Page 26 of The Lazarus Protocol

Noah couldn’t imagine doing the same. He had to say, he preferred Marina’s bolt holes. Or he just preferred Marina. But he’d always been more nomadic.

First, his parents had moved them around or dumped them here to stay with Pops while they went…wherever they went. Then the navy moved him wherever they wanted, ordering him to one base or another and deploying him all over with his team. As a result, he didn’t really feel as if he fit anywhere geographically. Just that he fit with his twin—wherever Caleb was. With his family. With the team he’d put together.

Finally, Noah spoke. “Marina’s cousin is missing, and she asked me to help her find out what happened.”

“You help Marina. Tell Jay we need him.”

The definitive way Adam said that almost sounded like an order, even though Noah was his boss. That was just the reality of two guys like them working together. Noah said, “Will do.”

He heard Adam yawn.

“Catch you later.” Noah hung up and went outside, striding off the porch and over to the huddle of his twin, his buddy Jay who he’d worked with off and on for years, and the woman who had stopped Jay in his tracks—and her daughter, who had stolen everyone’s heart.

“You want in?” Noah asked Jay. “Adam needs extra personnel.”

“You’re helping Marina find her cousin?” Jay lifted his chin.

Noah nodded. Morgan and Ava shifted closer to the huddle, and Jay looked at the woman and her daughter. “If they need your help, you should go,” Morgan told him.

“Plenty of reasons to stick here.” Jay’s tone stayed even.

Morgan turned to Noah. “Order him to go.”

Noah shook his head. “It’s his decision.”

Jay glanced between Morgan and Ava. “I’m supposed to be here with the two of you. That’s my job now.”

Morgan’s eyes filled with tears. She closed the gap between them, laying her hand on Jay’s chest. “We’re part of your life. But this is who you are.”

He covered her hand with his.

“Go help your friends,” she whispered.

Noah ducked his head, not wanting to intrude on their moment.

Tessa wandered over, and Caleb put his arm around her. Marina moved to Noah’s side, and he glanced at her.

“Okay.” Jay’s voice sounded like gravel. “I’ll go back them up.”

“We can fly you to the closest airport,” Marina said.

“I’ll get my stuff.” Noah stepped away, needing the breath he could only take away from the huddle of home and family. But that put him on a path right to where Pops sat in his rocker. Noah clasped the old man on the back of his neck and leaned down. “Don’t go anywhere until I get back.”

It wasn’t a promise Pops could make, and they both knew it.

Still, the old man said, “I’ll be here.”

One way or another, Noah knew that would be true.

TEN

Gaziantep Airport, Turkey

“All right. Here’s the plan.” Adam trudged down the last few steps and dumped his duffel on the shiny concrete floor of the hangar, trying to ignore the close heat and the way the sun beat through the open doors. It was barely five in the morning.

The plane had taxied all the way into this rickety hangar so they could disembark away from prying eyes. Except it was even hotter in here and he didn’t have shorts on anymore.

Ice turned from a huddle with Ash and Kai toward Adam. “We had a plan, Nix. Then you went to sleep. Now we have a new plan?”