“Maybe everything that’s happened this weekend is how Mitch wanted it to play out, right down to us escaping today,” Reed tacked on in agreement. “Maybe Mitch sent his people for the key, but his goal wasn’t to have you taken on Friday. Hewantedto send you into Trevor’s arms.” He squeezed one eye closed as if regretting his phrasing. “Well, you know what I mean.”
“He knew Trevor would bring Audrey to his place after the break-in,” Ryder said with a nod, sounding as though we were on the same sick page. “Rhett confirmed as much, right? And Mitch also knew exactly who Trevor would turn to for help, because he knows who Trevor’s cousin married.”
Gray Chandler, son of the secretary of defense.
“Not just that.” Natasha gave us an uneasy look before stealing a glimpse at her husband, and he gave her a nod of what felt like permission to share something. “I take it Audrey’s yet to sign an NDA?”
Ryder shook his head. “But she already knows plenty at this point, so you might as well spit it out.”
“Yeah, okay.” Natasha blew out her cheeks. You know, great sign to see from an experienced officer. “Your ex-husband knew my dad before my brother married Trevor’s cousin, Tessa. Not just because Trevor was SEAL Team Six and my dad was an admiral.”
Wyatt dropped the news on Audrey fast. “Secretary Chandler asked me to recruit Trevor to run Charlie Team. This was a few years back.”
“Wait, what?” Audrey’s words echoed my own shock.
What were the damn odds?
“Trevor said no.” Wyatt gave Audrey a moment to continue wrapping her head around the news. “He said secrets destroyed his marriageand he wouldn’t let secrets be the downfall of your friendship, too. And he knew if he were to run Charlie, he’d only be able to tell you if you were his wife.”
Audrey covered her mouth, eyes falling to her lap, visibly shivering. It was becoming increasingly harder and harder to dislike Trevor. Hell, he sounded like someone I could hang out with on the regular. Even operate with.
“Any chance Mitch knew Trevor has been in tight with your dad for longer than we thought?” Ryder asked Natasha.
“No clue. It depends on how closely Mitch was paying attention to Trevor over the years. Did the two know each other before you started dating and married?”
“They weren’t friends, no. But they were both in the navy and attended a few events at the same time,” Audrey shared.
Wyatt stood, pushing his chair back. “Well, let’s assume the worst here, and that’s Mitch was aware Trevor had a friendship of sorts with my father-in-law long before Gray married his cousin, and he was banking on that close relationship for some reason.”
“Which meanswhat, exactly?” Audrey asked pointedly.
“It’s clear Mitch wanted to make sure there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s the one behind all this,” Natasha said. “Which is why he sent Rhett today, so we’d discover Rhett is also supposed to be dead. Then Rhett could give us a direct line to Mitch with the phone.”
“So Rhett more than likely planned on being caught, which is why he hung back on the edge of the property waiting for what he expected us to do,” I said in agreement with Natasha. “He put up a decent fight for show, then surrendered on purpose. He told us what Mitch wanted him to say and gave us the phone, so then Trevor would go to—”
“My father,” Natasha finished for me. “Mitch wanted this to get back to the secretary of defense, to the man who faked his death in the first place. He’s either framing my father, or he’s forcing him to step into the deep end right along with him.”
With Audrey and all of us now, too.
“This is ...” Audrey stood and turned toward her brother, and he pulled her into his arms, catching my eyes over her head as he held her.
“We’ll put a stop to this,” Natasha said firmly. “Mitch has no idea what he’s done by dragging us into this mess with him.”
“He’s made this personal for all of us, and he’ll realize his mistakes fast,” Wyatt added, fire in his voice. He let his temperature cool off faster than I’d be able to, and switched gears from war to rest. “Just head to bed, get some sleep for now. We’ll figure out the full picture when we talk to my father-in-law in the morning.” He pushed away from the table and stood, signaling the conversation was coming to an end whether we wanted it to or not.
Silence passed between us as Audrey freed herself from her brother’s hold to look around at everyone.
“Dead men walking. Secret ops and ghosts.” Reed shook his head, eyes locked on me like I had all the answers for some reason. “What kind of mission is this turning into?”
My stomach squeezed as I gritted out, “One that I’m afraid is just getting started.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Audrey
The bedroom was warm and quiet, reminding me of the honeymoon suite back at the lodge but a little smaller. Same smell of fresh linen and pine.
The windows rattled from a strong breeze outside, like nature was cocooning us in the shadow of a snowstorm so we’d remain cloaked from danger.
