Page 30 of Gunner

“He left.”

He looked at Alex in question. “I thought I made it clear I wanted every member of this team here.”

Alex looked at Mitch and back to Jack. “We didn’t realise Gunner was back on the team and neither, it seems, did he.”

Jack rubbed his brow where a headache was forming.

“Then let me make it clear for you now. Gunner is a member of this team, and if anyone doesn’t like it,” he pointed behind him at the exit, “then the door is that way. This is my team, and I say who is on it and who is not. I understand the bad blood won’t dissolve overnight and wrongs will need to be worked through but what happened today is not how we do things.” He was looking directly at Blake as he spoke.

“Gunner did some awful things that resulted in people we care about getting hurt, but I need you all to take a deep hard look at yourselves. Would you have done anything differently, having met his sister and seeing how vulnerable she is? I know I wouldn’t have. It’s easy to judge and hold on to anger and rage but be honest with yourselves. If he’d really felt like we had his back, he would’ve found a way to tell us. Fuck, he would have told us about Milla.”

Jack moved to the boxing ring and climbed up under the ropes into the middle.

“Gunner let us down, but we fucking let him down too. Not one of us is innocent, and we need to stop acting like hurt little bitches and accept that. Now, does anyone have anything they want to say on this matter? Because for the love of God, if I have to discuss it again like we’re a fucking sewing circle, then heads will roll.”

The room was silent, and he could see that he was getting through to them when Mitch chuckled. He’d always been the calmest member of the team. Blake could be a hot head sometimes, and he’d seen the state Pax had been in after her attack, so he got it, but so did Gunner. What Blake had done was cruel and unfair.

“I’m all good, boss man.”

“Lopez?”

“Sure, you’re right. I would’ve done the same in his boat.”

“Decker?”

“You know my feelings already.” Jack did know how Decker felt. The profiler had been the one to point it out to him and hold a mirror up to the failings of the team allowing this to happen.

“Alex?”

“If I can work with Bás, I can work with Gunner.” Bás was an altogether different kettle of fish; he’d been the one to beat Evelyn, albeit holding back, while undercover.

“Reid?”

Reid was quiet, but he adored Callie his girlfriend, and had been furious at Gunner for his involvement.

“Honestly, Callie and I were talking about this, and the fact is, she would’ve been in much more danger if he hadn’t been involved. I don’t like it, but it won’t change how I work. Will it take me a little while trust him again?” He shrugged. “Probably, but I expect that goes both ways.”

“Blake?”

Blake had his arms crossed over his chest, looking mutinous. “She needed to know the truth.”

“Don’t try and defend it, Blake. It was a dick move, and you know it. It was his to tell, not yours, and you went in with the sole purpose of hurting him and in the process hurt Lacey too.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Maybe not, but it was the outcome. Gunner knows he made mistakes, and God knows he’s been busting his ass to fix them, but you’re not innocent either, Blake, none of us are. So quit acting like a victim. We have an enormous mountain to climb with this threat, and we can’t afford for us to be fighting. Can you work with Gunner or not?”

“I can try, for Pax and the team, I’ll try.”

Reid chuckled. “If the way Pax walked out of here is any indication then you have at least a week on the sofa.” Blake rolled his eyes but didn’t disagree.

“Good. Now I’m sure you’re all wondering why I trashed my office. Well, Gunner found out who the third man working with Osbourne is, and it’s Frederick Granger.” He held up his hands to stop the talking that began.

“I can assure you, neither Will nor I knew about it. But we did have an issue before. The first Op we did taking out Miqdaad al-Sadir was because I had intel that my father was working with him and we wanted to put a stop to that. We thought it was over, but unfortunately, it’s not. He’s now working with both Osbourne and Samir al-Sadir. In exactly what capacity and how deep, we don’t know. But my father was the one behind Milla’s kidnapping. He’s the man who targeted Gunner and therefore us.”

“Gunner told you this?” Mitch asked.

“Yes, he was the one who brought me the information, but he sat on it until he was absolutely sure because he didn’t want to blow my world to smithereens. My father is the enemy here, not Gunner. He was a pawn they selfishly used to weaken us, and they’ve succeeded as proved today. I understand if you have questions and I’ll answer them as best I can.”