Landon blinked. “Excuse me?”
“How did you know she was here?” And… “Why are you here?”
“I knew she was here because I’ve been trying to keep tabs on her. Ali is my friend, too, you know. Not like I just want her to wind up dead.” What could have been real heat entered Landon’s voice. “I get that you all think I’m heartless…”
“Not arguing.” Jinx risked a glance at War. “Are we arguing?”
“I don’t think we are,” War assured him. “I was just sitting here, listening all quiet and patient-like.”
Landon growled. “On missions, I have actually watched your backs. I care about the people who work with me. I care about Ali.”
How much?
“I’ve been digging. I’ve been trying to help her. She believes this guy is someone that works—or worked—in the government, and I think she may be right.” He motioned to War and Jinx. “We’re talking about someone who handled the same kind of cases that you did. Someone with a skill set that makes him exceedingly dangerous.” His tone turned wistful as he said, “Before all of this happened, Ali was amazing in the field. She was the light touch, the tech expert we needed, and the woman could always play a character so easily. She could blink and nearly become someone else. Her skills were exceedingly useful.”
And you used her plenty, didn’t you? “If you have a name, you should be meeting with Ali right now and telling her about him. I am still not getting why you insisted I meet with you here, without Ali.”
A muscle flexed in Landon’s weak jaw. Then he surprised Jinx by surging forward.
You’re seriously coming at me?
“Because I am trying to protect you!”
He was wasting Jinx’s time, that’s what he was—
“She never told you about her past, did she?” Landon’s gaze cut to War. “Not either of you.”
No, they hadn’t exactly shared deep, dark secrets. Except for last night, when he’d told her one of his secrets. But Jinx didn’t care that Ali hadn’t revealed all to him. How could he expect her to share her past when he’d been hiding the truth about himself, too?
“You and War were brought onto the ops team because of the work that you did when you were enlisted. You each had special strengths that made you perfect for the job.”
Right. War had been a SEAL, and Jinx had spent a little time in the air. Not that he talked about that service much. He preferred to think of it as his ace in the hole. And, not to brag, but he was pretty much the best damn fighter pilot in the—
Landing Zone exhaled on a long sigh. “You both joined the group because you wanted to protect your country. You were the good guys, doing work to help others.”
Not one hundred percent true, and Landon knew it. At the end, Jinx had made a deal to help Ramsey…
“That wasn’t the case with the woman you call Ali.” He crossed the room. Stared out the window. “She isn’t former military, though you both figured that out early on.”
Sure, they had. The same way he’d pegged the new bartender as being current law enforcement. Some things, you could just see. Former military personnel carried themselves differently. They acted differently in high stress situations.
The first case he’d worked with Ali…
She’d been terrified. But working damn hard to hide her fear.
“Ali was brought in because she had special skills.”
“We know she’s a tech whiz,” War said with a wave of his hand. “How about you just get on with the story? We don’t have all day.”
Landon’s lips thinned. “Prodigy is a better term. She’s quite gifted. She’s also…quite the criminal.”
Jinx raised one eyebrow. “You don’t say?”
Obviously, that wasn’t the reaction Landon expected. His hands immediately went to his hips. “Yes, I do say. That’s how Ali came to the attention of my previous supervisor. She’d broken the law. Numerous times. She—and her partner—were given options. Jail or—”
“Or they could work out their time.” A very similar deal to what he’d been given for his brother, only things were a wee bit more complex when it came to Ramsey. “How old was she back then?”
“Seventeen.”
Fuck. “And what did her parents have to say about this?”
“They didn’t want their daughter going to jail. They encouraged her to do the right thing.”
Ali had never mentioned parents to him. He got a twist in his gut, a foreshadowing that something very, very bad had happened.
“Ali took the deal. Discovered that she had quite a knack for the work. She did it for years without a problem.”
War closed in on them. “You mentioned her partner…”
A jerky nod. “Yes, I did.”
“Who was the partner?” Jinx wanted to know.
“Ali’s boyfriend.”
His shoulders tensed.
“He took the deal, too. For a time, he was quite good as well. For a time.” Landon rocked back onto the soles of his feet. “Then, I suppose you could say he…went off the rails.”
“Define that,” Jinx ordered. “Explicitly.”
“He vanished. Disappeared in the middle of an op. Only he took a great deal of intel with him. Intel that we now know has been sold to enemies around the world. He appears to have been working as a mole for an extended period of time before he pulled his disappearing act.”
“Does Ali know this?” Jinx wanted to know. His instincts said she didn’t.
A shake of Landon’s head. “We made sure they were never paired together. It was decided that it was better for them to stay apart, that was even a condition of the offer that was made to them. And I believe they complied. Or, at least, it would appear that Ali did.” He cleared his throat. “There were…a few times when I learned that Cyrus had acquired Ali’s location and gone to watch her.”
“Watch her?” Jinx repeated as rage burned in him. Cyrus. The name had him seeing red.
A miserable nod. “He didn’t make contact. At least, I didn’t think he had, so I saw no point in telling Ali about the situation back then.”
Jinx glanced at War. “Are you listening to this crap?”
“Listening and not believing Landon could be so idiotic.” Disgusted, War snapped, “Her ex is stalking her, and you don’t tell Ali?”
“It wasn’t stalking. Or at least, I didn’t think it was at the time. When I questioned him in those days, Cyrus assured me that he just wanted to make certain Ali was safe—”
“Fucking moron,” Jinx growled.
Landon’s chin jerked up. “We needed him. You don’t understand just what the man can do.”
“Let’s see…” Jinx tapped his chin. “Ali told me her last target was murdered, and the killer left zero evidence behind. He disabled the security for miles and stumped all the authorities.” A nod. “Yes, trust me, I think I am understanding quite clearly what he can do. Ali might have just been an asset that you used for tech skills and undercover missions, but this Cyrus—he was different, wasn’t he? You used him for plenty more.”