by Zoe Allison
“Pretty much,” Priyanka said.
Gareth leaned on the table. “Is there any mileage in running our DNA test a third time?”
“Probably not,” Lorenzo said. “But I’ll consult with our labs to ask the question.”
Priyanka addressed Vale as she made some notes. “Where did the intelligence regarding the possible names for the sibling come from?”
“I cannot tell you that yet,” he said.
Priyanka looked up at him for a moment then glanced back at what she was doing. “No problem.”
No problem? The hierarchy between these two was all off. Vic was sure they must be a couple. Clearly, they would need to keep it under wraps, because as much as relationships in The Organization went on and a blind eye was turned, if it involved the deputy head of the group, that was another matter entirely.
“I’ll organize a search into the background of those names,” Priyanka said.
“It’s okay,” Gareth said, touching her arm. “I’ve already started checking out Glassmarsh’s past aliases and cross-referencing the names. You’re overseeing the mission and Lorenzo is collating the other intelligence, so I’ll take this one on and combine all the searches.”
“Thank you,” Priyanka said, smiling.
“I’ll get on it now,” Gareth said. He gathered his things and glanced at Priyanka as he left the room.
Vale leaned back in his chair, spinning his pen through his fingers. “We still need to put it together. What is the objective of the malevolents? The Glassmarsh sibling clearly has a large number of vampires working for him. They are disguising themselves as human beings by somehow taking on their facial appearance, then using bombings to hide the fact that they have drained an entire building of people to death. But for what purpose?”
Priyanka frowned. “To create terror? Gain power?”
“It’s definitely about power,” Vic said. “He wants to show the world who’s boss. He’s a narcissist.”
Vale nodded.
Priyanka rubbed her forehead. “We need to figure out their endgame.”
“Maybe the search on those names will help,” Vale said. “If we can learn more about his background, it might tell us more about who he is today.”
Panic stabbed Vic’s chest. She didn’t want certain things about his background to be revealed, though she certainly wanted him to be stopped.
“What is it?” Vale asked her. He was studying her face. She didn’t think that she had let any emotion show in her expression, but she had neglected the fact that he now seemed to have developed the ability to read all her nuances.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just thinking.”
“Okay,” Priyanka said. “I’m going to my office to review the information Lorenzo and Catarina have collected so far. Call me if you have any breakthroughs.” She gathered up her belongings and left the room.
Vic admired Vale’s profile as he frowned at the information on the virtual screen. She tried not to remember how she’d felt a few nights ago at her apartment, when for one crazy moment she’d thought he was going to kiss her. He must have thought the same about her and that had been why he couldn’t leave her place fast enough.
Vale turned to her, interrupting her train of thought. “We need to go to my office.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“I want to show you my notes on the Glassmarsh sibling—the ones I collated back when we captured him.”
She hesitated. She was meant to be distancing herself. But we still need to get this mission concluded. Maybe I can put my feelings aside and get on with it, just until this is over.
“All right,” she said, standing and picking up her bag. Vale led her out of the room and down the corridor. She had never been to his office before. The rest of them tended to hot-desk in one of the larger rooms.
It wasn’t far away. Vale opened the door and she walked in. It was a lot more spacious than she was expecting. There was a large desk at one end and a sitting area at the other, with big windows overlooking the City of London.
Something on the wall caught her eye. She frowned. “What’s that?”
Vale lifted his gaze to where she was pointing.
There was an object embedded in the wall, as if it had been thrown across the room. She squinted. Was it a paperweight?
“It is nothing,” Vale said quickly. He pulled up a chair next to his at the desk. “Come and sit so I can show you the notes.”
She shrugged and walked over to take a seat. He started bringing up documents on the screen in front of them. “This PC is not connected to a network, in order to protect the information on it.”
Vic leaned in, but not too close in case she accidentally touched his arm or inhaled his scent. She needed to keep her head right now.
Vale opened a file named ‘Glassmarsh’ and another named ‘Sibling’. “Here,” he said. “The mission was to capture him for questioning. Intelligence told us that he was kidnapping and holding scores of human beings, who were later found all completely drained of blood.”
Vic tried to quell the wave of nausea that washed over her as she read the document. However, it wasn’t just the horror of the details that sickened her, but the inevitability that she already knew what she was about to read.
She flicked through some accompanying photos. “They look like the people found in those buildings. Not a mark on them.”
“Correct,” Vale said. “So, whatever he was up to, it started back then, when he was acting alone.”
Vic continued to read. “So, you guys captured him, but just as you were about to turn him in to HQ, Angelique freed him and they made their escape?”
“Yes.” Vale sighed. “If I had trusted my instincts, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity.”
“It’s not your fault,” Vic told him. “You’re not responsible for the fact that some people can’t be trusted.”
Vale rubbed his neck. She watched him for a moment then continued reading. “So, no trace of him after that?”
“Nothing,” Vale confirmed. “Though now that part could make sense. He might have changed his face after that, by whatever means they had developed.”
“That would have kept him off our radar,” Vic said. She spotted another file on Vale’s hard drive, named ‘Impervious’. “Is that your information about Amber?” she asked.
Vale hesitated briefly then opened it. “Yes. I started researching into the legend of the Impervious years ago. It seemed as though we were long overdue someone with those abilities. So, I checked for patterns and eventually figured out where and when she would likely surface.”
“You were assigned to watch for her?” Vic asked.
“That is correct,” he said. “Mr. X sent me to London to monitor.”
Vic studied him. “He didn’t send Priyanka?”
Vale’s expression didn’t flinch, but he didn’t look at her either. “No. She was needed elsewhere.”
“No one else knew of the Impervious?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Not until the time came for someone to work with her.”
He was humble, however his attributes clearly stood out to everyone around him plus those in charge. “It’s a tribute to your abilities, Vale.”
He frowned. “What is?”
“That Mr. X trusted you with The Organization’s biggest secret,” she said, “over and above those superior in the hierarchy.”
He hesitated for a moment before meeting her eyes. “Perhaps that is so.”
Vic held his gaze for a few seconds, trying not to become distracted by the eye contact. There was something there, something he was trying to hide, but what? He lifted his hand to his neck again. He was always rubbing at it lately.
“What’s wrong with your neck?” she asked him.
He ran his fingers over it. “It is nothing. It has just been aching for a while.”
She raised her eyebrows. “It can’t be nothing. You must be holding a hell of a lot of tension in there for
it to become uncomfortable. It takes a great deal for a vampire to perceive pain, after all.”
Vale let out a deep breath. “I think this discomfort might be more psychological than physical.”
“You can tell me about it,” she said, experiencing an overwhelming urge to support him. “It might help you. And it won’t go any further.”
Vic watched as he hesitated. Vale seemed to be struggling with his thoughts. He shook his head. “I cannot.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I do want to, but I just cannot.”
She searched his face. “I understand.” Which was true… She understood better than most the need to keep some big secrets to oneself. She stood and moved behind him. “Here,” she said. “If you can’t tell me, then at least this might help.” She lifted her hands and started to massage his neck. “No wonder it’s uncomfortable. It’s feels like you’ve got rocks in here.”
He stretched his neck under her fingers. “That is the worst area.”
“Okay,” she said, concentrating her efforts. She ignored her inner monologue, the one telling her that what she was doing was an excuse to touch the man she found hopelessly attractive. She was helping her friend, nothing more.
He exhaled deeply, and some of the tension start to leave his neck.
Touching his skin was inevitably causing a surge in her heart rate, and as she moved her fingertips onto the contours of his shoulder, the feeling intensified.
“I think I just need you to do this every day,” he told her.
That would be fine by me.
“I feel like I can think better,” he said, as she continued to rub the knots away. “The tension must have been acting as somewhat of a mental block.”
“What are you thinking?” she asked him, trying to stop her fingers straying any farther than was absolutely necessary.
“About something Angelique said.”
Vic paused briefly at the sound of that name, then carried on. “You mean about the ‘rogue element’?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Vic told him, remembering The Shard postcard.
“Do you think it’s true?” He said. “Another mole?”
“It’s hard to say,” Vic replied. “Half the time she talks nonsense to throw us off the scent.”
Vale nodded under her touch.
“But I think she was telling us the truth,” Vic said. “It would explain a few things.” Including how Harvey found out my address.
Vic ran her fingers under his hair in order to massage his scalp. His sandy locks were like velvet. She shook her head to dispel those thoughts and concentrated on their current discussion. Maybe Angelique hadn’t been referring to her when she’d spoken of a rogue element. Perhaps she didn’t know anything about Vic’s past at all and was just trying to make her uncomfortable. There could well be someone within their ranks, working against them. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all, and Harvey did like to outdo everyone else. Plus, The Organization was despised by all the malevolent.
“How do we find them, if there is a mole?” she asked Vale.
His eyes were shut. “I have been asking myself that same question.” He opened them. “I think we should start to conduct a search but not tell anyone. We have to assume that no one can be trusted with the information except us, for now.”
A warm glow appeared in her chest at the thought that he trusted her above everyone else, though the feeling was quickly doused with a cold guilt. She wasn’t worthy of his trust. “What about Priyanka?” she asked.
He gave her a brief glance over his shoulder. “I will update her if we find anything.”
Vic realized she had run out of areas to massage, in the head and neck at least, and so she reluctantly lifted her hands away from him. He sighed and stretched in his chair as she took her seat next to him again. He smiled. “Thank you.”
“No worries,” she said. “What are friends for?”
He touched her arm. “You are a good friend.”
“So are you,” she told him, her arm tingling at his touch. His eyes were burning into her, so she blinked and glanced away, fearing he might be able to read how she felt about him otherwise. “Where shall we start?”
He seemed reinvigorated. “With the main database. It is in the upstairs annex and can only be accessed from this building. It contains background details on all our agents.”
“And we can get into the room and onto the database?” she asked, disbelieving.
He paused. “Yes.”
She waited for him to explain how they would get clearance for that, but he didn’t volunteer anything. There was something strange going on. He had the authority to get into a secret high-tech prison facility, plus he knew the identity of their most controversial prisoner, something which the guards at the facility and the deputy of the entire Organization weren’t aware of. And now he was able to access top-secret data regarding The Organization’s agents. Only the very top ranks were able to do that. It must be related to whatever secret he was hiding. Had he been given some sort of special clearance by Mr. X? To what end?
Vale was by the door, holding it open. “Come on.”
Vic followed him out of the room, where he led her to the stairwell. The upper annex was above the top floor of HQ, only accessible by the stairs. However, Vic had never been up there before because she didn’t have clearance to get through the door at the top of the stairwell.
She wasn’t surprised when said door opened with a touch of Vale’s thumb on the panel next to it. It was now a familiar process. They entered the annex, and the movement-sensitive lighting came on. Vale led the way along a short corridor to another door, which he opened in the same manner. Inside, the room was lined with banks of servers and a screen made up part of the rear wall.
Vale touched his palm to the screen, and it came to life. He started typing on a keyboard that sat underneath. “I will begin by cross-referencing all the possible permutations of those names that Angelique gave us with the data on our agents.”
“That’ll take a while,” Vic said. She tried to suppress the guilt swirling sickeningly in her stomach. She could cut the search time if she told him the name. But how could she explain that she knew it?
“We need to start somewhere,” Vale told her.
Vic took a deep breath. There was a weird whooshing noise in her ears. What should she do? “Maybe,” she said, “we should check in with Gareth first? Just in case he’s narrowed down the names. It would give us a head start.”
“It is a bit soon,” Vale said. “He has only just started.”
“I’ll try him anyway,” Vic said. “Just in case.”
She took out her phone, feeling rather desperate, and pulled up a video call to Gareth, but he didn’t pick up. Not again.
“He must be in the middle of something,” Vale said, and continued to input the various combinations of the names Angelique had told them.
Vic watched him. Maybe she should just go find Gareth and tell him the name, then get him to tell Vale and keep covering for her. She didn’t have to tell Gareth how she knew it. She cleared her throat. “I could go find him? Ask him if he’s found anything?” she said. “I can’t do much to help in here anyway.”
Vale glanced over his shoulder. “Okay. Call me once you get back up the stairs and I will let you in.”
She left the room. Exiting the annex, she leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. Covering her inside knowledge was getting harder and harder. Was she being overly cautious? The desire to tell Vale everything was growing stronger by the day. She’d even started taking more risks, such as going out on a limb to suggest Sydney to him then asking Gareth to cover for her. She never would have considered that in the past. Maybe, subconsciously, I want him to figure it out. Perhaps he’d understand if she explained it all? She shook her head. She couldn’t risk his reaction being negative. Not when they were so close to catching Harvey. And not when I care about him so much that I can’t
stand to have him think ill of me.
She decided to stick to the plan and started toward the stairs. But what if Gareth insisted on knowing how she knew Harvey’s name? She made her way down, deciding to cross that bridge when she came to it.
Vic left the stairwell and walked along the corridor to the hot-desking room. That’d be where Gareth would be working. However, once she arrived, there was nobody there. Frowning, she picked up her phone and called Priyanka.
Priyanka picked up. “Everything okay?”
“I’m looking for Gareth but I can’t find him. We want to know if he’s any further on with those names.”
“He should be in the hot-desk room,” Priyanka said.
“No, he’s not,” Vic replied. “I’ve checked there.”
“I’m not sure where he is, then. Maybe he’s working from home?”
“He didn’t give you an update before he left?” Vic asked.
“No, nothing.”
“Okay. I’ll try his phone again,” Vic said. She hung up the call then tried Gareth—but no joy.
She returned along the corridor toward Vale’s office and the door to the stairwell. By the time she reached that end of the hallway, she’d decided what to do. She would tell Vale that she’d spoken to Gareth and gotten the name. Then they could search the database more effectively. Once Gareth resurfaced, she could convince him to play along again.
Just as she lifted her hand to the stairwell door, she heard a noise. Pausing to listen, she realized it was coming from Vale’s office. He must have come back for something. She decided to go meet him in there instead. There was no point going back up the annex when he wasn’t there.
Vic opened the office door. “Hey, Vale—”
There was a masked person dressed all in black behind Vale’s desk.
She was momentarily stunned. “Who the hell are you?”
The person stood still for a couple of seconds then he made a grab for the computer. Vic started toward him, but he threw the screen across the room and it impacted her, knocking her onto her back a few feet away. She recovered and jumped up before he could make an escape. Vic ran at him as he vaulted the desk and sped toward the door. She rugby-tackled him to the ground and pinned his arms with her knees, pushing his face into the floor. “Who are you? What do you want?”
