Chapter 6 #3
“I’ll dig deep into West, Jenkins, and Vance,” Darius said. “I’ll keep tabs on the underground. Wyatt in Yellowstone will do the same. And we could use Riven's help.”
"She'll be happy to," McQuire said.
"We'll reach out to our contacts in DC. Quietly. No promises," Fenmore added.
Savvy nodded slowly. “Thank you. Both of you.”
“You got it,” Darius said. “But heads-up—now that you’re flagged? The people coming aren’t gonna play by the rules.”
Patch glanced toward the window. “Good. Neither do we.”
The screen went black.
“Jesus,” McGuire muttered. “I need the room. Just me, Patch, and my sister.”
Cross and Stone didn’t need to be told twice.
They shuffled out faster than speeding bullets.
Savvy didn’t know them as well as she obviously knew her brother or Patch, but she knew them well enough to know they understood when McGuire needed a moment, and it wasn’t their time to question it.
They’d get their opportunity later and McGuire would fill them in when appropriate. He always did.
McGuire paced in front of his desk. “For the record, I knew you were behind the 73. I never said it out loud, not even to Patch, at least not in words. That’s why the guys took it to heart.
We don’t keep secrets and they’d asked me point-blank if I knew who was handing down those directives.
If I knew why our team was the one being assigned. ”
“I didn’t always get to pick the teams. Sometimes—many times, especially when it came to you—Vance or West made that call and I was told you were the best ones for the job.
When I looked at it objectively, taking out the fact you’re my brother and Patch was either my boyfriend or my ex, I had to agree,” she said. “I often wondered what you knew.”
“Probably too much.” McGuire huffed, falling back into his chair. He swiveled back and forth. “Four out of five of our last missions were for the 73.” He pointed his finger at Savvy. “I’ve always hated not being able to tell my men that the orders were coming from my sister, especially Patch.”
“I always knew.” Patch cocked his head. “And I knew it was the 73 that brought me home ten years ago,” Patch said softly.
She turned and stared at him. “That was my first assignment. But you couldn’t have possibly known Division 73 had anything to do with that mission. Your team wasn’t part of it.”
“I was stitching someone up in the field,” Patch said. “Damn man thought he was gonna die, so he told me what the op was really about and who handed down the order. Unfortunately, I couldn’t save that soldier.”
“That’s how you knew to find me when you got caught behind enemy lines.” Savvy sighed.
“Yup.” Patch nodded.
“You both know there’s a whole lot more to all this, right?” Savvy stared at her hands.
“I figured.” Patch ran his fingers across his scruffy face.
“What is it, sis?” McGuire asked.
“Don’t freak. But it involves Gunner Watson.” She held her brother’s gaze.
“As in our first operations leader from Task Force Sentinel? The one in charge of the mission you brought me home from ten years ago?” Patch asked.
“The very same one,” she whispered.
“What the hell does he have to do with this?” McGuire slammed his fist on the desk.
“We haven’t seen him or spoken to him in eight years.
He moved up the ranks and was replaced. God, that mission was so fucked up.
Gunner was… I don’t know what he was. At one time, I thought we were tight, then everything went to hell.
And on that mission. I can’t even describe what happened.
It was like things were fine, then they weren’t.
Patch was all of a sudden… just gone. It was like he vanished. ”
“Not exactly what happened.” Patch ran his fingers through his hair.
“People got injured. Civilians. Military personnel. I did what I was trained to do. I tried to save them. Next thing I knew, I was on the wrong side of the line, staring at the enemy, no friendlies anywhere in sight, and my comms had gone dark.”
“It was fucked up and Gunner… Jesus… it felt like he left you behind,” McGuire muttered.
She nodded because she didn’t disagree, but back then, she hadn’t had the clearance she did now.
She wasn’t the face of the 73, she was simply an operative.
She hadn’t known the facts. The details of the mission.
If she had, she wouldn’t have worked so closely with him—or at least that’s what she told herself.
“He shifted over to the 73 right after I did, but then someone, I’m not sure who, might have been West, who was the director of the 73 at the time, or it could’ve been someone in the DoD, plucked him from us about two months after I was named the director of the 73.
That said, I’ve heard rumblings of him being part of Black Ledger.
” She tapped her temple. “I’ve got names, dates, ops, all stored up here.
Is there any way I can have another meeting with Darius?
One without the rest of the team. I know that’s shitty, but—”
“Not shitty, sis,” McGuire said. “I’ve kept them in the dark about some of what I knew about the 73, you, and even rumblings of Black Ledger.
Maybe someday I’ll come clean about some of this stuff, but they’ve been through some shit.
That last mission, it wasn’t the 73, so I don’t feel the need to go blubbering about it right now.
And Stone and Cross weren’t on the two missions with us with Gunner, so I’m good with keeping it under wraps for now. ”
“You’ve got me worried that a couple other missions I did with either the Green Berets or Delta Force that came under the 73 that went to shit were sabotaged by some rogue agent now,” Patch said. “Could someone be after me? Could we have part of this wrong?”
“Might as well have Darius look into it. Especially since Gunner’s name was tossed out there and we both know he’s not your biggest fan,” McGuire said. “You both have to be thinking the same thing I am.”
“That Black Ledger wants Division 73 gone, or at least blamed for certain things so it can continue running whatever bullshit it’s doing.
Manipulating ops, organizations, and tipping the power scales to suit its agenda.
” Patch eased into the chair, taking her hand.
“Whoever it is, knows the players inside the 73. Knows how it’s run.
Knows the leadership. How the teams are formed. ”
“And knows my sister is the face, even though that’s supposed to be a well-kept secret. They know how she operates.” McGuire ran his fingers across his jaw.
“Worse, they know I made you all ghosts, which means they know I’m here,” she said softly.
“If they offered that contract on my head, they fed them that intel, but I never said where I burned you to. The bayou could mean just about anywhere in certain parts of Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana. I made sure I was vague in that. I always am. The fewer people who know, the better, and I was the only one who knew of your location.”
“Who inside of the 73 knew we were alive?”
“Me, Vance, West, and Hale,” she said. “My entire career with the 73 has been with Vance and West. Hale came to me about six years ago. He’s solid. And his dying words were they knew.”
“As in the enemy knew you were coming.” McGuire nodded.
“Or maybe it was someone who knew something else.” Patch squeezed her hand tighter, as if to hang on for dear life.
“Maybe it was a warning. Maybe it was to say that the rest of the team knew, and they ambushed him. Maybe they killed him because they knew you were onto… something bigger… something they didn’t want you near. ”
“That’s a stretch,” she said softly. “But Hale did know I was looking wider than Jenkins. However, no one else on the team did.”
“It’s interesting that there is a hit out on the entire team.
” McGuire leaned forward, clasping his hands together.
“Since you did a sweep with Booker of the area, that tells me that whoever this is, they must have the bodies, and once they kill my sister, which we won’t let happen, but for the sake of argument, let’s play that one out.
” He cleared his throat. “Once they collect Savvy, the spin she’s talking about will end the 73. ”
“That will close the books on many of our shadow programs,” Savvy said. “It will cause Congress to look at those more closely, but it will also allow something like Black Ledger to fester because we won’t have something like the 73 to do the dirty work—legitimately.”
“What a clusterfuck.” McGuire rubbed his temples. “I’ve never been so happy to be out of the military.”
“You and me both, brother. But we need a plan, because I can’t keep Savvy safe if I’m constantly dodging bullets from hitmen I don’t understand and I can’t see coming.” Patch held up his hand. “I know what I said about bringing trouble to my door, but I’m rethinking that plan.”
“No. We kind of need to do that, but not until we know more, and that means giving Darius, his team, and Riven a little more time.” McGuire sighed. “How do you feel about going back to that shack you used to live in a few months ago?”
Patch groaned. “If I had to, sure, but Savvy’s gonna hate it. All I got is a saggy double bed and gator meat for food.”
“Ew, gross.” Savvy stared at him. “You seriously ate an alligator?”
“He wrestled them himself. I’m shocked he didn’t die.” McGuire chuckled. “Grab some supplies and head upriver. Make sure you bring comms and stay in touch. And whatever you do, don’t get into it with old man Rodney. He damn near shot your head off when we first got here.”
“Rodney and I are best buddies these days.” Patch grinned.
“Take the boat. I’ll drive the ATV up there later today. We’ll regroup over snake for dinner.” McGuire winked at Savvy.
“Like hell.” She stood. “You better bring me something decent to eat, or I’ll feed you both to whatever lives in that swamp.” She grabbed Patch by the shirt. “Let’s go before I beat my brother senseless.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Patch paused at the door. “Oh, and McGuire?”
“What?”
“I’ll take good care of your—”
“Don’t even say it.” McGuire wadded up some paper and tossed it at Patch’s head.
“You two are like old grannies.” She tugged Patch down the hallway and out the front door, scanning the street for people and cars before jumping into his Jeep. “Patch?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not judging too harshly about the 73. About being so secretive about my job. About being… me.”
He opened the Jeep door and climbed in. “I like you just the way you are, and as far as the rest of it goes? I could’ve confronted you.
I could’ve told you what I suspected… what I knew.
But what would’ve been the point? You had a job to do, and I had orders to follow.
Sometimes they aligned, other times, not so much.
All part of why we walked away from each other five years ago. ”
“And now?”
“I’m not walking,” he said.
“No, you’re still hiding.”
He leaned closer. “But so are you. The only question is, when you no longer have something to hide from, will you run?”