Page 106 of What Remains

He sits opposite me and casually thumbs the handle of his mug, eyes on his coffee. Something has to be on his mind, and it’s heavy. “I didn’t want to wake Diana.”

When he says his wife’s name, guilt bleeds through, and I connect the dots and figure out what’s plaguing him. “You think it’s a woman from your past who’s behind this?” He’ll know what I’m saying without saying it—someone he slept with, not someone he went to war against.

His dark eyes slowly lift to my face, and his mouth becomes a tight line of remorse.

Yeah, I’m right. The demons from his past are circling him like scavengers flying over a carcass.

I try to think of something to say, but all I land on are lines of scripture my sister’s texted me over the years. Flying is probably the closest to heaven I’ll ever get, but props to her for never giving up and always trying to help my damned soul.

“Past is past.” Extremely insightful, I know. A modern-day Shakespeare. I shake my head and pick up my cup and take a sip, hoping to awaken my brain.

“I don’t want to tell Diana this could be tied to a woman I may have a history with,” he finally says, his voice tight. “My past is my past, but I’m not looking forward to dragging my wife into it if that’s what’s going on here.”

I set down my mug, surprised he opened up. Is this another one of those when pigs fly moments? Like our one-on-one talk on the plane?

“Diana will understand.”

“I know she will,” he says calmly, eyes back to his drink. “But that doesn’t mean she should have to deal with this.”

“You can’t protect her from everything that might hurt her. I know you want to, but life doesn’t always work out that way.” That was slightly more intuitive than my “past is past” remark. Maybe I’m waking up.

“I can, and I will,” he grunts.

“Fine.” I fold my arms, studying him. “Then show me pictures of these women. I can let you know if any are a match to Jezebel.”

The lines around his eyes deepen. “You think I kept photos of them?”

“Of course not. But you can find them online, can’t you?”

“Maybe a few.” His jaw flexes. “There’s no one who matches your description of Jezebel that I can think of. Maybe it’s her boss who knows me?”

“Jezebel implied she reports to a woman, but she could’ve been fucking with me. There may be no one above her for all we know, and this is all her.” I roll my shoulders back, trying to ignore the memories that woman scourged into my back. “Maybe she was even faking the Aussie accent. Dyed her hair. Wore contacts. Anything is possible.”

“Jezebel is doubtfully Australian. She wouldn’t have risked hiring those mercenaries from her home country.”

“Then how would she, or her alleged boss, have happened upon that military operation involving Wyatt? The one leading to Bodhi’s best friend getting canned on that mission. They could hack the files, but they’d have to know what they’re looking for first, and that’s a stretch to assume they’d get that lucky.”

“Which means whoever is behind this was part of that mission. Or they were somehow connected to it.” He closes his eyes. “When and where did Gwen say that op was?”

I grab my phone and pull up the intel Gwen sent yesterday in an encrypted message. “Mogadishu. 2011.”

“Dammit.” He curses low again. “My unit was briefly in Somalia in 2011.” He opens his eyes, shaking his head. “I was still Delta then. We were sent there to try and disrupt a trafficking network between Somalia and Yemen. We were pulled and sent to Abu Dhabi in November, and that’s when I first met Diana.” He clears his throat. “You know, when I saved her during the embassy attack.”

Maybe we’re getting somewhere. “Wyatt didn’t mention you were there, and there was no report of Delta on that op.”

“Our paths wouldn’t have crossed, which is why I didn’t think about this yesterday. I thought it was all about Wyatt. But yeah, back then my unit moved in and out of places without anyone knowing we were there, not even the SEALs. I also never worked with Australian Special Forces—another reason this didn’t click.” He exhales. “But I did work with SAS and MI6 while there.”

“And it’s possible Jezebel’s a Brit, not Aussie.”

“This goes back even farther than we thought. Before you and I worked together.”

“You were still married to Rebecca then, which means whoever is behind this isn’t someone you—” I’ll let him finish that thought. Hopefully no need to drag Diana into an awkward conversation now. “Wait, you said Yemen, too?” I set down my phone as that thought registers a little late. Too damn early for this.

He looks up at me and nods.

“Wasn’t that also where you went last month? Gwen’s first op back with Nash behind the yoke.” I think back to that awkward goodbye with Gwen when Zoey pulled me away, when I had to tell her we were going undercover as husband and wife. Feels like forever ago now.

“It was, but I don’t think there’s a connection between that op and 2011. But maybe whoever’s behind this wants us to believe that.”