Page 44 of Remade

“Then it’s all good,” Darius said. “He knows this already. But you should be prepared too. The last gig Vince and I took together, we saw firsthand how Omar operates. Hahn wants oil, gas, and mining—Omar wants to destroy every diplomatic relationship we establish in the Middle East, including promoting chaos in the West. In my last year alone, he took down half the allies we had on the Iraqi side,andhe started a war between a Texas-based oil company and a Mexican cartel.”

I looked to Bo and felt my stomach twist. Was this not over?

Bo scrubbed a hand over his face. “It suddenly makes more sense that we have four operators full time in Baghdad on a government contract.”

Darius nodded. “We need what little diplomacy we have left.”

That reminded me of something our history professor had said. Creating enemies was as easy as divorce. Maintaining an allyship was as hard as a marriage. It required a lot of work.

He’d added that he’d been divorced three times.

I didn’t know if that’d been a joke or not.

“So, is this Hahn case over or not?” I had to ask.

“One tends to set off another,” Darius replied.

“But they could know who Beckett is,” I said, turning back to Bo. “We have no way of knowing if those fuckers in the bunker sent information to higher-ups.”

“We do, actually,” he corrected patiently. “That’s what Intel is for.”

Oh.

“There’s another problem, though,” he went on. “My brother’s safehouse was an intelligence blind spot for months. If any of the Hahn crews relayed information overseas, it was during that time. We didn’t have anyone tracking their movements.”

So the result was the same. Someone higher up in the Hahn chain of command could have Bo’s picture on a proverbial dart board.

“You should talk to Quinlan,” Ryan said. “This might be one of those instances where my brand of diplomacy is best.”

Darius agreed. “Aye. Get a sanctioned hit. Take out Omar. You might even get the green light from the CIA. He’s undoubtedly on their radar too.”

I raised a hand, half jokingly. “Excuse me? What’s Ryan’s brand of diplomacy?”

Darius and Ryan exchanged a smirk.

Bo was the one who answered. “You send in a sniper. No evidence, no one to blame, no red tape. A quick in-and-out.”

Gray sighed. “Yeah, in my experience, those quick in-and-outs are never quick.”

Wait, what? “Are you an operator too?”

“Oh no.” He shook his head. “I just happened to meet Darius under, uh, special circumstances, so I got my own experience. And I did complete Hillcroft’s final selection in Ecuador this summer.”

Whoa. Badass.

“I’m more geared toward search and rescue,” he finished.

“That’s cool.” I was impressed. “Do you work with that now?”

“Part time, yeah.” He smiled. “I also help my mom run a bed-and-breakfast.”

Darius didn’t look too happy about the last one. “And more and more lately, you forget to bring home leftover Danishes.”

Oh. I grinned.

Gray cocked a brow. “Because someone was recently told to keep an eye on his blood pressure.”

“It’s still in the normal range,” Darius defended.

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