Page 60 of Shadow

If he knew the threat was coming, he had no doubt he could protect himself. It was Olivia he was worried about.

“You wanted me out, I’m out, Brian. Now either tell me who’s after me or get the hell out of my way while I figure it out myself.”

His former boss chuckled. “Ripley, Ripley, Ripley, you know that’s not how this works. If I want you in custody, you’ll be in custody, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now if you cooperate, we’ll arrange for you to say goodbye to your girlfriend. If you don’t, they have permission to take you in by any means necessary.”

He stalked to the end of the driveway so the others couldn’t hear him. “You’re treating me like a criminal. That’s not how this works, either. Now you and I both know that I went quietly because I was ready to be done, but I’ve got a healthy insurance policy that would get me right back in if I really wanted to use it.”

Brian practically hissed at him. “Don’t you dare threaten me. You’re done with this organization.”

“Yeah. I’m done. But you’re going to let me handle this situation my way or I might be forced to give the media a call. As you know from previous cases, I’m very good friends with Carrie Davenport.”

Carrie still went by her maiden name in the journalism world even though she’d legally changed it to Mercer. The truth was he didn’t have that much dirt on Brian Doran. But he had enough that Brian would cooperate if he was smart.

After a few seconds of silence, Brian cleared his throat. “How do you want to handle it?”

“I want a protection detail. No, custody. Just a detail to follow me. And I want a little leeway to investigate.”

“Out of the question. I can give you the detail, but I can’t let you investigate. Not officially.”

“I’m not asking for anything official. Just an acknowledgment from you that you understand I’m not just going to sit in a safehouse and wait for you to do something about this.”

Brian huffed, and Ripley knew he had him right where he wanted him. “Fine. I’ll pass the message along to the team there with you. You’re a fucking moron for not going into protective custody.”

Ripley ended the call without saying goodbye and walked back up the driveway where he handed the phone back to the man he’d taken it from. One of the others pulled his own phone out and put it to his ear.

“Yes, sir, Chief Doran. Understood,” he said a minute later, before pocketing the phone again.

“Doran says to bring him in and brief him.”

The others nodded tersely, and the group headed inside.

In the sparsely furnished living room, they all sat down, and he waited for them to give him some answers.

“The alias we’re concerned about is Ripley Matthews.”

Ripley had each of his aliases memorized, and he immediately recalled the missions he’d used that name with. There were only two, and they both involved human trafficking rings.

“We believe someone has been tracking you for some time.”

Ripley scratched at the back of his head and took the file the soldier handed him.

“Long enough that more of my missions are compromised? My last one was with Sam Carter’s team.”

The soldier nodded to the folder.

Ripley flipped it open and read.

“Olivia is my girl. I’m not cutting contact with her. That’s not an option. You’re going to protect her, too.”

“You know operative protection doesn’t extend to girlfriends.”

“Then we’ll fucking get married. But she’s going to be protected.”

Would Olivia marry him? He mentally slapped himself. Now wasn’t the time to think about that.

He picked up his phone and messaged the team he had shadowing her.

Be on high alert and don’t let her do anything stupid. I’ll be back in an hour or two at the most.

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