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hear this. I think they should get a vote in what happens.”
    She gave him a slight smile, her heart softening. She liked that he was treating her and her sister as equals. She liked the way he looked at her, a lot differently than he’d looked at her ten years ago. As if he actually noticed her now. Way too late, but definitely flattering.
    Man, she’d been crazy about him. Well, that ship had sailed. She wasn’t going back to live on Obsession Lane. She’d embarrassed herself over him enough for a lifetime back in the day. Every email she’d sent to Jake had at least one question about whether he’d seen Gabe again, and if so, how he looked, had he mentioned her.
    Thank God, this time around she was a lot more mature and a lot smarter. She was not going to develop any kind of crush on him again. Although, if he managed to save them, she might— just might —forgive him for tying her down and drugging her.
    The two men stared at each other.
    She knew how difficult it would be for Jake to trust someone after all they’ve been through. He had a lot of pride. And he’d always shouldered all the responsibility for the family. He hated to ask for help. He always wanted to fix everything alone.
    But he also always did the right thing.
    “All right.” The tight set of his jaw betrayed that he was only doing this because he had no other choice. He lowered himself to sitting and set his gun down at last.
    Gabe acknowledged the gesture with a nod. “Let’s start with what happened in Lahedeh. What were you and Brent doing there?”
    “We were still looking for Osama at that point. My team—Brian, Greg, Eric and I—went down into the water cistern. We found two locals down there with these huge terra cotta jars. They got Brian before we got them, and injured Eric. Greg called in the medics. They were there pretty fast. I knew one, but not the other.”
    “Brent,” Gabe put in, his face clouded.
    Jake nodded. “Greg and Brian were pretty tight, from the same town and all that, enlisted together. So Greg was ticked that they killed his buddy. He started pumping more bullets into the dead locals. I told him to knock it off before someone got hit by a ricocheting bullet. So then he starts kicking over the jars. Or tried. They were too heavy. He knocked the lid off one… I’ve never seen that much gold.”
    “What gold?” she asked the same time as Gabe did.
    “Some warlord’s hoard. Worth in the millions.”
    Her blood pressure spiked. “Our lives were destroyed because of money? That’s the big secret you couldn’t give up? I thought it had to do with national security. Are you kidding me?”
    For the first time in her life, she really, really , wanted to hit something.
    “Eric was the team leader. He sealed the jars, told us this was all confidential. Word couldn’t get out or we’d have the warlord’s private army after us, plus all the locals and treasure hunters. He took charge. Later he told us that the treasure was transported to the National Museum in Kabul.”
    “Except it wasn’t,” Gabe put in.
    Jake shook his head. “Last day I was in Afghanistan, I had a couple of hours to kill in Kabul and a cute private I wanted to impress. I thought I’d take her to the museum, show her the gold and tell her the part I played. See how far that gets me.”
    She rolled her eyes. Her brother had a way with women, no doubt about it. He definitely had the Casanova gene, and he wasn’t afraid to use it. She hated to see him like this, sick and weak. That he couldn’t protect them about killed him, too. He was too used to being the tough guy, a warrior.
    “They never heard of the gold.” He adjusted his bad leg. “So I tried to call Greg when I got back home. He was dead. Friendly fire.” He closed his eyes for a second. “Called the medic I knew. Friendly fire again. Couldn’t track down the other guy. Figured it was time to get the hell out of Dodge.” He took a slow breath and shot an apologetic