Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“What happened to your face?” Liam pointed his finger in Asher’s direction.
Asher mumbled a few curses under his breath and moved past him to grab his laptop out of the office he shared with Owen. They were three doors down from Jessica’s room.
Still no word from her. No response to any of the texts he’d sent since their return to the States.
Radio fucking silence.
And it made everything inside of him hurt. He wanted to be there for her. Needed to. But if he interjected himself into her life when she didn’t want his help, he’d be selfish, he guessed.
Jessica was the strongest woman he’d ever met. She’d be okay. He sure as hell hoped so, at least.
“I’ve never seen a bruise on you, mate. I thought you were made of steel or something.” Liam wasn’t planning on letting this go, apparently.
“I got into a fight.” He slumped down into his chair and powered on the laptop. “Why are you here so early?”
“Looking for the wanker who took our girl. Why are you at the office before the sun is up?” Liam eyed him.
“Same.” He glanced out toward the hall at the sound of other voices. “Who else is here?”
“The rest of Bravo.” He lifted his palms and tucked his hands beneath the armpits of his white tee.
“Where’s Echo?” He leaned back into his seat and rubbed his face, the area swollen from the free shots he’d allowed the first fighter to get off last night.
What had he been thinking, going to Angelo’s club?
He hadn’t been thinking, he supposed.
“Luke sent Echo Team to Detroit an hour ago.”
“What the fuck is in Detroit?”
“An old al-Nusra cell the Feds thought died off when Yasser Hadeed was killed. The FBI are staked out there now, so something must be up.”
Asher shoved back from his desk. “Why aren’t we going instead?”
“We’ve been grounded. Luke didn’t tell you?” Liam’s light-green eyes narrowed.
“I was busy,” he nearly growled out.
“Yeah, uh, getting the shit kicked out of you?” He faked a laugh. “Was that on purpose? Because like I said, I’ve never known you to walk away from a fight banged up.”
He didn’t know what to say. He’d sound like he’d lost his mind if he explained he’d purposefully gotten hit to relieve some of his stress.
“Back to Detroit—why are we grounded? What do I need to know?” He veered his focus to Luke, now in the doorway.
“Rutherford called. He doesn’t want us leaving New York. Stuck here until further notice. He’s worried we won’t be able to sit on the sidelines.” Luke leaned into the doorframe with folded arms.
Not a big surprise, considering their team’s history.
“Where were you last night?” he asked. “I called after I dropped my parents off at Jessica’s.”
Fighting.
“Yeah, mate, where were you?” Liam smirked, his eyes swerving to Asher’s knuckles. They had gotten banged up when he’d rammed his fist against the concrete wall back at the hospital in Berlin, but now they were a hell of a lot worse despite having them taped last night.
“You weren’t where I think you were?” Luke strode into the room and moved up alongside Liam, studying Asher the way Liam had.
“Can we focus on what’s going on?” Asher rose, uneasy. Maybe he shouldn’t have come into the office this morning.
He’d fought until his knuckles had bled, and then he’d found himself parked on a barstool, drinking until they closed.
Now it was six, still dark out, and he hadn’t slept at all.
He rubbed his eyes. “What do we know about this cell in Detroit?”
“More than twenty guys were arrested around the time Yasser Hadeed was taken out, but the Feds couldn’t get the charges to stick on five of them,” Luke began. “Since Samir reached out to one of Yasser’s enforcers, the FBI started tracking all of the remaining people connected to Yasser.”
“They have any credible intel these five guys are back in the game?” Asher asked.
“My buddy told me this intel as a courtesy because of Jessica, but surely he’s under orders not to tell anyone jack shit about Germany.
So, other than this lead, I don’t know anything else.
” Luke’s brows lowered at the mention of Berlin.
The memory still clinging to his eyes like a dark, hovering shadow.
“But if you’d answered your phone last night, you would’ve known all this. ”
“And if you’d left a message, maybe I would’ve called back,” Asher snapped, too tired to go to bat with Luke.
“Never needed to before.” Luke scratched at his stubble.
And Asher had never mixed it up with his past since joining the team three years ago. Fighting was his drug, and last night might have been the gateway to more to come.
A cold bristle of air—was that a fucking shiver?—blew up his spine. “I’m square. Talk to me.”
“The boys are going to stay in Detroit. Keep a low profile so the Feds don’t sniff them out. I don’t want to be left in the dark.” Luke briefly glanced at Liam. “If these guys are working for Samir, we should know within a few weeks.”
Weeks?
Luke rounded the desk and slapped a hand to his shoulder, and Asher expelled a breath. He could smell the alcohol floating with it.
“You’ve been drinking, too?” Luke cocked his head to the side. “Maybe you should get some rest and come back later.”
“No. I need to be here. I need to make myself useful.” Asher fell back into his chair and scooted closer to his desk. “A thought crossed my mind, though, which is why I came in so early.”
“Yeah?” Luke asked.
“When I was on that op in Aleppo, Ara didn’t have much money.
Jessica paid Ara’s way for years to help her get on her feet with her new identity.
” The word sorry hung on the edge of his tongue again at the mention of the op—sorry for keeping his past with Jessica a secret.
Sorry for other things he’d never be able to say.
“I was going to check it out now, but I’m betting Samir didn’t have much, either. ”
“You thinking Ara funneled some of the cash to her family back in Syria? To Samir?” Liam asked.
“No, or else he would’ve found her sooner,” Asher replied.
“Unless he already knew about her, but he didn’t have a reason to hurt her before,” Luke interjected.
Asher tapped at his computer keys. “I’m doubting Samir or his mom fell into a pile of money in the last six years. Not enough to afford a trip to a Paris hospital.”
“We have a lot to try and figure out,” Luke said. “You think you can trace the money trail from the hospital and see who footed the bill?”
Asher turned to Liam. “You or Owen might have more luck looking into it since we have to go through back channels without Command noticing.”
“I’ll get Owen. Knox and I are still working on ideas to track down Egon.”
Asher’s mind went back to Berlin, to the hospital—to the water jugs scattered on the floor. His raw knuckles burned with the need to hit again. “The Feds get Samir’s men to say anything?”
“They’re not talking. We expected that, though. Guys like them never roll on their group. They’d rather die.” Luke hissed a low breath. “But I’m following up on a few leads. We’ll figure this out.” Luke knocked on the desk two times. “I promise.”
“How’s Jessica?” Asher asked after Liam left the office to speak with Owen.
He shook his head. “I’ve never seen her like this.”
His spine bowed at the news. “She in pain?”
“Pretty sure it’s more mental than physical. But, uh, Eva will keep bringing Lara over to her place and, hopefully, it’ll lift her spirits to see her niece.”
“She needs time,” he recited the words he’d been repeating in his head. “She’ll be back to herself once she’s recovered.”
“Yeah, I hope so.”
There was more Luke wasn’t telling him. He could feel it.
Once Luke left his office, Asher grabbed his phone to message Jessica.
His fingers hovered over the screen, but he couldn’t bring himself to type. She hadn’t responded to his drunken texts yet, and it was still pretty damn early in the morning to be messaging her now.
He’d wait. Give her the time he knew she needed.
She’d been through a lot, but she’d be back barking orders at the office in no time.