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“Brazil?” Oliver murmured. “Okay, but why do we need to be single?”
“Well, um . . .” Mya and her damn ums now, too.
Not good. “What do you not want to tell us?” My voice was almost hoarse that time.
“A friend of a friend needs our help, and to help we need to partake in this dating competition thing. Go undercover as contestants,” Gwen said, biting the bullet, dropping the shit news on us. “Mya’s been helping me, and things all kind of came together for the op at the last minute. Like as in today we secured the official invites.”
“Are you for real?” Of course you are, or I wouldn’t be here. But damn. “And by ‘secured,’” I said with air quotes, “you mean you hacked the list and got us on it?”
Gwen nodded. “It wasn’t easy. I’ll explain more at the hangar, but for the show . . . well, think Survivor meets Love Island. Maybe a little Naked and Afraid, too,” Gwen casually tossed out. “Not like The Bachelor, though.”
“Because that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Shit. Speed dating was bad enough. But to go undercover in a dating competition? I hung my head, cursed, then did it again for good measure. “Fuck my life.”
CHAPTER TWO
JACK
There was never really a time I questioned my job. Okay, maybe when I tried my hand at real estate after the Army because my then-wife had forced me to leave the military . . . yeah, I regretted that.
But never in all my years as Army Special Forces did I stop and wonder what I was doing. Hell, not even as part of Ground Branch for the CIA did I second-guess my choices. And before this moment, I never doubted my decision to join Falcon Falls Security.
Standing inside the private hangar watching Gwen argue with her father, Wyatt Pierson, did have me taking a second or two to rethink my life choices, though. Because the idea of going undercover in a dating competition was sure as hell not what I signed up for when I joined the company.
“I don’t see why in the bloody hell you need to go, too,” Wyatt said, his British accent deepening as he yelled at Gwen and slid his arms across his chest.
The defiant lift of Gwen’s chin was followed by her stabbing the air at her old man. Not that Wyatt was old. We were close in age. “This is my op. I’m pulling everyone in for help. Of course I’m going. My friend’s friend is in danger.”
“Your op?” Wyatt stepped back, the vein bulging at the side of his neck. He looked toward Gray Chandler and Carter Dominick, my two team leaders standing alongside the private jet, as if hoping for an assist, especially from his brother-in-law, Gray.
But Gray wouldn’t be joining this mission since he was married. As were three of our other teammates: Sydney Hawkins, Jesse McAdams, and Griffin Andrews. So, I assumed they’d be working from behind the scenes. And actually, Griffin’s wife was in her third trimester, so he wasn’t spinning up regardless.
Although Wyatt didn’t work with us—he was a Navy SEAL and part of an off-the-books team under the President’s command—our paths often crossed, especially on any op involving his daughter.
“Dad.” Gwen’s tone softened that time. Ah, she was about to try the honey-instead-of-vinegar approach with her father, who I had to admit was a bit overprotective when it came to her at times. Then again, he hadn’t even known he was her father until just before her twenty-first birthday, so I was pretty sure he felt like he had a three-year-old under his protection instead.
“You’re agreeing to this? Just like that?” Wyatt focused on Carter again. After all, it was Carter’s money that funded our ops. It was his jet they were standing in front of, and it was Carter’s worldwide web of mysterious connections that helped us out on almost every op.
Carter casually slid his hands into his pockets and arched a dark brow. “Your daughter says she needs our help. Do you really want her going alone? Because you know she will. Well, with Mya.”
The man had a point. I was happy to keep my mouth shut on this decision. Not my fight. Well, not completely.
But there was a part of me that needed to get away. I always went a little stir crazy in between ops. Not that I wanted my next mission to involve dating. God no. But, Brazil . . .
“Who is this friend in danger? What’s the story behind our impromptu mission?” I spoke up, needing more intel.
Gwen peered around the hangar before returning her attention back to her father. At least Gwen gave Wyatt a heads-up she planned to work with us this time, unlike the op in Turkey last fall that brought Gray and the woman of his dreams together.
“This friend an ex? A hacker?” Wyatt relaxed his arms to his sides only to bunch his hands into fists. “He’s a bloody criminal, isn’t he?”
“Former hacker. And Harley’s one of my best friends. But it’s not him in danger, it’s an ex-girlfriend of his.” Gwen focused on Mya as if unsure what to say, and Mya did a little one-shoulder shrug as if tongue-tied, too.
Mya’s focus seemed a bit off. Maybe she was nervous about bringing her former friend with benefits along for the op? Oliver and Mason didn’t exactly play well together.
“Harley reached out to me last month when he found out his ex fell off the grid. He asked me to help try and track her down. His, um, coding skills are rusty since he put them aside for a different life,” Gwen quickly explained. “My trail took me to a dating competition his ex was part of. It’s a streaming-type show but aired over the internet and not with any major network. But the show has sponsors that fund it. Anyway, his ex was a runner-up during their last season when it was hosted in New Zealand.”
“So, she disappeared there?” I asked.
“No, ten days later. And when I did some more digging, I discovered other women who were part of past seasons have mysteriously disappeared, too. Always a female competitor who placed in the top three couples to win the money. But never a woman part of the winning couple, though. So, no one is getting robbed and taken for the money.” Gwen played with her charm bracelet, smoothing her thumb over the SEAL trident charm Wyatt had given her. “I don’t think it’s a case of trafficking, or a money crime, but I’m not sure what in the hell is going on, so—”
