Page 98 of It's Always Been You

“Everything is circumstantial right now. He’s too cunning to leave hard evidence behind,” Travis said. “I can’t trust him until I know his fucking agenda.”

“How do we play this?”

“We’ll pretend we’re not suspecting a damn thing.”

“Oh, boy,” Caitlin whispered.

“Two can play his game.” A hard gleam entered Travis’s eyes.

Travis drewthe blanket over Caitlin and quietly left their bedroom. He descended the stairs and walked straight into his study. Nate, who was waiting for him, handed him a mug of coffee. Sam was up and about doing a perimeter check.

It was 6:30 a.m. Caitlin managed to fall asleep during their discussions when Travis and Nate started rehashing some of their missions that might have been manipulations on Porter’s part. So far, none really incriminated the admiral. ButNate being in Germany when all the shit went down with John Cooper was too much of a coincidence. The admiral specifically requested a BSI security detail for Perot who was a CIA civilian asset. That gave Nate access to the CIA stations in Germany at that time. BSI did have limited access to the agency’s database, but it was expanded on a case-to-case basis.

“I’ve got to hand it to Porter,” Travis said. “Even with Caitlin, he didn’t push. He’ll let you believe you were in control.”

“We’re still operating on assumptions here,” Nate reminded him. “We think they have a tracker on Caitlin’s laptop. Are they recording her activities? Would they know if she had finally broken into the files they need?”

“That’s why Porter is playing it so cool. They may not even bother Cat at all if she gives them what they want,” Travis said.

“Can Caitlin figure it out by herself if they’ve installed some backdoor software on her laptop? Or should we call in a specialist?”

“Calling in someone else outside the agency might trip some alarms and could put Caitlin at risk.”

“I wonder what Porter would do if Caitlin returned the laptop?” Nate asked.

Travis gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to think what Porter would do. But he said it anyway. “He’d probably take Caitlin by force, but let us think that some other group did it. Fucking misdirection is his game. I should just take Caitlin and disappear.”

“And have her on the run again?” Nate challenged.

Travis slammed the mug down on the table and glared at Nate. His friend winced, but held his eyes.

“I am not John Cooper,” Travis bit off. “I’m not going to do a piss-poor job of disappearing.”

“Do you think that’s the life Caitlin wants? Another assumed identity?”

Travis turned around and faced the wall of books before him, but not really focusing on anything. “No. Caitlin wouldn’t want to be someone else again. I think she’s comfortable being who she is and learning more about herself. I saw how peaceful and happy she was when we were in Iron Ridge.” He faced Nate. “That’s the life I want for her. Free of people wanting to use her for their own schemes, or people wanting to kill her for things she doesn’t even remember.”

“You’re giving Porter what he wants this time?” Nate asked.

Conflicted emotions warred within him. “Yes. I have to remember he did help her during her time at the NEST. I think that gave Caitlin a purpose and returned some of her self-worth that had disappeared with her amnesia. She got her skills back. In some twisted way, we do owe him something.”

“But what if he keeps on asking?”

“A part of me thinks he won’t. He helped us with Komarov to get him off our backs. The unforeseen kink in that plan was Komarov’s sister. They appear to have eliminated that threat as well. So they’re clearing the path for Caitlin—”

“Her ticket to freedom.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Travis said as he sunk in his chair. He was so damned tired. “Part of me just refuses to acknowledge that a man I’ve depended on and trusted for over two years could play me this way. His daughter is my best friend, damn it.”

“Our best friend,” Nate corrected. “Bee wasn’t that tight with her old man when we met her.”

“I think they were working through some shit during that time. Imagine my surprise when she was the redhead my buddy Gabe hooked up with.”

“You think the admiral had a hand in breaking them up?”

Travis snorted. “I wouldn’t put it past him. He may not show much affection to Bee, but I pity the man who’d finallyget the balls to date her. Porter would probably intimidate the man with a rolling car meeting.”

“Get in the car, punk. So you wanna date my daughter?” Nate said in his best rendition of Porter’s voice. “Whatever happened to him?”

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