Page 19 of Breached

“That was worth every risk.” I beamed as he took it.

Keith fist bumped me. “Impressive work, Duchess.” I looked for Mike, but he wasn’t around.

“Let’s go inside and debrief.” Cole waved us toward the large property surrounded by soldiers. I took in my surroundings. We were on what looked to be a small base. Once past the second gate, there were a series of buildings shaped in a circle, and then more buildings further on. Cole reached for a door with a small sign on it that read War Room.

Just as I went to enter, my hand was snagged, and I was whirled around by Paul, who looked annoyed.

“Good luck,” John whispered as he stepped inside, leaving us alone.

I turned back to Paul, confused. “What?”

He folded his huge arms over his broad chest and stared down at me. “You were part of Blackstone today. You had a solo mission, but you went off book.”

I pulled my chin in, thinking I had done everything by the letter. “Off book?”

“His soldiers gave you an order to get out of the truck, and you disobeyed.”

Oh! I got it. “Yeah, I only did that because I had to. Don’t you guys play things the way you see them—you know, as you go? Sully was watching from the SUV. If I had done what they said, he would have thought something was up. I always show spunk whenever I’m around the Cartel. That’s what’s gained me what little respect I’ve got with them.”

“And you couldn’t have warned us of that?” He stared at me hard. “All I saw was you about to get a bullet in your head.” He looked away and sucked in a breath then turned back to me. “We plan every detail down to the second. Every situation is played out backward, forward, side to side, so we all know what each other is doing and thinking. Failing to let us know that had us seconds away from pulling the plug on the entire operation.”

I went to shoot back and defend myself, but I saw his point. “I’m sorry,” I dropped my arms, “I wasn’t thinking. I just fell into old habits. You have my word it won’t happen again.”

He gave me a curt nod, but I could tell he was still frustrated. “Let’s go inside.”

“Okay,” I followed him and stood next to John.

“For the record, I thought you were badass.” He smirked.

“Thanks.” I glanced at Paul. “I didn’t mean to screw up. I should have warned you guys.”

John shook his head. “It happens. Paul has a lot going on with Frank, and it’s not often that one of our women is intentionally put in the situation like you were. He’s protective of you because he…” He trailed off. “He’ll get over it.”

“Nicole, you’re up.” Keith made everyone look at me.

I stepped forward and slipped into press mode. “I had a successful meeting with Sully Sanchez, and he shared that he’d got hold of Bruno’s phone.” I went on to explain what he found, and Cole put my video up on the TV. “J, M, and Q are the top three people he seemed to contact.” I pointed at the TV.

“They’ve gotta be the sleepers,” John offered.

“Exactly,” I said, “his American contacts. This proves Sully is trustworthy. We already know about J from what I found out when I was there. Also, two of the area codes. It basically tells us these refer to the people he has embedded here in the US.”

“Q?” Mark looked at Cole, and I wondered if they thought it might be Quinn. He was currently at the house. I wouldn’t believe that. Call me naïve, but he was too sweet.

“Holy shit, is that—” Cole blew the photo up and moved close to the TV. Everyone went silent when we saw J had shared a copy of Olivia’s birthday party invitation with Bruno. “Son of a bitch.”

“If I had seen that, I would have warned you.” I felt insensitive about not going through it all first. Cole’s face was pale. I saw Mark put a hand on his shoulder, and he let out a growl and tried to gather himself.

“All right, keep going, Nicole,” he directed.

I filled them in on the rest, giving them the shortest version I could offer, and answered any questions they had.

“You brought us some invaluable info. Great job, Nicole.” Cole smiled.

A murmur of voices outside the door caused us to look. I saw Frank with a phone to his ear as he hovered in the hall. Paul came across the room and stood between me and the doorway. I sensed the air had gone tense. Something’s up.

Mike appeared then and stuck his head inside. “We good?” He directed that to Cole, who gave him a nod, then he stepped back out and spoke to someone. A moment later, he came in, followed by three very large men. They reminded me of Blackstone.

Then, like someone poured cold water down my back, I saw him, the man with the cauliflower ear. I recognized him from Bruno’s house. He had stopped me right after Esmeralda arrived and had taken my photo. I remembered his words that she wanted me dead. I reacted quickly and reached over and grabbed the handgun that sat on the table in front of me and pointed it directly at him.