Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Noble watched as Zenko, one of his best operators, left the room.
There was nobody better at undercover work than Zenko, and he could read a person like nobody Noble had ever seen.
It worried him that Zenko had decided Shaun was telling the truth in all of this.
This team, these people, were Noble’s family, and he would do whatever it took to keep them safe, even if it meant pissing them off or protecting them from themselves.
That Shaun Jacobsen was sitting across from him, just waiting, impressed him.
Either he was one hell of an actor, or Zenko was right, and he was telling the truth.
It was Noble’s job to figure out which it was, and he’d better do it fast, because unless he’d missed his guess, Zenko was going to want to keep Shaun.
Which meant Noble was going to be seeing a lot more of the man in the future, and if Zenko had his way, Shaun would be living on base with them.
Fuck.
He steepled his fingers together and regarded the man across from him. “Why should I believe you?”
“What have I got to gain by lying about shit like this?”
Noble eyed Shaun. The man appeared to be keeping his cool, as though he understood exactly why Noble needed to get his facts straight before he believed a fucking word of this.
A slight tic on one side of Shaun’s jaw was the only outward sign that Noble’s question had gotten to him, although whether it came from anger or nerves, Noble couldn’t tell.
“Seriously, do you really think that having the skin flayed off my back is something I did for fun, in a shit-ass cave in the back-ass of nowhere in the Middle East?”
“That’s what I am trying to figure out,” Noble told him.
He purposely kept his tone mild and ignored the tic on the man’s jaw.
Instead, he watched the side of Shaun’s neck, looking for the pulse that was beating under the skin there.
The only time he had seen it speed up since the man had stepped into the room was when he looked at Zenko.
Shit like that made Noble think the attraction wasn’t just one-sided.
“Say I believe you, what do you want me to do about it?”
“Whatever it takes to stop it,” Shaun answered immediately. “Terrorist shit, that’s fucked up.”
“Walk me through it again.” Noble wanted everything Shaun could remember, from tones of voice and accents to the smallest detail about where he’d been when he overheard the conversation.
There was still something bugging him about the man sitting across from him, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Shaun’s ability to recall details was impressive, especially considering everything he’d been through, but it was the control he maintained while relaying the intel that kept snagging Noble’s attention.
Then there was the effect he was having on Zenko.
Whatever Noble was picking up on, it was enough to warrant a conversation with Max later.
They needed to deepen their background checks.
Over and over, Shaun repeated the same things as Noble asked his questions in every format and way he could think of.
The answers never changed. The words might vary here and there, but the information remained the same.
Wasn’t that fucking balls, because it meant there was a terrorist out there planning to crash a plane into one of the US Navy’s bases, in a location where it could take hours or days for help to arrive.
Noble scrubbed a hand over his face as Shaun drooped farther in his chair, exhaustion becoming harder for the man to hide.
A quick glance at the clock told him he’d kept Shaun there for four hours, and a twinge of guilt hit him.
Shit, Zenko was going to be pissed. The fact that the asshole hadn’t barged into the room and insisted they were done was a point in his favor at this stage.
Maybe Noble wouldn’t put him on kitchen duty after all.
“Okay,” he told Shaun. “I believe you. Go get some food. Zenko’s room is down the corridor to the left, count four doors. He said you are bunking with him.”
“Yeah.” Shaun pushed himself out of the chair, and Noble watched him lock his legs as though sheer fucking determination was the only thing keeping them under him.
Four hours had clearly taken their toll, especially after everything the man had already endured, but Shaun still straightened before turning toward the door.
Noble caught the aborted movement of his hand toward his forehead and almost smiled.
Whatever Shaun had been about to do, he seemed to think better of it before heading out of the office.
***
Shaun pulled open the door of Noble’s office, turned left, and had to slap a hand off the door frame to prevent himself from falling flat on his face when he tripped over something or someone.
Zenko Marks, as he had learned was his rescuer’s full name, was sitting with his ass against the wall outside Noble’s office.
“Huh?”
“Jesus.” Zenko surged to his feet and caught Shaun before his legs could give out completely, one hand closing around his arm to steady him. The anger that flashed across Zenko’s face made Shaun blink at him. “Did he not feed you or get someone to look at your back?”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fucking fine, Shaun.” Zenko’s hand remained wrapped around his arm, steadying him, while his jaw clenched hard enough for Shaun to see the muscle jump.
After a couple of seconds, he growled and started guiding him down the hall.
“C’mon, you can shower while I grab some medical stuff for your back. ”
Shaun let Zenko lead him down the hall and into a small room.
It was similar to the hooch he had back on the base in Iraq, except this one had a double bed.
He sighed. One freaking bed… seriously, Zenko better not give a shit about sharing it with him because there was no fucking way he was sleeping on the floor.
Nope, the only thing stopping him from face-planting on the bed right this second was that he stank so much he could smell himself.
He propped himself tiredly against the wall and bent his leg to untie his boots while Zenko disappeared into what Shaun assumed was a small bathroom attached to the room.
“Water’s heating.” Zenko came back out of the bathroom, his gaze running over Shaun before lingering on the boot he was still struggling to untie. “You get in the shower, and I’ll get the med kit. Are you allergic to anything?”
“Nope, nothing.” Shaun finally got his boot untied and kicked it off before starting on the other one. He was moving on autopilot at this stage and didn’t give a shit about anything except getting clean and knowing he could sleep in peace afterward.
Zenko didn’t move toward the door right away.
He stood there for another couple of seconds, watching Shaun with that same look he’d worn since finding him in the cave, like walking away while Shaun was still standing upright through sheer stubbornness went against every instinct the man had.
Shaun should probably have found that irritating.
Instead, something warm settled low in his gut at the realization that Zenko had apparently spent four fucking hours sitting outside Noble’s office waiting for him, then taken one look at him and gone straight into taking-care-of-him mode.
Nobody did shit like that for someone they’d known less than a day.
“Go,” Shaun muttered when Zenko still didn’t move, although he couldn’t stop the tired smile pulling at his mouth.
“I promise I can shower without drowning.” Zenko’s answering look suggested he wasn’t entirely convinced, but eventually he headed for the door.
Shaun watched him leave before letting his head fall back against the wall.
Jesus fucking Christ.
He was exhausted, his back hurt like a bitch, and somewhere out there were people planning to fly a plane into Diego Garcia.
He needed to contact his team. He needed to figure out who the fuck had betrayed him.
Yet right then, standing in Zenko Marks’s bedroom with the promise that the man was coming back, Shaun felt safer than he had since the second he’d opened his eyes in that fucking cave.