Tito’s arrival back at the house caused a predictable dust-up. Those who hadn’t met him were treated to the more charming side of his nature, but Bella refused to be in the same room with him.
Not that anyone truly wanted to be in a shared space with him, but sometimes they didn’t have a choice.
Edward gave him a place to sleep in the basement, entirely unrepentant that it was cold and damp down there. He had a roof over his head and no one within the agency trying to kill him, so he had nothing to complain about.
Which didn’t stop him from doing just that.
“Fuck me, it’s cold down there.” Tito rubbed his hands together briskly as he came up the steps, stopping in front of the refrigerator.
“I think there’s a shed on the outskirts of the property,” Ben said. “If that suits you better.”
“Nah, man, but why the basement?” Finally pulling out a gallon of milk, he untwisted the cap and held it up, tilting it toward his mouth until Ben snapped his fingers and pointed at the cabinet where the glasses were stored. “I’m just saying, there’s an attic with beds in it.”
“Those beds are full, and the women up there don’t want you in their space.”
“So?”
Listening to the conversation from the dining room, Edward had to shake his head. It was like talking to a child instead of a grown adult.
“Well, now I know not a single person exaggerated about you,” Ben muttered, joining Edward at the table.
They sat in front of laptops alongside Dara and Dylan. The latter had leaked the redacted information about the Taliban and Blithers exchanging arms for money in both directions, so they were tracking the comments and looking for any hint Blithers was catching on to who was targeting him.
“Here, I’ve got some audio.” Dara pulled off her headphones and turned on the volume. “Blithers just got to the office, it seems.”
Without a man on the inside anymore, all they had to rely on was the bug. Tito had taken with him what he could, and it was possible to ruin Blithers with it, but it wasn't the smoking gun about Zion they wanted to expose.
“This has gotten ridiculous,” Blithers snapped. “How did they get this information?”
Someone mumbled something unintelligible.
“Yeah, and who gave that dumbass top security clearance?”
No one they could possibly be talking about other than Tito Gonzalez.
“You did,” the other voice said quietly.
“He was the only merc still alive; I figured I had to coddle him so he wouldn't go blabbing about the fake mission!”
“Well,” the other man said, much more loudly. “We’re all fucked when the entire world realizes what we’ve done!”
Tito entered the dining room, setting down his glass of milk. “What—”
“Shh!” Dara admonished him.
“It was your idea all along, and you know it! You fucked it up five years ago by letting them go, and you fucked it up again by keeping a paper trail.”
“The paper trail you promised to destroy, Derrick!”
“Who is that?” Ben asked.
“I was trying to say earlier that it’s VP Barrett.”
They turned to stare at Tito.
He shrugged. “What? The guy was in the office all the time trying to do damage control.”
“Do you know something you haven't divulged?” Edward asked, barely suppressing his rage. “Are you keeping things from us? Because I know exactly where to drop you if that’s the case.”
“No, I only have my suspicions, same as you.” Drinking from his glass, he wiped his mouth and said, “Look, we all think the coup was a set-up, right?”
“You mean it crossed your mind that Zion and the VP were working together?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I mean, how else did they gain access to a secure site as easily as they did?”
Edward rubbed his eyes. Never in a million years would he have expected Tito of all people to come to that conclusion. “But you didn’t speak up about it.”
“Figured you knew.”
He wandered out of the room, and Dara unpaused the recording.
“I want him found! If he’s the one feeding leaks to the press, he needs to disappear!” A knock sounded, and he shouted, “What!”
“Here to do a bug sweep as you requested, sir.”
“Oh, hell,” Dylan said.
They all listened to the inevitable, knowing it had happened minutes ago and they couldn't prevent it even if they had access. It felt more as though they were right there in the room as it occurred.
“There’s what?” Blithers asked. “What! Are you fucking kidding me!”
“Sir, we have no reason to sweep these offices regularly when everyone here has the highest security clearance available.”
“What the fuck!” he screamed. If he wasn’t careful, he would blow an artery.
The audio distorted, his voice becoming garbled. Edward pictured him holding the listening device up to his mouth.
“I will find who this is, and I will fucking kill you, do you understand me? You think you can ruin me? Me?” he screamed.
“Sir—”
“I will hunt you, I will find you, and I will put you down like a dog.”
“Derrick, we have to—”
The recording cut off, and everyone sat back in their chairs.
“Okay, then.” Dylan grinned, glancing around at everyone. “So, this is how it feels to be on the CIA shit list.”
“Apparently,” Ben said.
Edward couldn't even drum up a smile. “What we need is to find the last piece to the puzzle about the Zion attack. We kept video and audio feeds as insurance, thinking Holden was the mole. Problem is, none of it implicates Blithers or Barrett specifically.”
With a grim expression, Quinn came into the room. “I heard most of that.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Edward asked.
“Well.” Sitting next to his father, Quinn scratched his chin. “Other than using his wife against him, I don’t know how to get close to him anymore. He’s too insulated now, and he won’t trust anybody.”
Edward narrowed his eyes. “I don’t relish the idea of doing anything with Natasha, even if she comes out unscathed.”
“It’s already too late for her to remain unscathed,” Dylan pointed out. “She’s lost her husband, her social circle, and her dignity. Now everyone sees her as the poor wife whose husband got his dick wet in a much younger velvet box, and of course, the catty bitches will make it her fault.”
“Ah, yes,” Bella said as she joined them. “It’s never the man’s fault he strayed. Must be the cold fish of a wife who failed to satisfy him properly.”
Though he contemplated responding to her statement, Edward thought better of it. Even if he agreed with her, he didn’t want to end up off track. “But now we’re talking about using her as a physical pawn.”
“It’s not like I think we should stand her up in the town’s center with an actual target on her back,” Dylan said. “But we might be able to convince her to help us shine a light on all the unsavory things she didn’t know he was doing. And, if we’re lucky, maybe she’ll agree to help us draw him out in the open.”
“I’m not looking to gun him down in broad daylight.” Sitting back in his chair, Edward automatically curled his fingers around Bella’s when she rested her hand on his knee. “But meeting with him, telling him he either has to pony up the proof and resign or we’ll continue to publicly ruin him a little at a time is an option.”
“He can’t see us,” Bella said. “It would ruin the illusion that he’s being chased by a ghost.”
“Do you think he believes that right this minute?”
She smiled at him. “Perhaps. Or maybe he thinks Tito was getting revenge for his friends’ deaths.”
“So we could technically blame this all on Mr. Gonzalez,” Dylan said.
“I guess.” Running his thumb over the back of Bella’s hand, he contemplated how a meeting with Blithers would look. “We could go old school, hiding in the rafters and only using a single person to speak with him.”
“The Santiago brothers in the church?” Bella asked.
Didn’t matter how many years passed, Edward still pictured the way she looked on the monitor from the church’s office. Nervous but determined to prove herself. Bulletproof only in theory. Untouchable because she was a wife, but targeted for being his wife. The minute she took an active role in his organization, she stopped being an innocent and became a major player the other Families wanted dead by any means necessary.
Dylan tapped her pen on the table, interrupting his thoughts. “Can’t believe you two used to be notorious mafia heads and now you’re just sitting here, hiding from the CIA with the rest of us. You know, as one does.”
Suppressing a smile, Edward said, “It doesn’t matter how many times I tried to leave that life behind, someone always dragged me back kicking and screaming. First Zion, then Holden and O’Byrne, then Blithers himself. He’s just pissed I turned him down when he offered me more missions. I didn’t want to be his puppet, and I didn’t want to continue killing without mercy. I tried to be better than what I was made into, but he wanted to hold me under his thumb and remind me every day where I came from.”
“He nearly took our son from us,” Bella said with quiet fervor. “And for that alone, he has to pay.”
“And that’s why I’m glad to be on your side,” Dylan said, standing up and leaving the room.
Tito came back, carrying a giggling Aerinn. “This one belongs to you?” he asked Bella.
“She’s my daughter,” Quinn said, rising and taking her into his arms. With a laugh, she held her unicorn toy on his head and galloped it over his hair.
“You have a horn, Daddy!”
“But, yes, Gonzalez,” Bella said, getting up from the table. “She’s mine, and if you touch one hair on her head again, I’ll disembowel you.”
“What’s dis-bowl, Gran?”
“Have you eaten breakfast, beagán?” Edward interrupted, also standing.
“Mommy gave me some cereal, but I’m still hungry!”
“Then let’s fix that, shall we?” He dragged Bella and Quinn into the kitchen with him.
Grinning at his daughter and pretending to eat her arm, Quinn hugged her tight before releasing her to Edward.
“Sorry,” Bella mumbled to Quinn. “I was trying not to swear in front of her.”
“It’s not a word she’ll figure out any time soon.”
“Does she actually like Tito?” Bella watched Edward cut up a banana for their granddaughter.
“Seems so.”
They made disgusted faces, laughing at each other.
“I like the Natasha idea,” she said in undertones. “Do you think your father will go for it?”
“I think it’s all we have left.”
Nodding, she said, “Yeah, me too.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Edward asked, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. Aerinn sat at the small kitchen table, happily feeding her unicorn more than she fed herself.
“Natasha is the only way.”
Sighing, Edward said, “You’re right, unfortunately.”
“We’ll protect her.” Quinn shrugged when Edward raised his eyebrows. “What? She is innocent, as much as she can be.”
“Turning a blind eye is not the same as pure innocence,” Bella pointed out. “If we’re going to be technical.”
“You need to go undercover?” he asked.
“No, I have her number.” Bella pulled the burner phone from her back pocket. “What should I say?”
“First, we need to meet her somewhere. Leah can handle that, right?”
Bella nodded, typing the request. “I’ll just ask her to meet the sisters for lunch. Expressing condolences, we want to help, etc.”
“Let’s hope she takes the bait,” Quinn said. “Besides, Leah is sick of being stuck in the house.”
Bella’s phone pinged. “She’s sick of everyone telling her how sorry they are. Agreed to lunch if we talk about anything else at all.”
“We need to be aware she might be setting us up.” Glancing over his shoulder to ensure Aerinn wasn’t paying attention, Edward continued. “If he’s forcing her to cooperate with his schemes, she could be sniffing out the two newcomers to her circle of friends.”
Bella snorted. “Out of all the fake friends she has, the ones who are undercover are probably the most real.”
The phone chimed again.
“She sent the name of a place.”
“Ben, Dara,” Edward called as he went back into the dining room. Wrinkling his nose at Tito’s continued presence, he said, “We need surveillance on this place ASAP.”
Ben typed the name of the place into his laptop to find the address. “Here we are,” he muttered.
Reading off the address to Dara, he let her peek into the traffic cameras while he pulled up the audio from the Blithers’ bedroom.
“Looks clear for now,” Dara said. “We’ll send the mercs out on recon.”
“Nothing there at the house,” Ben reported. “If she’s even there, she’s not sharing his room anymore.”
“We’ll need Dylan to go with Leah.” Edward turned when Nigel and Seamus came into the room. “We’re setting up a meeting between Natasha and Leah. Dylan will tag along. The goal is to feel her out, either to convince her Dylan wants to talk to Blithers to clear the air or to coerce her into helping expose him as a fraud.”
“Sounds good,” Nigel said. “We’re gathering the intel team to check out the surrounding streets.”
“Should just be a ladies' lunch, but we can’t be too cautious anymore.” Was he being paranoid, or was it warranted? Either way, they would double-check. “The ladies need to be protected, especially if Derrick is actually there and recognizes Dylan.”
“Understood.” Nigel left, and Edward and Seamus exchanged glances.
“Who’s riding along with the mercs?” Seamus asked casually.
“I have to be here,” Ben started, then closed his mouth when he saw the looks on the two men’s faces.
“Tito, don’t you want to ride along?” Seamus watched Tito stop midway through shoving chips in his mouth.
“Why?”
Crumbs flew everywhere, and Seamus grunted in disgust. “Jesus Christ, man, it’s like watching two brain cells fight for third place.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tito demanded, pushing back his chair.
“I rest my case.”
Tito glared at Seamus, moving closer to him. Edward put his hand up to stop them from exchanging blows. “Tito, go with your former comrades. Maybe make amends.”
“But—”
“Go. Now.”
For half a second, Edward thought Tito would argue. Finally, after they all stared him down for several seconds, he left the room.
Grumbling the entire time.
Seamus moved to the only clean spot on the table. “Does he really think this entire mission is built around eating snacks?”
“Deep down, he has the mentality of a toddler.” Ben snorted. “Then again, my toddlers were smarter than Tito.”
“Aerinn is smarter than Tito,” Bella snarled, coming back into the room.
“Don’t worry, I sent him away, darling.” Edward leaned over, kissing her on the temple.
“Gee, thanks.” Falling against his side, she said, “Sorry, I just can’t stand even being in the same room with him.”
“Don’t blame you.”
Leah came down the stairs, followed by Dylan. “We’re meeting Natahsa?”
“Please.” Edward moved forward, looking between both ladies. “Just small talk for a little bit, and then mention that Dylan is willing to tell Natasha’s side of the story. Nudge her toward the idea of clearing the air, setting the record straight. Or, hell, if she’s good and pissed, see if she wants to bury him. Either way, ask if she can set up a meeting with Derrick.”
“Be casual,” Bella warned. “If you’re too eager, she’ll sniff it out.”
“Understood.” Dylan slung her purse over her shoulder. “Do I get to ride with them?”
Edward followed her gaze to the mercs gathered by the door. The skull masks covered their faces, but he knew their statures well enough at that point to pick out who was who. Dylan appeared smitten with Dwayne, and Edward hadn’t a clue if the man was attached or not.
Not his circus, not his monkeys.
“You sure do,” he told her.
“Goody.”
He merely smiled at them as they left, pulling up the lead vehicle’s camera on one of the computers back in the dining room.
“This will work,” Bella assured them.
It better.
Otherwise, they were fresh out of ideas.
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| Ben |
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| Tito |
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| Dylan |
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| Aerinn |
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| Quinn |
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