Page 11 of Her Wicked Hero

“There’s more.”

“Tell me.”

“Raymond was in the Navy. He passed BUD/S with flying colors.”

Brockman’s expression turned even grimmer. “I hear a ‘but’.”

“But the night of graduation, he murdered his girlfriend. His lawyer got him off on a technicality.”

“Fuck. When was this?”

“Eight years ago, Sir. Since then, he has been working on assignments with Thorn International. One of the men who is dead out in the clearing was a SEAL as well. He and Raymond were both working for Thorne but quit five months ago.”

Brockman frowned. “Five months ago?”

“Yeah, why? Is that significant?” Gray asked.

Brockman pressed two fingers against his eyebrow, his stress evident. “It could be. How many others out there were our men?”

“So far, we’ve only identified one other. We’ve taken fingerprints of the rest and scanned them into command. Right now, getting you to safety is our number one priority,” Gray answered.

“But if you have information that could explain why we have a bunch of US Spec Ops taking you and your family hostage, you need to let us know.”

“I’m running some things off the books right now. You need a top-secret clearance to be briefed on the scope.”

Zed and Gray mirrored one another as they crossed their arms over their broad chests.

“With all due respect―” Zed began.

“Of course, I’m going to tell you,” Brockman bit out. “I’m just trying to get my thoughts together. I should never have allowed your man O’Malley to give me something for the pain.” Brockman was clearly pissed.

Zed relaxed.

“In no way could this ever be traced back to the US, it had to have total deniability. We know but haven’t been able to prove the Peaceful Kingdom Brotherhood in Malaysia is funneling funds to ISIS.”

“Shit. Doesn’t that cult have over one hundred fifty thousand members?” Zed asked.

“You’re not keeping up,” Gray sighed. “That was last year, it has to have grown by at least ten thousand since then.”

“His membership is nearing two hundred thousand,” Brockman corrected. “Afiq Zikri is like the Pied Piper, he’s getting Muslims and non-Muslims to join. Hell, there are centers popping up in places in the United States.”

“And you think he’s funding ISIS?” Gray asked.

“Not just that. We’re working on infiltrating his inner circle because we’re pretty sure he’s also tapping his most zealous recruits to join ISIS.”

“Meanwhile, we’ve got people around the world thinking he’s a cross-between Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi,” Zed said with disgust. Then he peered over at Brockman. “Are you working with Thorne for this?”

“Just peripherally. For the most part, they are too ham-handed.”

“What else are you working on? Or were working on, the thing that made you wince?” Gray asked.

“We had two ops, one that turned into a real goatfuck, and the other is still on-going. You heard about the prince’s palace in Saudi Arabia that was bombed?”

Zed and Gray looked at one another, then nodded.

“That happened on our watch. The Saudis had pulled almost one hundred thousand Yemen nationals visas and sent them back home. Hell, they’d been working in Saudi Arabia for years, sending money home, then suddenly they were without jobs, and forced back to their country that had no jobs waiting for them. What did they do? They joined Al-Qaeda. Who were they mad at? The Saudis. That’s how the Thorne Group got involved.”

“Explain,” Gray said.