Page 101 of Tag (The Golden Team #9)

Aponi

F aron was on the back porch, a mug of coffee steaming in his hands as he stared out into the gray stretch of dawn. The desert was quiet except for the faint hum of the generators.

I hesitated in the doorway.

Part of me wanted to chalk up Tessa’s words to manipulation — her favorite weapon — but another part couldn’t stop replaying them in my head.

Ask your brother.

Faron glanced over his shoulder when he saw me. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Not really,” I said, stepping outside. The boards creaked under my boots. “We need to talk.”

He took a slow sip before answering. “I can tell by your tone I’m not going to like this.”

I folded my arms. “Tessa said Chimera has a file on you. That it’s… ‘interesting.’”

He set the mug down on the railing, his jaw tightening. “She’s trying to get in your head.”

“That’s what I told myself,” I said. “But she didn’t look like she was bluffing.”

His eyes narrowed. “And you came out here to find out if your own brother’s been working for Chimera?”

“I came out here to find out if there’s anything in your past they could use against you — against us.”

For a moment, the only sound was the wind moving through the scrub. Then he sighed, running a hand down his face.

“When I was deep cover for the Bureau,” he said slowly, “I crossed paths with Chimera once. Small-time op compared to what we’ve seen.

I got close enough to one of their suppliers to pull intel…

but that supplier vanished before I could turn him.

Two weeks later, my CO told me to drop it. Classified. Above my clearance.”

My stomach tightened. “You think they kept tabs on you after that?”

“I think Chimera keeps tabs on anyone who’s ever gotten too close.” He met my gaze, steady. “But I never worked for them. And if they’ve got a file on me, it’s because they wanted me gone, not because I was one of them.”

I studied his face — the same face that had protected me more times than I could count. I believed him. I wanted to believe him.

Still… Tessa’s smirk wouldn’t leave my head.

“She wanted me to doubt you,” I said quietly.

Faron nodded. “Then don’t give her what she wants. We take her apart piece by piece, and if Chimera still thinks it has a game to play… we finish it for good.”

From inside, Tag’s voice called out. “Aponi? You need to see this!”

I exchanged a look with Faron. Whatever was coming next, it wasn’t over.