“Enough so you won’t ditch them. Those you can see, that is. This time you won’t be able to ditch either your protective agents or me.”
At that, she looked at him. He was still angry. Out of fear for her, which she still couldn’t wrap her mind around. Not because of Oracle. Her.
“They were there to protect you,” he said, meaning the agents she’d avoided when she’d left IDSD the night before.
“No, I protect them. I don’t do that so they’ll die for me.”
He knew by now it was the switch of roles she was having trouble with. He sighed. “We’ve got a problem here, Lara. You’re going to have to accept that from now on you will sometimes be assigned people to protect you. It will happen. Technology is good, but it’s the people who make a difference. You of all people know that.”
She looked at him miserably.
“I’m not saying there will be other attacks. But your status has changed. And the fact that who you are had already leaked out once, leading to your almost getting killed, means your security status will not be reduced again. Ever. So there are times, and places you will go to, where you will be assigned a protective detail.”
She looked at him a little more miserably.
He sighed again. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”
“Firsts,” she said after a while, looking pensively out of the side window.
“Sorry?”
“The first time I was in danger, the first time I was attacked, the first time I have a protective detail. A lot of firsts here. Things are changing.”
He glanced at her. “Some things are changing for the better.”
This time, nothing in her tried to argue. “Yes, I guess they are,” she said, her voice soft.
When they reached the open road that would take them out of the city and to IDSD, the same road she was attacked on, Lara tensed. She tried to force herself to relax, couldn’t.
“There’s a stealth helicopter above us,” Donovan said quietly, not needing to look at her to know how she felt. “We’re being watched every step of the way. And you really do have more of an escort than you see.”
She settled back in her seat and took a deep breath.
When they approached the IDSD gate, despite the evident heightened security level the car before them went through without being stopped, and Lara was surprised when Donovan’s car did, too.
“Like I said, we’ve got everything covered,” he said.
He followed the lead car of the protective detail straight through to the missions building, where the green light flashing in one of the special purpose parking spaces immediately in front of the main entrance signaled him where to park. As he did, the cars escorting them stopped, each letting one agent out and leaving with the rest.
As Lara and Donovan got out of the car and walked to the building she remarked, looking at the two somber agents following them at a discrete distance, “I said I won’t leave here without you. And anyway, I’ll be busy here for a while.”
“I know. Let’s assume for a moment that I trust you not to go running off if you think you’re endangering anyone again. They’re also here to make sure no one gets to you.” He halted and turned to her, standing in her way, wanting her to look at him so that she would understand the implications of what he was saying. “Also, any order that has to do with your security now goes through me before it’s implemented. So you won’t be able to pull another stunt like those orders you sent to the protective details of Elijahn’s other assumed targets.”
“You’re using me against me,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“Only until I know you well enough to use myself against you.” And with this, he led her into the building.
Lara was quiet as they walked into the elevator, quiet as they disembarked. They walked up to the reinforced glass wall that divided the upper floor of IDSD Missions, and as the doors opened before them she stepped forward and stood at the entrance to the war room while the two protective agents continued inside and positioned themselves, one not far from her and the other at the entrance to her office, near Aiden, who stood waiting. Beside her, Donovan waited in silence, gave her the time she needed.
Lara stood in this place she had spent the past five years working in. Here she had done things she knew no one else could, broke through barriers no one else had even come close to. Did, she knew, the impossible. She sometimes wondered how far she could go, and she often wondered about the difference she made, the difference she could make, in whatever future was hers.
But she had never imagined that this, what she was doing, might put her in danger. For the first time since she started this, Oracle herself was under attack. Here, in her own home, where she thought she was safe. Since the very beginning she had again and again stood up to those intent on wreaking havoc, and she had never stepped back, never relented, never let them take what they wanted, placing herself between them and those they would harm. But she had always done so with them far away. Now it was she herself they were after, and they had managed to find her, succeeded in reaching her. In hurting her. The events of the night before, the attack on her, the hunt for her, had been a shock.
But she had had time to digest, to think. To realize only she could end this.
And to understand she’d been wrong. The night before she had purposefully placed herself between Elijahn and those she knew he would hurt if she failed to stop him, and she had done so certain that she would face him alone. But instead she saw those Oracle had been so intent on protecting rush to protect her without hesitation. She had always watched over them, and it never occurred to her that if the time ever came, they would do the same for her. Be ready to die, for her.
And they weren’t the only ones she mattered to. Here, in the war room before her, people now stopped where they were and turned to look at her, seeing, she knew, the signs of the attack on her. A lot of what was here had been created because Oracle had changed things. Mission Command itself had been rebuilt for her. The teams who were stationed on this floor spent much of their time supporting, or being supported by, her. Everyone here knew someone who had somehow been affected by a hopeless situation Oracle had untangled. And no one here had ever expected Oracle to be gone. As she stood there, she met their eyes, all of them. And she saw relief.
In her mind she saw the soldiers who had rushed to protect her the night before. With her eyes she saw those who had worked with her in this war room through countless missions.
She had underestimated what Oracle, what she, meant to them.
Her eyes narrowed, her mind focused.
Oracle was ready to fight back.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Oracle stepped into the war room, Donovan a step behind her. She skirted the workspaces and headed to her office, on the way stopping to speak to the teams she’d asked be available, Donovan understood now, in that earlier videoconference Scholes had asked her what she needed on. He recognized the trackers, Gallo and Lehn, and the “eyes” team he’d already seen her work with. The others he didn’t know. She slowed down near each team, and issued calm requests. At times she just said an informal word to those who needed her to, either the teams she’d asked for or those working on other operations on this busy floor. They each in turn acknowledged her words, then returned to their work, and by the time she reached her office the war room was humming with efficient activity. Nicely done, Donovan thought.
As Lara approached him, Aiden greeted her with his habitual “ma’am”, but didn’t proceed with an update as he’d done the last time. Donovan wasn’t at all surprised that he would know exactly what to do. Lara walked into her inner office and slowed down before her desk. On it sat, side by side, a new IDSD ID, a new phone, and a briefcase identical to the one she had lost, open to show a number of varied items organized inside it. In the corner of her desk, her laptop sat idle. She stared.
“Activate the phone biorecognition and it will load with the content of your old phone, ma’am,�
�� Aiden said, standing at the doorway. “Tech already set it up and is standing by if you want any changes. It’s not a commercial model this time, and it’s the same security grade as the laptop.”
She nodded, her eyes still on the items on her desk. “I . . . Thank you, Aiden.”
“Of course, ma’am.” He hesitated, then rushed on. “It’s good to have you here, ma’am. I’ll get you coffee.” He turned and left, his normally stern step almost springy.
“He duplicated what I lost when my car blew up.” Lara’s voice was quiet, appreciative. “Everything just as it was.”
Beside her, Donovan put a gentle hand on her lower back. She breathed in. “I’m fine. It’s okay.” She stepped behind her desk, slipped her IDSD ID on her belt with a practiced move, then touched the phone, which began synchronizing, and her laptop, which activated. She touched her desk, too, absently, and on it and around them the screens came on, silently flashing the IDSD Missions symbol.
She sat down behind her desk, somewhat gingerly, favoring her left side, and took a long look around her. A swipe of her hand over the desk, and all the screens turned black. A few touches, and a digital count up appeared in its center. It took Donovan a moment to realize what it was. The time elapsed from the attack. He was about to ask, but Lara was moving again. He saw the flash from the corner of his eye and turned. A section of the tinted glass behind him, near the door and in her direct line of sight, had morphed into a holoscreen, on which she had put up a three-dimensional globe. It rotated slowly, not highlighting any particular point in the world. Donovan looked from it to her curiously. She was now sitting back in her chair, contemplating the globe as if mesmerized by it. Except that Donovan could almost see the wheels turning.
Still watching the globe Lara reached under the desk, took out an earpiece connected to a nearly transparent mic, and put it on. “Okay.” She turned to look at him. “Let’s get this started.”
“I kind of get the feeling you already have,” Donovan said.
She nodded, settled back again.
“What’s the count up for?”
“I need to start following him in my mind, lock on to him, so I need to pinpoint what he might be doing right now, put myself where he is. And that would depend to a large extent on how long it’s been since he started running.” She indicated the count. “Now this time, his time, is counting up in my mind too.”
The woman who sees beyond, was how Scholes had described it. Donovan had to remind himself that nothing was impossible, not with her. “And the globe, you’re looking for his headquarters, too, aren’t you, at the same time? But we’ve got nothing, only his admission that he has one.”
She said nothing. Her eyes went back to the globe. Thinking. Analyzing.
Aiden came in and handed Donovan a cup of coffee, then placed another on the desk before Lara. “Ma’am,” he said, “I’ve sent to your system an updated breakdown of all operations and unrests.”
Lara turned her attention to him. “Are the pending missions updated?”
“Yes, already in your system. Some updates since yesterday but no change in priorities. A new one has been added, but it looks like you’ve got a bit of time to do only this one.”
Lara nodded, and as Aiden left Donovan saw the focus in her eyes shift as someone, he understood, spoke in her ear. When she was back with him, he indicated the headset. “I saw you use this in Mission Command.”
“It’s our design, specifically configured for me, to improve relay speed and efficiency at critical points. It has highly advanced comms capabilities and has Oracle’s clearance already built in, so that I can use it with people and systems alike both in and out of Mission Command. Pretty much anyone, anything, anywhere. But right now I’m just hearing and communicating with the teams outside.”
“What you told Frank you needed, it was them.”
“Yes.” She tilted her head slightly, assessed him. “I asked to use our own satellite monitoring station, rather than any one country’s or military’s. It would give me immediate access to all stations worldwide with their satellites when I want it, so as not to delay my own thought processes in the search. The best flexibility with the least likelihood of getting in someone’s way or someone getting in mine.”
She stopped, listened to someone on her headset again, then continued. “And the intelligence selection meant I want everyone, everywhere to see if anything relevant comes up after the attack in chatter or deep underground through cyber and undercover sources, with me getting direct real time updates. I basically want to see if his headquarters is calling out, see if they’re looking for him, or if he or any of the people he still has attempt to contact anyone inside or outside the United States. And I want to see if there’s any mention of the attack or my name or code name by anyone on their end, anyone outside the United States. I’m hoping there won’t be any such mention for a while, or anything else for that matter. That nobody is contacting anybody, that no one knows anything. And that his headquarters is waiting for confirmation from him, which buys us some more time to find them without them doing anything in the meantime.”
“Every agency is already working on this, and I thought IDSD had access to all their intelligence.”
“We do. I’ve simply placed this war room as top priority for any findings. Since right now we are the most likely to find Elijahn and his headquarters the fastest, and the wrong chatter will have an immediate effect on what we do and how we do it, our getting intelligence is a priority. Anyway, that’s why I also asked for mixed intelligence. That means that in this war room there is also a joint intelligence team, comprising global agency representatives stationed in the United States. It’s the basics really.”
“For you.”
“These are the kinds of resources everyone calls on in missions,” she said, somewhat self-consciously, it seemed to him.
“Except it’s not at all the same, is it?” he said. “And when you say ‘We are the most likely to find them fastest’ you mean Oracle alone, don’t you?”
She frowned. “I’m just tracking him based on what I have, and a lot of that is the work of good people. And anything new they find could potentially change the direction and method of my tracking, so it needs to be known immediately. Otherwise, the entire process could be extended, which we don’t want. The more time this goes on, the greater the uncertainties, the greater the chance he would disappear, and of course the higher the likelihood someone will start talking about things they’re not supposed to.”
He was seeing her at work up close, and he found it intriguing. He wasn’t like anyone else who might have been there now, watching Oracle. He was looking at Oracle through his own unique perspective, with the Lara he was getting to know also in his mind. He was no longer asking himself if this was purely the investigator in him observing her, he knew it was the man. But that didn’t mean his professional instincts weren’t alert, making him watch, study, so that he could understand better. Be there, better. This woman he wanted wasn’t like any other he had ever been with.
Now that’s an understatement, he thought. And then something occurred to him. When this would be over, he would still know more about Oracle than about the woman she was. If he wanted to change that, he had to do so, not wait. There would always be Oracle, always more missions. Just like for him there would always be investigations that would consume much of his own attention. There would never be a right time to start pushing for something beyond that. Something that would be theirs, that would be there no matter what, that would give them both a source of strength, as he had already seen for her, seen himself make a difference when he had been with her throughout this impossible situation she had found herself in.
He sat down on one of the two chairs on the side of the desk opposite hers, and settled back, his eyes on her.
Here, now, it was so much easier to focus, to push away the night before, easy to slip into Oracle, whom she was so comfortable being. Her mind was waking, working, acce
lerating. It was the way it was supposed to be.
She had turned her gaze away from Donovan to her desk console, and was setting things up to run the data Aiden had sent to her system alongside updates from the field teams searching for the escaped attackers. At the same time, deep in her mind, she was multiprocessing Elijahn.
She raised her head again to look at Donovan. “I need to know which of the DNA samples your techs found at the warehouse Elijahn used didn’t belong to any of the bodies of his men, and the identities they matched them to, if at all.”
“Are you asking for my help, Lara Holsworth, Oracle?”
She stared at him in surprise. Then her gaze turned contemplative. He had just the slightest smile on his face, and something she couldn’t quite read in his eyes. He was watching her, waiting for her reaction.
Reading her every move. It irritated her. Her eyes narrowed. “A part of me really wants to give you an order right now, Agent Pierce.”
“What part?” he asked conversationally, unfazed.
“A huge, huge part.” How on earth did he manage to evoke these reactions from her? Even now, here, where Oracle had always protected her.
“That just might make cooperation between us more complex, you know.”
“And here I thought you wanted to keep me alive.”
“Oh, I want to keep you all right. Which is why I will negotiate this.”
The slight change in wording wasn’t lost on her, but there was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. “Negotiate?”
“Yes. You get my techs’ help in return for a date.”
She sat back and looked at him incredulously. “We’re in the middle of a hunt for a dangerous militant who attacked the allies, including your country, and then IDSD—and me—on US soil. And you’re negotiating for a date.”
“That’s right.”
She contemplated him some more. Tried to fight it, but curiosity got the better of her. “And what would that date consist of?”
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