Page 117 of What Remains

I arch my brow. “And?”

“Not sure how to put this without pissing off Carter.”

I poke Dad’s chest. “Lucky for you, I’m not him.” I smirk and let my grin sit there for a few seconds until some of the ice in his expression dissolves.

“He thinks Carter’s just being hypersensitive and hyper paranoid about Susan Mackenzie.”

And here I thought I was the hyper one about pretty much everything.

“Dad believes he wants to blame Susan and push her away before she can do the same to him.”

Two things hit me at once with what he said. For starters, I’ve so rarely ever heard my father embrace Natasha’s father as “Dad,” and it’s sweet to hear. And secondly, I can so relate to the push people away before they hurt you part. Didn’t I just admit to Easton I suffer from such a problem?

“Is that Grandpa’s professional opinion, or his fatherly one?”

Dad shrugs. “A little of both.”

“Huh.” I chew on my lip, thinking. “You’d think he’d like to embrace any ammo he can get to take down an opponent.” My voice softens as I add, “Which makes me want to vote for Grandpa that much more.”

“Might even earn my vote, too.” He winks.

“Is he worried about his election chances because of this?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “He stands by our teams and every decision he and President Bennett have made over the years. The only reason he doesn’t want the truth to come out is to protect us.”

“So, what does Grandpa think we should do next?”

“Keep an open mind. While we’re waiting for those AI plane crash videos to analyze, we should look back over those 2011 files and see if we missed anything.”

“Carter texted Zoey that list of possible MI6 operatives, but we got distracted.” Fake plane crashes and all.

“Julian and his team are searching for your rig where it pinged, right?”

“Yup, he should be calling any minute.”

“Good.” He unfolds his arms and stands tall. “I’ll ask Jesse and Griffin to help with the case files. Griffin was on the op with Carter and at the embassy bombing in the U.A.E., so maybe he’ll pick up on something we missed. And Jesse ties us to Zoey because they both hunted The Chechen.”

“If Carter’s wrong about Susan, then his original guess could still be true—that Zoey’s at the heart of this somehow, and we’re all caught in the crossfire.”

“Possibly,” he huffs out.

I frown. “What are we missing here?”

“Knowing that is more than half the battle.” He shoots me a lopsided smile. “All we can be certain of is we’ll do whatever it takes to protect our people.”

My gaze flies up to his eyes as an idea hits me. “And I think I know how we can keep everyone safe.”

His brows pinch as he waits for me to continue. “How do we do that?”

I shut my eyes, knowing he won’t like this part. “I just have to fall on the sword and take the blame myself to protect the teams and Grandpa.” I peek out of one eye, worried at how unhinged he looks. “You know, Han Solo it.”

CHAPTER 40

Gwen

“Don’t tell anyone this is my plan, though,” I rush out before Dad can fully comprehend what I said. “Especially Easton. He won’t understand.”

“I don’t understand,” Dad barks out, on the verge of snapping the vein at the side of his neck. “What the hell are you thinking? There’s no way I’ll let you plead guilty for crimes you didn’t commit.”