Page 43 of Uncharted

“Oh,” I said, remembering the information I’d been fed. “This about the Aidan ‘selling us out’ thing?”

“Not sure that’s how I’d describe it, but Xander is certainly treating it that way,” Reno said with a shake of his head. “If Xander was anyone else, Aidan would have been gone in a heartbeat. But we all voted to keep him.”

“We did?” I wondered.

Reno stared. “Jesus, we…you don’t remember?”

“Uh oh.”

“Fuck, well, uh, guess it’s good we found that out now and I was the one who helped you find out. Xander would have lost it,” Reno snorted. “I guess that explains why you were vague about it, and why you’re not as upset as I thought you’d be.”

I paused. “That bad?”

He took a deep breath and explained what he understood about the whole situation. Before Aidan worked for the outpost, he had been looking for new work. That work had come through a friend of a friend who had connections to give him the new start he was looking for, but at a cost. If Aidan wanted the job, he would have to report on everything he saw at the outpost and send it on.

“Everything?” I wondered, trying to think of what about us could need to be reported like that.

“Just like, stuff we’re doing, how we are with each other, details about our lives, stuff like that,” Reno said in a stiff voice.

I thought about that for a moment. “He’s been spyin’ on us, tellin’ someone our personal business? What the fuck for?”

“Bryce Thompson,” Reno said, nose wrinkling and lip curling.

“The guy Xander’s been fightin’ with for years?” I asked. “Why?”

“Xander hasn’t just been fighting with Bryce; they’ve been enemies for years. Xander hasn’t said why the fight started but this sort of feud doesn’t happen without it being personal, and I am not digging into Xander’s personal life more than I already do by living in close proximity with him,” Reno said with a dry chuckle. “But Bryce has had it out for Xander and has repeatedly tried to get him fired. He’s done a lot of shit over the years, but he’s never been able to swing enough votes with the rest of the committee to make it happen.”

I let that simmer for a minute before continuing. “So, what? Our personal business is supposed to help him with that?”

“I imagine that if Bryce got enough information, he could probably spin a good story to make it look bad. I mean, we’re not exactly the most professional bunch, and I’ve always wondered if Xander hasn’t been covering up some of the shit we’ve done.”

“Like what?”

Reno gave me a look that was almost pitying. “We definitely shouldn’t have booze at the outpost, but we do.”

“We don’t get fucked up on our shifts,” I protested.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s not allowed,” Reno explained. “And there’s the fighting. I mean, shit, it wasn’t more than a month ago that you, Carter, and Colin got into it. And there’s a bunch of other things that could all be added up to show Xander is irresponsible and could be putting all of us in danger.”

“That’s bullshit,” I spat out. “He’s the most responsible hardass I’ve ever met outside the Corps. There’s no fuckin’ way he’d put us in…oh shit. Him and Colin.”

“And that one right there would be the quickest way to get Xander and Colin thrown out on their asses,” Reno said grimly.

“That motherfucker,” I spat out, trying to sit up and remembering I had several broken ribs and a left arm that would sooner fall off than push me up. “Ow, fuck!”

“Stop,” Reno chided, pushing me back gently. “Aidan has happily handed Xander every communication he sent. And right now, it’s only Mika who can say one way or the other, but he said there was evidence that Aidan was…backing out.”

I snorted. “Convenient.”

“You doubt my brother is telling the truth?” he asked, cocking his head.

That was dangerous territory, and I sucked in a breath. “No. But it’s obvious they’re together again, and your brother’s in love. It can…make ya do stupid stuff, and miss stuff right in front of ya.”

Reno stared at me thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. “I know. But according to him, he saw what was going out…get that look off your face. He saw it right before, and I mean right before the storm hit. He didn’t have time to deal with it before three of us got ourselves sent to the ER.”

Right. Shit. Aidan had put himself in a massive amount of danger to save Reno.

Well, hell, that complicated things.