PROLOGUE
KAIRO JONES
Late July2030
Kairo lurched forward,coughing and choking on his beer, as Soren delivered the punchline to his story about sneaking into the bedroom of a known arms dealer and being harassed by his four cats. Ed slapped him hard on the back, possibly knocking Kairo’s lungs up into his throat.
“You okay?” Edison asked, tears of laughter still gathered in the corners of his eyes.
“Yeah, fine,” Kairo rasped. He took a delicate sip of his beer to clear his throat. This was what he got for attempting to drink while Soren was in the mood to tell stories.
Alexei was proving to be just as creative, though, as he told of his own insane adventures. Someone so young should not have experienced the things he had.
When he caught his breath, Kairo sank into his chair and stared down the long table they’d claimed at the restaurant. Shortly after Charlie and Will returned from meeting with Carlos—aka ThiagofuckingVergara—Kairo informed them that he’d acquired tickets for a ferry headed a short hop, skip, and jump across the Atlantic to Uruguay. Specifically, the small, historic town of Colonia. They’d grabbed hotel rooms and were now settled in a restaurant serving delicious drinks and lots of meat, which allowed them to watch the political fireworks exploding in Buenos Aires from a safe distance.
As they boarded the ferry, Kairo just might have sent off countless packets of information revealing the fact that Lorenzo Perez was married to a child who had been stolen from a couple who had been kidnapped during the era of the military dictatorship. His wife was one of the very people whose existence he was trying to deny in the first place. The Argentine media was going crazy with this news, and it even seemed to be getting picked up by different news agencies across South America.
Oh, yes. This was looking very bad for Lorenzo Perez and his asshole son. His chances at the Argentine presidency were dwindling by the second.
Kairo took one last glance at the news headlines on his phone and then tucked it away with a soft cackle.
Lorenzo Perez was a small fish in terms of the people they’d taken down in the past, but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel good to see him stopped. The people of Argentina suffered under the military dictatorship, and while everyone wanted to move on and be happy, it was important to never forget what had happened. That was just a direct route to it occurring all over again.
“Everything good?” Charlie asked from his seat directly across from Kairo.
Kairo lifted his beer and smiled. “We’re all good. Appears the Perez boys have got their hands full managing the mess we created. I don’t expect them to come searching for us. It’s way too late for that now.”
Will paused, a forkful of steak halfway to his mouth, when he gazed over at Kairo. “What about Catalina Perez? Has she emailed Charlie?”
Kairo’s heart ached. “Nothing yet.”
Charlie reached over and placed a hand on Will’s slumped shoulder. “Honestly, I’m not expecting her to. She’s pissed at her husband and son for what they’ve done to Argentina and to her. She wants to stand and watch them burn.”
“Besides, if she suddenly disappears from the country, they could use it to shove all this back under the rug,” Kairo pointed out.
“But if she does happen to reach out and needs help escaping, we’ll be right there for her,” Ed interjected. “She helped us. We’re not gonna leave her stranded.”
Will nodded, looking a little more settled, even if some of the sadness and worry lingered in his eyes. Was there a chance that Lorenzo would have his wife killed over this? Yeah, a pretty good chance. But if Catalina wanted to face her husband head on, who were they to get in the way of what she wanted?
Kairo swallowed the rest of his beer and placed an order for another when the server returned to check on them. He usually wasn’t a big drinker, but they were celebrating closing two mysteries and reuniting Will with Charlie. If that wasn’t a reason to get completely shit-faced, he didn’t know what would be.
Relaxing in his chair, he smiled at the man who had been his boss for more than a decade now. Sure, since parting ways with the CIA, they’d agreed they were equal members of the team, but deep down, they all still knew Charlie was their fearless leader. He was the one they all turned to for answers when a plan went to hell or they were low on ideas of what to do next. Charlie Sands had that “confident leader” aura around him. Peoplewantedto follow him. And it didn’t hurt that he usually had damn good ideas.
But after Charlie had been forced to walk away from Will, it was as though a large chunk of the man’s soul had been missing. He’d gone through the motions for years—partying, drinking, and sleeping with plenty of willing people—but it wasn’t until Kairo spotted Charlie looking at Will that he noticed the light was back in his eyes. He was lit inside by pure love for this man, and maybe Kairo was a tiny bit envious.
Who didn’t want to find love like that?
It was why none of them had felt any anger when Charlie stated that he was willing to leave the team for Will. The doc made Charlie happier than any of them ever could. There was no way in hell they would stand in the way of that.
But Kairo wasn’t going to deny that he was glad Will was joining them. Not only would the man make their oldest friend happy, but he’d probably help to temper some of Charlie’s crazier impulses. There was no sense in being utterly reckless when you had a hot doctor waiting for you to come home.
“What’s next for everyone?” Will inquired when the conversation had fallen quiet. He leaned into Charlie, his head partially resting on his lover’s shoulder. “Charlie says we’re escaping to an island, but he won’t tell me which one.”
“Knowing Charlie, it’s probably Alcatraz,” West called out with a smirk.
“Hey!” Charlie snapped, pointing a finger at the sniper. “Don’t ruin the surprise.”
Will snorted and elbowed Charlie. “Idiot. As long as it has a beach, I don’t care.”