PART 28

Riley waited until the call disconnected before speaking, "The White House Chief of Staff?"

Thor's stomach turned at the quaver he heard in Riley's quiet voice. He spared a glance away from the rush hour traffic that was backing up their exit point. Her eyes were shadowed with anger, disbelief and a whole lot of mistrust.

The loyalty he'd sworn and this undercover operation gone south felt wrong somehow. He'd owed a loyalty to Riley that he'd betrayed. Any kind of explanation or apology in the face of those shadowed eyes seemed pretty lame right now.

"I told you this was huge. Multiple Agents had lost their lives already and the increasing threat to US soil from Afghanistan, Syria and now the ISIS had the White House on edge. CIA was monitoring the Abu Sayyaf for a while and with Bin Laden gone, they were quiet for a time. Until somebody gave them a boost. This was supposed to be a check and go operation but things rarely go according to plan. Only Russell and my handler knew I was going undercover." He gripped the steering wheel of his truck, eyeing the four lanes of traffic heading south at a snail's pace. "Three years I've spent integrating myself with the Cartel, wheeling and dealing here in the Philippines on their behalf. Do you have any idea how much drugs had been dumped here? Millions of dollar worth of drugs and for what? To support a war that is senseless. Three years and I'm still no closer to closing this shit! Fucking NSA had to get involved."

"Thor, who is your handler? Why can't he pull you out?" Riley went silent on him again for a minute. The silence was harder to bear than the angry words and punch on the arm had been. "He didn't pull you out because you didn't want him to—"

"It's not that simple." Thor reached across the seat.

But she yanked her hand away. "Like hell! You know what? It doesn't matter. Let's finished the job."

…..

Involving Riley in this mess is not how Thor wanted to spend a Friday night. Or any other night for that matter.

Thor dragged in a long breath and climbed out of the truck. Despite the sun having already set, it was still hot with both the heat and humidity nearing triple digits. He felt the trickle of sweat on his temple before he even made it up the steps of the craftsman's house.

He glanced around. Old habits. But despite the sudden knot in his gut, there was nothing to catch his attention. The rental house was on the outskirts of town, located at the end of a narrow farm road. No nearby neighbors. Just trees, fields and lots of peace and quiet. Something Riley would have appreciated.

Peace and quiet were things she definitely wouldn't get tonight though.

"Did it pass inspection?" Riley asked. "Do you want me to go back inside the truck or can I go inside the house with you?" Riley dodged his gaze and folded her arms over her chest.

He nodded, stepped inside to wait. "Do you have your cell phone on you?"

Riley nodded and pulled the phone from her pocket to hand it over. The bright light of the phone screen lit up his face, exposing a catlike gleam in his green eyes and familiar lines that seemed to be etched a little more deeply beside his eyes and mouth. He started scrolling and quickly typed a message.

"I texted Fudo. Hopefully he gets the message and be here as soon as possible."

Riley just nodded.

…..

Fudo eased his hand over the Sig Sauer concealed in the holster beneath his black polo shirt. He didn't want to draw his gun unless it was one hundred percent necessary.

Hell, he hoped it wouldn't be, but his gut was telling him something was wrong. Last he heard Riley was on her way back to Washington. To say that he's surprise to get a text message from her is an understatement. This could be a trap but he didn't care, he wanted to make sure that she's alright. He glanced around making note of his surroundings, careful not to make a noise. He was just about to step onto the stair when the door flew open.

"You're not Riley," Fudo commented.

The man's only response was a grunt as he closed the door. Fudo followed suit.

"Fudo?" Riley whispered.

"Riley? What the hell are you still doing here?" Fudo growled.

She straightened and they stared at each other across three feet of charged space.

"Riley didn't send you the message I did." Thor clarified.

Fudo cursed. He considered walking out but he chanced a look at Riley and though he could no longer clearly see her face, he heard the small sound that bubbled up in her throat. "What do you want from me?"

"I need you to arrange a meeting with the Cartel."

"Is that all?" Fudo asked sarcastically.

"Dammit—"

"Thor, stop!" Riley interrupted. "Fudo, Thor's cover had been blown. There's an exchange happening sometime this week and we need to stop it."

"No," Fudo ground out. "You were supposed to go home and distance yourself from all this." He turned to Thor. "What were you thinking dragging her back in?" Fudo's sharp tone could have cut through steel plates.

Riley tensed as Thor strode forward. "You think I wanted her involved? You think I didn't want her safe? You have no fucking idea—none!"

Fudo glared at Thor. "Jack Ass!" Fudo ground his teeth. "One look at her and you and the Cartel would know exactly how to cut you to pieces. Every fucking person with eyes will know what she is to you. You just handed them a fucking Ace."

Riley watched Thor's whole body clench. "I know," Thor said in a hard voice.

Riley's eyes met Thor's, but neither of them spoke. Her attention whipped back to Fudo as he spoke.

Fudo kept his gaze steady. "You're going to use her as bait."