Chapter 16
Austin
Itrusted Gibson with my life, which is why I’d finally agreed to let him talk to Nina. I should’ve known better; his people skills were worse than mine and the tension in his shoulders screamed how much he hated being ordered around by a civilian.
Yet, he’d been on his best behavior at the counter. Something isn’t adding up.
As we walked to the breakroom, the only thing keeping Gibson in check was his loyalty to me.
I urged Gibson into the large breakroom ahead of me. Jay pulled up the rear and shut us in.
G and I walked to opposite sides of the doors and waited.
“What the hell is going on here?” John asked.
He crossed his arms and stared as Jay tossed the business card G had given him onto the table with enough force to make it slide halfway across.
Gibson stood his ground against an angry John. “Sir, I need you to calm down.”
“Mr. Jones, if that’s your name, I’ll calm down when you tell me what the hell you’re doing here harassing my wife and her staff.”
“Stand down, Gibson,” I said. “John—”
“That explains the G,” Jay interrupted me.
I didn’t want things to play out this way. I’m a better officer than this. But you’d never know it from how badly I was fucking things up.
Why did I think we could talk to Nina at Grannie’s without causing a scene?
Thinking it’d be easier talking to Nina here, rather than at the home she shared with her sick grandmother, I’d ignored my familial connection. And opened a can of worms that was best left sealed.
Nina needed less stress in her life, not more. Talking to her here, where she’d feel at home, should’ve provided that.
Should’ve but didn’t, and I’d need to apologize. Again.
Before I could do that, I needed to smooth things over with my uncle.
I had exactly zero expectations of things going well, because my first order of business was to pull rank and put a gag order on John and Jay. I can’t risk more people knowing who we are.
Jay walked deliberately to our side of the table and leaned against the table with his arms crossed.
Under different circumstances, I think G and Jay would’ve been fast friends.
Sharing a case of beer and swapping horror stories about their time in the trenches and comparing ink.
Both men had used their bodies as canvases.
The biggest difference was Jay’s color-covered pale canvas versus Gibson’s black ink on his brown canvas.
“Start talking,” Jay ordered.
I watched for John’s reaction to Jay taking the lead. If he had one, he didn’t show it.
Gibson laughed.
Christ, I’d created a shit show, and it was rolling downhill fast. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long exhale.
“Turn the cameras off,” I ordered.
“What cameras?” Jay asked.
“Don’t insult my intelligence. Turn them off.”
“They’re closed circuit; only authorized personnel at SSI have access,” John said.
“Not good enough. Turn them off,” Gibson ordered.
In a reversal of roles, I chose not to stick to the rule G was desperately trying to enforce.
“Fine, but no one but you two,” I pointed at John and Jay, “will review this recording.”
Crickets. Jay leaned back. John crossed his arms.
“It’s that or we leave and come back with a warrant and take Miss Novak into custody,” Gibson tried playing bad cop.
I pinched the bridge of my nose again, no doubt leaving the skin red.
“John, I need your cooperation before we continue.”
He looked between Gibson and me before saying, “You have it. Only Jay or I will review this meeting.”
His unspoken ‘for now’ lingered in the air.
Trusting my uncle, his word was all I needed.
For now.
“I’m sorry we scared Miss Novak, but we’re investigating a cold case and she may be connected to it.”
All true.
“Investigating?” John asked. “Who do you work for?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“The hell you aren’t.” Jay’s voice carried that calm authority that made men piss their pants as he stepped away from the table and into Gibson’s personal space. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as they stared each other down.
I didn’t know Jay well, but I knew his kind. He’s just like G. This pissing match wouldn’t end unless I put a stop to it.
“Jay, you can’t intimidate him. Please step back.” I made sure he understood that my please didn’t mean it was a request.
“Austin, who do you work for?” John repeated while eyeing me up and down; his scan stopped at my beltline, looking for a gun.
It wasn’t there; I carried it in a shoulder holster.
I squeezed the back of my neck to give my nose a break and sighed. “Gibson?”
“It’s your call.” His eyes never left Jay’s. His arms stayed crossed over his massive chest. The stupid fucking grin he used to intimidate people never left his face.
“You should probably sit,” I said.
John sat. Jay didn’t. Gibson stepped to the side and created space between him and Jay. He wasn’t afraid of Jay, but he didn’t want to piss me off by physically removing my cousin—who’s all but double dog daring him to do it—from his personal space.
“We don’t have all day, Jones with a G,” Jay said with more snark than was necessary.
“Christ, will you both just sit your asses down!”
They followed the order with matching sarcastic grins. I understood Gibson’s, but not Jay’s.
“You’ve probably guessed I don’t work for the logistics department.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Jay said, using G’s words from earlier.
“Jaden,” John warned his son. “Let him finish.”
“Thank you.” I nodded towards G. “This is Ryan Gibson. We work for the government.”
“Which three-letter acronym?” John asked.
I’d expected the question, but had hoped he wouldn’t ask.
“The CIA. They recruited me while I was in the Navy.”
“You’re a fucking CIA agent?” Jay spat out. I couldn’t tell if his ire was directed at the agency or at me.
Probably both.
“Officer, everyone gets it wrong,” I corrected him.
“Does it matter?”
“It does,” Gibson barked.
“Everyone, calm down.” This meeting is migraine inducing. “Jay, please stop antagonizing Gibson. Gibson, please let me handle this. John.”
I looked at my uncle. John leaned forward, his hands folded together on the table.
“So, you’re a CIA officer?” he asked.
“I am. And Miss Novak is a person of interest in a case we’re working.”
“Person of interest? Her background check came back clear.”
“She’s not in trouble, but she’s connected to our case.”
A razor blade would struggle to cut the tension in the room.
“John, I know this comes as a shock—”
John cut me off. “Not really, your logistic supply story never really held up to scrutiny.”
I laughed. Some people would dismiss a small town cop, but I knew better. John was sharp as a tack and calm as fuck, a dangerous combination.
John continued, “Though I never suspected you’d joined the CIA.” He shrugged. “I always figured you’d tell me the truth when you were ready.”
John had been my biggest advocate as I worked my ass off to earn a place in the Naval Academy.
Now he looked disappointed in a way that cut through my thick exterior shell and tore at my heart.
I sat across from John and nodded. I wasn’t ready, but circumstances required that I share anyway.
Jay continued staring down Gibson. They were light and dark mirror images of each other, with their heavily tattooed arms crossed over their chests and scowls on their faces. “I’m guessing your sons suspect too?”
Jay answered for himself, “I never gave it a second thought, but I haven’t been home that long.”
“What about Jamie and Jack?” I wanted to know if it was worth the effort to keep them in the dark.
“They suspect your job is a cover story, but none of us looked into it.”
“You know this information can’t leave this room?”
“I won’t keep this from Mary, especially since it involves Nina.”
Jay added, “I don’t keep secrets from Cate.”
Catelyn Maxwell. Marine. FBI Profiler. Daughter of a three-star general. Jay’s new wife.
“I’m not asking.” This was CIA business, and even accidental loose lips could sink ships, and cost lives.
I let the statement hang in the air.
“I’ll consent, for now,” John said.
“Jaden?”
Instead of answering, Jay asked, “So you’re a Green Beret?”
G nodded, not that he needed to; the insignia was tattooed on G’s left forearm.
“Raider.”
“I know,” Gibson answered.
“Of course you do,” Jay said, leaning back. G mirrored Jay’s actions. A truce settled between them. “I’ll keep your secret, for now,” he echoed his father’s sentiment.
“If you want our help—”
Gibson cut John off. “We don’t.”
John continued unfazed, “As I was saying.” He glanced at Gibson, daring him to interrupt again.
Gibson didn’t. “If you want our help, I’ll need to brief Jamie and Jack.
Depending on how much help you need, I may need to inform the rest of the team.
I assure you, there’s no one I’d rather have in my corner than my team at SSI. ”
Jay added, “I second that.”
“I appreciate the offer, and if something changes, I’ll let you know. For now, the fewer people who know, the better.”
John nodded. “Understood. What’s your business with Nina?”
Gibson barked, “None of your business.”
Jay cracked his knuckles and leaned forward.
“Jesus Christ, Gibson, I need you to back off and let me handle this.”
I trusted the dude and was glad he was helping me with my case, but right now he was making my life a living hell and Satan was tap dancing on my fucking brain.
“Yes, sir.”
“Jay, do me a favor and lean back.”
I wondered if John put up with shit like this at SSI.
“What can you tell us?”
“Nina’s parents went missing two decades ago.”
“She never knew her birth parents,” John said, pre-defending her.
“I believe that, but we need to determine if she’s been told anything about them. She may know more than she realizes.”
“Were they CIA?” John asked.
“Yes.”
“Did it end badly?” Jay asked.
“Very.”
Jay’s nod matched John’s.
“For now, I’d appreciate myself or Jay being with Nina when you question her,” John said.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Gibson open his mouth.
“Gibson,” I warned. It was all I needed to say for him to close his mouth.
John’s grin was subtle. Jay’s wasn’t.
“I’ll accept those terms. For now. She may be more open with someone she knows and trusts present.” One glance at the spec ops guys and I knew John would be the only person I’d let in the room.
I’d hated seeing the fear in Nina’s eyes when Gibson approached her, and Jay and G creating unnecessary tension would only make things worse.
Nina was young and innocent. Clueless.
But not for long. We were about to fill in the blanks of her past, introduce her to parents she didn’t remember, and potentially expose her to danger from men she’d never met.
Men looking for an unidentified treasure linked to her and her parents. Men who’d kill without hesitation to get it.
If they’d heard the rumors, they’d think Nina was the key.
Jay asked, “Is Nina in danger?”
“Not yet. The minute I think she is, I’ll let you know.” I stood.
“Fill me in,” John said.
“You know I can’t.”
John stood and scanned me from head to toe before holding eye contact.
My uncle was used to being in command, but I didn’t work for him. I’d tell him what I could, when I could, and nothing more.
“You’re working off the clock,” he said.
“What makes you say that?”
Jay hid his laugh behind a cough.
“Austin, don’t insult my intelligence,” John threw my words back at me.
“I’ve told you all I can for now.” The phrase ‘for now’ was thrown around a lot during this conversation.
“You should know, someone else came in posing as an insurance investigator and asked to speak with Nina,” John offered.
That explained why Beth was so suspicious of Gibson.
“Why are we just now hearing about this?” Gibson’s chair slid back as he stood to question John.
“Because we didn’t know you were involved until just now,” Jay said, putting his hands on the table and making a show of standing without sending his chair halfway across the room.
“We’ll need the video footage.”
They hesitated, but in the end didn’t argue.
“Just tell me where to send it.” John crossed his arms over his chest. His body language telegraphed a patience his voice didn’t. “But you don’t talk to Nina until I know more.”
“You know you can’t actually stop me, right?”
Gibson chose that moment to speak again. “We can bring her into the office, interrogate her in a steel box.”
It was a stupid attempt to assert dominance, and not only did it fail, it pissed me off. We’ll never treat Nina that way.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. John’s face turned icy. “Can you now?”
“Gibson, shut up.” I glared at Gibson. “I have no intention of making this harder or scarier,” I glared at G again, “than it has to be. Miss Novak is a person of interest as a potential witness, nothing more.”
“Are you so arrogant that it hasn’t occurred to you we could help?”
“I’m sorry, John, but this is above your pay grade.”
My uncle didn’t roll his eyes, but the energy pouring off him was the same sentiment.
“Can you at least tell me if I need to worry about the guy who came in here?”
“I won’t know until I see the video.”
“You’ll have it in five.”
“Thank you.” I shook his hand. Now that the meeting was over, I ordered, “You need to erase this meeting.”
I couldn’t risk the wrong person getting their hands on it.
“Fucking spooks,” Jay said under his breath. “Give me your email; I’ll go help Ma send and delete.”
Thankfully, when Jay approached him, Gibson moved out of the way so he could pass without a confrontation.
“If Nina agrees, I’d like to talk to her before we leave,” I said after giving Jay one of my personal emails.
“I’ll ask her, but I expect you to honor her wishes if she says no.”
“I will.” I wouldn’t like it, but I’d do it. “You can’t tell her we’re CIA,” I reminded him.
“I know. The less she knows, the safer she is.”