the time he spotted Anna to their argument about thirty minutes ago.
“Of all the fucking goatfucks, this has got to be the biggest fucking goatfuck I have ever heard.” He sat back and closed his eyes. “I’m getting too damn old for this.” He rubbed his hands over his face, and Dodger could see he was exhausted. He truly regretted having to put Fast Lane through this. “Anna is Max’s sister. We cannot let her dangle in the wind. You’re sure that she’s on the up and up?”
“Yes. Anna wouldn’t lie to me.”
Fast Lane explained the satellite clips and the police report. “Max said she looked familiar. Wait until he finds out it’s Anna.”
“You’re going to tell him. Is that wise?”
“You know what this team has been through. We can’t keep them in the dark. Max will manage himself, or he’ll answer to me. He knows what’s at stake. And there’s something different about him ever since Paraguay. Regardless, leave Max to me.”
“Do you have any idea what we should do?”
“Give me a minute,” he said. He took a sip of the beer and then said, “You’re going on emergency leave that I’ll approve. As of right now, no one knows you’re gone.”
“Leave? For what?”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll just say it’s personal and no one’s going to question it. I’ll fill in the team. We can’t lie to them, and they have a right to weigh in. We’ll carry out the op as planned. We need to get a replacement, but that shouldn’t be a problem.” He leaned forward. “Dodger, you realize that if you get caught with Anna, we’re both screwed. She’s pretty much a fugitive from the fucking CIA. You know what that means.” His hand clenched into a fist around the bottle. “We’re both out of the Navy and probably looking at dishonorable discharges, court-martial, and incarceration. You make sure you stay off the radar and get to the bottom of this satellite thing and keep me posted. If someone burned Anna, we can’t trust the CIA at all. Not Kelly, not any operatives we know, or anyone involved in the upper echelons, except maybe Wicked’s wife, Kat. She’s a station chief. I’ll feel out Ruckus for information about her, but I know from some of the stories he’s confided in me, she’s solid as a rock.”
“I trust your judgment, LT. I trust you all implicitly. Tell Max that I’ll protect her with my life.”
“Dodger, don’t make me attend your or Anna’s funeral. Keep it together, keep it sharp, and do what you do best.”
“Dodge?”
“Yes. And throwing a little bit of zigging and zagging in there for good measure couldn’t hurt.” Fast Lane rose and Dodger offered his hand. Fast Lane, for all his gruffness, loved them all like brothers. He bypassed the professional in a heartbeat and grabbed Dodger up in a hug. He couldn’t help smiling.
Man-love indeed.
2-Stroke answered his phone on the first ring. “Gather up the guys and meet me back at the bar. My nephew just came home from the Army in one piece and we’re going to celebrate.”
“Copy that, LT,” 2-Stroke said, the knot in the pit of his stomach unraveling. He knew that meant Fast Lane had good news about Dodger.
He headed for the room where they were bunking at a fast walk.
“Whoa, you look like a man on a mission,” Chry said as he danced back from almost running into her. “Where’s the fire?”
He smiled like sugar wouldn’t melt in his mouth. “Just going drinking.”
“You don’t drink.”
He thought fast. “The guys do, and I’m going as the designated walker.”
She laughed at that, and he so didn’t want the lightness of it to work its magic on him.
He loved the combination of her hair and eyes. Those predatory eyes in that pixie face made her seem like she’d just walked out of an enchanted forest. She’d gone prematurely gray at sixteen and her moonlit hair was just one of the things that had attracted him to her.
She studied him like she could look into his soul with her magic powers.
He cleared his throat and said, “Want to come along?”
That wiped the suspicion from her eyes. “No, I’ve got to get some sleep. Have fun.”
She brushed past him, and her perfume lingered in the air.
He turned to watch her go, understanding that no matter how close they had been as kids, he couldn’t trust her.
Five minutes later they were inside the bar, moving like a wave of muscle to the table