question not even Mario had been able to answer.
Silence greeted her. Just when she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he sighed. “It was a really personal issue I was struggling with, Gina. Maybe one day I’ll share it with you, all right?”
She stared at him, catching the inner agony of his blue eyes before he turned them back to the road. “All right. I guess I have to accept that…for now.”
“Thanks.” And he said no more. The silence in the car draped as heavy as the flag over Mario’s coffin. Gina shifted in her seat, uncomfortable, worried about what they’d find back at the beach house, yet she couldn’t deny the relief she felt at having Ian at her side.
“Why don’t you lean that seat back and shut your eyes for a while?”
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I can’t believe I actually slept at all last night.” It hadn’t been a deep, restful sleep, but she’d definitely dozed.
“You were tired and you’ve had a huge shock, mentally and physically. Sometimes our bodies have to override our brains.”
“I guess.”
“I asked Jase to go ahead of us and check out the house.”
Her nerves stood on end. “First the hotel, now this. I told you Mario didn’t trust his unit.”
“I know, but like I said, Jase isn’t part of that unit anymore, and the only way we’re going to figure out what Mario was involved in is to talk to the guys who were the last ones to see him alive.”
Biting her lip, Gina looked away, wondering how to say what she was thinking.
“What?” his tone sharpened as he caught the look on her face. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t lie well, Gina. What is it?”
“I just…” She blew out a sigh.
“I think I know what you’re trying to say.”
“You do?”
He squeezed the steering wheel again. “Yeah. You don’t think any of the guys in the unit will talk to me about Mario because they consider me something akin to a traitor, right?”
Gina blinked against the resurgence of tears and whispered, “Something like that. Although Jase seemed okay with you.”
Another moment of silence passed as he concentrated on his driving. Then he said, “I never betrayed anyone by leaving, Gina. Contrary to popular belief, my leaving probably saved the unit.”
“How?”
His jaw tightened. “It’s not important. What’s important is that we figure out what Mario was involved in and what led someone to come after you six months after his death. If the guys won’t talk to me, maybe they’ll eventually open up and talk to Jase. I’m going to have to trust him until he proves otherwise.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
He shot her a look. “Bait the trap.”
Ian made several phone calls on the way back to the beach house; however, he made sure no one knew where they were going. Using the encrypted phone Jase had supplied, Ian didn’t worry about anyone tracing his calls.
At first, Gina listened in; then Ian watched her lids grow heavier and heavier, the restless night taking its toll. Finally, they shut for good and he could see her even breathing indicating sleep had won.
He glanced at the clock: 5:30 in the morning on what would be a cold but bright, sunny day. Right now the temperature hovered in the low thirties. Gina’s questions still pounded at him. When he’d said his leaving probably saved the unit, he hadn’t been exaggerating. Mario knew how Ian felt about Gina simply because Mario had a reputation for playing the women. And Ian called him on it.
After a mission several years ago, they’d all been out celebrating, and Mario had started responding to a woman’s flirtatious advances. Ian walked up and asked him, “Is Gina so easy to forget?”
Mario took a swing, which Ian dodged, then hauled his friend out of the restaurant. Out on the sidewalk, Mario narrowed his eyes. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
Stunned, Ian hadn’t responded at first. Mario had taunted him. “I see the way you look at her. How your eyes follow her every move. Admit it.”
In silence and without responding, Ian had clenched his jaw and his fist—and walked away. For good. His transfer request went through without a problem, and within two weeks he was part of another unit.
Forcing his thoughts from the past, he dialed Jase’s number once more. His buddy answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“About ten minutes out. What’s it look like?” Ian kept his voice low, not wanting to disturb Gina.
“Clear for now. Because of Gina’s worries, I came to check it out myself instead of finding someone from the unit. The house is a mess, though. They’re looking for something.”
“Has anyone noticed and reported it to the police yet?”
“Not that I can tell. It’s pretty isolated out here. Mario liked it that way.”
Ian hesitated. “Are you willing to keep helping me out a little more on this, Jase?”
Silence on the line.
“Jase?”
“Whatever it takes to keep Gina safe. She didn’t deserve to lose Mario the way she did. She’s still one of our own.” A pause, then, “So, yeah. I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”
“What about me? Do you think I betrayed the unit by leaving?”
More silence. “You could have told us why you were leaving. Maybe we could have worked something out.”
“Mario knew.”
Jase grunted. “He didn’t share.”
Ian didn’t think he had. “Yeah.”
“Right. See you in a few.”
Ian put his own phone away, thinking. He trusted Jase, but it was quite possible Mario hadn’t. Or was it that he hadn’t trusted the unit as a whole? Or maybe he had suspicions about one particular person, but no proof, so he had to isolate himself from everyone until he figured it out?
That was probably it. He knew someone was bad but didn’t know which someone. What information had he come across to make him suspicious of one of his team members? What had he seen or been told?
And now Mario was dead. Blown away on a routine training exercise. Not that accidents didn’t happen on occasion, but…
Hands down, Ian was willing to bet Mario had trusted the wrong person. None of his paranoia about whom he could trust had paid off. He’d
