“Maybe you can,” Gunner agreed, because he didn’t want to hurt his brother’s pride. Hadn’t he already done enough to him? “We’ll talk to Mercer and see what can happen.”
“Good.” Relief flashed in Slade’s eyes, then his gaze dipped to Sydney once more. “I’m so sorry.” A rasp had entered his voice. “Sorrier than I can ever say. I never, ever should have hit you.”
She stared back at him. “You weren’t yourself.” Her words were flat.
“No, no, I wasn’t.” He came closer to her, caught her hands.
This time, Gunner was the one to tense.
“I’ll prove to you that I’m better,” Slade whispered. “I will.”
Then he seemed to realize that he was holding her hands. He blinked, shook his head and backed away. “I’ll go find Mercer. I want to talk to him first, plead my case, you know?”
He could try. Gunner wasn’t sure that Mercer would allow the guy to do much, not with all the secure intel in the facility. But Gunner would talk to Mercer, too, and see if there was something very low-risk that Slade could do, something to help make Slade feel as though he was helping them.
Slade hurried out of the room. Gunner saw that Sydney had tilted her head, and her gaze was still on the door, even though Slade was gone.
Was she realizing that the man she’d known was fighting to return? It was too late for going back now, too late for them both.
“Sydney...” He exhaled slowly. “About Slade—”
She turned toward him. “Did you ever find out why Slade didn’t make the EOD team?”
He blinked. That was the last question he’d expected from her.
“He seems to want to be here so badly, but he told me...he told me that he withdrew his agent application.”
“That’s what he told me, too.”
A furrow had appeared between her eyes. “That’s when he started taking all those charter trips. He said he was trying to save up extra money for the marriage.”
The marriage.
“But after he disappeared, there was no money in his bank account.”
He knew that. He’d helped Sydney pay for the funeral. But he didn’t like where she was going with these questions. “What are you thinking?”
She bit her lower lip, then shook her head. The smile she gave him didn’t reach her eyes. “Nothing. I’m just worrying over nothing.” She backed up a step. “The techs are waiting for me.”
“Don’t leave the building without me,” he told her, his worry breaking through.
Sydney gave him a little salute. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”
Then she was gone, and he was left with a faint suspicion swirling in his own mind. At the time, he’d wondered why Slade’s bank accounts had been cleared out. Cleared so that only dollars remained, when Slade had been doing charters for almost a year.
His money had vanished.
Gunner had pushed aside the mystery two years ago, but now he was wondering...just where had all of that cash gone?
* * *
SLADE TOOK A deep breath, then knocked on the door that led to Bruce Mercer’s office. Well, the outer office, anyway. Because when he opened the door, he saw the hard stare of Mercer’s assistant, Judith Rogers. Judith looked barely twenty-five, but he’d learned that the woman had the tenacity of a bulldog. He’d tried to get to Mercer before, and she’d blocked him more than once.
When she saw him, her auburn brows rose. “Do you have an appointment?” Judith demanded.
Great. He barely managed to keep his expression polite. Judith annoyed the hell out of him. “No, but he’s going to want to see me.”
“I doubt it.” Crisp. “Mr. Mercer is a very busy man.”