Page 171 of Jay Bird

“I found something.”

“That usually means you’re about to ruin my night.”

“Probably.”

Tink reached inside his coat and pulled out his phone. “I’ve been going back through some old files.”

Something in his tone immediately tightened Derek’s stomach. “What old files?”

“The mission.”

He didn’t need to explain which one.

Even after all these years, Derek remembered that mission with a clarity he sometimes wished he didn’t. He remembered the terrain and the oppressive heat. He remembered the first burst of gunfire coming from a position that intelligence had told them would be clear. Most of all, he remembered the confusion as his men began taking fire from multiple directions and the horrible realization that they had walked straight into something none of them had anticipated.

He remembered the man who didn’t make it home alive—Jacob, his best friend, and Alex’s biological father.

Derek’s jaw tightened. “Why the hell are you digging into that again?”

“Because something about it has never sat right with me.”

“A lot of things never sat right about that mission.”

“I know, but I’ve been able to access information recently that wasn’t available to us back then. Financial records, shell companies, old aliases, and movement by people connected to the region who disappeared after the ambush. I started putting pieces together, and one name kept surfacing.”

Tink unlocked his phone and handed it over.

A photograph filled the screen.

It wasn’t particularly clear. Whoever had taken it had been some distance away, and the man in the photograph was older than Derek remembered. His hair contained more gray, and his face had changed with time, but some things weren’t so easily disguised.

Derek enlarged the image and felt every muscle in his body tighten.

“Scorpion.”

“Yeah.”

Derek stared at the photograph. “We thought he was dead.”

“We assumed he was dead because he disappeared again after Hannah’s ordeal.”

Derek lifted his gaze. “When was this taken?”

“Six weeks ago.”

That answer landed harder than Derek expected. For years, Scorpion had been the name attached to the ambush. The intelligence they had gathered afterward had pointed in his direction, but the trail had disappeared before they could ever confirm exactly how deeply he had been involved. Eventually the official investigation went cold, and everyone did what men in their line of work learned to do when there were no more answers to find.

They had moved on. At least that was what Derek had told himself.

He looked back at the picture. “You said you found something. I’m guessing a photograph isn’t the only reason you pulled me away from Christmas dinner.”

“No.” Tink slipped his hands into his coat pockets. “I went back through the mission planning and started comparing the original timeline with the information I’ve uncovered.”

Derek handed him the phone. “And?”

“The route was definitely compromised.”

For a moment, Derek thought he had misunderstood him. “What do you mean, compromised?”