Happy Malik was apparently happy.
They are two people who have dealt with death and torment over these last six months, and they deserve to have happiness.
I head over to Kynan’s office, just two doors down from Anna’s. Except his is spacious, as it should be for the owner of this company.
When I walk in, he asks, “Did you get the file on the Colombia mission?”
I had indeed. He’d emailed it before I even left Vegas, and I read it on the plane while Jaime slept. “I did, and I know it front and back. I’ll be ready for our meeting today.”
“Good,” he replies, bending his head back over his work. When I don’t leave, but don’t say anything either, it lifts slowly again. “Yes?”
“Got a moment to talk?” I ask, sitting in a chair opposite his desk before he says it’s okay. But Kynan’s always had an open-door policy, so I know the answer would be yes.
He leans back in his chair, work before him forgotten.
“I got married this weekend,” I tell him, deciding to get the most shocking thing out of the way.
It’s a very rare occasion that Kynan McGrath can be shocked, but right now, he looks like I could knock him over with a feather. He quickly recovers, though, smoothing out his expression. “Sounds like an interesting story.”
“It is,” I promise, my fingers twisting against the skin where my wedding ring had been. I decided to take it off since I was going on a mission.
I tell Kynan all about how Jaime and I met, how I hadn’t intended for it to go anywhere, so I lied about my occupation, then the series of follies and missed opportunities I could have taken to correct the situation.
“And you thought it was a good idea to get married without her knowing the truth?” Kynan asks, and I can hear the unspoken words he left off in my head. You dumbass.
“There was alcohol involved,” I admit, but then I pull down deep to show him a vulnerability. “But there was love there, too. It was a whim, but it wasn’t a bad decision.”
“Except you’ve been lying,” he points out.
“Yeah, except for that. I was going to do it this weekend in Vegas—Sunday morning as a matter of fact, but then you called with the mission. I knew I couldn’t lay this horribly shocking lie on her and then just leave. The timing couldn’t be worse.”
“So you want out of this Colombia mission,” Kynan concludes.
I’m horror-struck, and I’m sure my expression shows it. “No. God no! That’s not why I’m telling you this. This is my job, and it’s a priority.”
“You have a wife now,” Kynan says quietly.
That hits me hard. Now I’m lying and ranking her in order of importance. Christ.
“She is my wife,” I acknowledge, thinking about what a lucky son of a bitch I am. “But I’m your most experienced operative to lead this mission, particularly with Malik coming along. While he’s been released for duty, he could react badly. It’s important I go on this mission. Besides, I’ve lied to her this long… a few more days won’t change anything.”
Kynan nods, both an understanding of what I’m saying and respect for it as well. “So why are you even telling me all this?”
Right. The point of why I’m even in here.
“If all goes well, we should be back at the end of the week. I told Jaime I’d be back on Friday. I did that knowing full well this could go a lot longer if things turn south.”
Kynan does nothing more than nod again.
“If we’re not back by Friday, I need you to go see Jaime and explain where I am. I won’t be able to explain the complexity of what’s going on in a text, but if you can tell her the basics and beg her on my behalf to please don’t do anything like file for an annulment, I’d be grateful. I hate to ask anyone to do this because it’s my mess to fix, but I can’t have her worrying if I don’t come back when I said I would. I don’t want to do that.”
There’s a bit of sympathy in Kynan’s expression, and he nods. “I’ll do that for you. But I’m the first backup if anyone drops, so if that happens and I have to go to Colombia with you, you better have a backup.”
“Think Joslyn would be willing?” I ask.
While Kynan is the backbone of this company, Joslyn has become its soul. A mother to all of us, despite her not being that much older than us.
“You’ll have to ask her yourself,” Kynan replies smoothly. “She’s her own woman, but I suspect she’d be happy to help you.”
“Thanks,” I reply, standing. I make a mental note to find Joslyn before the end of the day and lay out the story of what a dumbass I’ve been, just as I did to her husband just now.