Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The day from hell was over, and Roman couldn’t have been happier to see the last twenty-four hours solidly in the rearview mirror.
Bravo Team was on a plane back to the U.S.
, courtesy of Air Force Two. And Natasha had convinced the CIA director to let her assist with the investigation in Israel, much to Wyatt’s dismay, but she’d insisted.
He didn’t like the idea of his wife being there without anyone on the teams for backup, and he didn’t have much faith in the CIA to protect her.
Who could blame him? After all, this was the same Agency that had ordered Harper to sleep with the enemy for weeks for her case.
Roman’s blood still boiled every time he thought about that. He’d tossed and turned all night. Torn off the covers when he’d woken in a deep sweat from a nightmare of Brandon, faceless in his dreams, standing next to Harper with his hand on her baby bump, claiming her child was his.
At four in the morning, he’d been tempted to step onto the small terrace outside of his room buck naked to let the cold air slap him out of his messed-up state of mind.
Part of Roman was relieved POTUS ordered Echo Team to hop onto the next available military flight back home at noon today. He wanted out of Spain. But he also believed their work in Barcelona was unfinished.
It felt like the teams were intentionally being split up, though, and it made him uneasy. CIA Director Spenser had orders for Harper as soon as they arrived, too.
Until the Agency knew for certain that the recovered stalking footage wasn’t an indication she was a target, the director wanted her under lock and key. Their lock and key. She knew too much for her “mind” to fall into the wrong hands.
Roman had no intention of sitting by and letting the CIA take her from him.
Well, take her from the teams . . . but he wasn’t sure he had a choice if she went without a fight.
She hadn’t shown any kind of reaction when the orders were delivered an hour ago at eight a.m. A blank, emotionless expression had sat parked on her beautiful face.
“Natasha is in Tel Aviv. Harper will be taken by spooks when we’re Stateside,” Finn said while handing him a cup of coffee when Roman joined him in the kitchen, “and now we’re being grounded like Bravo.”
As soon as the plane touched down in D.C., Liam would be taking Emily and the kids away until he knew for damn certain whoever had stalked Harper was no longer a threat since they had footage of Liam’s home.
Liam didn’t like leaving the team with an unfinished mission, even though orders had come from the top for Bravo and Echo to back off for now but Luke insisted.
And as for Knox and Adriana, they’d be tucked away at the White House once Air Force Two landed. Knox had no choice. He’d normally argue with his father, but with Adriana pregnant and the bullet hitting a little too close to home, he obeyed the command without a fight.
“Maybe once we get home, you should take Ana back to Bama until this all blows over,” Finn commented as A.J. knelt in front of one of the bags in the living room, packing up.
“I can’t leave you guys.” A.J. shook his head. “We need to find Mauricio’s sister regardless of what POTUS said. We can’t stop tracking leads.”
Harper hadn’t been able to make use of the footage from the USB or pull anything of value off Mauricio’s computer.
Every photo or video of her had been taken in a place that conveniently lacked CCTV footage.
It’d been a dead end. And A.J. was right, Mauricio’s sister was their best lead to find out something.
Hell, even if only to determine if her being in D.C. was or wasn’t a trap.
A.J. stood and set his hands on his hips. He had on his jeans, typical cowboy boots, and a shirt that read: If you can read this, you’re within range, with a target behind it.
“And Ana?” Roman set his forearm on the bar top counter as he studied A.J.
and couldn’t help but be envious of his life.
He had a wife. A kid on the way. A big, happy family back home in Alabama.
No devil for an uncle. “You’re not going to let someone else keep an eye out for her.
And you know if she gets a lead on Mauricio’s sister, pregnant or not, she’ll want in on the hunt.
” It was in Ana’s nature, and A.J. knew that.
“She’ll be safer away from all of this.”
A.J. swiveled his black ball cap backward. “What will be left of the teams, then? I feel like we’re being torn apart. I-I don’t like this.”
Roman looked to Harper’s closed bedroom door where she’d disappeared thirty minutes ago, then swung his gaze to the other closed door that led to the connecting suite where Chris and Wyatt were packing in preparation to leave.
It did feel like they were all being pulled in different directions and damn it, they were stronger together. You take a wolf from the pack, and the risks magnify. And if that’s not a metaphor for my life, he thought darkly.
“I’ll talk to Wyatt,” A.J. finally relented and went in search of Echo One, most likely coming to terms with the fact any one of them could be a target until they knew who the mastermind behind everything was and what their motives were.
Roman took a few sips of his coffee and turned back to the kitchen, where Finn started a new pot. His stomach revolted at the ashy liquid within seconds. He was still feeling off from both getting hit by a car and the circumstances surrounding the op.
Sure, evidence suggested Knox was the primary mark, and the teams were simply a convenient way to get to him and make a splashy statement doing so.
It was public knowledge Knox worked at Scott & Scott along with a team of former servicemen.
The rest of the details were purposefully sparse to prevent nosy reporters from snooping around after Bennett was elected President.
It was possible Ezra had been radicalized and took advantage of his relationship with Harper, and her connection to Knox, to make his moves for whatever group he’d aligned himself with since he left the CIA in 2018.
And he chose Spain because he’d learned about Roman’s uncle and wanted to toss in something else to throw them off.
If Brandon were alive, Roman would throw his name in the mix of people fucking with them, but Natasha had verified he hadn’t had a pulse since July of last year. And although Roman didn’t like Zack, Harper promised he was solid.
So yeah, Ezra’s call to the CIA was most likely part of a greater plan.
He forced a man with a criminal record, who was also loosely tied to Roman because of his uncle, to blow up a car with another body in the trunk, and then Ezra made a clean escape.
The USB containing footage of Harper had Echo looking one way while he lured Bravo to Israel to target Knox.
A genius plan from someone who’d once been a CIA agent, and Ezra would know the ins and outs of how to pull something like that off. This was most likely the “chatter” the CIA picked up, but they got it wrong. There wouldn’t be a terrorist attack on American soil.
And yet . . . Roman struggled to buy the story.
It felt too easy, too clean, too personally directed at Bravo and Echo, and not just about going after the President’s son.
If Roman hadn’t been betrayed so many times by people he’d trusted in his life, perhaps he wouldn’t jump to the worst-case scenarios.
But his parents had lied to him. His uncle was the kind of man that even mobs feared. A Teamguy whom Bravo and Echo Teams had trusted with their lives on countless ops had been a traitor disguised as a patriot. And time and time again, they’d faced corrupt and crooked Feds.
And then there was Roman. Every time he looked at his reflection, he felt like he was betraying the very man he’d vowed to be when he first earned his trident.
He’d lied to his teammates multiple times since 2019 about his random trips. Even three weeks ago, he’d disappeared for a weekend. He’d said he was visiting a guy from his old platoon when instead his uncle had ordered him to return to Spain.
Luciano had forced Roman to interrogate some Russian mobster in Madrid.
After an hour, Roman had taken a break, his stomach sick from it all, and when he returned, the guy was dead.
Shot point-blank in the forehead. And, of course, his uncle tasked him with burying the body—a camera on him the entire time as blackmail.
Get any ideas about talking, and I’ll send the footage to the Russians or the police. A coin toss, his uncle had said with his signature fuck-you wink.
Luciano had an entire collection of video footage chronicling every illegal deed he’d forced on Roman, which he threatened to use against him at any time. Roman didn’t follow orders to keep himself safe, though. He did it to protect others. And Harper would still hate him for it.
“You’re going somewhere dark, I can tell. What kind of mood are you in? Wall-hitting or glass-breaking?”
Roman lifted his eyes to find Finn’s worried gaze.
Finn had his own demons, ones he rarely talked about, but he’d confided in Roman, even when Roman hadn’t been able to do the same.
“I’m pretty sure you know.” Roman set down the coffee and planted his palms on the counter.
“You need to be a bit more specific.”
“About Harper. About us,” he said in a low voice, shooting a quick look at her room before his gaze journeyed back to his best friend.
“Oh.” Finn lifted his eyes to the ceiling, searching for what to say.
“Right. So you know how hard it’s going to be for me to go into her room in a minute and tell her the truth about me.
” And he had to do it. He had to finally unveil his secrets before she was potentially whisked away by the CIA, and he was pulled in another direction—toward his uncle.
It wasn’t fair she knew only bits and pieces without learning the whole story.
It wouldn’t change the fact he’d have to be the lone wolf, though.
He wouldn’t bring the pack down with him.
“And what truth is that?” Finn asked, his words tentative, his voice raspy as though he were persuading a frightened animal to come closer.
“Whatever it is,” he added when Roman remained silent as he debated what to say next, “you know we’ll follow you to hell if you ask us to, same with Harper.
So, whatever you’re worried about, it won’t change anything for us. ”
And that was what terrified him, that they would follow him to hell, which was where his uncle sat on his throne.
“You know she loves you, right? You’re no idiot,” Finn kept going, and Roman did his best to remain tall and not slump at his words. “She’ll have your back. So will we.”
“I know,” he said softly. “And I appreciate your offer to follow me to hell, but that doesn’t mean I have to let you.”