Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Tell me something, has anyone ever asked you how many people you’ve saved? Or do they just want to know your kill count?”
Jesse reached for his cup of liquid black fuel from the Keurig machine and faced Jack at his question. The boys had set up the coffee maker at the bar in the living room sometime overnight. No Red Bull on hand, but thankfully coffee had been left at the B&B.
It was ten hundred hours, and although Jesse had managed to get a few hours of shut-eye after he and Ella had made love that morning, he wouldn’t survive the day without caffeine.
Jesse considered Jack’s seemingly random question, knowing it was directed his way since they were the only two in the living room at the moment. Jack had popped in to warm up by the fire for a bit while Griffin swapped places with him outside, shockingly leaving Savanna alone in her bedroom. Jack better not get too comfortable because there wasn’t a chance in hell that Griffin would leave his fiance?e alone for long.
“Come to think of it, I guess no one has ever asked me how many people I’ve saved.” Jesse shrugged and swiped his free hand over his damp hair. He’d managed to sneak in a quick shower without waking his sleeping beauty before coming down for the coffee pick-me-up and seeing if there were any developments.
“Weird, right?” Jack sat on the hearth of the fireplace and warmed his hands near the flames. “Every asshole’s life I take, I count that as a bare minimum of three saves.”
“Really?” Jesse smiled, probably for the first time in twenty-four hours, in light of what they’d all been through.
“Yeah, I figure the odds would be in my favor that the bad guy would’ve, at least, killed three people had I not taken him out. So, when you do the math, it adds up.”
“You a betting man?” Jesse held the lip of his mug close to his mouth, a swirl of steam hitting his face before he took a heavy gulp, welcoming the burn as it slid down his throat. It was the kick in the nuts he needed to wake up and get his head back in the game.
“I only place bets if it’s a sure thing, and never with Griffin. Learned the hard way.” Another casual shrug from the man as if they weren’t carrying the world on their shoulders.
Not that I even thought about the danger we’re facing while I plowed into my wife this morning.
Brian. Fucking Banker Boy Brian. He hadn’t slept with Ella. Never had his cock or his tongue between his woman’s thighs.
The moment she’d shared that news, he’d nearly lost his control and split Ella apart in his desire to have his way with her. He’d had to fight like all hell to calm down the animal inside him before he’d touched her upstairs.
“Wait, what?” Jesse blinked as he replayed what Jack had said. “Why won’t you place bets with Griffin?”
Jack’s smirk had Jesse thinking about Griffin’s coin toss. Heads or tails. Who’d stay back on the jet in Albania with the women to protect them, and who’d join the op with Sydney. Griffin had won the toss-up to stay. “Two heads on the coin, right?”
Jack nodded. “I haven’t told Gray yet that Carter borrowed the coin to flip for the Alpha One spot with Gray.”
The guys all had call signs, nicknames from their Army days, but they’d decided on their flight to Albania it’d be easier to number themselves. They’d gone with Alpha Team and ranked everyone based on their respective Army rank when retiring. Gray had served longer than Carter, but Carter had insisted he was still better qualified as team leader out on ops. After some back-and-forth, Griffin had casually tossed Carter the coin to flip for the spot.
“Well, hell.” Jesse smiled for a second time that morning. And maybe all that tension relief with Ella really had been what the doctor, aka his wife, had ordered.
Wife. He kept forgetting the ceremony wasn’t real. And worse, that Ella’s parents knew the truth. From what A.J. had said, Beckett’s daughter had been as broken-hearted at that news as Ella’s father. My dad, though, fuck my dad.
According to A.J., when he’d gone over to Jesse’s parents’ place to explain the situation and the danger involved, his father had hissed, Always causing trouble. Guess he didn’t change after all.
And Jesse’s smile quickly dissolved at the thought.
“You look spooked all of a sudden. You good?” Jack stood and began putting on his black leather gloves.
Jesse sipped his coffee and forced a nod. “Right as fucking rain.”
“Suuuure.” Jack came up next to him and slapped a gloved hand to his back. “And I’m not running on coffee and the bitter memories of my ex-wife hating my guts.” He removed his hand from Jesse’s back and stretched one of his gloves as if they were a tight fit. “At least Ella won’t be your ex-ex. Since the marriage isn’t real.” He peeked at Jesse as if checking to see if he’d hit a nerve. “Unless you two plan to stay together?”
Before Jesse could summon a response mentally or verbally, he spotted Ella coming down the stairs. Light-colored jeans that had a ’90s vibe to them and a nude-colored turtleneck tucked in at the waist. Once downstairs, her cowboy boots clicked against the wood floors as she made her way into the living room. “Morning, Jack,” she greeted, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears. It’d been in a bun at one point last night, but her locks now lay in soft waves over her shoulders and brushed the tops of her breasts.
Jesse’s attention remained on her full tits, grateful her nipples weren’t poking against the fabric since she was swiping her hands up and down her arms as though she was “nippy.”
“Morning, Ella,” Jack returned, suddenly pulling out his Texas roots by tipping his ball cap like a Stetson.
Did Jack even know how to ride a horse? Just because he was from Texas didn’t make him a cowboy, he supposed.
“I’ll be freezing my ass off outside if you need me.” Jack set his hat back in place and left the living room, and once he was gone, Jesse gathered Ella into his arms as if they hadn’t just shared body heat not too long ago.
“You left me alone. Almost shocking,” she said into his chest before lifting her chin to search his gaze.
“You’re safe here, but I don’t think we’ll be at this place much longer,” he replied, sliding his hand up along her silhouette before sweeping her hair over her shoulder.
He cupped her cheek, and she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. They hadn’t discussed the call with A.J. or the fact her family knew the truth or any of the other problems they were facing since they’d gone to bed earlier, but he supposed they would need to face reality soon.
At least he wasn’t in a wall-hitting mood anymore, thanks to Ella.
“Any news?” she softly asked, peeling her eyes open to find his gaze.
“Not sure yet.” He gathered some of her hair now at her back into his hand, twisted it around his knuckles, and lightly tugged, tipping her mouth up before stealing a kiss. He was worried that as soon as the team made an appearance and discussed their lack of leads, his mood would grow foul again.
“Mmm.” She pressed her lips to his palm after their kiss and brushed her mouth over the inside of his hand.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Sydney’s voice had Ella’s palms sliding up Jesse’s chest while her shoulders fell, clearly disappointed they were no longer alone.
He slowly released her and turned to see that both Sydney and Zoey had joined them in the living room. Dark jeans. Red tops. Had they matched on purpose?
“We think we stumbled upon something that might help us,” Sydney announced as she maneuvered around him and Ella to get to the table littered with tech devices.
Zoey crossed her arms over her red fleece sweater, her expression about as unreadable as Carter’s usually was. And yet, since she’d arrived, Jesse had caught glimpses of Carter’s defenses slipping while in her presence.
It was understandable though. Being the one to walk away when a teammate didn’t was a fate worse than death. No Ranger, soldier, Marine, sailor, SEAL, or the like ever wanted to be in that position.
In Carter’s case, his work with the CIA also cost him his wife. He’d been to hell and back, and he was somehow still walking. Jesse’s greatest nightmare was to suffer the same fate, which was the main reason he’d kept his distance from Ella over the years.
There wasn’t a chance in this life or the next that Jesse would survive the loss of Ella. But he refused to let himself imagine any scenario that didn’t result in her being over a hundred when dying of natural causes. And he had to go first. No alternative.
Their life together cruised through his mind now. Snapshots of a future for them he’d never allowed himself to visualize before filled his head. He brought a hand to his chest to try and make sense of the strange feeling those thoughts had stirred up. Was that what peace felt like?
“Did you hear me?” Sydney cocked her head, and at the feel of Ella’s hand on his back, Jesse blinked and reset his focus to the present.
“Sydney and I believe we can get to Zoran through his wife. Well, because of his wife’s murder.” Zoey’s lips matched her fleece, and knowing Ella, she’d called it Christmas red. Or candy apple red. “This whole thing is in motion because she died and he survived, right?”
Don’t remind me.
“There’s nothing Yuri loves more than a client out for revenge. According to our sources, that is. Given what happened to his parents, it makes sense for the retribution-angle to hit closer to home with him. So, Yuri accepting the assignment from Zoran fits.”
Jesse had always considered the op last year a failure because Zoran’s wife had been killed. He’d been so furious about what happened that he would have left the CIA regardless of Ella’s decision not to marry Brian.
Had Jesse known Zoran survived the shooting, he would have hunted him down long ago to prevent the entire situation from spiraling into the colossal disaster that it now was.
He’d have snuffed the life from Zoran while in a coma if he’d had to, taken no chances the fucker would wake and seek revenge. And so help Jesse, if Thatcher also knew the prick had been alive all that time, being kept in hiding by his people, that’d be one more nail in Thatcher’s coffin.
“What is it? What aren’t you saying?” He didn’t know the woman at all, but there was something in Zoey’s eyes that he was picking up on, and he’d take her theory over no leads at all.
“She’s quiet because she doesn’t have all the facts.” Carter’s rumbly voice from behind had Jesse turning to see Carter and Gray standing at the edge of the room like they were waiting for an invitation to join them.
“What we have is better than nothing,” Zoey remarked, and Carter kept his focus on Jesse without offering her his attention.
“And what is it that you have?” Jesse prompted, wanting to be clued the fuck in.
Carter swiveled his gaze past Jesse, presumably to focus on Zoey before speaking. “They think Dragan, Zoran’s brother, may have set up Zoran. Possibly cut a deal with Aleksa and Bulgarian Intelligence as well. Or just the Bulgarians.”
Zoran’s brother? Jesse turned to the side so he could look back and forth between his teammates. And for now, he supposed that included Zoey.
“I’ve listened to enough crime podcasts to know family members are usually at the top of the suspect list,” Ella shared, which had Jesse squeezing her gently, hating she was involved in all this. And also, since when did she listen to crime podcasts?
“What would be his motivation?” Jesse asked. “We assumed the brother may have been somehow connected to the business before I shot Zoran, but from what we can tell now, Aleksa is running the show, and the main outcome of Zoran and his wife’s shootings was that Dragan got . . .” Ohh. Jesse looked up to see Zoey nodding as if confirming where his thoughts had trailed off to. “You think Zoran’s brother wanted the kid? His nephew?”
Zoey pointed toward one of the laptops in response. “I won’t go into detail how we know, but?—”
“Because she can’t,” Carter hissed. “Because she doesn’t have facts. This is all speculation.”
Zoey shot him a sharp look, but Carter didn’t back down. Hell, the man didn’t so much as move a muscle from what Jesse could tell. Stone cold again. How hard did he have to work to keep his emotions in check around this MI6 officer?
“Just tell me.” I need to hear it, whatever it is. If there was a chance they could use the information to help get to their targets, then damn it, they had to do it.
“We believe Zoran’s wife was having an affair with Dragan. Well, a while ago, at least,” Sydney jumped in to continue their theory. “I think the kid is Dragan’s son, not his nephew. Not that Zoran knows that.”
Didn’t see that coming. “Why would Dragan want the mother of his child dead?” Gray interjected, drawing Sydney’s attention. “If they had a kid together, why arrange for her death?”
So, he was on the same page of disbelief as Carter? And Jesse fell somewhere in between. He wasn’t sure what to think or if this news would ultimately help them get to either Zoran or The Chechen, but he’d listen.
“Sadly, it doesn’t take much effort to list reasons why Dragan might want the mother dead,” Sydney went on, shifting her focus to Jesse as if she’d already argued too much with Gray and was done with him. “It could also be that the brother made a deal with Aleksa. Aleksa was Zoran’s right-hand man. He may have wanted Zoran dead to take over the business, but the plan would only work with the wife out of the picture.” She paused to let her words sink in. “Thatcher lied to you, if you haven’t figured it out. The wife wasn’t innocent. She was as crooked as her husband and very involved in their organization.”
Well, that wasn’t a shock—Thatcher lying. Nothing would surprise Jesse anymore when it came to that man, not unless he’d done something saintly.
“But would Dragan go to such great lengths to raise his son himself? Kill his own brother? The mother of his child?” Jesse thought about his own father, and a shiver rolled down his spine.
“You see, there are too many holes in their theory.” Carter folded his arms tight across his chest. “And where’s the DNA test to prove any of this?” When no one responded, he huffed out, “Exactly.”
“Is it so hard for you to believe Dragan only wanted the best for his son? And he wanted to raise him, not send him off to some boarding school?” Zoey stood before Carter and placed her hand on his chest. Carter dipped his chin to look at her as if she were insane for touching him. “Is it possible he wasn’t like Zoran, and he didn’t want two criminals taking care of his only child?”
Carter leaned closer to her, drawing his face near hers. “Are you suggesting he did the right thing? That his actions were justified?”
“No, of course not. But some people do crazy things for the people they love.” Zoey’s voice cracked under Carter’s vicious stare. A bit surprising she’d allowed him to get under her skin after remaining strong all night. Well, all morning.
“And some people are just plain crazy,” Carter coldly remarked.
“Maybe we should all take a step back,” Ella spoke up. “Literally.”
Carter swiveled his focus toward Ella, and, lucky for him, lost the growly-look because team leader or not, the only man allowed to snarl at his woman would be Jesse, right before he ravaged her in bed.
“Even if any of this is true,” Gray began as Carter took a step back from Zoey, which had her letting go of a breath, “how does that help us?”
Sydney and Zoey eyed Gray at the same time. “We do what Thatcher did. Leak the intel,” Zoey announced. “Plant seeds of doubt in Zoran’s mind that his own flesh and blood tried to murder him. That his brother, and possibly Aleksa, set him up and turned him over to Bulgarian Intelligence,” she went on, her British accent growing a bit thicker as she spoke that time. “And Zoran will have no choice but to go to his brother. Maybe Aleksa too. Confront them. He won’t be able to stop himself.”
“Zoran knows Aleksa is being watched and has to assume Dragan is as well. He won’t take that risk,” Gray countered.
“And people also do crazy things when they’re burned by the people they trust,” Zoey said, and Jesse was certain the jab from her was meant for Carter, but Carter didn’t so much as tighten his jaw at her words. No reaction. “My guess is Zoran goes after the one who means the most to him. His brother.” She pursed her lips for a moment. “He’ll go to Austria. And Yuri will know that if Zoran goes there . . . so will we.”
But would they really go to Austria knowing Yuri would be expecting them to? Give the prick time to lay out his own plans for their arrival? Plus, the CIA and MI6 probably wouldn’t be able to fly an unmanned drone over German or Austrian airspace. His team would lose their “eyes in the sky” advantage. Which Yuri will want and anticipate. Shit.
“I need facts. Evidence. Confirmation that any of this is possible. Or that you can even get word to Zoran about this. We can’t whisper in another Bulgarian officer’s ear the way Thatcher did about Jesse being the shooter,” Gray said in a level tone as Carter remained still and silent.
“DGSE didn’t have a problem leaking our presence when we arrived in Paris. Word clearly got to Zoran and Yuri. If French Intelligence can do it, so can we,” Zoey tossed back, ignoring his remark about needing proof.
Jesse cupped the back of his neck, working at the kinks there as he considered the idea, thinking back over the last few days and how everything had unfolded.
Thatcher never wanted Jesse back with the CIA. He’d expected and needed Jesse to stay with Falcon to draw out Carter. All a fucking act, right down to his questions about Ella and the team in the workshop.
And Rochella, damn it. He still wished he’d pummeled Henry, but for Ella’s sake, he’d withheld his anger. But it’d been Thatcher who’d ultimately sent the prick to Alabama, and on the same damn day that he’d given Jesse the Zoran case file.
Thatcher had strategically set up the dominoes because the man knew everything about everyone, and all he had to do was knock one down, and his plans fell the way he’d intended.
So, how the hell were they supposed to stop something already in motion? Thatcher was relentless in taking down his marks, and he’d go to any lengths for justice. But justice came with a price this time—Ella at the center of it all.
Take her to Austria? Could he do that? Place her right in front of their two enemies, one of whom happened to be a man even the best of the best Russian assassins feared?
“Thatcher will do anything to complete a mission,” Jesse said under his breath when another thought struck him. He’ll do anything. Absolutely anything.
The wheels of his mind kept spinning as he struggled to make the dramatic leap he felt coming but hated to admit might be true. But would Thatcher really . . .?
“What is it?” Carter asked, sensing Jesse had stumbled onto something.
“We need Thatcher on the phone. I think he can confirm these theories. Like you said, he had to have known about the wife’s involvement in the business, which means he may know a lot more.” His stomach muscles tensed, and his body shook with anger as he revealed, “I think Thatcher was the second shooter. He’s the one who killed Zoran’s wife.”