Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“He’s sleeping like a baby, and I might have to go fix that.” He wasn’t sure he was going to wait until morning to have this out.
“So he’s still alive.”
“I haven’t killed him.” The yet was implied.
“Can we talk about this now?” Tag asked expectantly.
He was fairly certain Tag had been waiting to have this particular conversation for years. “You investigated my brother’s death.”
“Of course I did. After Solo went missing, I did some checking. I think what she told you was true. I think Levi had an open investigation into one military unit that had some unsavory connections. You know as well as I do that soldiers are human beings, and that means there’s a small portion of them who are bad and who use their position to evil ends. I think your brother fell in with a group of them.”
He’d done some of his own poking. “And only his untimely death stopped Levi from potentially prosecuting him or using it to fuck with me.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I think that’s a safe assumption,” Tag replied. “The question is why wouldn’t Solo tell you. I worry about that particular answer.”
“Because my brother asked her not to.” He’d worked it out over the long hours in the boat. “Because my brother was ashamed, and he would rather die than let anyone know he wasn’t perfect. If I’m being honest, he would rather have died than let me down. I don’t know if you know this, but back then I was kind of a righteous asshole. I held him to an impossibly high standard.”
“Dude, Kai deserves a medal. I told Jax he had to keep you from murdering your brother.”
He sighed. “I’m not going to murder my brother. I might beat the shit out of him for putting my wife in that position, but then Kim is used to men putting her in the middle and fighting like dogs over her.”
“A little beatdown between brothers never hurt anyone,” Tag suggested. “Well, it hurt Sean, but he’s a chef.”
Beck rolled his eyes despite the fact Tag couldn’t see the reaction. “Yeah, he’s so delicate.”
Sean Taggart was known as the Soldier Chef. He’d been the host of several television shows and had a network of restaurants across the US. Ian was a somewhat silent partner who’d made a ton of money backing his baby brother.
“You would be surprised,” Tag said with a chuckle. “Jax tells me everyone’s all right, and I’ve been in touch with some of my friends at the Agency. Apparently they are unaware that Levi took a side trip. According to my friends, Levi’s scheduled to be back in DC tonight. But obviously we’ll want confirmation. He’s a slippery fucker. I’m sorry we didn’t catch him going into Malta.”
Ian couldn’t have eyes on Levi at all times. “I missed him, too. I watched the fucker walk into her store and didn’t realize it was him. Do we have a theory about how he found her? Does he have eyes on me?”
“Even if he did, we were careful. We covered our tracks. The only way he has eyes on you is from inside. And I don’t even want to think about that. I will, but damn. Alex, Li, and I have been up here all night looking for bugs. So far we’ve got nothing. Hutch is going to do a deep dive on our computer systems. We’ll figure out who’s working with him. I trust my old guys implicitly. I’ve got a couple of new hires we’ll have to look at.”
He liked the whole crew, including the new hires. But something had gone wrong. “Are Theo, Tucker, and Rob really okay?”
How would he ever look Erin, Roni, and Ari in the eyes again if he’d gotten their husbands thrown in jail?
“Yes, they’re at the safe house closing it up and getting ready to move. Apparently Solo’s uncle has serious connections. The police didn’t want to fuck with him, and once they called back to the station, Levi left and fast. According to Theo, he’s got proof that Levi boarded a plane that’s supposed to head to the States. He could turn around, but he’s not welcome in Malta for now.”
“You think we should go back?” They definitely couldn’t stay here for long.
“No,” Tag replied. “I think you should do what Theo tells you to do. He’ll be there with the plane tomorrow afternoon. Hold down the fort until then. Talk to you soon.” The line went dead.
He slid the phone back in his pocket and found himself standing outside his brother’s room.
His brother was behind that door snoring away, and Beck was standing out here fighting the need to talk to him, or beat the crap out of him, or hug him and tell him how much he’d fucking missed him. How hard the years without him had been.