I bristled…however a small, niggling a part of me knew he was proper. I wasn’t educated like he and his staff have been. In all actuality, I might be a legal responsibility on web site, ineffective till I used to be behind a pc. However, nonetheless, I didn’t like being disregarded. Asshole, I assumed.

“You and I ought to go,” Gabe recommended, taking a look at Adrian. “That agent spoke to Zach, and so they clearly know what Nat seems like.”

“They know what he seems like too,” I identified.

Adrian’s jaw clenched. “I’m going,” he mentioned, utilizing that very same unquestionable tone. I took a breath in via my nostril and let it out via my mouth.

Adrian

“So…you and Nataliya, huh?” Gabe requested ten minutes after we left the motel.

I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nostril. “Don’t begin.”

Gabe chuckled. “Effectively, that solutions that.” I may really feel his eyes on the aspect of my face, however I refused to acknowledge him. “What have been you pondering?” he requested. I drove on in silence. “Adrian.”

I groaned. “What?”

“Discuss to me.”

I had forgotten what it was prefer to be round my former teammates. They knew me higher than anybody on the earth, which got here with the draw back that they might learn me like a guide. “I like her,” I mentioned. “I like her child.”

“However—?”

“However what?” Gabe gave me an unimpressed look, and I thought-about throwing him from the transferring automobile. “Look, I don’t know what’s happening with me and her, but it surely doesn’t matter. When all of that is mentioned and carried out, we’ll go our separate methods.”

“Why does it must be that manner? Perhaps she’ll need to keep if you happen to give her sufficient of a cause.”

I laughed, however the sound was weary. “When has anybody ever caught round, Gabe?”

He was quiet for a second, after which he mentioned, “You’re not a SEAL anymore. You don’t must journey on a regular basis, by no means placing down roots and all the time throwing your self into harmful conditions. As soon as that is over, you would give it up.”

Give it up? The thought had by no means occurred to me. The one cause I left the SEALs was that I knew I wouldn’t be capable to work out what occurred to Cuddy whereas I used to be nonetheless within the service. There would by no means be any time, and I wouldn’t have the assets. Being an FBI agent put me nearer to the place I wanted to be.

But when I wasn’t a SEAL, and if I wasn’t throwing myself into investigations like this, what else was I good for? I hadn’t recognized anything since I used to be eighteen.

“I don’t need to discuss it,” I mentioned. “Let’s simply keep on job, all proper?”

Gabe sighed, however he didn’t argue, and the remainder of the drive into Atlanta was devoid of dialog. The GPS led us proper to the enterprise complicated that housed the Hayes Group. It was an innocuous constructing, all shiny glass surfaces and sharp angles. Attention-grabbing and ominous .

We discovered a public car parking zone close by, and we each donned baseball caps and sun shades. It is perhaps a cliché type of disguise, but it surely matched the individuals milling round, so we weren’t solely misplaced. A fast, however thorough, stroll across the constructing left us with the information of the doorways—the massive entrance entrance, a smaller staff’ entrance, and the again door for deliveries—and the safety at every.

Gabe famous the cameras as properly. That they had every nook below noticeable surveillance, and I might put cash on there being hidden cameras. “You suppose we will danger strolling into the foyer?” Gabe requested. “Scope it out?”

I thought-about it, however finally shook my head. “I don’t suppose so; I don’t need them to see us in the present day and get suspicious after we stroll in tomorrow. We’ll must go off the images from their web site and no matter we will discover on social media”—perhaps we’d get fortunate and somebody would have posted footage from a Christmas social gathering or one thing—“and match it up as greatest we will to the blueprint again on the motel.”

Gabe nodded. “Then I believe we’re carried out right here.” We meandered again to the automobile, nonchalant as attainable. After we obtained there, he “by chance” let his cellphone slip out of his hand and below the automobile so we had an excuse for him to duck below it and ensure nobody had added a tracker whereas we’d been away. It wasn’t tremendous probably in a public lot in the course of the day, however stranger issues had occurred, and we didn’t lose something by being cautious. I’d been checking the automobile each time we took it out, simply in case. “Perhaps take the good distance again?” he recommended as I climbed behind the wheel. “We will be looking out for anybody following us.”

I agreed, and we shortly mapped out a route that may take slightly greater than an hour, however it might give us ample time to see if we’d been tracked.

After we have been certain that there was nobody, we headed for the motel. Zach already had the Hayes Group’s web site up so we may get an thought of what we’d be strolling into. Nataliya was within the toilet; I may hear her on the cellphone.

“Elias?” I requested, gesturing.

Zach nodded. “It’s slightly early, however he wished to inform her about testing in the present day.”

“The whole lot okay?”

“They aren’t screaming,” Zach mentioned. “If that’s what you need to know.”

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