Page 121 of Rogue

“Yes. Good and dead.”

“You terminated Novák with a knife.” Jesus, the man a goddamn psychic now. How does he know this? “A knife. Truth be told, I didn’t see that one coming.”

He sounds amused.

“I finished my assignment,” I comment. I want to add, “You should be pleased.” But it’s pointless.

“Jaxson’s assignment.”

“You saypo-tay-to, I saypo-tah-to.”

“You disobeyed an order. Disobeyed orders, multiple times. You met with our direct target, allowed your enemy to snap incriminating pictures of you, casting doubt on where your loyalties lay. You evade my best mercenary, and make it out of Oklahoma by the skin of your teeth.”

“You’re punishing me for doing what you trained me to do? Evasive maneuvering, remember? Besides, I had a few things to take care of before heading abroad.” Like my sister. Like my dealing with Declan. And Franco. But that’s another story best rehashed another time.

“You didn’t leave me any choice but to come after you. I can’t have loose ends running about.”

“I’m not a traitor.”

“Yes. It wasn’t too difficult connecting the dots.”

“Francis.”

“Yes.”

“If I’d come to you to explain, I’d be dead.”

“Probably. Seems my team isn’t cut from the same cloth.”

“You didn’t expect Jaxson to kill me?”

“Of course not. The idiot loves you.”

“And Diego?”

“I figured you had a fifty-fifty chance. Though Jaxson’s turned out to be our new explosive expert.”

I snort, looking first at Diego, then at Jaxson. “Seems I need to practice my disappearing act.”

Hayden is silent on the other end. I stiffen.Better be more careful with what I say. Best not to piss the Pope off any further.

“You made an important friend in McDuff. He tells me . . . let’s see if I remember this correctly . . . ‘She was so bloody brilliant, she could steal the blessing from the holy water.’”

The Irishman. Who the hell else could McDuff be.

“You’ve got mercenaries everywhere, don’t you?”

He ignores my question. “I had hoped you’d do the predictable. Chase after Novák, with Jaxson hot on your heels.”

Jesus. “What?” I gasp.

“Not only did you lead Jaxson to his target, you completed his assignment by interrogating Novák before sinking a knife into his neck. And because of that, we have confirmation about this larger entity he’s working for. Just as I suspected. “

I relax, leaning further into Jaxson’s embrace. Damn. He sounds pleased, the manipulative jerk. “Correct. He collected money to buy weapons.”

“Mexico City?”

“That’s the only place both he and those Pricks mentioned.”