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"I have one side. Rogues. It's all I ever care about. That is my sole focus. Besides, if I had sent a team there, you would never have known."
Deep down, I knew he was right. He would have found a different way to get what he wanted. And I never would have known.
"Where are we with the girl?" Gabe asked.
"She doesn't seem to know much. It's going to take more time to work her."
For the last year or so, I'd heard Saff call her brother an arse. Lock had called him a dick on several occasions. I'd heard Saint threaten to kill him once. But while Gabe was tough, I'd never experienced any of his finer points for myself until he said, "Maybe you don't get it, Rook. Your job is to get information. You know you're not actually her bodyguard, right?"
I frowned at that. "She still needs protection, though. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, but you do that as a means to get some fucking answers as to what Montgomery is doing with Igno. Did you get anything at the house?"
I knew I should tell him about Nissa's little adventure, but I held back. After all, who knew what the hell she was really looking for?
You know he's right. You do need to question her more.
She'd only just begun to trust me. There was no way I was pushing that hard.
"I didn’t have much opportunity to dig around much more. Have we picked up anything from the bugs?”
“A little, but we need more."
"Yes, I know what my job is. I can do it."
"Let me be clear, Rook, you're not to get too close to her. That's not the gig. If you can't do the job, I'll have to bring her in forcibly."
My blood quickened at that. I was not having him bring her in. She'd had enough of being dragged around and controlled, given who her father was. Knowing now who he was in bed with, and his penchant for exposing her to the bastards, she would be terrified if she was dragged into Rogues. She already felt alone all the time as if she had no one in her corner. That would devastate her.
"Not bloody necessary. Give it a few more days. She'll talk to me."
"And if she doesn't, we'll need to accelerate. Don’t make me take this over from you."
"I'll get the information you need. Just leave Nissa out of it."
Gabe chuckled low. "Already getting too close, I see. Maybe this was a mistake." He took a deep breath. "Rook, it seems I'm the one who has to tell you the truth of the way things are. We're not playing games here. You might look at Lock and Saff and Saint and Kaya and think we're running some sort of Tinder setup on these grounds. We're not. This mission is fucking life and death. You are a Rogues Agent. Do your job."
I bit my tongue. He had a point. Nissa was part of the job, and I was getting distracted.
You are beyond distracted. You want her just like you've always wanted her. And now that's getting in the way of you doing what you're supposed to do.
"I know, Gabe. I've got this."
"See that you do, or you'll be unhappy."
"There’s no fucking need for all the bullshit threats. I told you. I fucking know what to do."
"All right. In that case, do it. And Rook?"
"Yeah?"
"Bring me the fucking ledger."
"I'll do my best."
I hung up with him then scrubbed a hand down my face. Fucking hell. I always knew that what we did at Rogues was important. The whys might not always be clear to me, and I might not agree with all the missions. But this shit with Nissa in the crosshairs made me start to wonder if I’d just jumped out of the frying pan into the fucking fire.
Then I took a deep breath and called Montgomery.
