Page 90 of Rafe’s Future

But as the darkness began closing around her, Lena remembered something about his face. That strange smile he’d given moments before his well-deserved death. A knowing look she’d dismissed as arrogance.

Now she understood.

He knew.

Kozlova hadn’t been the end of the threat. He’d been a part of something bigger. Someone else was still out there, and if they were willing to come after her in broad daylight—with witnesses all around them—then Rafe was still in danger, too.

The thought tore through her as consciousness slipped away. She’d finally found happiness. A reason to live that extended beyond the CIA. And now, someone had stolen it away.

And they would be coming for Rafe next.

Lena’s eyes started to close against her will, but not before she caught a glimpse of the rearview mirror. The driver’s eyes met hers for a fraction of a second.

No. It can’t be him.

She knew those eyes. Knew the man to whom they belonged. Roger Wilcox had been her mentor and friend. And he was driving her farther and farther away.

From Alice. From Rafe. And from the life she’d only just found.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“You’re quitting?”

Bones sounded genuinely shocked by Rafe’s unexpected announcement.

Rafe looked across the large conference table at the men he had spent years training and trusting with his life. For a moment, he simply let the question hang in the air.

Digger sat to Rafe’s right with his arms folded across his chest. Falcon was beside him with Apollo and Bones on the opposite side.

Coulter, the newest member of the elite hostage rescue team, sat near the end of the table. He watched Rafe with an expression that said he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

Rafe shifted his stance. “Officially.” He nodded. “Yes.”

Bones stared back. “As in . . . retiring?”

A few of the men smiled, but their visible humor didn’t last. Rafe understood why. He had spent most of his adult life in this world. Even after leaving British intelligence, he had never really stopped being an operative.

Tac-Ops had become more than a company. The men in this room were more than a team. It had become home, and for a long while, it was enough.

But things changed. He certainly had. And it had everything to do with a particularly sexy spy.

He wanted a future. A real one. A life with Lena by his side.

“It’s time.” The decision was steady and certain. “Time to hand the reins over to someone else.”

Apollo shook his head slowly. “Who?”

Rafe turned his attention to the man at his right. Slade didn’t move. He didn’t need to. Rafe had already talked to him and Alice that morning.

They’d had a long conversation in Rafe’s office before Alice left to meet up with the girls. His daughter and son-in-law had both agreed to his offer.

“The team will be led by Shadow and Digger,” Rafe announced, purposely using his daughter’s call sign.

The room went silent. Slade’s expression remained unchanged. But Rafe caught the flicker of emotion in the stoic man’s gaze.

“I still own Tac-Ops,” he continued. “That isn’t changing. But Shadow and Digger will be in charge of the team.”

Bones glanced at Slade and then back to Rafe. “How exactly is that going to work?”