Page 60 of Jonas

Nebraska’s hand came up to stop Zane from speaking.

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care both of them are supposed to be retired. I don’t care that Charlie’s involved or that Pigeon visited Austin Wentworth. I don’t even care that she tortured the man. What I care about is once again, it feels like I’m being kept in the dark and that feels like a lie. Something that both of them promised me they’d never do again. Yet, here we are, and once again it’s the Charlie and Anna show.”

Lore twisted in her seat and attempted damage control. “It wasn’t like that, Nebraska. I asked⁠—”

“Yeah, let’s get to that part. How are you involved in this?”

I could no longer see Lore’s face but I did watch her shoulders slump.

“There was chatter about Chinese sleeper agents being activated in the US and Canada.”

“That’s not new,” Nebraska shot back. “There’s always chatter.”

“Yeah, but this had a specific target—Delcon. Your whistleblower didn’t scratch the surface of the number of plants inside the building. The place is so infested the Chinese might as well own the business. From the top down, it’s overrun. I called my contact at the Agency. She admitted they knew about Maddon’s blueprint and they worried the Pentagon was a target.”

Zane’s head lulled forward.

“Fucking, fuck, motherfuck, fucking shit, twatwaffles.”

“I’m sensing by the extra use of the F-words there’s a new issue?” Derrika mumbled.

There’s always an issue with the CIA when they’re involved, mucking up the works.

“Nope. He’s just showing off his vocabulary.”

“The ‘twatwaffle’ came from his coloring book,” Kira put in.

“Pipe down, pipsqueak.”

Without another obscenity-filled tirade, Zane stomped up the stairs.

Derrika leaned closer to whisper. “Impressive. The most F-bombs I can get in a sentence is two.”

“That was mild. Stick around, the good stuff comes out when he’s pissed.”

Derrika’s eyes widened and her lips pinched, but it was the way her brow winged up that had me smiling.

“What else did your contact tell you?”

Lore glanced over at Cash to answer him. “Nothing. That’s why I called Charlie.” Lore paused to look back at Nebraska. “I’m sorry, Dove, I should’ve called you, too.”

“You should’ve.”

The women went into a stare down. Surprisingly, with a sigh Nebraska broke first and glanced at Easton. He pulled her to his side, and as soon as he had her where he wanted her, he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. Nebraska relaxed into him.

Never had I been so jealous of a teammate.

The way Nebraska so easily found comfort in her man. The ease in which Easton gave it. I never thought I wanted that kind of connection. I’d been wrong. I wanted it, I’d just never found the woman I wanted to give it to.

Derrika’s knee nudged mine under the table.

I had an urge to pull her into my lap and see if she fit as well as I knew she would. But right then I couldn’t, so I didn’t, but I would the first chance I got.

“If Anson’s dirty⁠—”

I didn’t let her finish. “How’d he find you to offer you a job?”

“I did some work for his friend a few years ago. An attorney who needed an investigator on an embezzlement case. Ben, that’s what the attorney’s called, explained the situation without mentioning Anson’s name or Delcon and asked if I was interested in taking the case. Obviously, I said yes, and Ben gave Anson my information.”