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Hearing Kyle reduce what he and Toni had just shared to something so base and crude had Spencer ready to punch his fist straight through the car door. He lowered his voice to a menacing whisper. “That’s none of your business.”
“It’s very much my business when it puts the rest of your team at risk, not to mention the civilian under your guard. I excused your behavior back in Kandahar, the day I ordered you to take out Arrieta and you took pity on him instead. I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll take him out myself this time—and I won’t allowanyoneto get caught up in distractions when we need to be laser-focused on this mission. Now, could you please start thinking with your brain instead of your cock?”
“I am fully focused,” Spencer insisted through gritted teeth. “My involvement with Ms. Williams is strictly business.” He looked over at Toni and met her dark gaze, saw both the question and the hurt in her eyes before he turned away. “I’ve got a plan to draw out Coran Williams. And we’ll get Arrieta. Don’t worry.”
There was silence through the line for so long that Spencer checked to make sure they were still connected. “Hello?”
Kyle exhaled slowly. “Oh, I’ll get him all right. If it’s the last thing I do. Bet on it. But if your involvement with Toni Williams compromises this mission in any way, I will pull you out. Understood?”
“Understood.” A muscle ticked near Spencer’s jaw as they approached a police checkpoint at the city limits. One of the officers knocked on the back window of the limo, and Toni gave him an anxious look before opening it.
“Hang on, Kyle,” Spencer said, then leaned forward and forced a smile. “How can we help you today, officer?” he asked in Arabic.
“We’re searching all vehicles going in and out of the capital, sir. Can you step out of the vehicle, please?”
They stood on the road while the police searched the car and the driver, then each of them. Toni looked scared as an officer patted her down. The same officer frisked Spencer, then asked to see his credentials for his weapon before they were allowed back into the car to continue on their way.
“What’s happening?” Kyle asked once Spencer got back on the line.
“Police search. New checkpoint at the city entrance. Do we have any more intel on the SHEEPSKIN network’s motivation this time? Killing kids isn’t their usual MO.”
“No. But from the way the explosives were laid out, it looks like a deliberate attempt to kill Arrieta. The kids weren’t the target, but I’m guessing they weren’t too much of a deterrent either. The authorities found evidence of a terrorist lair in the school basement.” Kyle gave a derisive snort. “Using little kids as cover for his sick operations, all to topple the US from its superpower status. God, I can’t believe he was one of us.” Kyle exhaled sharply. Arrieta had worked under their noses as a CIA operative for years before deserting. “Jesus. It’s like tracking a ghost, with his training and contacts.”
A ghost Spencer had all but escorted out the door. The same old recriminations weighed heavy on Spencer’s mind. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Just one trigger pull, one sniper shot, and the world would be a safer place today. Those kids who had died in the explosion would be alive and well.
But he hadn’t known. How could any of them have known that Arrieta and his band of malcontents would grow into an international menace? Now Spencer owed it to Kyle, owed it to Nick, owed it to those kids and many others, to do what was necessary. “What do you want me to do?”
“You focus on nailing down a location on Coran Williams. We still need to find out what he knows and how he’s connected to SHEEPSKIN. I’ll handle Arrieta. Got it?”
“Yes.” Sitting on his ass wasn’t Spencer’s forte, but he was on thin enough ice where Kyle was concerned. Best not to piss the guy off any more. “I’ll wait to hear from you.”
Kyle ended the call without another word, and Spencer sighed.
“That didn’t sound like it went well.” Toni stared down at her phone, not looking at him, her thumbs flying across her keyboard. “Problems with your team?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” He’d already told her far more about what was going on than was prudent. She didn’t need to know anything else for now. “It’s fine. Talking to Daddy?”
“Funny. No.” She frowned. “I haven’t heard from him in months.”
“What about the attacks? Wouldn’t he at least want to make sure you’re okay?”
“I doubt he even knows I’m here.”
Spencer didn’t believe that. Coran Williams was a billionaire with a newsroom at his beck and call. Spencer was certain there was very little he couldn’t find out if he wanted to. And in this case, why wouldn’t he want to? “C’mon. Seriously? You expect me to believe that your father would let one of his most vulnerable assets travel without keeping tabs on you?”
Toni crossed her arms and stared out the window. “I told you we’re not close.”
“You’re his only child, Toni, close or not. And a link to him, a way to get under his skin.” Coran Williams might keep his physical and emotional distance from his only daughter, but a man like that, used to being in command? He wouldn’t just let her wander off unmonitored. “Let me see your phone.”
Her gaze darted to his, wary. “Why?”
“I want to check the SIM card. If your father’s tracking you, I can have Hayley check the ID number and trace back the signal to find your father’s current location.” He reached for the device, and she pulled it away. But not before he saw the “from” line in the text on her screen.
Coran Williams Publishing.
His blood froze. “Why are you lying to me, Toni?”
“I’m not lying.” She clicked off the message. “I was texting a woman at the publishing house about the possibility of them donating some signed special editions for the auction. There wouldn’t be time to ship them here before the actual auction, but we could have a listing for them, and the winners could have them shipped straight to their homes.”
