Page 18 of Gunner

“Will.”

Jack rounded his desk and sat and offered Gunner a seat, which he took, tilting it at an angle so he could see the door.

“How is Lacey this morning?” Jack asked as he sat back in his chair and rested his hands across his flat abdomen. He looked relaxed, calm, but anyone that knew him could see he was far from it. He was assessing every move Gunner made, looking for a lie or a weakness, something that would threaten him or those he cared about.

“She seems fine.”

“I hear you met her in Germany?”

Gunner stayed silent wondering if Lacey had told the girls and it got back to Jack or if someone else had been watching.

“Enough chit chat. I have information, and I feel you and Will need to hear it first.”

“Go on.”

“Osbourne took me to meet his partner, who had set up the meeting with Samir al-Sadir.”

“And that man was my father.”

Gunner reared back in surprise at Will’s statement.

“Yes, how did you know?”

Will laughed without humour and looked at Jack, whose jaw was working overtime as he ground his teeth and tried to hold his temper. There had only been a few times that Gunner could remember seeing Jack lose his legendary cool, but if he wasn’t mistaken, he was very close to it now.

“Our father is the reason I went to jail. He was working with Miqdaad al-Sadir, and when I caught him, he engineered it so I ended up in prison. He promised he’d cut ties and Jack ensured that was the case when he formed Eidolon and took him out.”

“Yes, I remember that mission.”

“So, my father is working with Osbourne and Samir now but to what end?” Jack pursed his lips, having got his anger under control.

“I don’t know, but Osbourne is out for your blood, and Fredrick knows it.”

“He has never had much use for his sons. I was always a disappointment to him, and Jack was his hero until he couldn’t control him anymore. Now we’re both expendable. The only reason he’s still alive is because of our mother.”

“Did you know he was working with Osbourne?”

Jack shook his head. “No not until you mentioned Miqdaad. Which begs the question, did you know my father was involved in all this?”

Gunner sucked in a large breath before letting it out slowly. “I suspected from the start but couldn’t be sure. The man who came to my door and blackmailed me about Milla was only the messenger, but I caught sight of the man in the back of the car when he left, and I thought I recognised him as your father but wasn’t one hundred per cent. I wasn’t willing to blow your life up if I wasn’t sure.”

“So, my father targeted you from the start. He was the one to blow this team up.”

Gunner shook his head. “Not only him, Jack. I should have come to you.”

“Yeah, how?”

Gunner stood and began to pace. “I don’t know.”

“Exactly. If there had been another way you would have found it. We see that now, Gunner, we all do.”

“But I betrayed you all, Jesus I let them hurt Pax.”

“I know, and while that is far from ideal, we know you wouldn’t have let that happen if there had been any way to avoid it. Blake hates it, but he does understand it.”

“You shouldn’t trust me. I let people down.”

“Tough shit, because you’re part of this team and we should have had your back before, and we didn’t, and for that, I’m truly sorry. But we have it now, and we’ll take my father down and make him pay for what he’s done once and for all.”