Chapter Thirty-Seven
Phoenix
The Heesen docked, the engines cut, I quickly checked the live feed on the security camera outside her cabin.
No movement.
Glancing once more to where Alpha and Blade stood, I exited the bridge and headed to the main deck where Helios was securing one of the dock lines.
His scowl cut from Blade and Alpha to me as he shook his head. “This is gonna be a shit show.”
“No weapons, no show of force,” I warned. “Don’t fucking draw, Helios. Alpha won’t engage.”
“It’s not him I’m looking at.” Helios’s personal code of honor deeply entrenched and only reaching as far as his brother and stepsister, his stance toward Blade was crystal clear. Yanking the thick dock line taut, he glared at the former SEAL standing next to Alpha.
Blade’s brother worked for me. Blade didn’t. Helios judged.
“Stay on board,” I ordered, heading aft deck to disembark.
“You walk that gangplank, I’m not making any fucking promises.”
“Passerelle,” I corrected.
“I don’t care what you fucking call it. You step into a shitstorm, don’t blame me when I have to clear an exfil path for your stupid ass.”
I walked off the Paragon.
Less than half a minute later, I was standing in front of the crucial part of my plan.
Older, muscles more bulked, suit custom, Adam “Alpha” Trefor looked like he wanted to eliminate me first, ask questions second.
I nodded at Blade, then focused on the man who’d once been a lost-looking kid hanging out after school on a bus bench.
On my way to the beach, I’d invited him to tag along.
He couldn’t surf for shit. He could barely swim back then.
But he’d been loyal, quiet, and respectful of my sister when I’d dragged him home for dinner that night.
Later, I found out he’d also fight anyone who fucked with us.
From that first beach day until my staged death ten years ago, he’d been my best friend.
I tipped my chin. “Alpha.”
“Are you in imminent danger?” His voice the same, his tone unwavering, I was reminded of every reason why he’d been selected as Team leader.
“No.” Minus the incident on the Cap d’Antibes property, I’d handled all my loose ends before coming here.
“CIA?” Alpha asked cryptically.
I didn’t answer.
“Ground Branch,” he then stated definitively. “How long?”
The question could’ve pertained to any number of things. I answered with a fact. “I’m not Ground Branch.” Not anymore.
Arms crossed, Blade snorted.
Alpha ignored him. “You made it clear you wanted to be found. Why?”
I laid out the hand I was willing to show. “I need to talk to you.”
Alpha was, and always had been, an impenetrable force. Ruthless, rock-solid, he had nerves of steel. Nothing broke through his defenses—with one exception. My sister.
I knew it. I expected it.
His expression morphing to fury, Alpha’s voice turned lethal. “Talk to Maila.”
“I will.”
“Talk to your sister,” he enunciated before laying out his parameters.
“In person, AES headquarters. Then I’ll consider talking to you.
” Alpha jerked his chin toward the Paragon like it was the dangerous liability instead of me and my past. “You have thirty days to get to Miami. After that, you’re dead to us both. ” Pivoting, he strode off.
Blade lingered only long enough to throw down his own warning. “Handle your shit.” Then he followed Alpha.
I watched them cut across the docks.
Ares flanked me. “Problem.”
“With the refuel?” I was already recalculating my timeline to meet Alpha’s demands.
“No.” Ares handed me his cell with the Paragon’s internal security feeds pulled up on the small screen. “Your cabin door’s open.”
Goddamn it.