I shift so I can see his face. “Oh, hell no. I’m not marrying you as my priest.”

He rolls his eyes, “I’m not a priest. I’m a reverend.”

“No, you’re a jackass.”

He smirks. “Keep it up, and I’ll tell your mother you want her to plan the wedding.”

My eyes bulge as I debate whether he’s healthy enough to endure me beating the hell out of him. “I haven’t agreed to marry you yet, and that’s so not funny.”

He leans forward. “Not joking. And you will agree when I ask you.”

Before I can say a word, a noise at the door stops us both. Neither of us breathes or moves.

Knock, knock. Pause. Knock, knock.

Mandi is here.

“You’re lucky. That’s Mandi’s code.” I head to the door and check the peephole. Thank God.

I open the door and she smiles. “It’s done.”

“Done?”

“Yeah, he’s in custody. He admitted to quite a bit, but Aaron really figured out the missing clues.”

She enters the room, and I close the door behind her. We head to the couch and Mark shifts forward.

I’m dying to know how this all went down. Being sidelined hasn’t been easy for me, but it was necessary. “What happened?” I nearly bounce in my seat. “I want all the details.”

“After I got back, Christopher refused to speak to anyone until your father’s old partner, Dean Tubb, came. He was working with Dominic to uncover some of the pieces you and I couldn’t make fit. Like the photo your dad had of the building we couldn’t place and the fact he had notes of dates and initials that you weren’t able to decipher. Turns out Dean and Gerald used a code during their early years. As soon as he saw it, Christopher’s tune changed.”

She gives me a second to let that sink in. My dad and Dean had to talk in what was almost their own language back then. The CIA wasn’t as advanced as it is now, but I never realized it could be a code. It makes sense that if my father had been suspicious of people, he’d revert to something that couldn’t be traced. How the hell did I miss that? Oh, I know. The sexy blonde next to me had my mind preoccupied. “What did the code say?”

“Well, as soon as Dean saw it, he knew, and wouldn’t allow anyone else to speak. He took Christopher into custody and is now the Interim Director. I still didn’t understand the connection with Mark, though. That was the part that kept confusing me, and Dean still wasn’t forthcoming with the meaning of the code.” Her eyes come alive as she grows more excited. “But Charlie, when I mentioned how you were threatened because of the file, that Mark was taken, and that there was a correlation with Cole Security Forces, it all clicked.”

“What clicked?” Mark snaps.

“Mazir is Christopher Asher!”

“What?” I’m confused.

“Don’t you see it? It was obvious. You both had to be tied to the investigation. There was a reason things got desperate once you joined Cole Security Forces. It’s the only connection between Cole Security’s stolen ammunition and you being the agent investigating Mazir, who was trading weapons.”

Mark slouches forward. “Meaning once we met, the fact that the arms dealer was an American would become clear to both of us. With both of our knowledge of the investigation, it would be easy to form conclusions.”

Mandi nods. “But he was able to keep throwing you guys off and keep you looking for someone who didn’t exist. He was able to keep you far enough away, but close enough that you kept working the case. The man is a true narcissist.”

“And he was making a ton of money, taking out spies, and keeping a high-profile job at the same time,” I muse aloud. “It really was the perfect plan. He was able to orchestrate everything from the confines of his office, line his pockets, and betray everyone he knew while we hunted a terrorist.”

“Exactly,” Mandi says. “Then he found out your father was looking into something fishy within the agency and keeping a file. Aaron was able to piece together the photo of the building. It was the site he was going to in Afghanistan where their shipment went missing.”

Mark lifts his hands. “I had no idea. I never went there or was involved in that bid. We assumed that was where your father traced Mazir to.”

My eyes drift out the window as I think it all over. All of this is Christopher’s fault. My father must have pieced it all together and threatened to expose him. So Mazir had him killed and then claimed responsibility. All the while it was done by his friend, his ally, and his boss.

“It all makes sense. Each dead end was engineered at the hands of my boss. He knew where I was, if I was getting close to pertinent information—he was behind it all. He was using all of us to get what he wanted: money, power, and control.” Every part of me wants to explode. My muscles clench as anger takes hold. “I should’ve killed him.”

“No,” Mark says. “You would’ve never figured this out. You would’ve spent the rest of your life looking for a ghost. This is all behind us now. We can move forward and find some normalcy. It’s over, Charlie.”

“Is it?” I ask. “Because regardless, people have lost their lives, you’ve suffered, I’ve suffered. Will it ever really be over? I can’t trust my own agency. I can’t go back to work there, and I can’t bring my dad back.”

Mandi shifts uncomfortably. “I think you guys need to talk. But it is all done now, Charlie. He’s locked up, Dean is in charge, and everyone we could identify who was involved has been detained. And there is no son. We’ve dug and dug; he was just messing with us. He’s a master manipulator.”

There’s no sense of ease and no feeling of accomplishment. My dad is still gone, and the agency I would’ve given my life for killed him. “I need to tell my mother who was behind my father’s death.”

She stands. “Dominic knows too. He’s waiting for your call.”

Mark gets to his feet. “I was wrong about you,” he admits to Mandi. “I thought you were involved.”

“I never betrayed her. The information I was giving was being monitored by Christopher. I didn’t know it was him, but I suspected someone in the agency was watching. Once I started piecing together that something was wrong, I stopped inputting the correct info. It’s why you guys were able to get out of the country undetected. I put a code on her file, and once it flagged me, I altered it. I was helping even if you never knew. I kept them off her back while you two were working.”

Mandi has always been loyal. She explained that she knew the agency was involved after my debrief. She was willing to destroy our friendship if it meant I lived. By having me taken off the case, put on leave, and kept out of the area, it allowed her to dig at the same time we did. Even with my cold shoulder, she was there for me.

“Thank you,” Mark says with his hand extended.

“She never gave up on you.”

“She never gave up on you, either.” He smiles.

“I’m going to walk her out,” I explain to Mark. Honestly, I need to let all of this information settle away from him.

He seems to think everything is great now, but this affects everything in my life. Every part of my being is tied to my job. I know things are different. I have him, and we have a baby coming, but I always thought I would still be an operative. Now, though, I don’t know that I want to live this life. What kind of job am I doing, and for what?