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“Well, you two look…rested.” Jack had his feet propped up on the conference room table and his hands folded over his stomach. He’d been waiting for Gabe to walk through the door ever since he’d gotten the call that their plane had landed at Heathrow.
“I didn’t know you missed me so much,” Gabe said. “But your adoration is making me a little uncomfortable.”
“I’m not talking to you, fool,” Jack said. “Your ugly face is the last thing I want to see.” He turned to Grace and gave her a wicked smile. “Hello, beautiful. Did you miss me?”
“I could hardly think of anyone else,” Grace purred. “What happened to your arm?”
Jack sighed and let his feet hit the floor. The sore ribs were a nuisance, and he did his best to ignore them. “I ran into a couple of friends while you guys were off globetrotting.”
“Oh, yeah?” Gabe asked. “Anyone we know?”
“Not in the flesh,” Jack answered. “I was able to get a name out of one of them. I’ve had Ethan doing a little background check for me, and I think you’ll be interested in seeing what we’ve found.”
“Let’s go then,” Gabe said. “I’ll put my stuff away and meet you at Ethan’s.”
“I’ll take it,” Grace said, grabbing the black bag he carried. “I’ve got to take mine anyway. See you in a few minutes.”
Jack waited until she got on the elevator before he spoke. “Things seem a little easier between the two of you. I’m glad to see you scratched your itch. It’s not so obvious now.”
“I wouldn’t say things are easier between us,” Gabe said. “We’re still feeling our way. There are a lot of things we have to work through.”
They waited for the elevator to come back down and got on, hitting the button for the third floor, where Ethan’s apartment was.
“Just be patient, my friend,” Jack said. “At least she still loves you.” Jack knew better than anyone what it felt like to love and have that love thrown back unwanted. If Grace still loved Gabe, then Gabe was sure to come out on top.
“I want you to keep an eye on Grace,” Gabe said. “I’m worried about her. Really worried.”
“What’s going on?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know. But I don’t want to be waist deep in manure while we’re in Iran and have to worry about her too. Just stay close to her if I’m not around. She might need you.”
“Is it her health? Her personality has changed a bit. She’s harder than she was, and not as easy to laugh. She’s not hiding her feelings as well as she once did, either, but I haven’t noticed anything alarming.”
“She’s holding on by a thread,” Gabe said. “She’s got a lot of guilt inside. And I have a feeling she hasn’t really given herself the chance to grieve.”
“We can’t take her on a mission like that, Gabe. You, of all people, know it as well as I do. She’ll be a liability to all of us.”
Gabe shook his head. “She needs to go, and I need to have her there. All I’m asking is that you keep an eye on her.”
Jack sighed as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. “I hope you’re not making a mistake, my friend. But I’ve got your back.”
“You guys have good timing,” Ethan called out as they walked through his door. “Here’s our man.”
Ethan sat behind a black, U-shaped console that dominated the middle of the room. Every part of Ethan’s computer system was built into the console, and as Jack got closer, he could see what looked like five or six separate screens underneath the clear surface of the desktop. Ethan’s fingers flitted across the surface of the desk with ridiculous speed, so he looked like some sort of mad scientist, moving and shifting pieces of information from one location to the other with just a touch of his finger.
The first wall screen displayed an image of a man Jack didn’t know, but he recognized the type. He was tall and broad shouldered. Lots of muscle. His hair was buzzed short in the picture, and his eyes were muddy brown and mean. He looked like a SEAL at first glance, and the thought gave Jack a bit of unease that one of his brothers could be involved in this.
“Definitely has a military background by the looks of him.”
“You’d be right,” Ethan said. “Shawn Kimball was USMC Force Recon with two tours of duty under his belt before he retired. Sniper specialty. He was then recruited by Uncle Sam.”
“You’re kidding me,” Gabe said. “He was CIA?”
“It’s buried deep, but it’s there. He didn’t do as good of a job at wiping his records as you did.”
Jack whacked Ethan on the back of the head for admitting to Gabe that he’d been trying to poke through his classified files. The kid definitely suffered from foot-in-mouth disease.
Ethan rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry,” he said to Gabe. “I was curious.”
