by Misty Evans
Falana sat in a high-backed chair in front of a fireplace. “Ms. Juno, have a seat,” she said, motioning to the sofa. “Dr. Gotty has told me so much about you.”
“I’ll wait outside,” Seymour said, executing a bow and excusing himself.
Flustered, Cassandra took the proffered seat, wetting her lips and wishing she had that damn water. She glanced at the countess and offered a polite smile. “It’s an honor to speak to you privately. I know it's a busy night.”
Falana barely smiled. “My guests are here for the food and drink. They’ll be fine without me for a few minutes. Now,” she sat back, crossing her legs and looking Cassandra up and down. “Before we talk specifics about my job proposition, I’d like you to fill me in on a few details.”
For half a heartbeat, Cassandra thought she might choke. Her mind went blank. If Falana started quizzing her on her backstop identity, could she pass?
Remembering what Savanna had said about looking cool under pressure, Cassandra loosened her jaw and thought of Mick. Instantly, the tightness in her body released, even though it didn't do a thing for her overheated situation. “What would you like to know?”
The shark appeared in Falana’s eyes as she gave Cassandra a cunning smile. As she spoke, Cassandra's stomach fell to the floor. “Tell me everything you know about Graham Sterling.”
* * *
Nothing was going as planned.
It didn't surprise him, really, because when had any of his plans ever gone the way they should? He’d been in the Navy and on the teams long enough to know things that looked perfect on paper rarely ended up that way in real life.
Which was why he’d insisted they have multiple exit strategies.
There was no Disease X in the lab, he couldn't find Epstein, and Seymour had kidnapped Cassandra and left her with Falana.
“We have the boy,” Slash said over the comm unit. “I repeat, Command, Baby Bear is safe and sound.”
Okay, well there was one thing that’d gone right. He prayed Cassandra could keep up the discussion with Falana long enough to where he could locate the doctor and get her out of the mansion without alerting security.
His charm had worked on the countess, but he’d never expected her to go to Cassandra to learn more about him. The best lies were those derived from the truth, and Cassandra, God bless her sexy little soul, had memorized his backstop history so well, it rolled off her tongue like the truth. So far, Falana’s interrogation had not tripped her up. She'd even used some information about his relationship with his stepsister he’d told her that morning.
It shouldn't surprise him after the past several days. The conservative lawyer had morphed into a cunning and efficient spy.
He should be grateful, but his guts were a wreck. Hathor was here to keep an eye on Cassandra, under Parker’s orders. Mick had privately pleaded with the Nemesis Group leader to make sure nothing happened to her, and she’d finally agreed to place the woman known as Hathor inside the party with the sole purpose of protecting Cassandra if everything went to hell.
Everything hadn't quite gone there yet, but he could see it playing out in front of his eyes. If Epstein discovered her son missing before he got to her or if there was no physical evidence of Disease X, they were up shit creek without a paddle.
Trace had snuck inside, his chauffeur’s cap gone. He looked like another partygoer and was now helping Mick search for Epstein. Even if she weren’t attending, she had to be inside the mansion. She hadn’t been with her son in the west wing, so where else would she be?
Trace gave Mick the signal that he was heading to the east side. Mick nodded. He needed to check upstairs, but as he spotted a door to the back stairwell, the short Dr. Epstein came through it.
“Pardon me,” she said, maneuvering past him. It appeared she’d been coming up the stairs rather than down them. Was there a basement?
“Dr. Epstein?” He stopped her by holding out hand. “I’ve been looking for you. We need to chat.”
She didn't take it, narrowing her eyes as she scanned his face. She wore a white lab coat. “I remember you from my lecture on Tuesday. What is it I can help you with? Sterling, wasn't it?”
They were standing in the back hallway, away from the partygoers, but they were still exposed for what he needed to tell her.
Waiters came from the kitchen and passed by them. He eyed the door, still partially open, and saw the stairs behind her leading down. “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?”
She let the door close. “Perhaps another time. I promised to tuck my son in. Please excuse me.”
He poured on the charm, flashing her a smile. “You have a son? How old is he?”
“Twelve.” That was all she offered, punching numbers on the keypad to lock the door. It gave a solid beep. “Nice to meet you.”
She started to walk away, but Mick easily kept up with her. She wasn't making this easy, so he was going to have to make it quick. “I know about your son,” he said, trying not to grab her. That would only scare her. “He’s not upstairs, but he is safe, and you will be, too, if you follow my directions.”
She stopped walking and faced him, the color draining from her features. She took two steps toward him. “What have you done with him?”
A couple passed by, and Mick kept a smile on his face as if he and the doctor were having a friendly conversation. “I’m a…” Cassandra had warned him against saying he was a SEAL acting for the United States government to rescue the doctor. The truth didn't sound quite as good, however, in his opinion.
“I know about Falana and what she's blackmailed you into. I can help you. Nathaniel is outside with a few of my friends, and I need you to join him. You'll be taken to America and given a fresh start. You'll never have to worry about Falana, or any other psycho like her again. Do you understand?”
Before Epstein could answer, she froze as Seymour Gotty called out to them from the end of the hall. “There you are,” he said to Mick. “I've been searching for you. You wouldn't be trying to recruit my best microbiologist, would you?”
Mick couldn't keep the annoying look off his face. “You’ve been trying to take my chief operating officer away from me all week. Quid pro quo. I figured I would sweet talk your lead scientist into coming to work for Codex One.”
Gotty looked bemused. “I don't believe Dr. Epstein has any interest in jumping ship, do you, Labella?”
The doctor glanced between Mick and Seymour. She was as white as her lab coat and mumbled something incoherent.
Mick hoped Gotty believed she was simply embarrassed at being caught discussing a job offer with him. “It’s okay, Dr. Epstein. I don't want to put you on the spot in front of one of your co-workers. I hope you’ll consider my offer, however.”
He really hoped she continued to play along, and understood the double entendre. Stepping in front of her, he shielded her from Gotty as he stared the man down. “Where is Cassandra?”
The man smiled smugly. “She’s with her new employer, the countess. I'm sure you don't realize it, being American and all, but this is a huge promotion for her. Falana can give her a life of extraordinary fortune, travel, and fame.”
Mick checked the urge to punch the man in the face. “She won't leave me.”
“I guess we'll see about that.” He checked his watch. “They should be about done. Would you like me to take you to meet her?”
He wasn't done with Epstein, but it was an open opportunity to latch on to his quarry. Both Cassandra and Falana, except he couldn't apprehend the countess and keep Cassandra safe at the same time.
What a predicament.
He needed to get Cassandra away from Falana and hand her over to Hathor. Then he could finish his job. “Tell Cassie to meet me in the ballroom when she's finished.”
That seemed to satisfy the man and he nodded, walking off with a triumphant smile.
Asshole.
Mick whirled around to Dr. Epstein, ready to direct her out of the mansion and into the w
aiting hands of Slash and Henley, but he was once again foiled.
The doctor was gone.
* * *
Playing raven
* * *
There were only two places she could've gone: back to the basement or to the kitchen. Mick checked the lock on the door, but it wouldn’t open without the combination.
He had to act like he was holding a phone conversation as multiple servers passed by, silver trays filled with hors d'oeuvres and sparkling wine.
Once they were out of sight, he did a quick scan, noticing the back door to the separate laboratory and a field where the cars were parked.
Back at the basement door, he made sure he was alone before speaking. “Juno, come in.” A tense silence filled the air. “Hathor, do you have eyes on Juno?”
“Negative. The package is in the ballroom, but Juno is not with her.”
The package was Falana. “What about Papa Bear?”
“Negative.”
Gotty had taken off with Cassandra, and she was either without her earpiece, or couldn’t respond to check in. Either way, Mick felt the first stirrings of panic. “We need to find her. Now. What about her GPS unit, Jett?”
“Hasn’t moved from Falana's office, audio and video are down. Something has interfered with her necklace.”
Shit. A pair of waiters went past, one of them looking him over. “Is there something I can help you with?” the man asked.
He was definitely removed from the partying, and looked out of place standing near the basement door. He held up his cell. “Have to take a call, and it's a bit loud in the ballroom.”
The two men continued on, the one throwing Mick another glance over his shoulder.
When they were gone, he continued talking to Jett. “Momma Bear disappeared on me. I believe she's in the basement.”
“There is no basement, according to the blueprints,” Parker said.
In case anyone else came by, he raised his phone to his ear. “I'm aware of that, but I saw her emerge from a staircase leading down to something below the main floor. She was wearing a lab coat. Could it be a second location?”
“Can you get in?”
He pinched his nose between his fingers. “There’s a keypad, so unless you have a combo, I'm stuck waiting for her to emerge again.”
She had to come up again, didn't she? She knew they had her son. Knew they were here to rescue her. Why had she disappeared?
Maybe she didn't want to be rescued.
Parker's voice again. “We must confirm the presence of a virus or other toxin.”
“What I need you to confirm is that Juno is all right. I'll get confirmation about the damn disease, and find the doctor. Coldplay and Hathor—tear this place apart until you find Juno.”
Affirmatives echoed in his ear. He wanted to find her himself, but he still had two targets to take care of.
He ran into Hathor as he was going into the kitchen and she was coming out. “Told them I needed a break. I’ll find your girl.”
“Before you go, I need cornstarch. Any idea if there's some in here?” he asked her.
A minute later, he returned to the keypad and sprinkled it over the numbers to see where the doctors oily prints might’ve been left behind.
“It’s a four number combo consisting of two, three, seven and eight,” he told Parker. “I don't have all night, obviously, so I need you to walk me through each combination those four numbers can create as quickly as possible.”
She started rattling off the digits in different orders. He was on the fifth when the red light on the panel turned green. He grabbed the handle and it swung free. “Bingo. I'm in.”
“Mr. Sterling?”
Mick straightened, peering down the hallway.
Oh shit.
The countess smiled at him. “Joffrey told me there was a strange man back here. May I ask what you're doing?”
Busted. “Looking for my chief operating officer. Where is Cassie Juno? She was supposed to meet me in the ballroom after her discussion with you, but she didn't show up.”
Redirecting the conversation was all he could think to do, but the countess wasn’t to be deterred. “I believe she’s with Dr. Gotty, getting a tour of our lab facilities. I assure you, she is not behind that door.”
At that moment, it flew open and Dr. Epstein reappeared, looking as frazzled as ever. “Oh, hello, countess,” she said to Falana, shoving her hands in her coat pockets and ignoring Mick. “How was the party?”
“Dr. Epstein,” Falana said, “you look exhausted, and we leave first thing in the morning. Perhaps you should call it a day and get some rest.”
“You read my mind.” The woman nodded and bumped into Mick as she pushed past him. “I'll see you in the morning.”
Falana waited until she disappeared, then sidled up to Mick, scanning his face with her dark eyes. She slid an arm through his and began walking him down the hall. “Ms. Juno is very loyal to you.”
He didn't say anything, letting her guide him toward the ballroom as he considered his options for getting her alone.
“She’s in love with you, you know. She stated she wanted twenty-four hours to think over my job offer, but I can see she's going to tell me no because she doesn't want to leave you.”
Love? He hadn't realized Cassandra had poured it on that thickly. “I'm afraid you're mistaken. She's a very important person to me, but she's not in love with me.”
Falana leaned into him, her heels making her almost as tall as he was. “That’s where you're wrong, Mr. Sterling. I know love when I see it. It's a rare thing.”
On some level, he wanted to believe it. Not that Cassie’s cover identity was in love with his, but that she, Cassandra Donovan, had fallen for him.
She was so far out of his league it was humorous, and they'd only been together for a week. They barely knew anything about each other, although he was pretty sure he knew everything about her body—what she liked, where to kiss her, her favorite lovemaking position. In only a few hours, he'd come to know her very intimately.
“I'm prepared to make her a better deal than you,” he said, keeping the conversation going. “So I guarantee she’ll turn you down.”
“Good. She deserves more than you're paying her, but it actually wasn't her I was after.”
They were at the doors of the ballroom, people coming and going, speaking to the countess as they went by. She returned their greetings and kept walking, her arm still laced through his, drawing him along.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to know she was flirting with him, and she was used to getting what she wanted.
His gut told him to leave her and find Cassandra, but this was the perfect in. He could get Falana alone, debilitate her, and haul her ass out to the car. He'd already let Parker know he was not killing the woman, and they’d agreed he would drop her off at a black site to be interrogated. “What is it that you're after, countess?”
She ushered him into a large, luxuriously decorated office and shoved him down on her sofa. “I have a proposition,” she said as she poured them each a drink from a nearby wet bar.
He didn't have time for this. Forcing himself to calm down, he accepted it, reviewing the blueprints of the house in his mind. This office was on the opposite side of the extraction point. If he incapacitated her here, he’d have a long-haul to get her to the vehicle and out of the estate without being noticed.
And he sure as hell wasn't leaving without Cassandra.
He sat back and toyed with the crystal goblet. No way he was drinking anything she offered him, but he could pretend to be interested in her proposition. “I'm listening.”
She sat next to him, curling her knees under her as she faced him. “You know my background. Ms. Juno filled me in about yours. I seek justice, and you seek wealth. I can help you gain immense wealth if you help me gain justice.”
In his ear, he heard Hunter say, “I found the doctor. She insists she won't go anywhere without Mars.”
Great.
The doctor who’d run out on him now refused to cooperate with Hunter in his place. How the hell was he supposed to convince her to leave the mansion when he was tied up with the woman blackmailing her?
“I'm always interested in making money,” Mick said to Falana. “You have my attention.”
She sipped her wine and smiled. “I come from African royalty and plan to reclaim my throne. Justice requires power, and power requires money. I'm looking for investors to help me, and I guarantee an extremely high return on investment.”
She was entirely too close, her expensive perfume cloying and musky. He needed to leave here and find Cassandra. He'd figure out another way to take out Falana. “I don't mess with politics,” he told her, setting his glass down on the coffee table and rising.
“I've got eyes on Juno,” Hathor said. “She's with Papa Bear heading your way, Mars.”
Thank God. Relief made him smile at the countess. “But we might be able to work out a deal if you leave my chief operating officer alone.”
Falana toyed with her necklace, giving him a predatory look. “I'm prepared to offer more than a business deal, if you're up for it.”
She obviously went after whatever she liked, and at the moment, she was letting him know he was top of her list. If he got her to her bedroom, he would be a lot closer to the exfil point.
He scanned her body brazenly. “Sounds like this deal has promise.”
“Excellent.” She rose, downed the rest of the alcohol in her glass, and grabbed him by the hand. “There’s something I want to show you.”
10
The OODA loop – observe, orient, decide, and act
* * *
Falana didn’t lead Mick upstairs to her bedroom. She took him downstairs instead.
He’d only seen a fully-fledged research lab on TV and in the movies. The one below the mansion had a serious resemblance to the laboratory in the zombie movie he and Cass had watched a few nights ago, only on a smaller scale.
