Page 74 of Blind Trust
“How come it didn’t work out?” Lyla hoped her question didn’t come off as nosy. She wasn’t necessarily excited to hear the details of his relationship, but the evolving feelings swirling in her heart demanded she understand whether her growing affection was born out of fear for his decision to leave or was something deeper she’d been refusing to acknowledge.
“When I returned home from the deployment, I could tell something was off. I expected some distance. Deployments are hard, but so is the readjustment period. After a few weeks, nothing was getting better. One night Brittany explained that after witnessing what Tara had gone through when Chad came home, she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t accept the risks that came with the job—with me.”
Lyla wanted to say something rude about Brittany for her stupidity, but a small voice echoed that if Brittany had been smart, Nicolás wouldn’t be here. “Wait, did you leave the Army because of her?” A plot to meet this girl and give her a piece of her mind was already forming in her head until Nicolás shook his head and answered with a quiet no.
“After we broke up, I buried myself in the job. I volunteered for a training exercise about a year later, stayed up almost forty-eight hours in the field. The promotion list came out, and when I got back, a couple of my friends and I went out to celebrate.” Nicolás stared out the windshield. “I was still upset about Brittany and decided a couple of beers might help numb the pain. It didn’t and I drove home, but a block in I could feel the effects of the fatigue and alcohol, so I pulled over to sleep it off. Woke up an hour later to a police officer at my window. I received a DUI that was reported to my commander. I had just finished my obligation to the Army, so he gave me the option to leave, or I could stay and take the Article XV that would’ve ended my time as an EOD officer immediately and haunted me the rest of my career.”
Lyla’s heart squeezed in her chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Nicolás backed into a parking spot in the Acacia Building parking garage and shut off the engine. “I admire Chad’s boldness.” He faced her. “Yours too, but it’s hard for me not to assess the consequences of risk and decide which risks are worth it.”
Which risks are worth it? Those words reminded her of what Mason had said,“She has someone she loves enough to know when not to cross that line.”Lyla looked up into Nicolás’s bright hazel gaze and her heart pounded. New feelings were muddling a line she’d set up between her and him, and now...Nowher pulse was pounding in her ears, her breath caught somewhere in an exhale she wasn’t willing to release because the risk of exploring what she was feeling for Nicolás felt like a line she shouldn’t cross—but wanted to.
Honk!
Their attention jerked to the car idling in front of them and Jack’s goofy grin. Lyla was going to kill him. She caught Nicolás sending him a look that said the same thing. Nicolás slid out of the truck, and Lyla grumbled as she got out too.
Jack rolled down the driver’s-side window. “Walsh is upstairs, waiting for you both.”
“Thanks, man.” Nicolás shoved his keys into his jeans pocket. “You good?”
“Birthday dinner for Nonna.” Jack looked over at Lyla. “You feeling better?”
“Iwas.”
Jack winked and started to drive toward the exit. “Stay out of trouble, you two.”
Lyla’s cheeks flamed with heat. She had no idea what the situation must’ve looked like to Jack, but now she’d be contending with his teasing, and if he told Brynn...She sighed. There would definitely be a phone call in her future that would require an explanation Lyla wasn’t sure how to give. Maybe talking out these feelings with Brynn would be good. She probably understood better than most, but for now Lyla needed to convince Walsh to let them continue their investigation.
25
Nic had hoped his pulse would’ve slowed by the time he and Lyla reached the office, but a new kind of nervousness washed over him as he prepared to face his boss, the man who was like a second father to Lyla.
Something had shifted between him and Lyla today. He couldn’t exactly name it, but he felt it. And for half a second, while sitting in the truck together, he’d actually considered kissing her. It was an action he’d normally consider extremely risky, if it hadn’t been for the look in her eyes that made him believe she wasn’t thinking of the consequences either.
The heat of that moment was still radiating heavily in his chest as they entered the office. He didn’t have time to address his feelings or what happened before Lyla was halfway through Walsh’s door.
“Sir, Nicolás and I wanted to brief you on new information we discovered about what Jerry Miller might’ve been involved with—information that could possibly support his sister’s suspicion that he didn’t kill himself.”
“Jack informed me of your findings.” Walsh gestured to the chairs in front of his desk and they both sat. “I’ll tell you what I told him. The assignment is on hold.”
Lyla’s hands flexed over the edge of her seat, and Nic could nearly feel the shuddering tension moving between her and Walsh. “Why?”
Walsh leaned back in his chair, and Nic was surprised by his relaxed state. Did he not know he was poking the bear? Nic almost considered excusing himself to grab some chocolate from Kekoa’s office just in case.
“I understand the information you’re gathering seems”—Walsh’s brow furrowed as he searched for the right words—“indicative of a larger plot involving Jerome Miller, but I’ve spoken with the warden, and Jerry killed himself. There’s no question. As far as what this reporter is telling you...” He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “She’s a conspiracist. Her stories sell because she takes bits and pieces of the headlines and fills in the blanks with her own version of the truth.”
“Not her version,” Lyla said. “We’ve looked into her articles and compared them to facts Kekoa pulled up on Ammar El-Din, Colthorpe, and Narek Grigoryan. All of them are claiming the same thing—someone in the US is connected to the gun smuggling, counterfeiting, and money laundering. It goes back several decades. Jerry might not have been murdered, but I believe it’s all connected. If we want to prove it’s not conspiracy, then we need to keep digging.”
Walsh’s posture shifted, barely noticeable, but Nic caught the tightening near his eyes, the way his Adam’s apple moved, and the downward tilt of his chin as his neck muscles stiffened. “It’s not our job to investigate conspiracy theories.”
“Are you serious?” Lyla’s shoulders bunched. “Half of what we investigate is based on suspicion of unlawful plots against people, companies, and the government. This is no different.”
“It is, Lyla. We look into every request before we accept any assignments.” He slipped his glasses back on, his posture stiff. “All this started with Jerome Miller. He’s dead. Whatever connections he may or may not have had with these other individuals are of no consequence.”
“No consequence?” Lyla looked at Nic. “There’s been a consequence at every turn. First Jerry, then Genevieve. Nicolás and I wereattacked. Someone took shots at me on my grandparents’ property. All this because of a flash drive that could’ve compromised our agency’s computer network but led us to Ammar El-Din. A man who was smuggling counterfeit money and is also connected somehow to a shoot-out in London where an American named Connor Murphy was killed. A man who might’ve been CIA.”
Walsh’s gaze cut to him. “Connor Murphy.”
