Page 65 of Chasing Grace
Biggest fucking failure of his career.
The colonel shook his head. “No. We don’t know who we can trust in the Department of Justice. We can’t afford to lose those cargo ships until we secure the contents. We let this play out until the last ship docks. Homeland Security can have the win on this and take possession of the weapons as they come in.”
Nods around the table signaled unanimous agreement. Even though it meant losing the connection to Wright, they couldn’t let that much firepower hit American soil.
“Fuck you, Canker. I’m talking to my brother.” Gray’s declaration of intent came ten seconds after she’d slammed open the boardroom door and barged into the room, the colonel’s assistant three steps behind her.
“I’m sorry, Colonel. She—”
“You.” She cut off Peter Hoyt and pointed a trembling finger at Adam through the camera. Jesus. He felt her pain and fury despite the miles between them, and he wished things could have been different. They’d been close once. Before he’d left for West Point at seventeen.
She still hadn’t forgiven him for leaving her.
“Grace Grayson, we’re not done here,” the colonel said, his anger evident in his tone.
Adam shook his head as his sister’s blazing gaze landed on their father. “It’s Emerson. Not Grayson. It’ll neverbeGrayson. Got that, Pops?”
Adam sighed and stepped into the line of fire. “Listen, Gracie, I’m sorry. I—”
“Don’t you Gracie me, you dead fucking bastard.” She looked around the room and jerked her head to the door. “Everybody out.” As a collective, the men of the JTT stood and began to make their way to the door.
The last to vacate his chair, the colonel stood and exchanged a hard glare with Gray. “We did what was necessary for the sake of national security, Grace. I hope someday you come to understand the sacrifices we made to keep America safe.
Her posture an exact duplicate of the colonel’s steel-infused spine; she shook her head and turned her back. “Get out.”
The colonel’s hesitation lasted only a moment, but it was long enough for Adam to see the regret in the slump of his shoulders as he took his leave.
And that left three.
Interesting.
Chase Mackenzie approached Gray without the appropriate level of caution and stroked his hand over her hair. She responded by tilting her chin up. “I’m okay. You don’t need to stay for this.”
“You sure?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’d like to talk to my brother alone.”
Mackenzie’s black gaze swung to Adam. “She’s been through a lot in the last couple of days.”
Yeah. Adam didn’t need the reminder. The guilt had been eating at him steady. “Understood.”
“And just so we’re clear, you ever point a gun at her again, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Hey.” Gray elbowed Mackenzie in the ribs. “That’s an unnecessary testosterone flare. Even for you.”
He didn’t flinch. Neither did his hard stare. “We clear, Sergeant Grayson?”
“Crystal, Sergeant Mackenzie.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Gray rolled her eyes and grabbed Mackenzie by the face with both hands, pulling his gaze to her. “Please go away so I can talk to Adam.Alone.”
“Fine,” he grumbled and kissed her quick. “I’ll be right outside.”
Her heart poundingand her insides trembling, Gray stared at Adam’s face. He looked the same, and yet he’d changed. Thanks to their father, he’d never been a carefree teen or an easygoing young man, but now, more than two years after his supposed death, he had a new hardness to him.
His gray eyes held a visible warning, a sharp edge designed to keep people at a distance. Well, fuck him. That was her schtick, he didn’t get to hide behind it now, and besides, she wasn’t people.
She was his sister.
