Instigator_An Iniquus Romantic Suspense Mystery Thriller by Fiona Quinn

Author:Fiona Quinn [Quinn, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Christen

Thursday, Reception, Ruffles Hotel, Singapore

Her brother Karl lifted his drink toward Christen in a kind of a solute. “How do you like living in Kentucky?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure how to make small talk with her. They had almost nothing in common. They never did, even when her mom was still married to their dad.

“It’s fine. There are some beautiful national forests, wonderful waterways to explore.” Christen hoped someone would come over and join them to expand the conversation. It was odd for Karl to come speak to her alone like this. She couldn’t remember that ever happening before. Normally she was “my half-sister, Christen,” and then the conversation would move on to yachting or what have you, something that had nothing to do with her scope of the world and therefore, there was nothing she could add. And typically, nothing she wanted to take away either. But her mission was to gather what intelligence she could, and so she actually needed to be the proverbial fly on the wall and listen to the men interact.

She glanced around the room. Blaze stood by the door, Gator stood cattycorner. Johnna was talking to London, and she couldn’t find Lula.

“Horse country, too,” Karl said. “I just bought Mimi a stallion from near there, outside of Nashville.”

Mimi was Karl’s fiancée. Mimi looked like a horse; but that was Christen thinking like a brat.

“You live just north of there don’t you? Near Fort Campbell? A lot of special forces operators out your direction,” Karl said. “I bet you enjoy that.” He lifted the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

Christen blinked. Surely, Karl wasn’t on the Christen-folds-origami bandwagon. Surely, he remembered she served in the US military and was special forces herself. “A few.” Okay her tone was a little too sarcastic. She cleared her throat and tried again. “The ones I know are nice.”

“Nice? I bet you don’t say that to their faces. It’s like calling them Nancy-boys. It would hurt their poor feelings.” He tipped down some scotch and pointed at her with the glass in his hand. “I imagine they’re all peacocks walking about town with their chests puffed out. I bet the muscle that gets the most exercise is their ego.” He shook his head. “Ridiculous. I mean, given the technology we have today, how hard can their job be? How can they possibly be losing the war to a bunch of uneducated goat herders?” He reached over to grab a canape from the doily-covered silver tray a waiter was circulating. Karl ate it in one bite and spoke with his mouth full. “And yet all these years later…”

Christen closed her eyes, and reached for her training to contain her emotions. She remembered the heard of goats in Syria, the Deltas as they lay in the dust getting ready to fight for their lives while she abandoned them in her helicopter. When she popped her eyelids open, Gator was in her line of sight and caught her gaze.

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