Jade

I stared from Matthias to Rem to Zeke, who stood by the entrance, listening to both the conversation taking place in the tent and the chatter coming over the radio. My head spun. I was unable to comprehend what Rem had just said. A lump blocked my throat. Peter Drake was dead? The police were on the way?

“This is crazy.” My knees buckled and I had to brace myself on the table. “Why do the police think Matthias killed Peter Drake?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Rem shot a surly glance at Matthias. “Apparently, everybody in Tanzania knows that our boy here was looking for Drake. Matthias himself showed up in Arusha to interrogate Drake’s roommates. They mentioned that Drake came back from his last trip to the reserve beat up. Something about a broken arm?” He glared some more at Matthias. “According to them, when Matthias showed up at their door, he threatened all kinds of bodily violence against Drake.”

I spun on Matthias. “You did what?”

Matthias lifted a shoulder. “I flew in and out of Arusha on the morning after the fight. My people couldn’t find Drake. I thought I might have better luck.”

“Oh, great.” I clasped my trembling hands behind my back and started to pace the tent. “Nothing like threatening bodily harm to implicate yourself in a murder plot.” I whirled to confront Rem. “Still, the police can’t arrest Matthias just because he threatened someone, can they? Please tell me that they can’t just take Matthias and throw him in jail without probable cause?”

“The police get to do whatever the hell they want to,” Rem said. “They could nab Matthias right this moment, with or without proof. They could throw him in a jail full of criminals and we’d never see him again.”

Lord almighty. My mouth tasted like dirt and my stomach churned with an acid load.

Zeke slipped back into the tent, radio in hand. “That aircraft that just landed in the airfield? It carried four police officers and an arrest warrant.”

“Well, fuck me.” Matthias raked his fingers through his hair.

“They’re moving awfully fast.” Rem’s cell pinged, announcing a bunch of texts. He busied himself looking at those.

“But they need proof, right?” I said to Matthias. “I mean, they can’t just—poof—take you. You’ve got rights. They need physical evidence that ties you to the murder.”

“And guess what?” Rem said, looking up from his cell. “They have it.”

“What?” Matthias and I said at the same time.

Rem handed his cell over to Matthias. I looked over his shoulder. The picture on the screen showed a blurry shot of a bloody Ka-Bar. The initials MH were elegantly carved above the handle, along with the U.S. Navy's special warfare insignia, the SEAL Trident.

My voice came out in a faint whimper. “Please tell me that’s not yours?”

Matthias ears went red. He put down the cell, reached into his boot, slid out his knife and plunked it on the table, where it came to rest with a muted clank.

“This is the Ka-Bar I carry with me at all times,” he said. “If I had killed Drake, that’s the blade that would’ve done him in.”

The knot in my belly loosened, but only for a moment, because Rem’s eyes darkened and his scowl only deepened. “You might as well tell her now.”

I looked from one man to the other. “Tell me what?”

Matthias ignored my question. Instead, he took a pack of keys out of his pocket and tramped over to the locker that stood in the corner of the tent. He jammed the key in the hole, unlocked the door, and threw it open. The door bounced against the cot’s frame with a metallic thud. I spotted several neatly stored firearms in the locker, including automatic weapons and a stack of cases.

I looked to Rem. “What’s he doing?”

“When Matthias left the service, his team gave him a party,” Rem said. “I was there. All of us got together to buy him a farewell gift.”

I felt nauseous. I stared at the picture on the table. It couldn’t be.

Matthias selected a fancy box from the locker, black leather edged with embroidered golden spirals. Almost reverently, he placed the box on the table. The four of us stared at it. My heart boomed in my ears. For all I knew, that box was wired to explode on contact.

Matthias opened the box.

My heart stopped.

The box was empty, leaving only the velvety imprint where the knife had once rested.

Rem slammed his fist on the table and cursed aloud. Zeke stared at that empty box in disbelief. Matthias just stood there, as if he were chiseled from stone.

“You’ve got to leave.” I tucked my cold fingers under my armpits and reassumed my frantic pacing. “Now, before the police get here.”

Matthias flashed me a wounded glare. “You can’t believe I killed that asshole.”

“What I believe doesn’t matter,” I said, my voice thin and high, flirting with a bout of hysteria. “What the police believe, now that’s a totally different matter.”

Matthias’s glare stopped me in my tracks. His words shot out sharp, terse. “Do you think I killed Drake?”

“Of course I don’t!”

Matthias’s head swiveled in Zeke’s direction. “You?”

“You wanted to kill him,” Zeke said matter of factly, “but you didn’t.”

Matthias’s stare fell on Rem.

Rem scoffed. “Shit, man, I’ve known you a lifetime. If you killed the bastard, you would’ve done it right. According to my informant, he was knifed several times. It took him a while to die. Not even when the shit hits the fan, would any SEAL I know kill someone so clumsily and leave his knife, bearing his initials and fingerprints, stuck in a cold corpse. No way. You didn’t kill that asshole.”

“Good.” Matthias met my gaze. “Because what you think? That’s all that matters to me.”

“If that’s all that matters to you, then you’re an idiot,” Rem snapped. “The police are on the ground. They’re coming. They’ve got motive and a weapon that’s tied directly to you. Unless you go to the embassy, I can’t help you.”

Matthias planted his feet apart like a buffalo making his stand. “I don’t run.”

“This is not running.” The thought of Matthias in prison brought the bile up my throat. “This is playing it smart. Rem’s right. You’ve got to go.”

“Listen to Jade.” Rem said. “Once you get to the embassy, you can lawyer up, make your statement and produce your alibi. At the embassy, we can protect you. You can cooperate all you want with the police, but they won’t have jurisdiction to arrest you.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Matthias said stubbornly. “This whole thing is a fucking travesty.”

“Someone’s trying to frame you,” I said what everybody was thinking. “Someone got in here while you were away, stole your knife out of the locker and either used it to kill Peter Drake or gave it to the person who murdered him. Who has that kind of access to your tent?”

“Every person at the station has been vetted by Zeke, the director, and me,” Matthias said. “Same with every single ranger who works here.”

“No ranger around here would ever do anything to harm Matthias,” Zeke added. “I’d stake my life on that.”

“Which leaves us with absolutely no obvious suspects,” Rem said.

“What if we’ve got a plant?” I said. “What if there’s someone inside the station conspiring with whoever arranged for Peter’s death?”

Matthias clenched his fists. “I’m gonna find the fucker.”

“No, not you,” Rem said. “Zeke will do the job.”

“Please, Matthias, let us help,” Zeke said. “If you cross the river in a crowd, the crocodile won’t eat you. Go to the embassy. We’ll figure this out, the how, who and why.”

“The why is easy,” Matthias said. “They want to take me out of circulation.”

“Okay, I can buy that,” Rem said. “So don’t let them.”

“If I can’t do my damn job then I am effectively out of circulation.” Matthias shoved his hands in his pockets. “What if this is a distraction? What if this whole thing is an attempt to draw me away from the reserve?”

Rem looked grim. “It’s a possibility we can’t ignore.”

“When and where was Drake killed?” Matthias demanded.

“According to my informant,” Rem said, “Drake was killed sometime last night in his room at a whorehouse where he’d apparently been hiding, trying to dodge your people.”

“The timing can’t be a coincidence.”

“I was with Matthias last night,” I said. “I can vouch for him and there are lots of people here who’ll confirm seeing him, including Sarah, Lara and Cara.”

“Yeah, sure,” Rem said. “We can establish that, after Matthias is safe at the embassy. What we can’t do is allow the police to take Matthias away, not even under the pretext of an interrogation at the station. He could disappear from our radar if they do that. Hell, for all we know, the police could be part of this, whatever this is. And let’s not even begin to imagine what would happen if Matthias gets thrown into a prison full of violent criminals and his secret identity is revealed.”

I swallowed around a burning lump of terror.

“He’s right,” I said. “Listen to Rem, Matthias. Do what he says.”

I held my breath. Matthias’s stare scanned me before he considered Rem and Zeke. His irises burned with a copper flare and his lips were pressed into a tight, white line. His hand fisted and unfisted, swelling the muscles of his forearms. He was pissed, but he was also worried. Everyone in the room was hanging on his word.

“I’ll go,” Matthias finally said. “But on one condition: Jade comes with me.”

“Yes, fine, I’ll come with you, but we have to leave right away…”

“Jade?” Rem said. “You can’t leave yet. Those big time news crews are coming to interview you tomorrow.”

Oh, shit. With the debacle going on in my brain and my fears for Matthias breaking my personal fearometer, I hadn’t thought about that.

“The hell with the interviews,” Matthias said. “She’s already done her part. I’m not leaving her alone here.”

“She won’t be alone,” Rem said. “I’ll be here. Zeke will be here. The rangers are here.”

“I’m telling you right now,” Matthias said, stabbing a finger in the air. “I’m not leaving Jade behind. Under no circumstances is she staying here without me.”

“I don’t see a way around it.” Rem said. “We can’t abandon our mission at this stage. You both know how hard we’ve worked at this.”

I wanted to be there for Matthias. The next few days promised to be rough for him. But I also understood what Rem was saying. I’d agreed to collaborate with this mission because I understood its importance. Promoting the segments was vital to getting the word out and setting up the trap. The rains were coming. We would not get a chance like this for another year.

Zeke’s radio crackled. He listened to the message then translated, mostly for me. “The Arusha police just drove through town. They’re less than five clicks away.”

Holy shit. My emotions were all over the place, but I’d been taught to take charge and think straight even in the most challenging situations.

“Zeke,” I said. “Please, find Matthias’s truck. Make sure he’s got his pack in there, water, food, whatever he needs for the journey. Okay?”

“Okay.” Zeke rushed out of the tent.

“Matthias, you need to go,” I said, looking through his locker until I found his passport on the top shelf. “If the police come and you go to jail, how is that a solution to anything?”

His glare was on fire. “You can’t ask me to leave you behind.”

“I’m asking.” I grabbed his hand and slapped the passport on his palm. “I’m begging. You go ahead. I’ll join you at the embassy tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest, right after I finish here. Don’t you understand? I need you safe so I can do my job. I need you to be at the embassy.”

The passport crumpled in Matthias’s hand. His jaw locked in that obstinate expression I’d come to know so well. “You and I had an agreement,” he said. “It was contingent on me running security. If I can’t do that, then the agreement is shot. We either go to the embassy together or I stay here and I’ll deal with the cops one way or another. That’s my decision and it’s final.”

I bit down on my lips. He was so freaking stubborn! I wanted to strangle him for his mulishness. But the police were minutes away. I parked myself in front of Matthias. I cased his face with my hands and turned his head until our gazes met. I stood on my toes, closed my eyes and kissed him, praying that my lips could convey the urgent messages my brain broadcasted.

“Please, Matthias, do it for me, for us?”

He growled against my mouth. “I won’t leave you. I just…can’t.”

It happened so fast, I never saw it coming. Rem slipped behind Matthias. His eyes met mine a second before his hand rose in the air. I caught a glint in his fist as it came down and watched helplessly as Rem stabbed what looked like a pen in the back of Matthias neck and pressed his thumb on the clicker.

Matthias’s eyes widened with the impact. His body jerked. Then he dropped, plummeted to his knees like a crumpling tower.

“Matthias!” I tried to keep him upright, but he was too heavy. I propped him as well as I could and eased him down to the floor, where I got on my knees and braced him between my arms. His face was scrunched in a grimace of pain and his breath came in hard, difficult gasps. I pulled out the needle sticking out of Matthias’s neck and pitched it aside. I snarled at Rem. “What the hell did you do to him?”

“I did my job,” Rem said, his voice so cool and calculated that I wanted to slap him. “But don’t worry, he’ll be all right in a couple of hours. This is just a temporary agent.”

A temporary agent? Matthias looked as if he was in agony, his muscles rigid, his mouth distorted with pain. My heart ached. For a whole thirty seconds I couldn’t think. I laid his head on my shoulder and caressed his face, where a sheen of cold sweat had broken over his forehead as he fought to stay conscious.

“You’re going to be okay.” I brushed my lips against his temple and glared up at Rem. “How could you? He’s your friend. You took him out!”

“I took him out precisely because he’s my friend,” Rem said without a trace of remorse. “He’s also my operative and my responsibility. We can argue until the cows come home if you’d like, but this is the only way to keep him safe.”

Matthias groaned on the ground. His unfocused gaze shifted between me and Rem. He struggled against the unconsciousness setting in, lids heavy, eyes already glazed with the effects of whatever drug Rem had injected into his system.

“Don’t let him,” Matthias rasped. “Not safe,” he slurred. “Me. Stick with me. You promised me. Together.”

His eyes closed. His body relaxed in my arms. My beautiful, powerful, Matthias was out cold.

I set Matthias’s body on the ground carefully. I got to my feet and took a deep breath. My glare settled on Rem, his face determined, as if he held a patent on knowing exactly what was right for Matthias. I tried to control my temper. I tried and failed. When I next knew, I was in the air, my fingers reaching for Rem’s neck.

“What the fuck?” Rem grabbed my wrists, spun me around, and immobilized me by enveloping me in a massive hug.

Zeke ran into the tent and found me struggling to break off Rem’s hold. He took in the scene, me fighting Rem and Matthias laying limp on the ground. He quickly realized what had happened. In the end, it was Zeke’s voice that penetrated through my fury.

“Jade, think about it,” he said, almost pleading with me. “In the short term, this is really the only way to keep Matthias out of jail.”

Yes, of course, Zeke was right. His cool head prevailed over my rage. But Rem? He’d hurt Matthias. He’d taken out his own friend. I wanted to make him pay for it.

“The police are at the gates,” Zeke said. “We don’t have time for this.”

Matthias could no longer fight for himself. I had to keep him safe.

“Let me go,” I snapped, trying to break Rem’s muscled hold. “I said let go!”

“Okay,” Rem said. “But you need to stand down. Do you understand?”

I shot him a look that should’ve peeled off his skin. In a sudden move, he let go of my hands and stepped away, keeping his gaze on me.

“This is not cool, Rem,” I said. “Not even remotely so.”

“You know Matthias,” he said. “This is the only way.”

“And you?” I confronted Zeke. “Do you think this is fair?”

“No, not fair,” Zeke said. “But Rem’s right, this is the only way to avoid a showdown with the police and an arrest, or two, or four.”

I hated that they were both right.

Zeke’s radio crackled again. “Police ETA, two minutes,” he said. “We’ve got to move.”

Zeke waved and two of Rem’s nameless operatives filed into the tent. I grabbed Matthias’s Ka-Bar from the table and stood over Matthias.

“These men are gonna transport Matthias safely to the embassy,” Rem said. “It’s now or never.”

Don’t let them take me, Matthias had said. You promised me. Together.

Matthias would hate me if I allowed these men to take him. More so if I stayed behind at the station. He might never forgive me, and yet this was the only way to keep him safe.

“Hurry up.” I plunked the knife on the table and stepped aside. “Take him.”