Page 13 of Justified Lies (TFH Team Bravo #3)

Seven

Ian watched El pace the living room floor. His partner was going to owe him for this one. Her brother was a live wire, ready to explode.

“I don’t know why I’m here. I should be with Ed.”

“Yeah, well, she asked me to look after you.”

“I’m not a toddler.”

“Could have fooled me,” he murmured.

El stopped and looked at him. “She trusts you, so you get some trust from me, but not blind trust.”

“Back at ya.”

The former spy frowned at him. “Did you ever work in the Middle East?”

He shook his head. “I was more Europe and Russia, so we didn’t cross paths. I still would have pegged you for CIA, though.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You know. The way you handle yourself. The constant looking for exits, always wanting to have a way out of the room. The hyper vigilance.”

“That could mean we were just military.”

“Ah, but…you never had time in the military. You both spent time in the Middle East with a wealthy Texas family that often resided there. I would have known you were like me.”

El studied Ian for a long moment. “Yeah. We are alike. Your dad was MI-6.”

“And my mother. We go a long way back as spies for the crown.”

“But you moved to Hawai’i.”

“My sister was here doing things that could have gotten her killed. Almost got her killed. So, even in that, we are alike.”

He rolled his shoulders. “I’m the reason she’s at risk.”

“She’s at risk because of her birth. You were born into the situation you’re in.”

He nodded.

“How do you feel about Kap?”

“Hanson?” El asked.

“Yeah. I have a feeling that guy is going to want to be in her life again.”

“Not sure he has that choice. Ed…she could have handled anything, but when he walked away from her, he broke her.”

“Ah, spoken like a man who has never been in love.”

“And you have?”

“God, no. But I watched Seth almost lose Autumn.”

El frowned, then headed over to look out the windows.

They were in Ian’s condo, which looked out over the Honolulu Harbor.

His and Autumn’s father lived in Kailua, and he spent a lot of time over there.

Tonight, though, he thought it best to stay in the city.

While his father was a former spy, he didn’t want to entangle him in this mess.

“I just don’t like any of this. Other than you, we are all back in circling. Me, Ed, and Hanson.”

“Let’s start there. I looked at your research.”

“Mainly Sam’s research. She’s a fiend, always has been about research.” His voice had softened ever so slightly, and Ian ground his teeth. He didn’t like that at all. He had no idea why her friendship with El mattered, but it did.

“You know her well.”

He nodded. “Best damned analyst the CIA has ever had. Those idiots didn’t know what they lost until they burned her. I’m sure someone is trying to figure out a way to bring her back.”

“How did she get burned?”

He sighed. “One of the reasons was that she was helping us. Or that’s what Ed and I think, at least. The person responsible for killing all the agents must be fairly high up in the organization. He or she would have to have the resources and the connections to commit all those killings.”

He digested that. “Either way, we need to take a step back and look at this investigation.”

“That’s why I need to be out there.”

“No. Taking a step back means taking a break. Let your mind rest.”

He opened his mouth, but Ian held up his hand.

“I know. Don’t you think I recognize the guilt?

Dad had plenty of that after he found out about Autumn.

He had no idea he had a daughter, but when he found out that she had been stuck in that hellhole of a cult for her entire life, he had to work through all the guilt.

So, I get it. But you or your sister shouldn’t feel guilty. ”

He tossed a look at Ian over his shoulder. “You think Ed feels guilty?”

“Yeah. Eden thinks she let you down.”

“She didn’t. I let myself down.”

El turned back to look out the window, and Ian rolled his eyes. These two were such martyrs.

“Get over yourself. You need to get out of the way, or both of you could end up dead.”

He whirled around to face Ian. “I know that. I didn’t think the bastard would go after Ed. If I did, I would have made her go back to Texas.”

He snorted. “I’ve been partners with your sister for almost six months. She would not have gone back.”

El shook his head but said nothing.

“Since it seems neither of us is getting any sleep, why don’t we go over the case?”

“We could do this at my sister’s house.”

Ian remembered the look on Kap’s face, the way he seemed to twitch every time someone made a comment about how close Eden had come to being hurt. He was sure the former NCIS agent was about to pull his head out of his ass and claim his woman. That was something a brother should never experience.

“Why don’t you call Sam so we can go over some of these cases. I’ve been doing a little look—”

“Oh, Ed is not going to be happy about that.”

“Well, I’m not particularly happy with some git taking shots at my partner.”

El studied him for a long moment, then nodded. “Let’s get to work.”

“Call up Sam and let me run some things by her.”

“You don’t have her number?”

“No, I don’t. She calls me from all kinds of numbers, which I am sure she’s doing to protect her position.”

“Probably,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Probably also trying to protect you.”

He blinked. “What?”

“She doesn’t want you to have the knowledge of where she is so that people don’t think they can get it from you.”

“But you know.”

“Well, Mix, thanks to Ed and me, she’s been on the run for years now. So, I figure she assumes we have it coming.”

He clicked on his phone and switched it to the speaker. He hit a saved contact.

“I’m not happy with you,” she said, her husky voice filling the room.

“First, not my fault. I can’t follow Eden around. And second, you’re on speaker.”

“Oh, goodie. What up, Mix?”

“How did you know he was at my place?”

She snorted. Right, she was a genius at tech.

“Ian has some ideas on our victims and thought we should run them by you.”

She made a small humming noise, and the tapping of keys reached him. “Good. Let’s get to work.”

When his phone rang in the middle of the night, he knew it was going to be bad news. It was an instinct that he’d had for decades and one that he kept him alive.

“Yes?”

They never used names when they talked on the phone. He knew he was running circles around the office. All those lazy bastards who couldn’t handle the jobs they had been handed.

“No luck tonight.”

He let the silence stretch out. The fucker had cost him a pretty penny, and he couldn’t get the job done.

This is why he had been the one to kill the others.

Hiring other people to abduct or track his quarry had been easy.

He couldn’t be seen in those locations all the time, so it worked well to have others do the footwork.

The killing…that had been his. This was the first time he had hired someone to actually kill one of his targets, but he knew that Eden, El, and the rest of their motley crew were getting too close to the truth.

Killing Eden had been on his agenda this early in the game, but he’d realized the act would send dear old El spiraling. They were going to be his last kills before he disappeared with all the money he’d acquired.

“That is not the news I wanted to hear.”

“It was a bitch of a shot, and she was late tonight.”

“I don’t take kindly to excuses.”

“I can get her tomorrow.”

Probably not, but that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Tell you what, you go retrieve her and keep her contained.”

“I’m not a kidnapper.”

The dumbass said the word “kidnapper” like it was beneath him. He was a hired hitman. These idiots.

“Unless you want me to make sure that everyone in your line of business knows you didn’t get your mark…”

He let the implication simmer. Men like this Jackson bastard were only successful because of their reputation. One little slip-up didn’t just hurt the business. It could ultimately lead to his death.

“Fine. I’ll get her at her house.”

“Good. I’ll be there by morning. Let me know where you’re keeping her before I land.”

He hung up without another word. He had no reason to tell that man that failing would end up in his death. Jackson had signed his own death warrant the moment he missed killing Eden.

Rising from his bed, he started to make plans. He had one more loose end to cut off before he headed to Hawai’i.