Page 113 of Saving Grace

Matt waited on his Harley at the side of a deserted road. Admiral Benjamin Porter’s request for a meeting wasn’t the best of timing since there was a housewarming party currently going on at his and Grace’s new home, but the admiral waited for no one. Matt watched a black Suburban pull up right across from him. Matt turned off his bike and engaged the kickstand, then crossed the road to get into the SUV’s passenger side.

Admiral Porter was responsible for many successful coups in the CIA. He was a master manipulator, yet everything he did was for the greater good. He was a legend within the agency, and a myth outside of it. He was a man of medium build, almost sixty, with salt and pepper hair. It was easy to underestimate him, but he was as deadly as any Navy SEAL.

“It’s done,” the admiral said when Matt shut the door of the Suburban.

“Moreno and his sons won’t come after Grace?”

“Well, they couldn’t because they’re all dead.”

“What?” Matt muttered in stunned surprise.

“Do you honestly think, Foster, that we’re going to let them get away with teaming up with ISIS to attack a U.S. airport?”

“So the Carillo Cartel …”

“Is finished,” Porter confirmed. “That should stem the flow of heroin into the country as well as take a chunk out of the global heroin market.”

“ISIS finances will take a hit.”

“Exactly.”

“The Carillo Cartel is like a Hydra,” Matt said. “Take out one head and another will spring up in its place. How did you do it?”

“We had good intel once we focused our resources on it. We’ve identified every single one of their inner circle and then some. We crippled their communications and their known infrastructure. We also froze their finances since we have a list of their current money launderers, thanks to your wife.”

“That must have been quite an op. So, who did it? DEA? FBI?”

“We had DEVGRU and SEAL Team 3,” the admiral smiled enigmatically. “The Guardians took the lead.”

“The cartel didn’t stand a chance,” Matt remarked. No one did against Viktor Baran. The man and his crew were a legend in their own right.

“The Carillo Cartel had never been high on the CIA’s list. Moreno and his sons were idiots to align themselves with ISIS. That catapulted them straight to the agency’s high priority,” the admiral said. “So, how’s the new house?”

Matt had a whiplash at the sudden change of subject. “We’re having a housewarming party right now.”

The admiral didn’t say anything.

Shit. Did the admiral want an invite?

“Do you want to stop by for a drink?” Matt forced himself to ask.

The admiral chuckled. “No, I’ve got to get going. Haven’t seen my woman in weeks.”

It was weird thinking of the admiral with a woman. What woman would put up with Porter anyway? Of course, Matt was sure many people had the same thoughts about him.

“I expect an invitation to the wedding though.”

“Uh …”

“The one you’re having two weeks from now.”

This time Matt didn’t say anything because he was simply dumbstruck about why Porter even concerned himself with these things. Didn’t he have a world to save?

“I’m getting out of the game soon, Foster,” the admiral said as if reading his mind. “Pru is never going to marry me as long as I have to keep secrets from her and disappear for weeks on end.”

Matt was trying to figure out if he’d entered an alternate universe. “And you’re telling me this because?”

The admiral grinned then shrugged. “Get out of here, Foster. Go back to your wife before she calls off the wedding.”