Page 55 of Out of Control

Drago frowned, thinking back. “Not big. Maybe a one-foot radius outward from his head.”

“So he was only dead a matter of seconds before you walked in, then. Head wounds bleed massively. That would put you already inside the brothel when he was shot.”

Drago stared. “Jesus. I never made that connection.”

“My dude. You were a patsy. Any idea who would’ve set you up like that?”

“Eva. She had to be in on it,” Drago declared. “Let’s go back there—”

“She’s long gone. I’ll bet she was out of the building before the door closed behind us in Talia’s room. Maybe she recognized you, or she heard us ask Talia for information on Khoury. Either way, she would’ve taken off. Which would also explain why we were able to walk two of her girls out the back door.”

“Sonofabitch,” Drago said quietly. “You’d be a natural at the spy game, Spence.”

“No, thanks. I can’t handle all the lies.”

Drago stared earnestly at him. “I’m not lying when I say this—I need your help. I’m too close to this thing. I’m not seeing it clearly.”

Duty or honor? Friendship or country? To follow orders or not? It went against everything in his heart and his gut to disobey a direct rendition order. But he’d heard the truth in Lena’s description of the killing. Nobody would think to make up a second person running through her room and bolting through the window out of the blue. Somebody had definitely barged in right after Khoury died, and Dray insisted that someone was him.

He believed Drago.

But the timing of the whole killing was sketchy as hell.

And Drago was definitely caught in the middle of it.

He’d finally found Dray again. He couldn’t lose him. Not again—

Stop.

His personal feelings had no place in this decision.

But how the hell could they not, when Drago was sitting there looking so kissable, it was all Spencer could do not to lean across the table and lay a big wet one on him?

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut to avoid the temptation.Think.Heknewthe man. Drago might not be loud and proud about it, but he was a patriot all the way to the soles of his size-twelve feet. He would serve his country with honor if it killed him.

If Drago was being set up, then something very bad was going on at the CIA. A mole, maybe. Or an ugly power struggle. Perhaps internal or external politics. Regardless, it was bad, and it needed to be rooted out and exposed.

He met Drago’s dark, worried gaze. “Yeah. I’ll help you.”

Drago sagged in his chair. Wow. He had been a lot more tense about what Spencer was going to decide than he’d let on.Note to self: never gamble against Dray.The guy had a hell of a poker face.

“Thank you, Spencer.”

“You’re welcome.” He leaned forward. “Small problem. If I’m not going to bring you in, particularly since I already reported having you in custody, you and I both are going to have to go dark.”

“Agreed.”

“Have you got a tracker in you? They put SEALs’ trackers under their shoulder blades. You’re gonna have to dig mine out.”

Drago winced. “Yeah. Same for me.”

“Have you got a decent first aid kit around here?”

Dray stood up. “Of course. I’ve got a full crash kit.”

“Any chance there’s a topical numbing agent in it?”

“You don’t get off on pain?” Drago ribbed.