Of course if he really wanted to, he could just take out both targets and Avery would be safe.
And he wouldn’t have any answers. He wanted Eli Nelson alive. He wanted to know what had happened to his brother. He’d had the dream again the night before. He’d stood in the middle of that bloody room, bodies all around him and all he’d been able to see was his brother’s boots sticking out from behind the couch as his phone began to ring.
Only this time Avery had been in the dream with him. She’d stood behind the couch, her eyes steady on him. It’s only boots. There’s nothing of your brother here.
She’d held the boots up as the phone began to ring. Just before he’d forced himself awake, he’d seen a shadowy figure move behind her, its hands ready to wrap around her throat.
He’d woken up in a cold sweat, shaking.
Why couldn’t he stop thinking about those boots?
“Do you have a good line of sight?” Ian’s voice came over the small radio link Liam had in his ear. It brought him back to the present. To the outside world, it would look like a Bluetooth device, but it only connected to his team.
“I have a clear line of sight.” Alex sounded cool and calm.
“I’m in position,” Adam said.
“Me, too. Just waiting on the word,” Jake replied.
Adam and Jake were on the ground. They would follow Nelson when he left his meeting with Molina.
And then Liam had a few questions for the man. “How long will we have with the bastard before the Agency takes over?”
“Who said they have to know?” Ian replied. “Damon assures me we can hold Nelson for a little while at The Garden. It seems our MI6 friend’s dungeon is also, well, a dungeon.”
“Nice,” Jake said.
“He was the one who called me.” It was the only explanation. “Nelson got me out of that house. Now the question is why. He wanted that mission. He set you up to take it from you.”
“I know.” Ian’s terse reply practically bit across the line, but Liam couldn’t give his boss a lot of room here. He had to know.
After he’d woken from his dream, he’d sat up until dawn thinking about every second of the mission. Talking to Avery about Rory the night before had forced him to face some truths about his brother. Rory had been trouble right from the beginning. He’d been selfish and a little mercenary. A lot mercenary, but he’d seemed to be turning it around. The SAS had redefined him.
Or had it? What secrets had his brother been keeping before he died? According to Ian he’d been in touch with their mother’s old IRA contacts. Why?
“Do you think my brother was working with Nelson?” Liam was deeply aware that everyone on the line could hear him. He’d kept this secret for far too long. These men and Eve had become his family, and he’d spent far too long being the sarcastic snotty brother who didn’t really give anything back. They’d been his friends. They’d protected him. Ian might be a right bastard, but he’d tried his hardest to keep them all together. Had he lied? Maybe, but it had been an omission that Liam just might have made himself under the same circumstances. Liam had made a decision. If he was in, he was in all the way. If he was going to be Avery’s man, then he had to be a better version of himself. He had to find a way to trust his family.
The trouble was it seemed to Liam that his blood family might have plotted to have him killed.
“We can talk about this in private, Li,” Ian commanded.
“Just a yes or a no. I’m going to fill everyone in anyway. This isn’t just my problem anymore. This affects the whole team, and I’m not going to hide it away because I find it embarrassing.” And Ian shouldn’t either. “Nelson had something to do with the mission that killed my brother, and I worry that he’s been playing a long game that we haven’t begun to understand yet.”
“Just shut it down for now.” Ian sighed over the line. “We can talk about this in person, and everyone can be at the table. All right? Can we just take out this fucker first?”
“Right, boss.” He settled back into silence, watching the restaurant, but his head wouldn’t quiet down. Avery was still in trouble, and there was something wrong with Molina. He needed to get a meeting with the bastard, even if it was just to get an in-person assessment of the man. Something was off about the whole thing, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. If Rory had been working with Nelson, what had happened to him? Had Nelson killed him when he was no longer useful?
And he wasn’t sure about Simon Weston either. He’d been forced to turn Avery over to Simon when he’d left her at her office this morning.