He tapped the number and it brought up a listing of all the text messages that had been sent to and received by the number. It also brought up a list of numbers which was a total number. Dorian tapped into the messages so we could look at each one. The first one was a dead giveaway that Mrs. Gina Hawkes was having an affair with the guy with the number ending 5567.
It said:
Don’t worry my husband won’t find out.
Come over in ten minutes and bring a pack of condoms.
We used the last one yesterday.
Dorian laughed and flicked through the rest of the messages which went from mild to super raunchy until the last message, when she told Mr. 5567 she couldn’t see him anymore but it was fun.
“So, I’m gonna rule her out.” Dorian bit the inside of his lip.
I agreed. Wes started laughing.
“I’d have a field day with a set up like this,” Wes stated.
I shook my head at him, but the seriousness returned to me when Dorian switched the screen back to Ethan.
Ethan’s picture came up first, then the number listing. I recognized one of the numbers in yellow. That was the number I corresponded with him on. Up to the other day that was the number I’d sent the code red to.
Dorian went to the first blue number.
“This one is the oldest. I’ll start with that, it’s dated back eight weeks,” Dorian said, tapping into the number. Like on Gina’s profile, the number came up with messages.
I’d already decided in my mind that the only thing these messages would contain in relation to Ethan was mission guidelines.
Until I saw the first message from Ethan.
Giovanni Marchesi has the blueprints. If we get our hands on those it’s world domination. We can sell it to the highest bidder.
Ethan
That was what the message said… and as I read it shock slammed into my soul and froze my heart in my chest.
When Dorian flicked to the response from the sender I was ready to breathe fire:
I have a guy from North Korea. I’ll get the prints from the mobster.
Leave it with me,
Balthazar
Dorian looked to me, the humor gone from his face.
“Is it something like this you’re looking for? It tends to tick all the boxes,” he remarked.
I couldn’t even answer. I was just staring at the computer screen trying to process what I was reading.
Balthazar?
Ethan?
No…
It couldn’t be true.
It couldn’t.
Ethan wanted to take down Balthazar way back when, when I was part of the team. This didn’t make any form of sense. But there was no mistake here.
Dorian switched the screen to another message from Ethan. This one had my name.
Ethan:
We need to move fast before The Chameleon takes the prints. Xander Cage is the only one I know who can get in and out of anywhere without being seen.
Balthazar:
Thought we killed that fucktard.
Ethan:
No he’s still alive. He’s in Brazil. I’ll get him on board. He’ll get the job done if I make the right promises.
I balled my fist and roared. I’d been fucking played. I’d been played.
Played by someone I fucking trusted.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
Ethan… why?
This was on me for putting my trust in him. Me who made it my duty to trust no one.
Wes touched my elbow. His face a mixture of fury. He’d been played too.
But… wait…
This was…
I ran a hand through my hair and looked back to the message on the screen from Balthazar.
I thought we killed him.
He said we…
Oh God…
I backed away and stumbled against the chair behind me. This wasn’t just a now thing, this game started years ago.
Ethan was responsible for everything. It was him… all of it.
The trap. The fucking trap in Nepal.
Claire… her death... it was him.
God… why didn’t I see this? When Paul got captured protocol was to leave him. But it was a trap from then. We were a team, Ethan was our leader. He gave us the mission to go after Balthazar. Then it changed?
It was him. All along it was him.
He made the right promises for sure. My reward for getting the prints was five hundred grand and more importantly, a team assembled to help me find Balthazar.
But Ethan knew where to find him all along. As Giovanni said the person who’d contacted Balthazar would have just called him up for a chat.
This… This shit was exactly that.
Ethan and Balthazar…
Ethan and Balthazar working together…
“You okay pal?” Dorian asked, Wes knew not to ask me that.
I wanted to kill something, or someone, but on account of the help Dorian gave I thought I’d remember my manners and answer.
“No I’m not.”
Wes suddenly tensed and snapped a worried gaze to me. “Xander, I just had a really bad thought. You know we were talking about how people would do things if they got desperate?”
“Yes.” What the fuck now?
“Ethan knows I came to Idaho. I told him. He only left to meet up with his people this morning. Same time I left. Xander I told him where I was going. I’m sorry. I didn’t know man.” Panic filled his face. “He’d know about Jack right? We’d both assumed Jia was with you. Giovanni might still have the prints Xander, and if he doesn’t he knows where they went. What if Ethan comes here and takes Jia? What if –”
Before he could even get the next words out his mouth I was on the move.
Him in tow behind me.
What if Ethan came here and took Jia?
Yes… that was the last thing left to do. The desperate thing, the last resort.
Wes was right.
If Giovanni didn’t have the prints he would know where they went. The only way he’d cough up information like that would be to take the thing that was most important to him.
His prize.
His most prized possession.
Giovanni’s most prized possession just happened to be the same as mine.
Her.
Jia.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Jia
“I love any kind of fruit in cake,” I told Jack.
He smiled and shook his head. “Not me. I just like blueberries. I loathe raspberries, because of the seeds. I don’t like anything that gets stuck in my teeth.” Jack replied.
“I like to eat.” Frankie intoned with a smirk and rubbed his belly.
I rolled my eyes at him. He was acting like he had an actual belly, like a pot belly. But he rubbed his hand over a six pack.
Jack just laughed when he saw my face.
“Well if you can look like that and eat cake then there’s no complaint. I’m an old man, I have to watch myself.”
“You don’t look that old to me.” I smiled.
“You’re very sweet. I’ll write that in my memoirs.”
I giggled. “You have memoirs?”
“Yes, when you live as many lives as mine you have to document something. It would be a crime not to.”
“Xander talks about his missions. It sounds really dangerous.”