No Place to Run (KGI #2)(27)

Sam frowned. “So why send this guy after Sophie? If her father’s so pissed, or he wants revenge or he wants to send a message, why send this joker? He wasn’t completely inept, but he wasn’t hard to take down. Why not send one of his best?”

“Why send anyone at all?” Garrett demanded. “I feel like we’re missing something here. Yeah, so Sophie’s his daughter and she bailed. Mouton doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type. Why would he give a shit about a woman? The guy’s a first-class ass**le. He’s trafficked in women and children. I doubt he understands the first thing about familial sentiment.”

“She sold him out,” Sam said in a low voice.

He still wasn’t sure what to make of Sophie’s declaration. His gut told him she was telling the truth. Sometimes it paid to go with your gut. Other times it got you killed. Damn if he knew which was the case this time.

“Sold him out?” Donovan gave Sam a searching look that was threaded with disbelief. “Back up a second. What haven’t you told us?”

Garrett leaned forward, his ever-present scowl deepening.

“She was our informant,” Sam said to Garrett. “The one who tipped us off about when the arms shipment was going down.”

Donavan and Garrett exchanged what-the-f*ck looks. The words to defend her rushed to Sam’s mouth, but he swallowed them back. He couldn’t defend her. Not yet.

“She did all that because you were f**king her?” Garrett asked incredulously.

Sam turned and slammed into Garrett’s chest, twisting Garrett’s shirt in his hands.

“I’ve had enough of your mouth,” Sam snarled. “You will have some goddamn respect when talking about the mother of my child, you got me?”

Garrett’s eyes narrowed, then widened when Sam didn’t back down. He put his hands up. “Okay, okay, my bad.”

When Sam released his shirt, and Garrett took a step back, swearing the entire way.

“Will you at least try to look at this objectively?” Garrett asked. “What if it were me or Van? One of us hooks up with a chick while we’re on a mission. He gets distracted. Chick shows up months later, after we failed to take down the target, and she’s making all sorts of wild claims, not the least of which is she’s pregnant with Van’s child or my child. Then she says she sold out her flesh and blood for a guy she was with a matter of a few days. Tell me, Sam, would you be saying okay, yeah, whatever?”

Donovan remained quiet, but Garrett’s thoughts were reflected in his eyes.

Sam sighed. “When did I ever give you two the impression that I’m some emotional dumbass who thinks with his dick? I get that you’re suspicious. I have my own set of doubts, but so far what she’s saying is checking out. And whatever you think, you’ll show some respect for both me and her. If you can’t live with that, then I suggest you get the f**k out, and I’ll go this alone.”

“Oh shut the f**k up,” Garrett muttered. “You know good and goddamn well Van and I are behind you. Jesus this is one giant clusterf*ck.”

“You can’t solve this for me,” Sam said as he stared Garrett down. “I know it goes against every grain that you can’t just step in with a solution. This isn’t just a mission or some job, and you and I both know it. Everything has changed for me, and I’m the only person who can sort it out.”

Donovan chuckled, and Sam and Garrett both glared at him.

“Garrett looks like a whipped puppy because the control freak in him can’t control the situation. And Sam looks like he’s swallowed a rock.”

Sam held up his middle finger at the exact same time Garrett did, which only made Donovan laugh harder.

He shook his head and wiped his palm down his jaw. “If we can get back to the facts at hand. The assassin worked alone. Garrett and I have both been out. There’s no one else. Not yet. We’ve probably bought a few days, until Mouton figures out his guy is dead and sends someone else. He hasn’t impressed me with his intelligence so far, so he may or may not send enough men to get the job done. But then before he was only after a lone woman. Now he has us to contend with.”

“Yeah. All of us,” Garrett growled. “No one f**ks with the Kellys.”

Sam grinned and then let the smile fade. “We need to get to Mom and Dad’s to make sure they’re okay, have Steele and Rio meet us there and figure out our next move. I don’t give a shit what the CIA’s doing. We’re going to take that bastard out this time.”

Donovan nodded his agreement. “Go get Sophie. Garrett and I will have the truck ready.”

SOPHIE stared out the window of the SUV as it rolled into the driveway of a quaint wood house that was at least a hundred years old. It was one of those houses you saw in television shows touting suburbia. The perfect porch, the perfect landscaping. An upstairs that probably had at least six bedrooms and a backyard that stretched over several acres.

It looked homey and welcoming like it had a soul and wasn’t just a cold dwelling constructed to keep others out. No, this house invited people inside to its warmth. Families gathered here.

It was everything she’d ever wanted in her entire life, and it hurt her that she was going to have to walk into this place with Sam and pretend it wasn’t.

The tires crunched over the gravel, and Garrett pulled the truck to a halt behind a county sheriff’s police car. Sophie jerked her head around to stare at Sam accusingly.