Chapter Twenty-Eight Audrey
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Audrey
I replayed Alex’s words, realizing this man was only at the bottom of the ocean, ship sunk, because his ex was anchoring him there the way Mitch was trying to drag me down, too.
“Beth knew Will Hobbs?” Reed cut through my thoughts, moving toward Alex as if he might physically remove the words from Alex’s mouth, forcing him to take them back. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I wish I was.” Alex stole a quick look around Reed at me before continuing, “Beth used to work with him. They were friends. He was almost fifteen years older than her, and she told me he was more of a mentor-type figure, but I started questioning if they were having an affair.” Those words came across as painful and bitter to hear as they had to have been to say.
“Then, in 2018, Will went off the grid, and Beth never mentioned him again. It was like he’d become—well, like a ghost.” He peered at Chandler, probably waiting for him to shoot down that idea.
“Although Will went by the Ghost back in his SEAL days,” Chandler finally said, “he never became one himself. Or a ghost operative for Stratos—just their liaison. He betrayed our country and was placed in a CIA black site prison in 2018, but now he’s dead.
I confirmed with my own eyes that fact in 2022.
And when Echo Team puts a man down, he doesn’t get back up. ”
“I’m guessing his death had nothing to do with Stratos and their revival, or you’d have led with that,” Ryder remarked.
“No, and believe me, after Mitch’s transport was hit on the way to the safe house, I dug deep into Hobbs’s past to ensure it didn’t, considering we found out in 2018 Hobbs was being blackmailed.
” Chandler reached for his tie on his desk and began wrapping it around his hands, staring at it, not us.
“And if Hobbs had any secret files hidden about Stratos or our current teams, we never recovered them.”
“What about Bravo One’s sister? Could she be of help?” Alex asked. “If she worked with Will Hobbs, maybe she can shed some light on—”
“She didn’t know anything about Stratos.
She wasn’t allowed to know details about the previous program, or that one even existed.
Per President Rydell’s orders. It was safer that way.
I still talked to her after Mitch alerted me to the fact Stratos was active again.
Hell, I spoke with everyone on the president’s SEAL teams. Nothing useful. First they’d heard that name.”
“Well, Mitch obviously knows something we don’t, and he’s still alive to share it. And we have half the key to unlocking whatever evidence he must have on Stratos,” Reed pointed out.
“This whole thing reminds me of what happened nine years ago, when Bravo Team found out Hobbs was a traitor the first time.” Chandler tossed his tie, shaking his head. “Hobbs’s fingerprints feel all over this, but I don’t know how that’s possible. I thought we were done with him.”
“Well, whoever’s working with Mitch now must have known Hobbs back when Stratos was first operational.
Could be Rhett. Arlo, if he’s not really dead, too.
Anyone in plain sight, even,” Reed said.
“All I know for certain is, we need to get to Mitch before whoever’s running Stratos 2. 0 does. We’re both after him now.”
“And you have one part of the key, and Mitch now has the other, which means Mitch needs you as much as you need him.” Not the most encouraging words from the secretary of defense.
“If Rhett was part of the OG Stratos, then why work with Mitch now? Why come out of hiding as a fisherman in the Maldives?” Alex asked. “Money really the motivator?”
“We’ll figure it out, and I’ll have my granddaughter go over all the files.
She was working something else pretty big last year when this was going down, so we didn’t pull her in,” Chandler said.
“If we missed something, she’ll find it.
” He focused on me next. “In the meantime, the priority is keeping Audrey and that second key from getting into the wrong hands.” He didn’t bother to say goodbye. The screen simply went black.
“Well, shit,” Reed muttered.
You could say that again. “I think I aged ten years from that call,” I muttered under my breath.
“Well, you look good for forty-three.” Ryder gave me a hesitant smile, clearly trying to lighten the mood. “Are you, uh, okay, though?” He reached for my arm. “You actually look a little pale now that I’m—”
“I do feel lightheaded,” I admitted.
“Why don’t you get a bite to eat? You didn’t have breakfast yet.” Ryder gestured with his head toward Reed. “Will you take her to the kitchen and make sure she’s taken care of?”
Reed stepped around Ryder and offered his arm, clearly worried I couldn’t walk without help.
“It’s going to be okay,” Ryder reassured me as I remained frozen, stuck there in shock at everything I’d learned.
I wanted to believe him. To cling to his words as fact, not just hopeful sentiment. But from the sounds of it, Mitch had sucked us deep into hell. And last I checked, no one ever made it out of there alive.