Hunter

Chapter Thirty

Hunter ~

It had been a week since Bravo team had returned home safely, but the events of that job haunted Hunter, taking up a permanent residence in the back of his mind. Kenzie's brother was alive and Kenzie deserved to know - needed to know, but Hunter refused to tell her. He needed more information. He needed to know Banks' intentions and to understand why he had faked his death before he told Kenzie. Deep down it felt awful to keep something so monumental from her, but if he told her the news without proper intel or planning she would likely act on emotion and instinct to seek Banks out which could be a fatal error...Hunter couldn't allow that to happen.

Delta, Bravo, and Alpha team were all stateside and working small local jobs at the moment, leaving only Charlie team abroad working a long term mission that was still in the surveillance stages which left Hunter with lots of time to do some digging on Kenzie's behalf.

"Any updates on this?" Hunter asked, slapping down Banks' file on Nate's desk.

"Negative, Sir. Just the fact that he's alive and has been workin for pops the entire time. You gone through the mission logs I gave you?"

"Yes, but there's not much there to use. Looks like he's been working jobs for Miles non stop. Zero contact with Kenzie...either one of them."

"Shit's weird man. Why fake his death? Kenzie talks about him like they were close. Why would he do that to her? There's gotta be a reason."

Hunter scratched the back of his head at Nate's words, agreeing with him completely.

"Maybe it was to protect her?" Nate offered.

"How does abandoning her protect her? He fucking crushed her if that was his intent."

"Well there's only one way to truly figure out his intent..." Nate said, looking up at Hunter with a knowing look.

I know exactly what you're thinking and I agree.

Letting out a sigh, Hunter leaned on the back of a chair, knowing the only way to figure out what was really going on was to confront Banks.

"I know, but I've gotta be smart about it. This shit could get messy, quick."

Nate nodded and turned in his chair, giving Hunter his full attention away from his screens.

"Have you talked to her about this yet?" Nate asked, already knowing the answer.

Smacking his lips, Hunter straightened his posture, hating the question because he hated his response.

"No." Hunter mumbled, not looking Nate in the eyes.

"You're playin with fire man."

"I fucking know that, okay. I just...I need more time. I need to figure this shit out so I can make a plan. It's gotta be organized and I need a strategy. I'm not going to dump this kind of information on her to deal with on her own. I want to present it to her with a solution at the ready so I can support her."

"She's not gonna see it that way." Declan's voice echoed from the doorway.

Great, a fucking audience. That's exactly what I need right now.

"Yeah well she'll get over it." Hunter said coldly.

I know it sounds harsh, but I have to keep this from her until I know it's safe for her. I'm not about to put her in danger by sending her on a wild goose chase that could have a dangerous finish line.

Declan pushed out a breath and shook his head side to side as he settled down into a chair with a thud.

"You got somethin to say Dec?" Hunter asked flatly.