“Baz and I are gonna meet up with your mother in the mornin’,” JJ told Reese when a couple of the others went in search of a second helping or dessert.
Reese’s eyes lifted to her face, and Brantley fought the urge to smile. It was true; he found the man’s discomfort amusing. If the shoe had been on the other foot, he knew he’d be just as mortified by the idea of his mother mixing things up with not only his father but his father’s friend as well, which he figured gave him the right to do so. Of course, he’d never imagine Frank Walker would share his wife with anyone, so it helped that there was no chance in hell it would ever be reversed.
“Whatever you learn … keep it to yourself,” Reese grumbled, his gaze drifting back to his food.
“You mean you don’t wanna know the details of her taboo romance with—”
Reese’s gaze shot to JJ, effectively shutting her up and making her laugh at the same time.
She put her hands up in a sign of surrender. “I won’t say a word. Promise.”
“You can tell me. It’ll give me ammunition to torment him with later,” Brantley told her, his gaze on Reese, which was why he saw the man’s eyes narrow. Brantley chuckled. “Kidding.”
“Are y’all gonna meet up with the Mob boss?” Deck inquired.
“My brother’s settin’ up a time,” Reese informed him, then looked at Brantley. “I don’t think it’ll be tomorrow.”
Based on the bits and pieces of the conversation he’d overheard on the drive from the hotel, Brantley figured as much. It was a spur-of-the-moment request, so he understood, even if it irked the shit out of him. He wanted to get this over with so they could move on. Finding Tobias Land was a task that he’d expected to have completed already, but the man was proving to be elusive. That or he was dead, and they were going to find a body at some point, but he hoped that wasn’t the case. Considering the goons had ransacked Toby’s house, he got the feeling the man had slipped away before anyone—authorities or bad guys—could grab him. So the hunt would continue.
“I made a few calls,” Slade said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Tried to get a feel for anyone else searchin’.”
Brantley glanced down the table at him. “And?”
“There’s at least one guy with a bead on him, but he’s workin’ the Austin angle.”
“Maybe he’ll find him,” Brantley mused, although he didn’t think that would be the case. For whatever reason, after seeing Toby’s house, he got the feeling the man had hightailed it out of Dodge. He also didn’t think they’d find him in Dallas, but since the Mob angle was the only viable lead they had right now, it was worth pursuing.
“I’ve got a question,” Elana piped up, leaning forward to look down the table at him.
“What’s that?”
“Do we … uh … get the bounty if we find him?”
Curious why she would ask, Brantley put down his fork and met her gaze. “According to Z, yeah. Why?”
Her freckled cheeks turned a rosy red. “I was thinkin’ maybe we could use it to do somethin’ fun. I mean, it’s not a normal job for us, and the money would be a bonus, right?”
Interesting idea. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “It would.”
“So maybe we could use it to have a team-building exercise or something.”
“You don’t think we get enough team building just sittin’ in the same building all the time?” Baz teased.
Brantley looked at Reese, noticed the man’s permanent scowl had disappeared, and he seemed interested in the idea. Or maybe not the idea so much as the fact that the team was rallying together as they usually did.
He wouldn’t deny things hadn’t been the same when Reese was gone. For the six months Reese had been recovering in Dallas, they’d been focused primarily on work and little else. At least that Brantley saw. Based on their interactions tonight, the friendly banter and witty comments, he got the feeling they were spending quite a bit of time getting to know one another.
Funny how he’d never imagined his life without his SEAL teammates, but this… Although the abrupt end to his career hadn’t been ideal, nor was it something he’d want to relive, this was a damn good consolation prize as far as he was concerned.
***
Slade sat quietly at the table, listeningto everyone else talk. He was just off-center, with three people on his right and two on his left, so he was bombarded with more than one conversation, none of which he was contributing much to.
Truth was, he didn’t have much to say. The ride up from Coyote Ridge had been eerily silent for the most part. Slade had refrained from giving Evan a hard time about Becs because he hadn’t been too keen on the idea of walking, and he didn’t doubt for one second that Evan would’ve tossed his ass out of the moving vehicle just to shut him up.
It hadn’t helped that Slade’s cell phone had been blowing up with texts from his ex-wife for the better part of the afternoon. He hadn’t responded to any of them. Hell, he hadn’t read half of them, either. Whenever he thought about Jennifer, he was flooded with both anger and pain, neither of which he wanted to deal with right now.
Another half hour passed while Slade sipped tea and wished they would finish up so he could move on to something more interesting. More accurately, something that didn’t involve him sitting shoulder to shoulder with Luca Switzer, who seemed intent on ensuring he was as uncomfortable as could be.
