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Saint didn’t dare move and kept his eyes on the tiny critter sitting on his leg. Gray needed to figure out the best way to escape before they both died by that damn frog. Death by Kermit was not on his agenda.Here goes nothing.“I work for The Agency.”
Mesa turned his full attention on Gray. “The Agency?”
“That’s right. I know all about how Yusuf Bashar was selling arms to you. But now he’s dead, isn’t he?”
Mesa’s black eyes narrowed into slits. “And how exactly would you know that?”
“I told you. Because I work for—”
“The Agency. So you say.” Skepticism filled his voice. But Gray also noticed something else. Paranoia. It flitted through his dark eyes and gave Gray the confidence to continue.
“You’re Nik Valentine,” Camille interrupted, tilting her head and studying Saint closely. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
“Yeah,” Julien murmured. “He died in a plane crash.”
Saint didn’t utter a word, but Gray knew the jig was up. If the twins got word back to The Agency that Ex Nihilo was still alive, they’d come hunting.
“But I don’t know who you are,” Camille added, eyeing Gray.
He ignored her and returned his attention to Mesa. Time to buy some time and stir the pot. “I’m going to be straight with you. The Agency is cleaning house—and they consider you a loose end. But, I’m willing to strike a deal with you.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“Because I don’t care about The Agency. Only the highest bidder.” Mesa didn’t comment, but Gray could tell he was listening. “The way I see it, you’re going to need a new weapons supplier. We can get you what you need and The Agency doesn’t have to know. Just like before.”
“Bashar could get meanything.”
“So can we.” Mesa’s dark eyes narrowed, but Gray could see the man’s wheels turning. “You trusted Bashar, but he’s out of the picture now. We can take over.”
“I’ve already paid a lot of money for someone in The Agency to keep my weapons coming through Bashar and my drug routes open. And he fucked me.”
Gray tried not to look surprised at this revelation. Was he talking about the supposed traitor within The Agency’s ranks? Ryland had been paranoid about a mole, even thought it could be one of his own team members. But Gray didn’t think so. He believed the deceit and disloyalty ran deeper and higher up in the ranks.
So, someone in The Agency was getting a cut of El Escorpión’s billion-dollar cocaine empire for supplying him with weapons and alerting him to potential threats. But who? Most likely the same fucker who set Ex Nihilo up before Gray joined. The team had been on an op in Abu Dhabi when one of their own had been killed. Tanner “Mayhem” Stiles. Gray had been his replacement, but he knew exactly what had gone down. He knew The Agency had turned on the very team they’d put together and tried to take them all out.
It’s why they’d faked their deaths and set out for revenge.
The team had told Gray that Selma Santiago, who sat at The Agency table along with her husband, claimed intel from an op was leaked and, as a result, Mesa’s cartel had been warned and escaped capture. The Agency deduced someone from Ex Nihilo had warned the cartel members, but Gray didn’t believe it.
Someone else had tipped off Bashar and the cartel. Sounded more and more like that leak came from inside The Agency. Someone trying to profit off the needs of weapons and drug dealers. But now Bashar was dead, along with Mesa’s son. And soon, El Escorpión himself would be joining them. Gray would make sure of it.
“Who are you paying all this money to?” Gray asked. “Because I don’t think he’s doing a very good job.”
“Definitely not,” Saint agreed, eyes on the frog creeping up his thigh.
“What do you know about it?” Mesa demanded.
“I know your son is dead because your connection didn’t warn or protect you.” Gray bit back a smile when Mesa’s face turned a mottled shade of purple-red.Bull’s eye.
“Goddamn fucking piece of shit,” Mesa spat, his anger blowing like a volcano. “He promised me we wouldn’t be harassed. I paid him well for that guarantee. And he didn’t deliver.”
Who?Gray wondered, leaning forward slightly.Who is the mole? Say a name. Who didn’t deliver? C’mon!
“And now my son is dead. All because that asshole ran off and went into hiding down in Mexico. But, I’m going to string him up by his tinycajones. And he’s going to know the true meaning of suffering when he meets my creatures.”
Mexico?Gray exchanged a quick look with Saint. The Santiagos and Cross Mills were down in Mexico.
If Cross was the mole that meant he’d turned on his own son. Was that possible? Ryland had barely managed to escape the Abu Dhabi fiasco with his life before things went FUBAR and they’d lost Tanner.
