But Van didn’t hear him. Or rather, he ignored their teammate’s warning and continued with his rant directed at Webb.
“You know what? Fuck this and fuckyou!I’m done.” He pushed himself angrily to his feet, his wheeled chair rolling back several feet from the forceful move as the pissed-off former SEAL began rounding the table on his way to the door.
“Well, I’m not.” Webb looked and sounded as cool as a cucumber as followed Van’s furious movements. “We may have lost Akimi, but we gained something else. Or rather,someoneelse.”
Van’s angry steps faltered to a stop as an expression of confusion fell over Chase’s face.
“What do you mean you gained someone else?” he demanded.
“You have another asset who knows something?” Lucky piggybacked off Chase’s question.
Every member of Eagle’s Nest turned their attention to Webb, who slid his hardened gaze directly to Van’s.
“We know someone who was there when Akimi was murdered,” the larger than life man explained. “And I used the word ‘suspect’ because we’re still putting all the evidence together before making an official call.”
The room grew silent, the air surrounding them becoming thick with tension.
Much like Chase, Archer leaned in, his elbows resting against the table in front of him. “That’s great and all but knowing the identity of whoever killed your asset doesn’t exactly do much to help us with our goal.”
“It does when the suspected killer has a direct connection to your team.”
Chase and the others all shared a collectivewhat the fuckglance before Logan took control of their side of the conversation.
“How the hell is he connected to us?”
“That’s the thing.” Webb clicked another button on the remote. “The person we believe is responsible for Akimi’s ruthless torture and subsequent death a few weeks ago—the person we suspect of leaking intel about your team’s presence on that mountain years earlier—isn’t a he.”
The macabre image of Farzad Akimi’s brutally murdered body vanished, and with one more push with his thumb, another image appeared.
Long, black hair. Dark, soulful eyes. Flawless olive complexion with cheekbones some women paid thousands to achieve.
“Whoa.” Lucky’s blue eyes widened with male appreciation.
Chase couldn’t argue with the man’s one-word assessment. “You know her?’
“No, but the old me sure would’ve loved the chance togetto know her. Back in the day, of course.” The computer whiz quickly changed his tune. “You know…before Ellie.”
Chase and a few of the others snickered beneath their breaths. Regardless of Lucky’s shared appreciation for the attractive woman on the screen, every man in that room knew the guy’s eyes, heart—and every other body part—belonged exclusively to his new wife.
And what the hell is the deal with that? A guy like Lucky can land a forever kind of love, but I can’t?
The unspoken thought came from left field, leaving Chase suddenly feeling out of sorts. To make matters worse, his mind conjured up a mental image of another woman altogether. One he’d unexpectedly reconnected with just three days prior.
Scottie.
Seeing his high school sweetheart again, after all these years, had definitely been a shock to his entire system. A surprising, wonderful, confusing shock. And when he saw her in that dress the other night…
So fucking gorgeous.
The woman had literally taken his breath away when he’d first spotted her in that off-the-shoulder number she’d worn to the shelter’s benefit auction. And for the entire last half of the evening, Chase had found himself imagining what it would be like to slide the blue satiny dress down her body, uncovering the woman’s mouthwatering curves as he leaned in and pressed his lips to her?—
“She looks familiar,” Logan’s musings about the woman’s projected image sliced through Chase’s inappropriate thoughts. “Who is she?”
Get your head in the game, dipshit!
Pulling in a slow, deep breath through his nose, he released it at the same, steady pace. His subconscious was right. This wasn’t the time to fantasize about the one who got away.
But even as he forced himself to focus solely on the conversation at hand, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that, as pretty as the exotic woman on the screen was, she didn’t hold a candle to a very grown-up Scottie.