A stretch of silence ensued before Logan spoke again. The man’s careful tone was impossible to miss.
“If you’re asking me whether or not I accused the secretary of the United States Navy of setting her and us up, the answer is no.”
“Good. Don’t.”
“Don’t?” His friend sounded surprised. “This mean you’ve changed your mind about Webb being involved?”
“It means the last thing we want to do is tip the guy off that we suspect he could be.”
Logan’s annoyance came through loud and clear when he blew out a harsh breath and began defending his family friend.
“Listen, man. I don’t want to get into another argument about this?—”
“Then don’t.”
“—but Kam is our target.” The other man kept on as if Van hadn’t said a damn word. “Not Webb.”
His former team leader was absolutely right. The woman sleeping on his couch was the team’s initial target. Based off of information they’d received from…you guessed it.
Webb.
“I’m not saying he’s our target, Logan.” Van kept his voice low to avoid inadvertently waking her. “But answer me this. If you’re so sure she’s guilty of what the intel we’ve beengiven says, then why were you okay with her being at Archer’s house last night?”
“What?” The guy sounded incredulous. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She took a shower in Archer’s bathroom, borrowed clothes from Cassie…hell, Kam was upstairs with the other women for like half an hour before they all came back downstairs. All while your son slept in a playpen in the spare room down the hall.”
“Watch yourself, Braddock.” Logan’s warning came with a low and careful voice. “That’s my family you’re talking about.”
“That’s exactly my point. Which, by the way, you seem to be missing completely.”
“I’m not missing anything.”
“Yeah, brother,” Van argued. “You are. Listen, all I’m saying is if your gut was telling you she truly was the mastermind behind all the shit that’s gone down, I don’t see you being okay letting her anywhere near Natalie, let alone leaving her in the house while you and I stood outside talking on the deck.”
“And you were ready to put a bullet between her eyes that night at the hotel. So what is it that’s made you go from wanting to kill her to jumping to her defense?”
He gave his friend the truth. “My gut.”
“Your gut?”
Logan grew quiet, then, just as Van had expected. If there was one thing he was known for on the team—besides being a grumpy asshole—it was his instincts when it came to shit like this were usually right.
“She could’ve killed me in that alley, Logan,” Van admitted aloud. “You and the team were in my ear, so I know you heard everything that went down, but…you weren’t actually there. You didn’t see her put that knife to my throat.” He hadn’t been the one to feel its blade being pressed against his skin. “She could’ve kept her mouth shut, sliced my carotid, and left me there to bleed out.”
Because I was so hell-bent on finding her sweet ass, I let myself become reckless.
It wasn’t something that happened often. Or ever, for that matter. But everything about this case…and this woman…was different from any others he’d ever known.
“She may have gotten the drop on you at first, but you turned the tables on her in record time.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I did. And it was as easy as taking candy from a fucking baby.”
“You’re nearly a foot taller, and you’ve got at least, what…like sixty pounds of solid muscle on her. It’s no wonder you had no issues taking control of the situation.”
“No, you’re not…” Van blew out a breath as he raked a frustrated hand over his short, black hair. “What I’m trying to get at is if she really was some terrorist mastermind, don’t you think she would’ve fought harder to regain the upper hand? But she didn’t.”
Not really. Not in the way he’d expect from someone who was out for blood.
