A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(16)

They each smiled when they saw her, and Parker had no choice but to finally make eye contact with Garrett.

He looked murderously at her, and she had to force herself to put her chin up and remain strong. She knew he would be pissed; she planned on it, prepared herself for it. Every action she took last night after walking away from him couldn’t have had any other consequence but this.

Parker had made the decision to go over Garrett's head and call Captain Risner last night, but he was already planning on giving her a call, much to her surprise. He knew what she did for a living, purely by accident, when they ran into one another last year at a meeting with her boss. He told her over the phone last night that her name immediately came to mind when he found out about the injured photographer, but he was worried she might be too close to the mission considering her relationship with Milo. After a call to her boss and her boss’ boss, each of them raving about her capabilities to compartmentalize and focus to get any job done, Captain Risner made his decision.

The three men said hello and welcomed her to the team, not trying to hide their confusion as to why she was there while Garrett just sat in his seat and fumed. His arms rested on top of the conference room table and shook with unconcealed fury as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Garrett asked, his eyes still boring holes into Parker's face.

"Of course, McCarthy."

Garrett finally looked away, stood up, and slammed his hands down on the table in front of him, papers flying and pens scattering with the force of his anger. His nostrils flared like a bull preparing to charge as he took deep, rapid breaths through his nose and his usually bright blue eyes darkened and narrowed with rage.

"What the f*ck is she doing here? There is no way in hell she is going anywhere near the Dominican with us. She's going to get herself, and us, killed with her stupid ass need to be included."

"Garrett, man, chill out," Brady quietly warned him.

Garrett ignored the warning, too pissed off to listen to anyone at this point.

"I don't give a f*ck what kind of bullshit she fed you, but there is no way she is qualified to do something like this without putting us all in danger. The only reason she’s doing this is to piss me off because I didn’t gossip with her like a girl at a slumber party."

Parker was just about ready to tell Garrett where he could shove his opinion of her when Captain Risner spoke up.

"Sit your ass down, McCarthy," he told Garrett with a stern glare.

Risneralways had a soft spot for Garrett ever since the day he first met him as a recruit in BUD/S, a six month SEAL training course held at the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, CA. The boy was fiercely loyal, a damn fine soldier, and he knew that first day Garrett would prove to be an amazing leader. Garrett had yet to let him down. Until now. He had never seen Garrett like this, and he didn’t like it one bit. The look of horror on Ms. Parker’s face as she witnessed his outburst was enough to tell him Garrett was letting his personal life interfere with a mission. He wouldn’t stand for it. Not when so many lives were at stake.

"Now, I am well aware this comes as a shock to you, but I will not have you questioning my decisions regarding this matter. There is information regarding the nature of Ms. Parker’s background that no one in her personal life was permitted to know for security reasons.”

Parker closed her eyes and hung her head at Risner’s words. The fear of what Garrett would think of her when he finally learned about all of the lies she’d kept from him tore her heart in two.

“Unfortunately, her business and personal life are crashing together like a freight train with this mission. Annabelle is more qualified to handle this job than all of you *s put together. I have complete confidence in her abilities and would trust her with my own life. If you so much as think about undermining my decision on this, I will throw your ass off of this mission so fast your head will spin."

Captain Risner stood up, not giving Garrett the chance to speak another word.

"Your flight leaves in one hour. You are dismissed."

Parker finally let out the breath she’d been holding while Garrett got his ass handed to him. She wanted to feel bad for him, but she couldn’t. He pissed her off last night and insulted her yet again. Just the idea she would do something like this to get back at him made her want to punch his beautiful face for being so dense.

Parker stood off to the side so she could say hello to each of the men she hadn't seen since Milo's funeral and would now be her teammates. She also wanted to have a few minutes alone with Garrett so she could give him a piece of her mind before they got on the plane.

Garrett had other ideas though.

As soon as the Captain dismissed everyone, he bolted out of his chair and breezed right by Parker, not even turning his head in her direction. He wanted to know what the hell she had been thinking, but he didn’t even want to look at her he was so pissed. Garrett had spent the last eight years making sure Parker was safe, well cared for, and happy. Having her on this mission was going to ruin all of that. She would be putting herself right in the middle of the danger zone, and unless he wanted to be forcibly removed from this assignment, he had to let her. How was he supposed to choose between finding out how his best friend died and keeping Parker alive? Somehow, he needed to figure out a way to do both without losing his mind, and he desperately wanted to know what the Captain was going on about how she was more qualified than everyone in that room. Parker couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without tripping, and she sure as hell couldn’t hold her own on a SEAL assignment.