Page 100 of Steel Vengeance

“Sloane will have to be briefed. She knows what really happened. She could blow it for me.” Even though she wouldn’t on purpose, he knew that. He trusted her, but he also knew these people had a way of getting information out of you, and she wasn’t experienced enough to know when it was happening.

“I’ll get Blade to have a word with her before they clear customs. Don’t worry, she’ll cooperate.”

Stitch pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the weight of it all crashing down on him. “You’re putting a lot of faith in them playing nice, Pat. You sure about this?”

Pat’s tone softened, but didn’t lose its edge. “I’ve been in this game long enough to know how the pieces move. It’s not about playing nice, Stitch—it’s about playing smart. They want you alive, talking, and cooperative. And with Commander Mattison backing us, we’ve got enough political clout to push this through. But you gotta come in willing, ready to cooperate. Play your part and we’ll make sure you walk out free.”

It was a gamble, but he was willing to take a chance. He deserved this. Even trauma didn’t excuse what he’d done. He’d deserted the rest of his team, even if it was only Blade who’d gone home. He should have been there, should have taken his brother’s back. It was something he’d have to live with for the rest of his life. Thanks to Pat, he might have a fighting chance.

“Okay,” Stitch growled. “I’ll do it. I’ll get on the next flight out.”

But only because he wanted to be there to protect Sloane. Matthew would be gunning for her, and he couldn’t let anything happen to her. Not now, not after everything they’d been through.

She was his to protect, and he wasn’t going to let anyone else have that honor.

He didn’t know when he’d started thinking about her as his. Maybe after they’d made love in Karachi, after he’d taken out Omari. She’d cleaned the blood off his hands, figuratively speaking, healed the hole in his heart, and made him whole again.

He missed her, and she’d been gone less than twenty-four hours.

“It’s the only way,” Pat said, resolutely.

For a long moment, Stitch didn’t speak. He stared out at the distant runway, the hum of the airport fading into background noise. The idea of setting foot back on U.S. soil, after all this time, felt surreal. Part of him had stopped believing he’d ever make it back.

“Thanks, Pat,” he finally said. “I owe you.”

“I might have a way you can return the favor,” Pat said, and Stitch could almost hear him smirk down the line.

“Oh yeah?”

“More about that when you get back. First things first. Let’s make sure you’re in the clear, and then we’ll talk.”

Stitch frowned, wondering what Pat wanted from him. “Sure, no problem.” Whatever it was, he owed the guy big time, and he’d do whatever it took to repay his debt.

“See you on the other side,” Pat said, and ended the call.

Stitch slipped the phone into his pocket, feeling the tightness in his chest finally ease. It was time. Time to step out of the shadows and face whatever waited for him on the other side of that flight.

CHAPTER 39

Sloane stared through the dirty windows of the fleabag motel, wishing she was anywhere but here. Blade didn’t trust the CIA, since they couldn’t be sure who was working with Matthew, and so he’d booked them into a dingy motel outside of town. “Just until we know the lay of the land,” he’d explained.

She knew it was because they were still trying to find Matthew. So far, he’d evaded capture, staying off the radar. He hadn’t used any of his credit cards, hadn’t gone home, hadn’t visited his ex-wife or his children.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Blade told her. “He was trained for this. Special ops, remember?”

“That was a long time ago,” she’d countered.

“It’s not something you ever forget.”

“How’s Stitch?” she asked. The good news was that he’d landed earlier that morning, but the bad news was he’d been taken into custody, and nobody had heard from him since.

“Pat met him at the airport and is arguing his case,” Blade said, reassuringly. “He’s a powerful man, with a lot of clout. If anyone can get Stitch out of this mess, he can.”

“I hope what I said helped,” she said. They’d been debriefed at the airport. Two men from the Agency had taken her into an interrogation room and questioned her for hours about her assignment, about Matthew, and about the shooting in Peshawar. They’d asked her about Stitch, or Vance, to use his real name, and wanted to know what part he’d played in exposing the former Ghost Company unit who were transporting heroine out of Afghanistan and into the United States.

“It will have. It back’s up what Pat will argue. He’s been undercover all this time, hunting down those responsible for the ambush in the valley where he lost half his unit. He infiltrated a local tribe, earning their trust, and when their village was destroyed, in an attempt to find him, he tracked Omari to Peshawar, where he met you.”

“But Omari wasn’t responsible for the ambush.”