Twenty-six

Kate looked at the screen of the vibrating phone on her desk and felt her heart drop into a dark void of dread and nearly forgotten pain. “Out of area.”

Not again, damn him. He’d promised to leave her alone if she did as he asked. She’d done her part. But since when had Colt Wesson ever kept a promise?

“I promise to love, honor, and cherish you, till death us do part . . .”

An icy wall slammed down hard in her head. She wouldn’t go there. Never again. Whatever love she’d once had for her ex-husband was long gone. That had been easy to forget. What had lingered was the anger and bitterness. She’d buried them beneath layers of time and perspective, and by building a new life for herself, but his sudden appearance in her life again after so many years had exposed some cracks.

She was tempted to ignore the call. But her therapist had told her she would have to face her past at some point, and Kate knew he was right. Or partially right. What he’d actually said was “forgiveness,” but that had about a snowball’s chance in hell. Kate wasn’t that much of a saint. But neither was she a coward, and she wouldn’t let him make her run away.

He was the one who’d done that.

Stay frosty. Wasn’t that what he used to say in the Teams? She would follow his advice. “Hello.” Her voice sounded appropriately sharp and brittle.

“Kate? It’s me.”

Her heart, her breath, everything inside her turned to ice. It was as if she’d just walked over a grave. Literally. The voice belonged to a ghost.

Was this someone’s idea of a joke?

“Who is this?” she demanded angrily.

“You know who it is.”

She sank back in her chair, nearly dropping the phone. It was Scott. She knew his voice too well. It had been a ray of light through the darkest days of her life.

Tears gathered around her eyes. Her throat went hot, her voice dry. He was alive! Happiness burst through her. “My God, where are you? They told me you were dead.”

“Is anyone there with you?”

He sounded so normal, when she felt as if she’d just come out of a dark fog. She shook her head, and then realizing how stupid that was said, “No. I’m in my office at home.”

“Is the ambassador there?”

“He left for work. God, Scott, what is going on?”

“It’s better if you don’t use names.”

Kate didn’t question him. Scott wasn’t paranoid, and whatever this was about, it had to be serious. “All right.”

“I need your help.”

“Of course.”

She could hear the faint sound of amusement on the other side. “Don’t you want to know what I’m getting you into before you say yes?”

“It won’t make a difference.”

There was a long pause. “You always were too good for him.”

She didn’t need to ask whom he meant. Once she would have argued with him, but she just let it go. He was right. “Tell me what you need.”

“Tex is messed up in a murder investigation in Scotland—the Isle of Lewis to be specific. I need you to make it go away.”

Kate was so happy to hear that Dean was alive as well that it took her a moment to catch up with everything Scott was saying. He filled her in a little more on the details. Dean had apparently come to the rescue of a woman who unknowingly had become involved with OPF—an organization she was very familiar with—and they both had ended up being framed for murder when one of the terrorists killed the other two.

“That sounds like him,” Kate said.

“Not following orders?”

Kate laughed. “He’s still giving you a hard time, huh? No, I meant Superman always coming to the rescue and not being able to look the other way. It should sound familiar.”

There was a long pause while they both remembered how he’d come to her rescue—and what it had cost them both.

“He’s a pain in the ass,” Scott said gruffly, “but see what you can find out.”

Scott passed on the information about the woman’s credit card presumably being used to purchase the UNDEX—underwater explosive—materials, and what Dean had found out about OPF and their targets.

“He thinks there’s more to it?” she asked.

“He isn’t sure. But I agree—it seems like overkill.”

She agreed. “I’ll see what I can find out and point the police in the right direction.” It would be easy enough to tell them the CIA had been watching OPF—which they had—and assure them that “Dan” and Annie weren’t involved. “What else?”

Scott hesitated. “I’ve already put you in enough danger as it is.”

She could hear the worry in his voice. He was trying to protect her. But she wasn’t going to let him do that. Whatever had forced him into hiding, he needed her help. She would finally have the chance to pay him back for all he’d done for her. “Then tell me what happened out there so I know what I’m up against.”

He sighed. “You don’t fight fair, do you?”

She’d learned from the best.

“How much do you know?”

“Not much,” she said. “Only what my ex told me, and what my godfather was able to fill in.”

She could hear the shock through the handset. “You talked to him?”

She told him about Colt’s surprise visit. “He said the platoon had been sent on a mission and was KIA, but that he wanted to go to Russia to make sure. He asked me to put him in touch with my godfather.”

She’d been devastated when Colt told her Scott was presumed dead but had tried not to show it. Being careful of Colt’s feelings? She was assuming he had them.

Scott swore. “That is all we fucking need. It’s bad enough with the reporter and her damned ‘Lost Platoon’ articles. You have to stop him. If he finds anything or figures anything out, he could put us all in danger.”

“From who?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

He filled her in on what he knew. The lost communications. The warning he’d received. The missile that had taken out over half the platoon. How the rest of them had barely escaped. How he’d ordered the survivors to scatter and go dark until he could find out what had happened. And about the death of the woman who’d warned him. Kate could tell there was more there, but she didn’t press. He also told her what he’d been able to dig up so far, and his suspicions on where the leak had come from.

When he was done, Kate knew he was right to be worried. The implications were huge. Whoever had set them up would have a vested interest in making sure the truth stayed buried in Russia.

“You need to call him off, Kate.”

“Are you sure?” She paused, knowing how this could go over. “Maybe he could help?”

Colt had no allegiance to anyone and access to resources she didn’t even want to know about.

“His hatred of me outweighs everything else. Three years ago, he told me he’d kill me if he ever had the chance. I believed him.”

Kate wanted to put her head in her hands and weep. Not just for the lost friendship between the two men, but because she knew Colt had meant it. “God, I’m so sorry.”

His voice softened. “I’m not. But I need you to do this for me.”

“I’ll try.” She had no idea how to get Colt off the trail, but she’d think of something.