“You said your cousin was dead,” Jason repeated. He willed his anger to simmer before it boiled over.
Eric gave an almost imperceptible nod. “You have every right to be livid. I don’t blame you.”
“So, we agree on something. What. Happened. Eric?”
For the first time since he’d met his boss, something vulnerable, almost scared, flitted across Eric’s face, then disappeared again. “I found out Dylan was alive over two years ago. He was hiding from some very dangerous men. He’s not innocent. I’m not trying to paint him that way, but I decided to stay in touch and use his connections to attempt to bring down the guys who were after him.”
“Why didn’t you report that? Bring WhiteRock in? Depending on who these guys are, we could have worked with one of the government agencies to—”
“I told you,” Eric hissed, “Dylan is far from innocent.”
“You wanted to protecthim, but bring down the bad guys after him?”
Eric took a breath. “Something like that. I knew if I brought everything I knew to the WhiteRock board or the CIA, I’d lose control of the situation.”
Jason really wanted to hit something. He’d already hit Eric. He didn’t need to do that twice in one night. But it was tempting. “Eric, youdidlose control of the situation, if you ever had it!“ Something Eric said made him pause. “Wait. CIA. Why did you say CIA?”
Eric sighed. Jason had never seen him look so defeated. It was surreal. And sad. And maddening.
“The CIA is hunting the people who are after Dylan.”
Jason tried to respond to that, but Eric raised a hand to silence him. “I’m not hiding information from the CIA, Jason. Give me some credit. All I know is Dylan is alive, up to no good, and this guy, Sharker, is after him. Probably for good reason.”
“Sounds made up,” Knox said. “The name.”
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Sharker is probably an alias, but I don’t have another name for him.”
Jason weighed the information for a few silent beats. “It still doesn’t feel right. I don’t think you’d stick your neck out this much for Dylan—lie to us, endanger us, for Dylan. Who else are you protecting?”
Eric’s eyes grew wide. “I keep underestimating you, Jason.” He roughed a hand down his face, then raked it through his hair. His tension was palpable. “My sister is involved. Some of her businesses . . .” He drew in a slow breath. “She hired from the wrong pool of people on more than one occasion. That’s coming back to bite her. Sharker hasn’t identified her. She’s more careful than Dylan. But if Sharker finds Dylan . . . he’ll figure out Sophia’s role.”
“Her role? What is that, exactly?”
“They’ve both stolen from Sharker. But at the moment, Sharker believes Dylan is dead, and he hasn’t discovered Sophia’s involvement.”
“That you know of.”
Eric nodded.
Eric’s actions made a little more sense now. Eric and his sister were close. Yep. Jason could see Eric doing something crazy-dangerous to protect Sophia. It didn’t make thingsokay. Eric’s handling of the situation had flown off the rails. But at least Jason had a better understanding now.
Eric held up his phone. “I’m calling Gessler. He’s the new chairman of the WhiteRock board. I’ll tell him we need to have a meeting. I’d like you both to be there.” He looked from Jason to Knox and back to Jason. “How long do you need to wrap things up here? You’ll have all the contents aboard The Sea Queen. I guarantee you that.”
“What about Dylan?”
“He’ll be killed if he sits in a jail cell here. I’m getting him out. But I’ll be able to find him.”
“You expect me to trust you on that?”
“Not completely. But, for what it’s worth, I give you my word. I won’t keep any more information from you about Dylan or Sofia.”
His word wasn’t good enough. He may never trust Eric again. But Eric and Dylan weren’t threats right now. Jason needed to focus on more immediate concerns. “We’ll wrap things up with Drakos and Frederick pretty quickly. But I’m staying here until Leland is in stable condition. I’ll let you know when we’re headed back to Houston. We’ll sort things out with WhiteRock when I get back.”
Eric nodded. And left.
Knox worked his jaw like he was trying to calm himself before he said something. Or kicked something.
He finally faced Jason. “I can’t believe this is happening. We trusted him. He could’ve gotten us killed. He’s indirectly responsible for Gus—”
