Ty’s shoulders straightened and his features grew harder, more dangerous. He glanced over his shoulder. “He told me he wanted revenge.” He looked back at Zane, fear skittering through his eyes. “He’s coming after you.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Ty?”
Ty backed away, covering his face like he was trying to block out everything so he could think clearly. Those meds were still doing a number on him, and Zane wasn’t quite sure what to do. He wasn’t even sure if this warranted the kind of panic Ty had spiraled into, but the rest of them looked shocked as well.
“Why is this guy so scary?” Zane asked, growing frustrated. He needed details, not more rambling hoodoo ghost talk.
Ty sat down hard on the end of the bed and swiped a hand over his eyes. He glanced up at Zane, his head resting on his hand. “You remember me telling you about training with an SAS team?”
Zane nodded, even as he tried to think back. It had been before they’d left for the cruise ship assignment and Ty had explained where he’d picked up the British accent he’d been forced to use.
“Liam was the leader of the group we were assigned with. It was an advanced Coalition team.”
“Okay,” Zane said, still confused. He sat in one of the chairs near the bed, watching Ty’s body language more than anything else. His knee was bouncing, he couldn’t stop fidgeting with his hands, and he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.
“We were each buddied to our counterpart of the SAS team for the duration,” Nick explained when Ty remained silent. “We lived together, ate together, went on missions together. They said it was a test to see how it would work, Spec Ops integration or some shit. They were trying to form an international first-strike team.”
Zane glanced around the room at the five men. “With the SAS?”
Nick nodded. “There were others. SEALs and Aussies, Green Berets and Canadians. Two months in, we discovered a mole. We hunted him as a team. For months.”
“Canadians are shifty, man,” Digger muttered.
Zane rolled his eyes. “So, if Liam Bell was the team leader, he was buddied with Ty.”
“Yes,” Ty answered curtly. His knee was bouncing faster, and he had his hands clasped between his thighs, trying not to fidget.
Zane stared at him, waiting for him to make eye contact. When the silence began to stretch too thin and Ty was still staring at the floor, Zane sighed. He knew Ty’s M.O. “Were you involved with him?”
Ty finally looked up and met his eyes. He nodded jerkily. Zane wasn’t surprised, but the other four men burst into a chorus of shock and anger. Ty winced as they each expressed themselves.
Kelly and Digger both shouted, “What?”
Nick ran a hand through his hair and turned away.
Zane raised his voice to be heard. “Why is that a problem?”
“Because Ty’s the one who fucking shot him!” Owen blurted.
Zane’s eyes widened and he gaped at Ty, unable to conceal his surprise. Ty had his hand over his mouth and his eyes were closed again.
“Ty?” Zane whispered. “Was he the mole?”
Ty ran his fingers over his lips and took a deep breath, his eyes still closed. He finally opened them as he nodded.
“You fucking shot a guy you were sleeping with?” Owen asked, and it was hard to tell which part scandalized him more.
“It’s not what you think it was,” Ty explained, voice hoarse.
“Jesus,” Kelly whispered. He sank to a chair, brow furrowed.
“That’s cold, man. Even for you, that’s some shit,” Digger muttered. He paced toward the balcony, shaking his head.
Nick was still standing in the little entryway near the bathroom with his back to them. His head was down and he had one hand on his hip. Zane’s eyes were drawn to him. Why did he seem so betrayed by the knowledge? What Ty had done was harsh, Zane had no illusions about it. But it didn’t necessarily bother him. He knew how Ty felt about treachery, and he was a dangerous man, quick to action and rarely looking back. Nick and the others had to know that too. Once you turned on Ty, your time was up.
Nick finally raised his head, but he didn’t turn around. “You hit center mass,” he said, his voice low.
Ty turned, but Zane couldn’t see his expression as he stared at Nick’s back. His entire body trembled, and Zane wondered if it was the meds, the nerves, or both.
Nick turned to face him, looking grim. “You fired at center mass from seven yards away, but you missed almost every vital organ.”
“How do you know that?” Kelly asked.
“Because I wrote up the report,” Nick snarled. He pointed a finger at Ty. “You missed on purpose.”
Ty stared at him, unmoving. The trembling had stopped almost as if Ty had shut it off with a switch.
Nick took a step. “You helped him escape. Didn’t you? That’s why you know he’s alive.”
Ty hesitated before giving a curt nod.
The group erupted in another round of protests.
Nick dragged both hands through his hair and turned around again. “You missed center mass to help him escape, and you’re the one who covered it up!”
Zane stood, intending to try to calm the emotions he could see brewing, but the movement stirred the room instead. Ty stood with him, stepping toward Nick. But Nick whirled around when he felt Ty behind him, grabbed Ty by his shirt front, and slammed him into the wall.
“Hey!” Zane called, taking a step to intercede. Kelly grabbed his arm and held him off, patting him on the chest like he would to calm a dog.
Nick snarled in Ty’s face. “I swore under oath you had nothing to do with it, Ty!”
“So did I,” Ty gritted out. He shoved at Nick’s chest, forcing him to loosen his hold.
Kelly let Zane go. His voice was grim. “You helped a traitor escape.”
Ty glanced around at everyone before meeting Nick’s eyes again. He squared his shoulders and raised his head, preparing for the worst. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
“All this time!” Ty shouted as he stalked around the room. He was too angry to be still. He gripped his gun so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
“Tyler, I know you’re angry, but–”
“Angry? Liam! This is beyond angry!”
Liam nodded and took a step to the side.
“Stop moving!” Ty shouted. He raised his gun and pointed it at Liam’s head.
Liam stopped and stared, meeting Ty’s eyes without flinching. “Do you intend to shoot me, Ty?”
“We’ve been looking for this mole for months,” Ty said through gritted teeth.
“I’ve been right by your side.”
“You’re a traitor!”
“No, I’m not. Not to you,” Liam said, remaining calm in the face of Ty’s growing rage. “And not to them.”
Ty shook his head.
“I’ve never betrayed you, mate. I’m just doing my job.”
“So am I.”
“If you’ll let me explain.”
Ty growled, his grip tightening on the gun. “I don’t want to fucking hear it, I’m tired of spy games.”
“That’s funny, Ty, because you’re one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”
“Likewise,” Ty snarled.
Liam nodded, taking a harsh breath.
Ty could barely look the man in the eye, and he lowered his gun for fear of shooting him in the face just to wipe that wounded look off it. “Fine. Explain. Do it quickly.”
“I was planted here by the NIA.”
“The NIA? Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Tyler, I think you’re anything but.”
“NIA is a toothless old aunt in the CIA’s basement. They don’t get involved in this shit.”
“They didn’t. They’re being militarized. Dipping into military personnel who already have the access to build their stable. The NIA pulled me from SAS and recruited me for military ops they couldn’t get their own people into. I know you know about this, because they tried to pull you too.”
Ty gritted his teeth, fighting not to react to that knowledge. Chas Turner had tried for months to recruit him for the National Intelligence Agency’s first wave of dark military ops, but Ty never bit. He’d worked a few missions and become a valuable piece of artillery, but he took his orders from the Marine Corps, not suits at the NIA.
“They put me here to feed false information to the opposition.”
“Why you?” Ty demanded.
Liam licked his lips. “I have family in Russia. They created a KGB past that could be exploited, and waited for someone to find it and contact me.”
“That’s weak, Liam.”
“It worked nonetheless. I’ve been transmitting false information for months. I’m not your enemy.”
The gun lowered as Ty stared at the SAS sergeant he’d called his friend and lover for the past few months.
“Every day you’ve looked me in the fucking eye and lied to me.”
“I never lied.”
“Bullshit!” Ty raised the gun again and jabbed it at Liam in utter frustration.
“Stubborn wanker! Listen to me. Life isn’t black and white! You know that better than anyone. I’m not the bad guy here.”
Ty realized he was nearly hyperventilating. He was so livid the edges of his vision were beginning to blur.
Liam continued talking, voice soft and low, like a man trying to calm a wild animal. He’d done it before to Ty, soothing him and coaxing him back to sanity.
“Now listen, I need your help. Word has to get out the spy’s been rooted out and eliminated, or the insurgent forces will try to extract me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy that sort of homecoming. If they can’t extract me and they don’t hear of my death, they’ll know all those messages were fake. It will cost lives. Many lives.”
“You’re asking me not to turn you in?”
“No. I’m asking you to come with me.”
“Come with you?”
“I have to fake my death, I’ve known that all along. It was always the only exit strategy. But then you came along and . . .” He licked his lips, wincing. He sighed and flopped his hands. “I’m in love with you, Ty.”
Ty took an involuntary step back, gaping and grasping for words, and nearly tripped over a pair of boots. Liam followed and Ty raised the gun again in unsteady hands.
Liam noticed the tremble and shook his head. “I need you steady tonight, darling.”
“No.”
“Help me die tonight. Then you can come with me, we’ll start over somewhere.”
Ty shook his head, at a loss for words.
“I’m offering you a chance at a life without orders, without rules, without being a pawn in someone else’s game.”
“We’ve never been pawns.”
“No? Your code name is Rook. Make no mistake, you are just a player in a game. As am I.”
Ty stared, fighting to calm himself. Liam stood with his hands at his sides, nonthreatening and earnest.
“Let’s run, Ty. Come with me. We’ll bury ourselves and start over. With nothing to do but lie on a beach all day and drink and fuck.”
Ty couldn’t answer, still torn between shock and anger. “Yeah,” he finally sneered. “Drink and fuck and run from the NIA.”
“You bloody stubborn bastard!” Liam shouted, his façade finally cracking. “I’m telling you right here, I love you! We have a chance to cut and run, and I want you to come with me!”
“Liam,” Ty said as despair and uncertainty began to seep in.
“Fine. You still want to serve? I’m game. Come with me to the NIA,” Liam tried. “We’d be unstoppable.”
“How?”
“We’ll shoot it out. You take me down, I’ll clip you in a leg, make you unfit for service in the Corps.”
“I’m not going to shoot you! And you’re sure as shit not shooting me!”
“I’ll get you with a knife then! Come with me, Ty.”
Ty took in a shaky breath, not allowing himself to ponder the possibility or even be tempted to desert. “I can’t.”
Liam’s mask broke, and Ty could see the pain in his clear blue eyes. He recognized it well because he’d been feeling it ever since he’d discovered that Liam had been using his clearance to transmit on the CB frequency the rebels were monitoring. Ty gritted his teeth. He’d thought Liam a traitor, and though he was relieved to be wrong, it seemed he would lose him anyway. For the first time, uncertainty began to gnaw its way into him.
Liam shook it off, rallying faster than Ty had been able to. “If you don’t intend to go with me, will you still help me? Will you join me later?”
“How?”
Liam shook his head sadly, his hands still held out to his sides. “You have to shoot me. And it has to be out there, in the common areas, to make sure you’re not at risk and to get scuttlebutt going.”
Ty shook his head, his voice harsh. “I can’t do that.”
“You can.”
“I can’t let you go like that.”
Liam gave him a weak smile. “Oh, how I wish you meant that like it sounds, darling.” He took a step toward the door.
“Stop moving.”
“Make me, Ty.” Liam took another backward step and put his hand on the doorknob. “You and I both know you can’t take me down without a gun, and you won’t even shoot me when I ask you to.”