Page 48 of Sniper

The perfect exclamation mark on whatever had been or might have been brewing between us.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sniper

Istormed out of the bedroom, hot with anger. Fury pulsed through my veins until I could hardly see straight. The blood practically vibrated inside of me as I stumbled down the hall and out into the sunshine. The sun felt too hot on my skin, so bright it stung my fucking eyes. I barely felt the hard bench beneath my ass.

“Sniper man, you good?”

I heard the voice behind me, but I couldn’t place it because it sounded like it was far away or maybe underwater. I jumped when a hand landed on my shoulder, and I frowned as I turned my head to Slate. “What the fuck are you doing out of the office?”

He flashed a grin and dropped down beside me. “I was comin’ out to get some food, and I saw you stumbling like you were drunk. I called and when you didn’t answer I figured something was wrong. So?” His gaze shifted down to the sheet of paper still clutched in my fist.

“Katey wrote a goodbye letter to her brother. That’s how sure she was that she was gonna die at the hands of that prick.” It was fucked, a civilian living outside a warzone writing a letter like that. She wasn’t terminally ill or any shit like that, but she’d done the same thing Cal and I had before we left on our last mission. She lived the life of a soldier at war, not the life of a doctor.

“Holy shit. That’s heavy man. How’s she doing?”

“Don’t know.” I shrugged casually when I felt anything but casual. She tried to be so damn strong all the time, even while she relived the worst night of her life and tears slipped down her cheeks, she didn’t make a sound. “I was too fucking angry to check on her.”

“Shit.” Slate sighed and gripped my shoulder. “You’re pissed.”

“Hell yeah, I’m pissed,” I admitted. “She sat on information, big info that could’ve been useful for all this time. Of course I’m fuckin’ furious.”

The door opened and Maverick stepped out along with Diesel, Rocky, and Rebel.

I groaned. “Is this an intervention?”

Slate laughed. “Nah, just figured you could use your brothers.”

I appreciated it but I hadn’t fully processed everything yet.

“We’re here,” Rebel said as he sat on the bench across from me. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” I let out a bitter laugh and rolled my eyes before I told my brothers everything that Katey shared with me. Every disgusting fucking detail. “She doesn’t have any names but she’s right about one thing, men that are able to buy people generally have money which usually means power.”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to go to a mall to buy a fucking child,” Diesel groaned. “This man could be in D.C. or Florida. Or fucking Timbuktu!”

I felt his frustration. “Yeah, I know.” Why didn’t she trust me with his information? That’s the thing that really hurt. Keeping her mouth shut only put us at a disadvantage. “We could’ve been tracking them all this time.”

“This is dark web type shit,” Slate assured me. “The problem is human trafficking isn’t exactly a small market.”

“Fuckin’ disgusting,” Maverick grumbled, probably thinking about Sophie, his stepdaughter.

“Yeah, but now it makes sense why trouble never seems to touch this fucker. He’s probably got judges, cops, and even politicians as clients.” My hands balled into fists again, and anger blurred my vision. “Now we’ve gotta try to figure out who the fuck he’s working with before he strikes.”

Rebel leaned back and stared at me as he let out an annoyed groan. “Seriously?”

I frowned. “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“You brought this chick here and married her to keep her safe from this looney motherfucker and now you’re mad she’s too fucking traumatized to tell you about her trauma?” He shook his head. “That’s fucked.”

“How the hell can I keep her safe without all the information?”

“Agreed.” He raised his hands, palms facing me to placate me. “But even I get why she might have trust issues.”

He might have a point, but I was too angry to see it. “Whatever.” Just because I understood why she waited so long to tell me, didn’t mean that I didn’t understand why. “I just needto think.” I needed a long ride on my bike to clear my head, away from here.

“Fine, but you’re not going alone,” Diesel ordered.

---