Page 49 of Brooks

My mind was racing a mile a minute trying to digest what Brooks had told me. More information I didn’t want to process. It was my fault, I’d stupidly asked. I was getting too wrapped up in what he thought of me and how he saw me. Then savoring the feeling his words invoked. I foolishly wanted to believe him when he called me sexy and beautiful. I hadn’t felt those things for a long time, and I never thought I’d feel them again. It shouldn’t matter to me how I looked or what others saw, but it did.

“Don’t you need to call the team and tell them what happened?” I asked.

“No need. Thad and Kyle were a few cars behind the Mercedes.”

“Seriously?”

“I keep telling you, we always have backup. You think that when I tell you you’re not going somewhere alone, it’s because you’re a woman. It has nothing to do with your gender and everything to do with being a part of a team.”

“Well, who has Thad and Kyle’s back?”

“Us.”

I’d never been a part of a team. When I was in the CIA, I had a partner and I’d worked with others but I’d never felt like I was truly a part of a crew. There was comradery but no real loyalty. I needed to be careful. A girl could get used to this.

Chapter 20

Once again, I was thoroughly impressed with Tatiana. Nothing seemed to frazzle her. Except me. And if I was being honest with myself, I liked that—a fuck of a lot. During the incident with the Merc on the Causeway, she hadn’t broken a sweat. When we got to base, she was cool, collected, and professional when she met with the UN liaison. No one would’ve guessed thirty minutes prior she’d been shot at and returned fire from a moving vehicle. Not to mention, Kyle had called in and confirmed she’d killed the driver. The news hadn’t seemed to bother her one bit. Her only comment when I told her she’d hit the man in the throat was, she was disappointed with her aim. She intended on a head shot. The team was fast learning she was a valuable addition.

However, when we were alone, I saw a whole different side of her. She couldn’t hide her vulnerability. Her unsure, soft side shone through like a beacon. A softness I wanted to protect and self-esteem I wanted to help her rebuild. And when she was in my arms and let go, the gift of her was so promising, I knew I was in trouble. She’d been in my bed a total of one night and I was already trying to figure out a way to make her stay. The situation was messy and problematic. Zane was going to have a shit hemorrhage. Not that I gave the first fuck, after he chewed my ass, he’d deal. After all, it wasn’t like I was the first man on his team to complicate shit. Hell, Jasmin and Linc were married and on the same team. If they could figure it out, there was no doubt I could. Not that I was thinking about marriage. That would’ve been downright insane. But I wasn’t letting her kick me out of our bed anytime soon.

“Yo.” Max poked his head in my room, pulling me from my thoughts. “Garrett’s on the phone. He’s got intel on the guys from today.”

I zipped my backpack and answered, “Perfect timing. Just finished packing up.”

I followed Max into the dining room and looked around. All the maps and SITREPS had been cleared off the table in preparation for our departure. I checked my watch, noting we had less than a half hour until we needed to be on the road.

“Zane crackin’ the whip, or what? It’s the middle of the night. What are you doing in the office?” I asked Garrett.

“Thad sent over the fingerprints from the driver he scanned. Since he couldn’t pull anything from the passenger, I only have half the intel I would like. But I hit pay dirt with the driver.”

After Tatiana shot the driver, the Mercedes careened into a cement barrier. The passenger that had been sitting in the window firing at us was mangled beyond recognition and Thad and Kyle hadn’t been able to pull prints or get a useable photo for facial identification.

“What’d you find?” Declan asked.

“The driver, Kyril Rahal, is a known associate of Matek Nazari. It seems Nazari put a hefty price on Tatiana’s head. He believes she has the four Cuneiform tablets.”

“Did he take out the Bitoo brothers?”

“Doubtful. The Bitoos were fucked for a variety of reasons, but Nazari thinks Tatiana has the tablets. He’d have no reason to go after the brothers. The prince would, though. He knew they went outside of the auction and was working with an American to sell them.”

“You think Al Issa has the tablets now?”

“If the Bitoos were stupid enough to keep them in the warehouse. And evidence suggests they’re dumber than they looked, so yeah, I think Al Issa took out the brothers and took his tablets back.”

Declan continued to pepper Garrett with questions, however I was still stuck on Nazari putting another hit out on Tatiana. I wanted to know more about that.

“What about the price Nazari put out for Tatiana?” I asked.

“I was getting to that,” Garrett told me. “Z thinks the easiest way to shut Matek Nazari down is by doing it permanently. I tracked him to Al Qatif. You’ll detour there before you continue to the Eastern Providence. Al Qatif is only a forty-five-minute drive after you cross the King Fahd bridge. I’ll send you the coordinates. The only snag is his two sons and daughter are with him.”

“How old are his children?” Kyle inquired.

“Adult-aged. The eldest son is twenty-five, daughter is twenty-three, youngest son is twenty-one,” Tatiana answered. “And they will be an issue for us. Even the daughter. All three are heavily into his businesses.”

“Do we have the green light to take out all four if necessary?” Declan asked for clarification.

“Affirmative. Scope of the mission is all four, but only if Nazari’s children directly engage.”