He sat on one of the chairs at the breakfast bar. “So I guess we mark him off the list.”
She nodded as she thought about all of their suspects. “I wonder if Marv knows.”
Her brother made a rude noise. Marvin Bellows had been her mentor. He was a family friend, known as Uncle Marv to both of them. Since the incident in Saudi, her brother had been suspicious of everyone who wasn’t family. Real family. Meaning their parents and them. That was it, and she didn’t blame him. After decades of service to the country, their family had been sold out to the highest bidder. Their lives had been in danger from that moment on.
After pressing the coffee, she poured each of them a cup.
“Come on.”
She didn’t have to tell him where they were headed. One of the reasons she had bought this house was the hidden room beneath the stairs. She knew it would be perfect to hide her investigation.
El followed her, a silent dark cloud surrounding him. He blamed himself, but it wasn’t his fault. If anyone was to blame, it was Eden. She was the one who’d slipped up, somehow. Whoever this was had outed her. Yes, they had gone after her brother, but that was to draw her out. She was positive she had been a target.
She opened the hidden panel of buttons and pressed the code to open the door. It creaked open, and she slid it open the rest of the way. The lights came on automatically as they stepped in. El walked over to the board and crossed out Green’s name.
“You never thought it was him,” she said.
“No. He was a mess, but I never got the vibe that he would go after people he worked with.”
She stepped up next to him, then took a long, healthy sip of her coffee. In the past, there had always been people who wanted to sell out The Company. There was more than the public knew about because, well, the CIA is filled with a bunch of secretive bastards. It was the nature of the beast.
“Had you heard Green was in Hawai’i?” she asked.
“No. I guess it was a good idea to move here after all.”
“They said he had my number with Dillon.”
She felt his gaze roam over her. Eden and El had always had that twin thing, until El’s weekend in hell. Both of them were still dealing with his PTSD.
“Not hard for an ex-CIA agent,” he murmured.
She knew he was correct. They both had a multitude of contacts who could help them, including one she hoped her partner at Dillon never found out about. He would not be happy about it.
“I guess I need to call Dillon and let them know.”
He nodded. “That will probably be lover boy’s next stop.”
She let that comment go by. El had feelings about Kap. Sooo many feelings, even though this was the first time they had ever met. Men. Always screwing up her plans.
This was supposed to be a lovely week, one where she could go to the beach and act like a normal person. Or even fly back to see her folks in Texas. She glanced at her twin as he wrote the word Hawai’i with a question mark behind it. This was the second former operative who had been murdered in Hawai’i. Knowing TFH, it wouldn’t take them long to figure it out.
“I’ll call it in, then get cleaned up and go on in.”
“You know Conner won’t make you do that,” El said.
“No, but there needs to be a thorough investigation, and it starts with my phone.”
“Should we tell Conner?” El asked.
She shook her head. “The problem is ex operatives get whacked all the time. We both know that.”
Both of them knew people who had run into old enemies after retirement. One of them usually ended up dead.
Once she was in her bedroom, she grabbed her burner phone.
Eden: Take Green off your list.
Sam: Why? Did El kill him?
