Page 168 of Rescuing You

“Maybe,” Brock said. “If you’d told us when you found out where she was, we could have assembled a team. Made a plan.”

“You would have gone into Iraq and rescued her?”

“Maybe.”

But not because she was Michael’s girlfriend, not because of his feelings for her, but because she was seen with Vortex. They’d have rescued her to get information.

“If I’d shown up twelve hours later,” Michael said, “Leila would have been married—against her will—to a terrorist.”

“Who?”

“Shehab. And then she’d have been taken away. She’d be gone, and with her, all the information.”

“You didn’t know that before you went after her.”

“True. But let’s be honest about something. If it was the wife or girlfriend of any other member of our team, we would have gone in immediately, no question about it. The only reason you sidelined me is because she’s Iraqi.”

“The only reason?” Brock’s voice rose, but he tempered it. “Or was it because you didn’t tell anybody about her? You kept her a secret.”

Right. There was that. “Is it so wrong to want a little privacy?”

“You gave up your right to privacy when you joined the CIA. Look, Wrong. Your training is good. Your instincts are good. Your skills are second-to-none. But you’re a lone wolf, and lone wolves get the rest of the pack killed.”

He wasn’t sure that was true of real wolves in the wild, but he saw Brock’s point.

“That’s why I didn’t want you on my team from the start,” Brock said. “Because you always think you know better. You always think your way is the right way. What did you learn about Qasim’s plans?”

“Nothing, yet. Once they have asylum⁠—”

“You think they’re getting asylum?”

“Seriously?” Michael pushed to his feet. “Of course they need asylum. They just escaped terrorists. They have information we need.” Jasmine did, anyway.

But he needed Leila to get asylum. He needed them both in the US with him.

“You got nothing out of them?” By Brock’s tone, he wasn’t buying it.

“They were afraid to talk, and I don’t blame them. Take them back to the US, and I have no doubt they’ll tell you everything they know.”

Brock pushed to his feet. “Let’s hope you’re right.”

“Am I in custody?”

Brock’s smirk told him he’d love that. But the expression slipped. “No.”

“Do I still have a job?”

“I don’t know, Wrong. Should you?”

He didn’t answer what he guessed was a rhetorical question. “Where are Leila and Jasmine?”

“Leila’s with the team in the lobby. I’m going to talk to Jasmine now.”

“I need to contact my brothers.”

“They’re waiting at the airport. They know you’re safe.”

Which meant…what? Was Michael going home with Derrick and Bryan, or with the team?