Page 21 of Breached

I looked at Hunter, who remained like stone. He just looked expressionlessly at Frank’s red face. Clearly, they had history. “General,” the big man said, “I’m aware there’s bad blood here, and it’s understood. But on this we’ve got the same objective, and it makes sense to work together. My men will execute with discipline and complete transparency.”

“Well, I’m not damn happy with this,” Frank shot back, “and transparency or not, if this operation turns into another Kandahar, Ex-Lieutenant Commander, I’ll make sure the paperwork lands where it belongs this time.”

“Enough, Frank.” Cole glared at him. He looked beyond finished with Frank, and I noticed a few raised eyebrows from the others.

“You want transparency, sir? You’ll have it,” Hunter said. “My team has orders to be inside that compound. You need eyes and ears on the ground — we’re already in position to provide that. Bruno Perez believes we’re there at his request, overseeing security for the tunnel build, and providing additional eyes on his mother. That cover is established. If you intend to embed assets, we can facilitate that and provide protective overwatch while you’re inside.” He raised his hands. “But understand this — we still have our own job to do, and I intend to see it through.”

Cole stepped forward. “Hunter and his team will join with Blackstone. That’s my call. If you have a problem with that, take it up with General Bruce.”

Frank’s murderous gaze moved off Hunter and went to Cole as the air was sucked out of the room. I licked my lips and felt a bit nervous about what was happening. My reporter brain was already curious as to why Rafe Hunter no longer held his rank.

“So, that’s how it is.” Frank pulled off his glasses and inspected the lenses. “Interesting how things are changing around here.” He looked back at Paul, and I felt something dark pass between the two men. “I want a word with you outside,” Frank ordered, and I saw Paul look at Cole before he answered.

“Roger that.”

As Frank left the room, I wondered what I had just witnessed, because I could feel something almost like hatred coming off Paul.

“Hey,” Paul pulled me away while the others went back to planning, “I need to deal with Frank.”

“Why you?” I knew something was going on. John had mentioned that Paul was dealing with something, and I also knew it had to do with Frank.

“Just be careful here.” His face was grim as he glanced around the room.

“Here? With who?” I looked around the room. Who could he possibly be concerned about? They were all military guys. “The SEALs?”

“They were SEALs,” he said quietly, “the very best, to be honest, but they left for a reason and now do private military and mercenary jobs—for hire, if you will.”

I raised a brow. I knew PMCs were private contractors, not soldiers, but a lot of them had been in the military before. “I’m not here to judge.”

“They have strong connections with Grim Gates and with Trigger. And if they do have orders to watch Agent Colin, that’s a whole new level of dangerous I don’t need you getting wrapped up in.” Oh… “Just do me a favor and limit your interaction with them.”

“Okay, yeah, I will.”

Cole was suddenly at his side. “Hey,” he lowered his voice, “if Frank opens his mouth to anyone in Washington that we’re working with Hunter and his team, and it gets back to General Bruce, it’ll be bad. I want to get ahead of this now and mention that we had no idea he was here, and that we’ll see what we can get out of him.”

“Yeah, okay. Did you let Hunter know the plan?”

“Not yet. I’m letting you know before you deal with Frank. If he says anything about it, just feed him the story we didn’t know he and his men were going to be here.”

“Copy that.”

Cole looked at me. “Copy?”

I nodded. “Copy.” He headed to speak to Rafe.

Paul leaned and squeezed my arm gently before he left. I had decided not to tell them what I heard from Sully about Eric Noah and Grim Gates until I had a chance to think about it. It could open old wounds for Keith, and there was a lot going on.

I glanced at John, and he winked, knowing the arm squeeze was in place of a kiss. I felt my face grow pink. My phone vibrated, and I glanced at the caller ID to see WP for the Washington Post and held up five fingers to John. He nodded.

I stepped out the side door and quickly answered it. “Hey, Jack, what’s up?”

“How’d it go with Sully?” He sounded stressed, and I wondered if something was up.

“Good.” I ran my hand through my hair as I leaned against the wall. “It was worth the meet-up.”

“I’m glad. Listen, Nicole, I’ve got a reporter on standby. Any chance you’ve got a direction I could send her?”

Jealousy raced through me, and I took a moment to push it back. It felt unfair, but the choices I had made were what brought me there, and no one else was to blame. “I’m working on that, but know Sully is gunning for Bruno’s position. He’s getting ambitious and wants more power for himself. That fight is nothing new in the Cartel world, of course, but I see a change in Sully, so maybe start watching him for a bit.”