her dark blue eyes, and I’d bet I just met the real Stella.

The woman she didn’t want anyone to know existed.

A woman who felt worried for a sister she barely knew but on some level liked, and maybe even cared about, and anger that woman was in danger.

Jesus. Derrika had been right along.

“Kira, run Cherri Jackson. See if she has any other rentals in her name.” Cash paused. “Yeah, Lore had a good—” Another pause. “Thanks. Reroute Zane and Easton. But warn Zane, we’re not waiting to go in. Jonas will—” Another infuriating pause.

“Jonas will what?” I snapped.

Cash finished with, “Text me.” Then hung up.

“Cash, what?”

“Kira found two other properties in Cherri Jackson’s name. One is an apartment. The other is a commercial lease in Jessup. Kira says it’s about thirty minutes north of here.”

“Let’s go.” Then with my stomach full of poison and regret, I told Cash, “You’re driving.”

“She’s thirty minutes away,” Lore said as we jogged to their Escalade.

What she didn’t mention was: we were thirty minutes away if we were right and Cherri was Natalie. And another big if they took her there.

But right now, I’d take it.

If was better than nothing.

We have plans, Jonas. Falling in love to do, memories to make, more kisses to share, nights making love, morning showers, swims in the creek, loads of stuff I can’t wait to share with you.

Loads of stuff.

With a mountain of guilt weighing me down, I jumped into Cash’s SUV.

Doors slammed.

Cash tossed his phone at Lore. “You navigate.”

“Roger, captain.”

Then Cash did what Cash did best—drove like we were dodging IEDs in Baghdad. For once, my nausea wasn’t from him weaving in and out of traffic at speeds that would impress a NASCAR driver.

No, the bile clogging my throat was fear. The kind I hadn’t felt since I was a child. Only worse because now I unequivocally knew what real monsters were capable of—and right then, Derrika was facing down a monster and I wasn’t there to help.

We have plans Jonas, falling in love to do.