Page 6 of Destroyed With You

“Damn you,” he whispered as the dark threads of a twisted reality twined around him. “Don’t you know I loved you?”

He took a moment to simply breathe. To calm the rage that was threatening to explode out of his fingertips. Then he stood and went to the door, planning to go find Seagrave in his office. He didn’t have to. His friend was waiting in the antechamber.

“She faked her own death,” Winston said.

“It certainly appears that way. I’m sorry, Winston,” he added, his expression and his voice underscoring the sincerity of the words.

“I know you are,” Winston said, his shoulders sagging under the weight of emotion. “So am I.”

There was a battered couch against the far wall, and Winston took a seat on it. “Who was he?”

“One of ours,” Seagrave said. “Deep cover with a law firm that does a significant amount of legal maneuvering for an arms dealer based in South Africa.”

“She assassinated him.” He had to say the words. Had to feel the weight of them on his mouth and tongue before he could believe them. “My Linda. Who once told me she didn’t like me bringing my gun into the house, but that she’d get over it because of my job.”

“Yes.”

“Why? Who’s she working for? The Consortium’s gone. We ended them. Or was that fake, too?”

“As far as we know, the Consortium exists no more. We interrogated the Serpent again. He confirmed as much. As for her employer, we’re still trying to ascertain who that is.”

“Ascertain?” Winston scoffed. “Going easy on her, then?” His gut clenched at the thought of the interrogation techniques he imagined they were using on her. He tried to tell himself she deserved every one of them. And yet just thinking about it made him feel nauseous.

“She’s not in custody,” Seagrave said.

Winston stared at him, not comprehending. “You tailed her. You watched her. How the hell didn’t you—?”

“That isn’t our footage.”

Winston leaned back in his chair, his head starting to throb. “Listen, Anderson. I get that you think I’m fragile where Linda is concerned, and maybe you’re right. But spit it the fuck out, okay? Quit dancing around whatever you know and whatever you want me to do. Tell me now, or I’m walking.”

Seagrave moved closer. “Here it is, then. That wasn’t her first kill. Not by a long shot. And we have intel that she has a new assignment. I need you, Winston. You’re the best man for this job.”

“Am I?” His voice was rough. His body numb.

“You know her better than anyone. We need to stop the coming assassination. And we want to bring her in alive.”

He studied Seagrave’s face. “You’re saying she’s a professional, but you think she’ll falter if it’s me she’s up against. That I can bring her in alive where nobody else can.”

Seagrave lifted a shoulder.

“I have a job.”

“And I’ve spoken with both Ryan and Damien. I told them I wanted to borrow you for a special assignment.”

“They don’t know I used to work for you.”

“They still don’t,” Seagrave assured him. “But they do believe that you’ve had joint operations with the SOC before. I told them I need you on special assignment. And I told them why.”

“You told them about Linda. About that video.”

“No. But I told them you’d want to be involved.”

“I don’t want to be involved.”

“No?”

Winston pushed up off the couch and paced to the window. He looked down at Los Angeles a dozen floors beneath them. “Don’t play mind games with me, Colonel. You’ll only piss me off.”