by L. T. Ryan
Sadie didn’t meet Bear’s eyes after the revelation and Bear followed her lead. They’d be much more likely to get information out of Miller if he believed they were on Thorne’s side. The guy clearly had a lot of respect for Thorne, and they were going to use that to their advantage for as long as they could.
“What happened once you got to England?” Sadie asked.
“Met up with Weber, whose real name was actually Fredericks.”
Sadie turned to Bear for the first time. “One of our missing agents.”
Miller settled into the story. “He told me he was on the job, but that he was running a side scheme he needed some extra help with. His team was supposed to be keeping an eye on a terrorist cell that had popped up in London recently. He and his team were monitoring them until they were ready to make their first move. Once they did, the CIA would catch them in the act and come home heroes.”
“And the side scheme?” Bear asked.
“They knew the terrorist cell was planning on using an underground tunnel to plant bombs and cause some serious destruction. But they’d also gotten wind of a local gang that was eying the same territory. Fredericks figured he could go to both of them and offer to look the other way—for a price.”
“He was double-dipping,” Sadie said. “Neither one had any idea the other existed, and while they thought they’d be able to operate under law enforcement’s noses, Fredericks would collect money from both sides before they ever figured out what he was doing.”
“Except they were both pretty suspicious to begin with,” Miller said, “so he brought me in to keep the peace. Of course, at the time I thought I was meeting with legitimate businessmen, not gang leaders and terrorists. Once we convinced each of them to take the deal, Fredericks had me call a phone number and drop a tip about the terrorist cell’s plans. Then his team could swoop in and save the day.”
“Why just the terrorists?” Bear asked. “Why not the gang, too?”
“Don’t know,” Miller said. “I can’t imagine Fredericks really wanting a terrorist cell to run rampant here or anywhere else. As for the gang, maybe he figured he could keep getting hush money out of them? All they wanted to do was sell drugs. Not quite as big a deal as blowing up some building in the middle of a major city.”
“Tell that to all the orphaned kids wondering what happened to their coked-up parents,” Sadie said.
Miller shrugged and looked like he didn’t care.
“So where did things go wrong?” Bear asked.
“Like I said, I called the number he gave me, talked to some girl. Gave her the tip and stuck around long enough to watch the fireworks. Only, instead of watching Fredericks and his boys being congratulated on a job well done by the Queen, I find out they all went missing and now the Irish and the Arabs are at each other’s necks.”
“So, you decided to burn the apartment building down to cover your own ass?” Bear asked.
“Not at first,” Miller said. “Fredericks still hadn’t given me my cut, so I waited for him to turn up again. Kept my ear to the ground in case he had taken off hoping to get one over on me. About a week went by and I saw one of the terrorist guys dumping a body in the apartment. Went to go check it out and realized it was one of Fredericks’ men.”
“Were either of them in on the deal?” Sadie asked.
“Nah. They were straight shooters. It seemed to drive Fredericks crazy. That’s why he brought me in. Knew he couldn’t trust them to keep their mouths shut.”
“Who was in the apartment?” Bear asked.
“Sheehan. He was already dead.” Miller’s voice grew angry. “I didn’t sign up for that shit. Dead CIA agent? Nah, I wasn’t going to go down for that.”
“So you decided to scrub the apartment,” Bear said. “Set everything on fire, destroy the evidence.”
“Figured someone would come looking for them eventually, and the less that tied me to whatever happened, the better. So, yeah, I set fire to the place.”
“And almost killed a lot of people in the process, including an innocent kid.”
Miller shifted uncomfortably against the pillar. “Look, that wasn’t my intention. I figured he was with someone. Figured someone would smell the gas and pull the alarm before anything bad happened.”
“You have a lot of faith in people,” Bear said. “You took a big chance there.”
“Seemed to work out, though, didn’t it?”
Bear gritted his teeth. Miller was right, but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that out loud.
“Here’s the million-dollar question,” Sadie said. “Where’s Fredericks and the other agent?”
“Hell if I know,” Miller said. “If Fredericks is smart, he’s far away from here. Maybe he’s holed up with his girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Bear asked. “Who?”
Miller shrugged. “I don’t know. Some red-haired chick. I think she was the one I talked to on the phone. The one who got the tip and gave it to the whole team.”
Sadie stiffened. “You remember her name?”
“Mary,” Miller said. “No, wait. It was Maria.”
27
Bear waited until they were out of earshot of Miller before he turned to Sadie. “What the fuck is going on here?”
Sadie closed her eyes and put her hands on the side of her head, like she was trying to keep her mind from spilling out of her ears. “From the very beginning everything has been so tied up with everything else. How did we not see it?”
“See what?” Bear demanded. He felt spittle fly from his lips. “Because all I see is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I mean, Thorne? Maria? They’ve been involved in this from the beginning?”
“Hang on, hang on,” Sadie said. “Let me get this straight in my head.”
Bear bit down on his tongue to keep from lashing out. He had a lot of pent-up energy and absolutely no outlet for it. He looked back at Miller, who appeared to be trying to take a nap standing up, now that his interrogation was done. Maybe Bear could beat more information out of him.
“Thorne knew both Fredericks and Miller, who teamed up to double-cross a terrorist cell and an Irish gang here in London. Miller called Maria, who was working for Thorne at the time, to give her a tip about the terrorist cell. When all that went sideways, our three agents disappeared. Sheehan showed up dead at the apartment building, and Miller decided to burn it to the ground to cover his tracks. But Fredericks and the third agent, Samson, are still missing.”
“And we know the neo jihadists still have them,” Bear said.
Sadie finally opened her eyes. “That’s got to be why Maria decided to go back and check on the agents. She wasn’t worried about following up on potential bad intel. She wanted to know what happened to her boyfriend. He’d been missing and she knew something was wrong.”
“She could’ve been in on the deal,” Bear said. “If she knew he was dirty, she was probably helping him. And if she knew—”
“Then Thorne knew, too.”
Bear scrubbed a hand across his face. “We need to talk to Thorne.”
Sadie shook her head. “I’m not kicking that hornet’s nest yet. I want to know everything I can before we knock on that door.”
“You want to talk to Maria first.”
Sadie nodded. “And we’re not doing any of that computer bullshit, either. I want her here. Now.”
Bear didn’t argue. He could feel the waves of anticipation rolling off of Sadie, and they matched his own. Sadie stepped away to make a phone call while Bear returned to Miller.
“What happened to you, man?” Bear asked. “Seriously. You were willing to kill so many people, and for what? A paycheck?”
Miller’s eyes burned. “Retribution pays a lot more than money.”
“You fought over there for years. Fought to protect your country. And now you’re helping those same people destroy the world.”
Miller clenched his teeth, but Bear saw the beginning of a crack in his façade. �
�It wasn’t supposed to be like that. No one was supposed to get hurt.”
“But there was a chance all this could go sideways, and then you’d be part of a terrorist plot.”
“Look, I know I’ve been a piece of shit for most of my life.” Miller wasn’t meeting Bear’s eyes. “I could’ve been a better soldier. A better son, too. I’ve been so angry most of my life. At everything. Everyone. Figured I could put that to good use. But even over there, it wasn’t just about putting down the bad guy. There were rules and expectations.”
“Go figure. How dare the military hold you to a higher standard.”
Miller wasn’t taking the bait. “When they discharged me, I thought my life was over. Nearly did it myself a few times. Then I started finding ways to put my skills to work. I helped some people too, you know. I doubt that’ll be in my file when all is said and done.”
“Even if it is, you’ve hurt more than you helped.”
Miller’s sigh was one of resignation. “We were supposed to be the heroes. Fredericks was gonna bring me in on the takedown job. I wanted the money, don’t get me wrong, but he thought maybe this could get me back in. The Marines. The CIA. Something. He thought I could start over.”
Bear felt the slightest hint of pity for the man, but everything he’d done squashed that fairly quickly. “And now you’ll need to figure out how to redeem yourself from inside a jail cell.”
Miller hung his head and didn’t answer. What could he say? Both he and Bear knew it was over for him. The best he could hope for was a lenient sentence, a decent prison, and a life on the inside where he could fly under the radar.
Bear didn’t have high hopes, but he at least gave Miller the courtesy of not telling him that.
Sadie walked over to them, tucking her phone back in her pocket. “You’re all set, Mr. Miller. A team is gonna pick you up and take you back to the States. They’re going to listen to what you have to say. I suggest you tell them the truth. I’m willing to back you up if you do. They’ll know you helped us. It won’t let you off the hook, but it’ll get you far enough.”
“Thank you.” Miller’s cocky attitude hadn’t returned.
“He’s feeling remorseful at the moment,” Bear said once they were out of earshot. “Let’s hope it lasts.”
“Indeed.” Sadie motioned for Bear to follow her. “We’ve got moves to make.”
After ensuring Miller was secure, they left him in the care of Mr. Corbyn, who promised to keep an eye on him until the team arrived. Bear wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving Miller behind without seeing him picked up with his own two eyes, but Sadie was on a mission.
“I called Langley,” she said. They were both in her car again, making their way back to London. “Gave them the basics on the situation, including my thoughts on Maria and Thorne.”
“Which are?” Bear asked.
“Something is going on here.”
“That’s it?” Bear laughed. “That’s all we’re going on?”
“It was enough for Langley,” Sadie said. “They know what Thorne is capable of. They’re not taking any chances.”
“Did you ask if he’s still in his cell? I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“He’s there,” Sadie said. “I had them look before I got off the phone.”
Bear cracked the window and let the cool air wash over his face for a moment. “I half expected them to find a bunch of pillows stuffed under his covers.”
“A mop for hair,” Sadie said, laughing. “Me, too.”
“Jesus.” Bear didn’t know what else to say. “I’m gonna need to go on some blood pressure medication after this, you know that, right?”
“You’re getting too old for this, Bear. You need to leave it to us young kids.”
“My ass,” Bear said, but there wasn’t the usual heat behind his words. He turned to look at Sadie, who had her eyes fixed on the road. “You ever get tired?”
“We all need to sleep, Bear.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
Sadie twisted her mouth to the side, but it looked more like a grimace than a smile. “I don’t know. Sometimes. But then I get a new mission and I feel like a new person again, you know? I love what I do, Bear. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“That’ll change.”
Sadie laughed. “Now you really do sound like an old man.”
“Yeah,” Bear said. He looked out the window. “I feel it sometimes, too.”
There was a beat of silence between them before Sadie spoke again. “What’s going on in that head of yours, Bear? You’ve been off this entire trip.”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do, but you don’t want to say it out loud.”
Bear turned back to her. “Woman’s intuition?”
“That and I have eyes,” Sadie said, meeting his gaze for a moment before returning to the road.
“Jack and I have been on our own before. We don’t run every mission together. But this feels different. Something feels wrong.”
“I know what you mean,” Sadie said. “It’s like he’s trying to ask us for help but doesn’t know how.”
“And I just keeping thinking, how long can one person do this? Most of us are dead or called by forty. Don’t get a chance to feel tired. And those who retire are always jumping back into the game. They always have their head on a swivel.”
“And if they weren’t crazy before, they will be eventually.” She laughed. “Yeah, I think about that, too.”
“Our bodies can only take so much excitement before they give out,” Bear said.
“You falling apart, big man?” Sadie asked.
“Not yet.” Bear’s voice was sober. “But I can feel it coming. And Jack? He takes bigger risks than I do. It’s only a matter of time. I just keep wondering—should I be spending the rest of my days doing this? Chasing down terrorists and gangs and missing agents?”
“What do you want instead? A white picket fence? A wife and kids?”
“You mean a life?” Bear laughed. “I don’t know, maybe. Sometimes. It would be nice to have a home to go back to.”
“You have a place, don’t you?”
“A place, yeah.” Bear could hear his voice turn wistful. “But not a home.”
“And the wife and kids?”
“I could do it. I could enjoy that life.”
“But?” Sadie asked. “I feel a but coming on.”
“But I’d always be worried. You think I’m paranoid now? Shit, wait till I’ve got a son or daughter to take care of.”
“Do you think it’d be worth it? The paranoia, I mean, just to have a family?”
“Yeah, sometimes I do.”
Sadie changed lanes before she answered. “You’re allowed to call it whenever you want to, Bear. That’s well within your rights.”
“I know.” When Sadie gave him a look like she didn’t believe it, he continued. “Really, I know that. But I also know what’s out there. How could I stand by and do nothing knowing everything I know?”
“You can’t save everybody,” Sadie said. “It’s a hard lesson to learn, but a necessary one. Even now, there are a hundred other terrorist plots being concocted around the world. Some of them will be stopped by other teams. Some of them will change the course of history. We do what we can until we can’t even do that anymore. There’s no shame in hanging it up, Bear. Especially if it keeps you alive.”
Bear nodded, but he wasn’t sure he felt the same way.
“I hate seeing you like this,” Sadie said.
“I’ll be fine,” Bear said.
“I know that. I just wish you did.”
28
Bear woke up the following day feeling well-rested but no less exhausted by recent events.
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, this trip had taken a toll on him. He’d been up the whole night before, first tracking down Seamus, then getting into a fight with the neo jihadists, and finally locating and interrogating Miller.
His body had been ready for some sleep, even if he had trouble turning off his brain.
By the time Sadie had collected him at his hotel, he was conscious, but no readier to tackle the day ahead of them.
“You don’t look like you got much sleep,” he said.
Sadie took a long sip of her coffee while keeping an eye on the road in front of them. “Got a couple hours, but it’s been a busy night.”
“Give me the short version,” Bear said, settling back into his seat and closing his eyes. They were still heavy with exhaustion.
“Filled Winters in on the situation. She’s still trying to track down the tunnel in question. It seems like the cell isn’t aware we know as much as we do, otherwise they would’ve sent another video or blown it up at this point.”
“Let’s hope we can catch them before they move on to Plan B,” Bear said. There was a beat of silence between them before Bear broke it as nonchalantly as he could. “So, we haven’t really talked about it yet.”
“Talked about what?”
“The fact that one of your men was dirty.”
Sadie sighed and waited until they got off the highway before she answered. “It’s never a great feeling, but I know it wasn’t my fault. I did everything by the book. Fredericks was a good agent. Dependable. Courageous. He had quite a few years in before he joined my team. There was no way I could’ve known.”
“Is Langley going to see it that way?”
Sadie laughed. “That’s the question, isn’t it? There will be an inquiry, but I doubt I’ll get anything more than a stern talking-to.”
“Good for you.”
“Bad for Fredericks,” Sadie said. “His career is over. That’s if he’s still alive.”
“That was his call,” Bear said. “He chose to get greedy.”
“I’m more interested in Maria anyway,” Sadie said. “I keep underestimating her and it’s starting to get on my nerves.”
Bear was kicking himself, too. “She knew a lot more than she first let on, that’s for sure.”
“Now we just have to figure out how much of it was Thorne and how much of it was because she got a crush on the guy she was supposed to be keeping an eye on.”