by Cara Carnes
Today was all about giving Gavin his comeuppance for daring to use her friends. Mary had sent a group text telling everyone Bob would arrive at the compound within the hour.
They were finally getting a name. An end to the madness they’d been immersed in too long. The asshole behind Carlisle was finally going down. More importantly, they’d have firm answers about how much Bob had known—how deep his betrayal went.
Then they could focus on Shelly. Getting her friend out of Facility Six was critical. Dark circles filled the area beneath Zoey’s and Vi’s eyes. They both nursed coffees.
“Late night?” Bree asked.
“We got a couple hours sleep,” Zoey said. “Gage and Jud dragged us out around three. But we’ve got what we need for planning. Your girl’s good. Damned good.”
“No kidding,” Vi quipped. “Shelly had a trail carved out in the system’s security. Once we spotted the trail, it was smooth sailing.”
Bree tightened. “She’s okay?”
“We didn’t communicate with her, but yeah,” Zoey said. “She’d left encoded messages in a file for us. Most were focused on security details. Some provided passcodes into the surveillance cameras.”
“There was a diary where she recounted each day of her time there,” Vi said. “They’ve had her working. She was ordered to hack into a few critical databases. And HERA.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Bree whispered. “She’s good. I swear.”
“We know,” Mary said. “We left her what she needs to clone the backdoor area of HERA. That’ll free her up to do what Spade did. They’ll think she’s in, which will keep her safe until we can get her out while not breaching the system itself.”
“Is that safe?” Ram asked. “What if there’s someone else there who’d use that to dig deeper?”
“They won’t get any farther, not even her,” Vi said. “HERA’s security is impenetrable. Shelly knows that. Once someone accesses what they think is HERA, we’ll find out what they’re really after. Depending on what we find out today, we’re hoping to have a plan in the next few days. We warned her it’d take a while to take action. Stalling is up to her, but she has what she needs to stay safe.”
“Thank you,” Bree said. Relief filled her. “I’ve tried hard not to think about her being there.”
“We know.” Vi reached across the table and squeezed Bree’s hand. “We’re gonna get her out.”
“She had a lot of interesting information to share about the biggest security threats we’ll come into contact with,” Zoey said. “She knew you’d likely find out she was there. She’s bait. They want you to continue what you’d been doing at Facility Six.”
“I’d never help them, not even for Shelly,” Bree said. “It’s bad enough my tech secures that place.”
“Oh, but it’s great that it does,” Zoey said, flashing a wicked grin. “Tell me there’s backdoors.”
“Of course.” Bree shrugged. “I learned all about those from the best.” She motioned to Mary and Vi. “If my tech is our biggest hurdle, that’s definitely a good thing.”
“I’ll make some calls,” Mary said. “The team will be light from our end in case things go sideways. I don’t want The Arsenal exposed. Our involvement needs to remain beneath the radar.”
Bree nodded. “What about after? Are we really leaving that place running?”
“Marshall’s making a call. That decision is above our pay grade. Facilities like that are critical. Too many high value targets need to remain contained. HERA’s digging through files to determine who’s there. So far we suspect there are quite a few people there without any electronic record.”
“Meaning they’re being detained where no one knows they even exist,” Pierce said, his voice more of a growl.
“That’s what Shelly suspects,” Zoey replied. “She’s contained within one sector of the facility but has identified one area few ever enter. Food is carted into it, so she knows there are prisoners. Who is the problem. They’re the ones not in the system, from what HERA has pulled so far.”
Damn.
“We don’t even know how many. We’re hoping we can uncover more before we penetrate the facility, but we might be winging it,” Mary admitted.
“There’s no one better at doing that than you ladies,” Doug commented.
Mary’s cell chimed. She glanced down. “Bob’s here.” She stood. “Everyone meet in the whiteboard room in ten minutes.”
“All of us?” Bree blinked. She’d expected the discussion with him to be contained to a few people.
“Everyone normally there,” Vi said. “We have a narrow window to get everything we need verified. You all think differently than we do. The more brains we have involved, the better. We could easily overlook something important. I’m bringing Jud and Mia in, too. He’s got a lot to explain. I want him sweating.”
“Leave him in a room with Jud for five minutes and he’ll piss his pants,” Pierce commented.
“That’s definitely a possibility,” Mary replied.
“Who do you think is escorting him to the whiteboard room?” Zoey grinned wickedly when Vi’s eyes widened. “What? You told me to call someone. You didn’t say I couldn’t make it Jud. Him and Gage are doing it. Bob should be ready to pop by the time we get there.”
Bree chuckled. “I love your evil side.” She reached over and fist-bumped with her friend.
There wasn’t much to be happy about within the tense environment, but Bree was determined to grip those threads love and family provided. They’d hold. They always did.
Wait. Love?
Holy shit. The thought had skittered through her brain last night while she was falling asleep. Yeah, there was no denying she was falling in love with Ram. Wow.
“You okay?” Ram asked.
“Yeah. I-I was just thinking about something.” She wrapped her arms around his middle and rose on her toes. “You’re too tall. I get a workout trying to kiss you.”
He grinned and kissed her mouth. “That’s the kind of workout I can get interested in.”
Tension filled the room as everyone filed in. Ram opted to lean against the wall with Doug and Pierce rather than take one of the seats. Bob wiped sweat from his brow as his wide gaze moved from Jud to Gage. Back and forth like prey between two predators. Both men glowered from beside the secretary of defense.
Mary and Marshall entered the room with a man clad in a suit. Bob paled seeing the latter enter.
“I-I thought we could talk in private, just me, you, and Vi,” Bob said.
“Afraid that option expired a long time ago,” Vi said. “I’m sure you know Liam O’Brien. The president was kind enough to assign him to the task force he created, the one The Arsenal is leading.”
“T-task force. Why am I just hearing about this?”
“Because one of our primary objectives was investigating you,” Marshall said, thumping a large folder on the table as he sat. “We’ve found out a lot of very disturbing things, Bob. The more you open up, the better this will go for you.”
He reached over and hit a button. Speakers echoed a moment as the line connected. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started.”
“Who’s on the call?” Bob asked.
“That’s not your concern,” Mary said. “Should we show what we know and can prove first, or would you like to begin?”
“Please, I can explain everything.” Bob trembled as he looked back at Jud and Gage. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“The beginning is always a good start. Once upon a time…” Zoey waved her hand. “The floor is yours.”
“I heard whispers that a committee was being formed, one focused on advanced strategic warfare initiatives,” Bob said. “This was when Mary and Vi were still at Hive. I pulled enough strings to get on the committee when I heard chatter that the committee was very interested in a program they’d heard about.”
“HERA,” Mary guessed.
Bob nodded. “I swear I only got on it s
o I could keep an eye on them and protect you both.”
“Fat lot of good that did,” Jud growled. “Who was on the committee?”
“Most are gone now,” Bob whispered. “At first, they considered HERA to be an imminent threat to national security. I convinced them we could use it to our advantage, that it was a valuable resource we should utilize rather than destroy.”
“So you got in our good graces,” Vi said.
“Yes, but I did admire the work you two did. I meant only to protect you both.” He wiped his brow again. “I soon realized there was more going on than I initially realized. A few weeks in Mary was taken and…” He paused. Regret and guilt flashed across the man’s face. “I did what I could.”
“So you knew about Peter, Mary’s kidnapping, and you did nothing,” Dylan said, his voice low with anger that rolled through the tense atmosphere.
“I did what I could!” Bob exploded. “You have no idea how terrifying it was. Everyone on the committee was…”
“Was what?’ Vi asked.
“They each had their own agendas, ones I wasn’t privy to at first. I had to get deeper, prove I was one of them. That’s how it started,” Bob admitted. “You were tied with The Arsenal and the contracts went through. I thought you’d be safe. Then everything with The Collective happened. By the time I’d found out anything worth sharing with you, it was all over. The threat had been neutralized.”
“More like we took out the trash vying for the system your committee wanted for themselves,” Gage said. “We eliminated a problem.”
“You did. That pleased the committee enough to back off for a while, but it became clear immediately that their plan to control use of HERA wasn’t going to work. The Arsenal was too formidable. Too honorable to act without credible intel. You refused request after request to test the drones and other tech with military personnel.” Bob shook his head. “I’ve never been so proud and terrified. There was nothing I could do.”
“Bullshit,” Zoey said. “You could’ve warned them, told them about this committee. I take it most of the assholes we’ve taken down since then were a part of it somehow.”
Bob nodded. “Most are out now.”
“Whose idea was Mandrake?” Marshall asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I missed a couple meetings. When I returned, they were in play as a way to control The Arsenal if necessary.”
“We don’t believe you, Bob.” Mary punched a button. Images of him meeting with Stan Carlisle and the head of the Mandrake rogue faction filled the overhead monitors. “You should know better than lie. Like Marshall said, we have a lot of evidence. This chat is a mere formality. Don’t waste our time.”
“I offered to facilitate it to protect you. I swear.” Bob held up his hands. “I needed to know how much of a threat Carlisle was going to be to you.”
“Yet you said nothing,” Rhea said. “You didn’t warn us.”
“It was too late. Not that it mattered. You found out on your own and everything spiraled from there.” Bob swiped his hands across his face. “I tried to convince the remaining committee members that there was no way Carlisle could provide the same level of tech, but they wouldn’t listen. They insisted they just needed more funding.”
“So you warned us to back off Carlisle,” Vi said.
“I was concerned other parties would get involved,” Bob hedged.
“Other parties being Probus?” Ram asked. Shock crossed the man’s face. He paled. “Yeah, we know more about them than you ever will. Problem with that excuse is that they wouldn’t ever go against The Arsenal.”
“You’re wrong. Almost everyone on the committee was tied up with Probus somehow.” Bob gulped. “That’s how I got roped in.”
“You saw a chance to gain political clout with their help,” Vi said. “What did they promise you? The Oval Office?”
“N-no.” Bob shook his head.
“We already have answers,” Marshall said. “Come clean while you still can.”
“Of course I wanted to move up. Who wouldn’t want that?” Bob shook his head. “I’m human. I know I’d do a better job than any of the idiots we’ve had. Anyone would be better than who was just elected.”
Mary choked on her water. Dylan rubbed her back. Marshall leaned back in his chair and smirked.
“I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but the person you’ve been looking for isn’t just one person. It’s two.” Bob took a sip of his water. “General Kroeger ran everything in the field. He oversaw the shipments between Carlisle and the facilities, using his position to secure clear pathways.”
Nolan and Marshall both tensed hearing the man’s name. Ram had been in the field under Kroeger a few times before leaving service. He was a brute with a short fuse on a good day—and he had very few of those.
“Who backed everything financially?”
“Ryan and Ned Carew,” Bob whispered. “They’re cousins who run…”
“Carew Limited, competitors of the Department of Defense’s current contractors,” Vi said. “We investigated them. Extensively.”
“I know.” Bob hung his head. “I warned them you were looking into them. They hired someone to clear their servers and move everything where you couldn’t get to it.”
“You son of a bitch,” Zoey spat.
“I was backed into a corner. They threatened me. They knew you were too close.” Bob teared up. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. You just keep making the wrong ones,” Mary said. “Let’s talk about Alex. He was a protective detail you hired. Why?”
“I was terrified. Someone…” Tears seeped from his eyes. “Someone took my kids.”
“Why?” Nolan asked.
“He wants something I can’t give him, even if I wanted to.” Bob fisted his hand. “I don’t even know if they’re still alive.”
“Yet you led us on a wild goose chase instead of coming to us with all this,” Vi said. “We could’ve helped find them weeks ago. All you had to do was come clean.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It was stupid. Everything I’ve ever worked for is crumbling around me now. I got desperate, okay? Hiring a few different merc groups kept you preoccupied. I thought misdirecting you would keep me safe from the Carews.”
Jesse shoved a pen and notepad toward Bob. “List out everyone on the committee and anyone else involved with all of this.”
“And don’t even think about leaving anyone off,” Jud growled. “You don’t want me coming back with questions.”
“Let’s talk about Knightwind,” Gage said. “How did you get mixed up with them?”
“They crossed paths with the committee several times,” Bob said. He kept his attention on the paper. “Their interest in HERA was known. We decided to ally with them rather than go against them. Their intel proved useful on several occasions.”
“I bet,” Marshall muttered. “And Melanie?”
Bob’s eyes widened as he looked up. “She got too close, knew more than she should have. They never should’ve sent her in. There was a war within Knightwind. We sided with the side she didn’t work for.”
“The ones in control of Facility Six,” Bree said. She nodded when the man paled. “We know all about that, too. What or who is there that the other Knightwind side wants so desperately?”
“Power.” Bob set his pen down. “Most prisoners there shouldn’t ever see the light of day. A few, though, are there to control someone. Or they have critical intel people want. Whoever controls Facility Six holds the power.”
Bree crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “There’s something I don’t understand. Exactly how did a war even happen? Knightwind was primary intelligence gathering only. They wouldn’t have had enough field operatives to war.”
“She’s right,” Mia said. “Care to explain, Bob? See, I’m betting your committee decided to gain control of Facility Six. I was embedded in Mandrake awhile. I remember quite a few times large groups of them would go off
radar. Not even headquarters knew where they were.”
The man paled once again. “We realized Knightwind was more of a threat than we thought. They knew too much about our involvement with Carlisle and Mandrake. It was decided that we needed to contain them.”
“By starting a civil war,” Dylan surmised. “One you orchestrated by providing the operatives your favored side would need to secure the facility you wanted.”
“Yes. We cherry-picked leaders within their organization who’d play by our rules,” Bob admitted. “Giving them the manpower they needed was simple enough.”
“In exchange for access to Facility Six once it was secured,” Bree said.
“Yes.” He gripped the pen in his fist. “But the fight had more of a ripple effect than we anticipated. The other side was still strong, heavily entrenched within too many branches of international governments. Melanie was an unfortunate casualty.”
“Because the side you didn’t support wanted the evidence they’d need to get us involved,” Vi said. “Your new handler was right. You really should learn to play chess and think more than five moves ahead.”
“Y-you know about him?”
“We do,” Mary answered quickly. “We’re almost done. Just one more question. Several, actually. Who took your children and why? And how does Lily fit into all of this?”
“Lily is my one real regret in all this mess, other than you and Vi,” he said. “I met her father years ago, while I was in the service. He was in Mossad and working his way up the ranks quickly. I never imagined she’d follow her father’s footsteps. I know very little about her, yet more than almost anyone. She was a ghost within Israeli Intelligence. She was sent in when no one else could gather intel.
“When her father called and begged for my help locating her, I demanded to know where she’d been sent. Once I found out, I knew there was little I could do.” Bob looked down.
