“We found cigarette butts around the station and the school. Foreign ones.” She nods, and I assume Buck or Weston already told her that much. “I got in touch with an old teammate who works in intelligence. The name that came back is Anton Kozlov.”
She frowns. “I don’t know that name.”
“You wouldn’t.” I pause. “ButArsenyKozlov was connected to the mission where Tyler died.”
She goes completely still. There’s pain in her eyes now, but her voice doesn’t waver. “I know there are things you’re not allowed to tell me, but if these fires are connected to that mission, you can’t shut me out. I need to know.”
“Elena—”
“I want the truth, Calder.”
It would be easier to hide behind the paperwork I signed. Maybe a widow shouldn’t know her husband died in the middle of a clusterfuck that left enemies alive, questions buried, and the military more interested in classification than honesty.
Maybe gentle lies would protect her, but that isn’t what she’s asking for.
I let out a long, slow breath and look anywhere but at her face. The closed door, the scuffed floor, the blank stretch of wall over the couch.
“It was a covert op overseas. Arseny Kozlov was the target, and the mission was simple on paper. Go in, eliminate him, get out.” My mouth goes tight. “On paper being the important part.”
Elena folds her arms across her middle like she’s holding herself together. “What happened?”
“Bad intel. We were told Kozlov would have a limited security detail.” I shake my head once. “Instead, the place was crawling with armed men. Way more than we were briefed for.”
Her face goes paler still, but she doesn’t interrupt.
“We hit the target anyway, but the firefight went bad fast. By the time we got to Kozlov, the whole compound was up and moving. Too many shooters, too much ground against us. We put him down, but getting out clean was already off the table.”
“What did you do?”
“We fought our way out, and when we got outside, we took the only option left. Kozlov had military vehicles on-site. We stole two Hummers and used them to punch through the perimeter.”
Elena’s throat moves with a swallow. “Did Tyler make it out?”
“All eight of us made it out. Buck, Weston, and I were in one Hummer, Tyler was in the other.”
She shuts her eyes for a second, then opens them again. “Go on.”
“We got clear of the compound, but not clear of his men. They came after us in vehicles of their own.” My hands curl at my side. “That part of the intel wasn’t bad, it was nonexistent. Kozlov’s people were better armed and better positioned than we were ever told.”
Anger flashes in her eyes, cutting through the grief.
“We were taking fire as we moved, and trying to return it. We were trying to get enough distance to regroup when the other Hummer was hit with an RPG.”
I have to stop for a second to get my chest unlocked. “When it hit …” My voice almost fails me. I look down, flexing my hand once before I force the rest out. “It was a direct strike. The whole Hummer went up.”
Elena covers her mouth with one hand, but I keep going, because if I don’t, I may not start again.
CHAPTER 29
CALDER
“There were four men in that vehicle,” I say. “Tyler, Mason, Reed, and Holt. Half the team. The blast killed them before we could do a damn thing about it.”
A tear slips down her cheek, then another. She doesn’t wipe them away.
“The rest of us had to keep moving long enough not to get killed in the same stretch of road,” I say. “But we hit back. We took out the vehicles chasing us and the men who were on foot.”
Words catch in her throat before she asks, “Did you try to get to them, the rest of the team?”
