by MC Lee
“You want to give me a little wiggle room before you issue a search-and-rescue order?” Jack asked.
“No,” Leo said adamantly. “I don’t care what you’re doing. You drop everything and make contact. If I don’t hear from you on time, I’m telling Sean everything.” He reached out and grabbed Jack’s shoulder. “Come on, Jack. You know it’s for your own protection.”
Jack shrugged. “I know. I just don’t like the idea that there’s absolutely no margin of error.”
Jack felt Leo’s fingers squeeze tightly. “Then make sure you report in on time.” He turned when Freya approached. “Jack isn’t going anywhere until you tell us who you work for.”
Freya shook her head. “You have to ask Dominic—”
“I’m asking you,” Leo cut in sharply.
Freya took a step backward and threw up a hand. “What we’re not is a bunch of sick assholes who’d take a baby away from his parents and turn him into a fucking soldier.”
Jack winced, and Freya suddenly looked dismayed.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said, sounding sincere. “I read your file.” The pity in her eyes made Jack cringe. “Look,” she continued. “Here’s what I know. Dominic runs an off-the-books op for the government. When their hands are tied, we’re called in. We’re the modern-day cavalry.”
“What makes you think that?” Leo asked.
“I’ve never done anything I’m ashamed of,” Freya snapped. “Can either of you say the same?” The silence that met her question was an answer in itself. “So, are you coming or not?”
Leo shrugged. “He’s going. I’m staying. Anything happens to Jack, you’ll be very sorry.” The tone was mild, but Freya blanched at the underlying threat.
“Jack will be just fine.” She glanced at her watch. “We’ll be back in time for last period. Your people know you won’t be in school this afternoon? I don’t want them sending anybody after you if they discover you’re not here.”
“It’s taken care of,” Jack said. “Let’s roll.”
Leo stepped aside and watched him climb into the back of Freya’s van. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he was taking photographs of the driver and the van’s license plates with his camera phone.
They hadn’t even cleared the parking lot when Jack’s phone pinged with an incoming message. He smiled when he read Leo’s text: Here when you want to talk.
“You two are together. I would have thought that would create all sorts of problems,” Freya said.
Jack kept the surprise off his face, but Freya must have seen something.
“It’s in your file.”
Heat flared across Jack’s cheeks. It was deeply disturbing that this stranger had read the details of his life and knew things he had never shared with anybody. “What kinds of problems?” he asked, mostly to distract her and wipe the sympathy from her eyes.
“Potential for compromise, a weak spot, something that could be used to manipulate your loyalties. It’s a pretty long list. It’s what we used to get you here, after all.”
And it was the one part of this whole thing that Jack dreaded the most—the certainty that Sean would find out how the relationship between himself and Leo had been exploited.
“We’re stronger together.”
It sounded trite, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jack realized he actually believed them, though whether Sean and the Center would see it his way was doubtful.
As the van rolled to a stop, Jack became aware of the tightness in his gut. He climbed out and started to follow Freya inside.
“You know we separated you from Leo because the things you’ll learn today are for your ears only?” she said.
Jack nodded silently. Aside from more sinister options, it seemed the most obvious explanation.
“You can share whatever you want with Leo, of course. But you need to hear it yourself first.”
Once inside, Freya led him back to the boardroom. It was empty, except for the pile of documents that made up Jack’s file.
“Dominic thought you might like some time by yourself first,” she said. “He’ll be along shortly.”
Jack waited until she had left before sitting in front of the stack of papers. He pulled out the section that dealt with his assignments, leafing through pages and stopping every now and then to read some of the contents.
The notes from his last two missions had already been filed, including a surprisingly positive review of his performance from Agent Anna Baxter, the lead agent on one of the cases. She praised his flexibility and the speed with which he processed new concepts. It was small compensation for the way she had taken advantage of his trust in order to advance her own personal goals.
At the bottom of the pile, Jack found the case notes from the assignment he had worked when Leo was supposed to be the mark. It had turned out that Jack himself was actually the target. The mission had been specifically designed to see whether Leo could get close to Jack and persuade him to betray the Center. Jack’s fingers hovered over the assignment file for a moment, and then he resolutely tore the pages in half and pushed them to one side. He knew he couldn’t stand to see a clinical dissection of a time that had been so important to him, or to read detached comments from Leo outlining how easy it had been to manipulate Jack’s affections. That was in the past. They had worked hard to overcome their false start, and Jack didn’t want any reminders of that tense time.
A set of yellow pages he didn’t remember seeing yesterday caught Jack’s eye, and he pulled them out and scanned them, his blood simmering as he read. They outlined the creation of a program to identify and recruit children in order to turn them into operatives. A program that had been designed by Michael Palmer.
When Dominic Moore walked in some time later and slid into the chair opposite, Jack finally tore himself away from the documents. Moore nodded toward the papers clutched tightly between Jack’s fingers.
“That’s the reason your mother became estranged from Michael Palmer,” he said. “She detested the program and everything it stood for. Her opposition drove a wedge between them they couldn’t overcome. Why did you come here today?”
The unexpected question startled Jack out of his shocked silence. “I want to know who I am.”
“Are you sure you’re ready to hear the unvarnished truth?” Moore said.
Jack steeled himself before giving a single nod.
“In that case I want you to listen to something,” Moore said. “I think it will tell you everything you need to know.”
He pressed a button on the console embedded in the desk, and the room was suddenly flooded with the sound of static. Jack shivered involuntarily when he heard his guardian’s voice cutting through the crackling air.
“You brought this on yourself, John. You and Ellie. You made your choice.”
“We’re still family.”
Jack froze, realizing this must be his father’s voice. Moore nodded, confirming Jack’s unspoken supposition.
“Family! You have the nerve to call yourself family. After what you two did—”
“We didn’t want to hurt you, Michael. You have to believe that.” Jack shuddered at the naked emotion in his father’s voice, so powerful it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
“You betrayed me. That’s all I need to know.” The stark statement was delivered flatly, but Jack had heard the tone many times before and knew his guardian was trying to suppress his fury. There was a long pause before Jack’s father spoke again.
“So you won’t call off the contract? Even to save your nephew? Your own flesh and blood!”
Jack’s breath caught in his throat. Dominic Moore reached toward the console, but Jack threw up a hand in time to stop him disconnecting the recording.
His guardian’s response sent a cold chill racing down Jack’s spine. “You can still save the boy. You know what you have to do.”
AN INSISTENT sound played at the edges of Jack’s consciousness until he gradually be
came aware that a tinny alarm was demanding his attention. He fished out his phone and stared at it in a daze until comprehension suddenly dawned, and then he sent the fourteen-word text Leo was expecting from him. A few seconds later, his phone pinged with a terse one-word reply: Okay.
Jack looked up when he finished to find Moore watching him.
“What happened?” Jack asked, his voice little more than a whisper. He couldn’t imagine listening to another word of the recording, hearing that cold detached voice refusing to help his parents, while taking advantage of their utter hopelessness and demanding they turn their son over to him.
Moore shrugged. “Your parents accepted Michael Palmer’s terms. It was the only way to save your life. Your mother arranged to hand you over. A week later your parents died in a plane crash.”
Jack bit his lower lip, trying to get his emotions under control. “He made me part of his program.”
“When Ellie died, there was nobody to stand in Palmer’s way. You were the first. The whole program was built around you.”
Jack stared at Moore until he said the words Jack dreaded to hear.
“I suspect you’ve figured out the plane crash that killed your parents wasn’t an accident. And there was only one person who stood to gain anything from their deaths.”
All of the air suddenly seemed to rush out of the room. There was a roaring sound in Jack’s ears, and it felt as though a lead weight was crushing his ribs. He fought to catch his breath before asking the question that had been hammering his brain since his first conversation with Dominic Moore.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Moore leaned forward in his chair, his eyes locked on Jack’s. “I’m offering you a chance to get revenge.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“DO YOU believe him?”
Jack glanced across at Leo and shrugged. They were in Leo’s car, driving back to Jack’s apartment at the end of the school day. After Dominic Moore’s startling statement, Freya had returned Jack to school, where Leo was waiting for him, tension visibly draining out of him as soon as Jack climbed out of Freya’s van.
They hadn’t spoken a single word until they were safely back in Leo’s car, and then Jack shared the story—up to a point. He carefully omitted Dominic Moore’s offer, waiting until he’d gauged Leo’s reaction to the rest.
“I don’t know why he’d lie.”
Leo cleared his throat. “He’s asking you to believe your guardian was involved in your parents’ death.” When Jack didn’t answer, Leo added a wary observation. “Which probably means Sean was involved too. Do you believe that?”
“Fuck! I don’t know what I believe anymore.” His guardian was a mystery and always had been. But Jack thought he knew who Sean was. “If he’s right and Michael Palmer had anything to do with the plane crash….”
He watched Leo closely, noting the way his grip tightened on the steering wheel. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering why he told you all this,” Leo said quietly. “What does he stand to gain?”
“You think there are strings attached?”
Some of the color returned to Leo’s knuckles as he relaxed his grip. “There’s always a price to pay.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Leo had cut through the bullshit and emotion and realized something didn’t scan. When Leo pulled up outside Jack’s apartment, he killed the engine and turned expectantly.
“There is something else,” Jack admitted.
Leo smiled weakly. “Isn’t there always?” He waited patiently while Jack struggled to find the right words. “Just spit it out, Jack,” he encouraged. “There’s nothing you could say that’s any more surprising than what you’ve already told me.”
Twenty minutes later, looking at Leo’s stunned expression, Jack didn’t have the heart to throw the words back in Leo’s face.
JACK WAS pulling together the ingredients for dinner when he heard the faint sound of a phone ringing, and then Evan’s muffled voice coming from behind his closed bedroom door. A moment later Evan walked into the kitchen, looking grim.
“Leave that and sit down,” he ordered.
Jack carefully put down the knife he’d been using to slice vegetables and sat on the stool Evan pointed to. His throat felt as dry as dust when Evan looked at him solemnly.
“What’s going on here, Jack?” he asked.
Jack forced himself to maintain eye contact. “What do you mean?”
“Sean and I have compared notes. Martin too. This assignment is taking way longer than necessary. We all agree something’s not right. You and Leo are better than this.”
Jack’s eyes flickered involuntarily to the cell phone on the counter, and Evan leaned over and deliberately pushed it out of his reach.
“Martin’s having the same conversation with Leo. We’re going to get to the bottom of this tonight.”
Jack offered a silent prayer of thanks that he and Leo had anticipated this moment. When Leo finally found his voice after hearing everything Jack had to say, they had put their heads together and agreed on a story, hoping to buy a little more time.
Jack pasted on his most innocent expression. “What do you want to know?”
Evan frowned. “The same questions we’ve been asking since you got here. Who is Ryan Anderson? Who does he work for? What is his interest in Freya Moore? This is absolutely elementary, Jack. We don’t know why you and Leo haven’t figured it out by now.” His next words made Jack shiver. “Unless you have and you’re trying to hide something from us.”
Jack swallowed rising panic. “What are you saying?”
“What have you told Freya?” Evan demanded.
Jack was so startled by the question he could hardly formulate an answer. “Nothing,” he managed to choke out.
“Bullshit,” Evan said flatly. “She called her mother in Atlanta. We know she’s planning a visit there within the month. You arrive on the scene, knowing her father is about to be extracted, and completely out of the blue she wants to reestablish contact with a woman she hates. Why, Jack? What did you say to make her change her mind?”
Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair, fleetingly wondering how Leo was handling this line of questioning. They had prepared a number of scenarios, but this one had caught Jack completely off guard. Jack only hoped Leo was holding his own with Martin, who was an alarmingly adept interrogator.
Jack decided to stick as close to the truth as he dared. “I asked where her mother lived. I encouraged her to think about calling. Jesus, Evan, she’s going to be alone soon. She’ll need the rest of her family—”
“That is absolutely outside your brief,” Evan stormed. “You tipped her off—”
“I did not,” Jack said, his voice rising sharply.
“Dominic Moore has disappeared from Informa Tech,” Evan bit back. “He hasn’t been in the last two days. Freya must have said something to him. Your priorities are in serious question, Jack. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pull you out right now.”
JACK’S HANDS shook as he pressed the keys to connect to Sean’s Skype account. Evan had confiscated his wallet and his phone and was busy uploading information from the GPS, searching the history on his cell phone, and checking his credit card—everything he said would not happen during this assignment. All traces of the genial “brother” had vanished, to be replaced by the stern Center operative.
Sean appeared onscreen, looking serious. “You broke protocol. You shared information with the target. How am I supposed to respond to that, Jack? You’ve just spent weeks in deep shit because you disobeyed orders. Do you really want to go down that path again?”
Jack shivered involuntarily.
“Tell me what’s going on. Make me understand.”
It wasn’t hard for Jack to find the lie, especially as it had once been the truth. “I want the chance to get Freya out of here before Martin moves against her father,” he said. “She’s already reconnected with her mother in Atlanta. I know I
can persuade her to go there sooner rather than later.”
Sean inclined his head. “You’re too close to the target. It’s become a regular pattern.”
“I’m sorry.” Jack ducked his head to hide the swell of emotions. “It’s hard. Knowing what’s coming. I want to protect Freya from the worst of it.”
Sean exhaled an exasperated breath. “Why can’t you trust me enough to tell me what’s going through your mind?”
Jack looked into his handler’s eyes. “You can’t seriously be asking me that question. You’ve spent most of my life hiding things from me. I don’t know where you stand—” He stopped, suddenly aware he was no longer talking about the assignment and was dangerously close to spilling everything he’d learned.
Sean looked taken aback by his vehemence. Silence stretched between them until Sean finally spoke. “I’m going to let you do what you think is best,” he said. “I’m going to give you one more day. Get Freya clear if you can.”
“Thank you,” Jack mumbled, hoping Sean would mistake relief for gratitude.
“I stand with you, Jack,” Sean said. “I’ll always stand with you.”
Jack nodded mutely before disconnecting. He realized his hands were still shaking, so he forced himself to take a few calming breaths before walking out of his bedroom and automatically making for the kitchen.
A moment later Evan walked back in with Jack’s wallet and cell phone in his hands. He put them wordlessly on the counter and then turned and leaned against it, watching as Jack hunted through the cupboards and pulled out a frying pan before setting it on the stove and pouring a splash of olive oil into it.
“You initiated the Fielding protocol earlier. Why?”
Jack kept his head bent over his work. He had deleted all but the most innocuous texts between himself and Leo, but Evan had clearly performed some kind of advanced analysis and detected Jack’s hidden activity.
“I was off school grounds this afternoon with Freya. Leo didn’t like the idea of me going alone, but he had to shadow Anderson. He suggested the protocol as a way of staying connected without making Freya suspicious.”
