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Dawg grunted at that.
“Strange.” Natches clucked his tongue. “They were meant as payment to Afghani and Iraqi security forces for information on troop movements and deployments, yet those payments never made it. I knew they hadn’t, because quite a few of those forces were double agents, weren’t they?”
Fuck. Where the hell had the bastard gotten his information?
“That’s a hell of an imagination your contacts have, Natches,” he stated, holding back the anger brewing inside him. “Imaginations like that could get men killed.”
Or women.
Natches leaned forward then, his expression hardening, his gaze becoming brighter. “Dawg and I, we’re the men you want to trust to cover your ass, Graham,” he stated savagely. “Now, you can tell us what the fuck’s going on, or we’re collecting Lyrica before we leave. And I think we both know she’ll probably go.”
Graham wanted to believe she wouldn’t leave with her brother and cousin, but he knew how hurt, how uncertain she had been.
How angry she had been before he’d overwhelmed her with pleasure.
His gaze slipped to Elijah, watching as the other man gave an imperceptible nod of his head in agreement. Graham might be pissed as hell at the other agent, but Elijah had been chosen as his second-in-command for a reason. Because he knew what the hell he was doing, and he was loyal. Breathing out in weary resignation, Graham picked up his coffee cup before moving to the table and taking the remaining seat.
“I don’t have the diamonds,” he told the other men. “You’re right, there were two bags, each holding two million, five hundred thousand apiece in perfectly cut and polished diamonds. Only one bag remained between the two locations where they were hidden.”
“And the partner’s body?” Dawg asked quietly, leaning forward to rest his weight on his forearms as he placed them on the table.
“We’re not certain.” Graham shook his head. “AI had his DNA on file, but a virus was detected in the file manager and a change placed in his file several days before the body reported to be his was recovered. He was, at one time, a damned good hacker before signing on with the independent security agency being used to back up the mission. Army intelligence suspects he’s still alive, but we’ve found zero hint of it, let alone confirmation.”
“So you were working on the assumption he was still alive?” Natches asked. “My source in Afghanistan believes you actually have the diamonds.”
“One bag is actually missing. The other is locked in a secure vault at CIA headquarters in Langley,” Elijah said. “The suspicion that Graham stole the diamonds came from outside the agency. We’re trying to track it down at present and maintain the idea that army intelligence believes in his innocence, while allowing the rumor to continue circulating among certain groups. I need to know your source.”
Graham had known that was coming. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t faced the knowledge Natches had seemed to have since returning. They were tracking the security agent’s contacts, looking for a hint as to where it may have come from, although he was only one of the sources from which intelligence was attempting to unravel the flow of information.
Natches turned his head slowly and stared back at Elijah.
“Natches, kill me if you have to.” Elijah sighed as though the thought of it really didn’t impress him. “But this information is too damned important. If Betts’s partner isn’t dead then we need to capture him. If he is, then we need to know who in army intelligence is still leaking information that Graham has those diamonds.”
“And you dragged my sister into this bullshit?” Dawg snarled then, turning on Graham. “You dared to mess with her—”
“Whoever’s after those diamonds dragged her in,” Graham snapped softly, glaring at both men. “That, or the partner, Betts’s lover, isn’t dead and he’s after revenge as well as the cache. That’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
“And her lover, partner, whatever the fuck he was to her, or anyone else would know Lyrica’s a weakness to you how?” Dawg’s voice was quieter now, more dangerous than ever before.
“Did you ever see Betts Laren?” Elijah said. “She’s almost Lyrica’s double, except for the shorter hair. I accused Graham earlier of being interested in Lyrica because he couldn’t get over Betts, but maybe he was sleeping with Betts because of Lyrica.”
Graham shot the man a silencing look. Son of a bitch, he was going to have to teach Elijah, at the end of his fist, to keep his damned mouth shut when the Mackays got nosy.
“Mackays don’t play second fiddle to anyone,” Dawg grunted with dangerous emphasis. “Especially my sisters.” His pale, furious gaze moved back to Graham then. “How would anyone involved in that shit know my sister is your weakness?”
“Fuck if I know.” Plowing his fingers through his hair in restless anger, Graham fought to find the answer to that one. “That’s the only reason I’ve pushed this suspicion away a thousand times, Dawg. But we had an attempted intrusion this morning. Dressed fully in black, with a military-style black mask covering his face. At first, there was nothing to identify him from the clothes or the figure, until I looked at how he wore them. The security team covering Betts wore the same uniform all the agents at that security agency wore. But they distinguished themselves in the way they wore them. Every other soldier in that agency tucks in any clothing edge possible. Shirts in pants. Pant legs in boots. Masks tucked beneath shirts. Ammo vests secured and snug in the vicinity of their waistbands.”
“And that team changed this how?” Dawg asked.
“Black bands at the wrists covering from the edges of their shirts to several inches above that. Black covers of similar fabric over the laces of their boots. Elijah has an image of the intruder taken with his phone.”
Both Mackays turned to Elijah as he pulled the picture up.
“It took me a while to realize why the image bothered me,” Graham said, grimacing. “Whoever that is, if it’s not Betts’s partner, then it’s someone from his team or someone very, very close to it.”
“I started tracking the other two men who were part of his team,” Elijah stated. “One is currently on assignment in Africa: Whit Chaney, an explosives expert. I spoke to a contact of mine there and he sent satellite proof of his presence. We haven’t located the second member yet, though. Bradley Connor.”
“Bradley has some computer hacking experience.” Graham frowned. “Our intelligence didn’t indicate that it was enough to plant that virus, though. But anything’s possible at this point,” he admitted.
