Page 55 of Stolen Salvation

“Do I want to know how you found what I’m assuming is extremely classified information?”

“You do not,” Watchdog responded with a grin.

Duchess rolled her eyes. “Fine, can you coordinate from there or are you coming out of your lair?”

“My lair is where the magic happens, so I’ll stay here.”

“Okay. Talk later.”

Charlie looked around the room. “Can someone catch me up?”

Bishop wasn’t sure what he was allowed to tell her. Although she’d been allowed into the compound, the case details were private. Duchess gave a slight nod, and he was about to open his mouth when Reaper began to explain.

He let Charlie go as she moved to the couch and sat beside his friend while he explained the details to her. Bishop knew it was his way of making up for what he’d said and after a few days, things were back to normal between them. Hearing his doubts about Charlie had been hard, but now that there’d been time between the incident, he could acknowledge that he would’ve been the same way.

Slipping into the kitchen he grabbed a bottle of water for himself and a soda for Charlie.

“That for Charlie?”

Bishop glanced at Lotus who was tidying up some crumbs while they waited for Duchess to give them her orders. “Yes, why?”

“Give her the Fanta. It has less caffeine.”

Bishop looked at the can of cola and then frowned before dismissing it as Lotus being Lotus. “Sure, why not.”

Back in the room he took the seat on the other side of her and handed her the can, which she took with a smile for him as Reaper wrapped up the past.

“Wow, so Bás has a history with him. Jack and Lopez must want that asshole dead, and he’s knee deep in this Project Cradle mess.”

“That about sums it up, yes.”

“And you’ve had no luck finding him?”

“No, he went dark after the incident with Lopez and Adeline.”

“And Adeline was CIA and had Hansen’s daughter. Which is how you found out about Cradle?”

“Yes. The only good thing the man did was walking away and leaving his daughter unharmed.”

“Yeah, well, people will do a lot for their kids.”

“I guess.”

“Changing the subject slightly, what’s happening with Nkosi?”

Charlie hated him but he knew she wanted to see him charged, not dead. Shadow handled a lot of kill orders for the boss lady but if they could have it dealt with without death, they would.

“He’s being sent back to his own country where they’ll deal with him.”

“Ouch. They won’t go easy on him.”

“Nor should they.”

Charlie sipped the can slowly, and he noticed she looked rosy-cheeked. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just a little tired. I was up early.”

“Yeah, I heard you.”