Page 56 of Thaddeus

“The team will get a lock on your sister.”

“Why? She’s nothing to them. I thought you guys were after Harry.”

“We are looking for Leon slash Harry, but Zane’s put out the order to find Autumn.”

I still didn’t understand why, but I wasn’t going to push. I was simply too tired to think about why Zane Lewis would help me find Autumn, unless he thought she could help him in some way.

I felt like the more information I was given, the less I understood.

My mission was simple. Find Autumn. And in the process eradicate as many human traffickers as I could. The plus side to my plan was, I got to save a small number of women in the process.

Now, however, there was nothing simple about my life.

Thad

I was forgoing much-needed sleep and instead sitting with Max downstairs on one of the couches that formed the seating area of the warehouse.

Everyone else had hit the sack, leaving the two of us to enjoy the rest of our whiskey, which we were doing in silence, and I was more than okay with that.

My brain was on information overload and I’d do pretty much anything to be able to shut down and not think for a week—which was pretty laughable considering in the not-so-distant past I’d been bitching about being stateside so long and feeling antsy.

Shit was never easy but this was beyond compare. With the new intel Leon Brown’s real name was really Harry Landry and he was in the human trafficking business, things had gotten extreme. Tatiana was not pleased to learn that while she thought she’d worked for a rogue CIA agent, which had already placed her firmly in a gray area, she’d really been working for a man who dealt in weapons and women.

The Company, the name Landry used for his covert operation, was a front to eliminate his competition and used the contraband they seized to turn around and sell, adding to his already enormous wealth.

“You think Emerson will stay put after we get her to the safe house?” Max broke the silence.

“I’d like to think she’s scared enough she would, but knowing her, she’s gonna bolt.”

And that was fucking with my head. Big time. Before I’d known the fuckwad Paul had put a bounty on Emerson, the thought of her going out on her own to track her sister made me see red. Now that I knew what Paul had in store for Emerson, I was murderous.

“We could keep her with us until we take out Paul. He shouldn’t be that hard to find. My guess is, if he’s dumpin’ the dogs he’s making his rounds to the places Garcia kept them. We take him out, send Emerson back to the U.S. and find Landry.”

His plan had merit—it actually made a lot of sense—and Emerson would know where some of Garcia’s kennels were. But that still wouldn’t stop her from going back out once Paul was eliminated.

“Or, you could make shit right with her, claim her ass, then make her see the error of her logic trying to find Autumn on her own.”

What the fuck?

“Come again?”

“You heard me.”

Jesus. Not Max, too.

“I thought for sure you of all people would understand why that’s never gonna happen.”

“Why? Because I’m a distrusting prick who doesn’t believe most of the shit that comes out of people’s mouths? Most especially women?”

“Uh, yeah, because of that. Wasn’t it you who only a few months ago drew a gun on Tatiana and was more than ready to pull the trigger?”

“Sure the fuck was. And I did that because I thought she’d fucked us over, and if you remember, it was my head that almost got blown off. I’m fully aware I’m a dick. And I also know why I am the way I am. But I’d also like to think I’m a pretty smart man and have the capability of understanding people. And from where I stand, as hard as it is to swallow, she did you a solid.”

“You cannot be serious with that shit? A solid? She packed her shit and ghosted me. I was days away from asking her to share my life with me,” I reminded him and drained the rest of the whiskey in my glass.

Goddamn, if there was ever a time I wished I could get blotto and drink my troubles away, it was now.

“Serious as a heart attack, friend. And if you’d remove your head from your rectum, you’d see you owe her your thanks. We’ve been over this. You would’ve gone all commando and would’ve been fucked, kicked off the team, probably out of the Navy, and maybe even charged with murder had you caught up with the men who’d taken Autumn. Worst case, you’d be doing a stint in prison, best case you’d be workin’ alongside your brother in the family’s grocery store wishin’ you were doing time in Leavenworth, hatin’ every minute of every day. But, hey, you’d still have the girl, right?”