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LUKAS WAS IN THE COMMAND center. I could see that he’d had his leg appraised. From the way he stood, his weight evenly distributed, I could tell that he was on the mend. Funny the things I noticed even in the heat of passion. I was still a trained operative, even though I had to admit I was thinking with my heart rather than my head.
“Is there somewhere we can talk?” I asked Lukas.
“Sure,” he agreed, sensing that something was off.
We walked back into the conference room, now empty and secure. Lukas closed the door, giving us the privacy I required to pump him for information. “Did you know that Ryan Abrams is alive?” I demanded.
“Ryan Abrams?” Lukas repeated, clearly not making the connection.
“Clark’s former fiancé,” I explained.
“What?” Lukas demanded. Now that I’d spelled it out for him, I could see him connecting the dots in his mind. “I thought he was killed years ago.”
“So did I,” I agreed. “So did Clark. But we just had a run-in with him in the cafeteria.”
“He’s here, at the base?” Lukas asked, shocked.
“Yes,” I insisted. “I need to know if you were aware of that, or if he somehow got in without anyone knowing.”
“Right,” Lukas agreed.
He went to the computer that was set up in the middle of the conference table. It wasn’t as powerful as the computers outside in the command center, but it was linked in to all the operating systems. He called up the list of people authorized to be on site and cross-checked it with recent arrivals.
“I’ll be damned,” he swore, leaning back to let me see.
There, in black and white, was Ryan’s name on a list of operatives who’d shown up that morning. He’d apparently wasted no time seeking Clark out. And how had he found her? No one knew we were in the cafeteria except Z, and she clearly wasn’t working with Ryan. She seemed as suspicious as I was and as worried as Clark about the new arrival. The questions were mounting, and though I’d satisfied myself that Ryan wasn’t crawling through the vents, I was no closer to figuring out what he wanted.
“Does it say where he’s been all this time?” I asked.
Lukas moved over to the personnel database, where the images and backgrounds of every official agent were kept. He did a search for Ryan’s name, but that came back unhelpful. There was no mention of the man beyond his supposed death. There weren’t even any details about when and how he’d died, beyond the cryptic “in the line of duty” phrase.
“He says he’s been with the Russian mob,” I shared.
Lukas frowned. “That seems unlikely. I would have heard if they were keeping such a high-value target, especially for several years.”
“I agree,” I responded. “There’s something about him that doesn’t sit right.”
“Did you know him before?” Lukas asked.
“No,” I answered. “Did you?”
“I met him once,” Lukas admitted.
“What was your take?”
“I didn’t see what Clark saw in him,” Lukas replied. “She was willing to spend the rest of her life with him, but I couldn’t see anything special.”
“He didn’t act like a person who had been in prison for years.” I considered my experience out loud. “He was too well put together. There was no excitement in him for finding this woman he was supposed to be in love with.”
“What was Clark’s reaction?” Lukas asked.
“Same,” I said. “Well, she didn’t know what to say. She just kind of stood there. I got the feeling that she didn’t exactly want to be reunited.”
“Maybe because she’s moved on with her life,” Lukas suggested.
“I’d like to think so,” I agreed. “But it was more than that. There was something deeply wrong with him, and I think she picked up on it.”
“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because you’re jealous?” Lukas wondered.
“I may be a little jealous,” I admitted. “Hard not to be considering they were engaged to be married. But he didn’t even try to kiss her. And he didn’t give me the time of day.”
“Okay,” Lukas said with a sigh. “I’ll put someone on him.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
I felt much better knowing that someone was paying attention. The last thing I wanted was Ryan walking the hallways unescorted. I didn’t trust him, and every bone in my body told me he was up to something.
“I can interrogate him,” I offered. There was one surefire way to get answers, and that was to put the guy in a room and shine a spotlight in his face.
But Lukas shook his head. “I need you to go after Banks.”
I cursed softly. I had forgotten all about Regg, although now that Lukas reminded me, it seemed almost impossible that he had slipped my mind. I had been so consumed with thoughts of revenge. Getting even with him for taking Clark from me, for shooting me and forcing her to battle her way out of a jungle cage was all that had mattered for the past few days. But Ryan had distracted me from all that. Suddenly it seemed like there was a much greater threat much closer to home.
“I don’t want to leave her—” I began.
“I promise, I’ll look into Ryan.” Lukas cut me off. “And you can’t go babysitting Clark. She’s tougher than both of us combined. She’ll be fine.”
I sighed. Clark’s competence was legendary. She was a deadly assassin, a highly intelligent operative and a practiced manipulator of the male ego. I had to admit that she wasn’t likely to be taken in by any elaborate lies. She would see right through Ryan and figure out what he was up to.
I opened my mouth to argue, knowing that Lukas was right. But George Oliver walked into the room at that moment, forcing me to bury my objections. Though I’d been outed to my superior about my personal relationship with Clark, I didn’t see the need to belabor the point. He would expect me to act like an adult in that situation, not like a lovesick teenager. This wasn’t high school, and Ryan wasn’t threatening to put the moves on my girlfriend at her locker.
I stiffened, straightening up, though I didn’t salute.
“Are we ready to move out?” George asked, ignoring whatever conversation Lukas and I might have been engaged in.
“Yes,” Lukas agreed. “Theo?”
I thought about Clark and Ryan, loath to leave even though I knew it was the right thing to do. I had to take hold of my thoughts and shift them in the right direction. The problem with Regg hadn’t gone away. I needed to deal with it.
Wasn’t that why Clark and I had spent so much time making love the previous night, because we knew that we would have to part ways? She wasn’t expecting me to stay. On the contrary, she would be pissed.
I could just imagine her face, pinching up in its dangerous yet beautiful guise. She would force me to go after my former handler and accuse me of being petty and jealous. I hated the knowledge that everyone else was right and that my gut feeling was wrong. But that’s where I was.
“Yes, sir,” I said finally.
“Okay,” George replied, satisfied that everyone was on board. “Have a seat.”
I sat down, watching as both Lukas and George took seats across from me. Two more people walked into the room, one information analyst and one of the CIA leaders. I realized that this was a formal briefing, and that there would be no time afterward to deal with Ryan Abrams. I needed to focus or risk missing out on vital information.
“Reginald Banks,” the analyst said, scrolling through files on the laptop before placing an image of Regg on the screen at the back of the room.
That did the trick. As soon as I saw his ugly face, all the feelings of anger and betrayal rushed back. I did need to find him and stop him from hurting anyone else. He was responsible for the murder of at least a dozen operatives, men and women who trusted him. The analyst went through a list of things I already knew but offered up important points that confirmed my suspicions.
“He is working with New Dawn in an administrative capacity. We’re not exactly sure where he stands in the hierarchy, but it is toward the top of the organizational chart,” the analyst said, displaying a graphic of New Dawn’s leadership.
Ashcroft was at the peak, and below him were several unknown operatives. Included in that secondary tier were Jasmine and Regg, both influential figures in their home countries. Jasmine was already dead, and Regg was next on our hit list. I imagined the satisfaction I would feel as I was tightening my hands around his neck. I would make sure he knew that I was the one who’d brought him down. He would regret ever messing with me or Clark and know that crossing us was his fatal mistake.
“We want him taken alive,” George announced, throwing cold water on my heated revenge plans.
“Why?” I asked casually. I wasn’t sure if that was a directive I could comply with. Regg had done too much to me personally to let him live. As long as I got the information we needed out of him, I wasn’t sure that it mattered.
“We want to interrogate him,” George explained. “You mission will be to retrieve him, nothing more.”
I glanced over at Lukas. Our eyes met, and he could tell that I was considering more permanent measures. To his credit, he didn’t voice an opinion. He kept silent, allowing me to determine my own path.
Clark and I had debated Regg’s involvement with New Dawn since coming back together after his betrayal. It seemed likely that it was all connected, but we had no specific proof. But here was the confirmation that I needed. He hadn’t just gone rogue, but was a part of a bigger criminal conspiracy. In some ways, that was comforting, but in others it was alarming.
Because Regg was connected to New Dawn, I was encouraged to go after him. If he was a lone wolf, I would have had to explain myself and possibly pursue him underground. At least this way, I was on the clock and had the backing of my own people.
But New Dawn gave him access to a wealth of other crazies and technologies that might serve to protect him. He wasn’t hanging out there in the wind by himself, and that would make taking him down all the more difficult.
“I need your confirmation that you understand the mission,” George said. My silent communication with Lukas hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“I understand,” I replied. Whether I complied was a whole other story, but George didn’t need to know that.
Just as the briefing was winding down, another man intruded without a knock. He walked right up to the top American commander and handed him a tablet. The American took a moment to review whatever information was displayed on the screen, then passed it to George.
I held my tongue as the leadership in the room passed the tablet back and forth without comment. Finally, George satisfied my curiosity by motioning to the newcomer.
“Explain,” George commanded.
The new man took a position behind the laptop, typing on the keyboard for a long moment. Finally, a picture of a corpse sprang onto the monitor. As the analyst tapped the keys, the image focused in on the body’s right shoulder.
“This is the body of a recovered CIA agent,” the analyst explained. “Here we see the mysterious shoulder wound that all of the recent murder victims share.”
I studied the image. The wound was obviously postmortem because there was no evidence of healing. It was about the size of a quarter and looked as if someone dug into the recently deceased agent with a spoon.
“We think that there was some kind of tracking device implanted in each of these operatives,” the analyst said. “And that their killer removed these devices so that we could not examine them.”
“We’re assuming that New Dawn installed these tracking devices?” I wondered.
“That’s the assumption,” the analyst confirmed.
“But these weren’t New Dawn operatives,” I puzzled, feeling like there was something missing from the briefing.
“I recognize some of them.” Lukas spoke up.
“From where?” I asked.
“From Ashcroft’s mansion,” Lukas said. “They were my foster brothers and sisters who went on to work for MI6 and the CIA.”
“Sleeper agents?” I questioned.
“It’s a distinct possibility,” George agreed.
“Do we expect Regg to have a similar tracker?” I asked.
“That’s unknown,” the analyst said. “But we’re looking at others who lived and worked with Ashcroft.”
“Like me?” Lukas asked.
The analyst swallowed uncomfortably. “Yes. You and Agent Clark.”
“Clark?!” I demanded, slamming my palms down on the table.
It was a more dramatic reaction than I had planned, and I instantly regretted the show of emotion. My feelings had run away with me, and for a moment, I pictured Clark lying dead on the autopsy table, her shoulder similarly violated. I swore that would never happen.
“If Clark had a tracker, wouldn’t we have known about it?” I elaborated, trying to soften my initial outburst.
“And if I had one...” Lukas contemplated.
I glanced over at him, appreciating how personal this had become. The thought of a biological marker that would trace his every step was terrifying. It meant that New Dawn had a good idea of where we were. They might know everything there was to know about Dark Sparrow.
If Ashcroft was behind the trackers, that meant they had been implanted when Clark and Lukas were teenagers. For more than a decade, they had literally no privacy, their most intimate activities on display for whoever wanted to watch.
The scope of the problem nearly caused me to throw my chair at the wall. I wanted to see Ashcroft. Forget Regg and his supplemental involvement; I wanted to go after the big man himself. And yet at the same time, I refused to believe it was possible.
“If she had a tracker, we would know,” I assured them.
“We’re going to ask both Clark and Lukas to submit to medical examinations,” George concluded. “We’ll know at that point, and we’ll be able to inform our decisions going forward.”
“I assume your decision will be to remove it,” Lukas snapped. For all I was worried about Clark, he had a much more immediate concern.
“If that serves our purposes,” George hesitated.
“If you find anything there,” Lukas said, his voice deadly, “I want it out.”
“I agree,” I chimed in. If by some hideous twist of fate, Clark was being tracked, I wanted it to stop as soon as possible.
“We will take that into consideration,” George replied, ignoring our concerns.
“You won’t take it into consideration,” I threatened, rising up out of my seat. “You’ll do it.”
“Agent Wells,” George snapped, attempting to put me in my place.
“I won’t tell you again,” I growled.
Lukas had my back, his eyes narrow slits. He put a hand on my shoulder and guided me back to my seat. But the message was clear; we weren’t going to be pawns in any kind of game, no matter how high the stakes. If the trackers were real, then they were coming out. Not that I believed that Clark was walking around with a bug in her shoulder. The thought was absurd.
“I don’t appreciate threats,” George said calmly.
“Then do your job,” I suggested.
“I am,” he countered. “And you would be wise to do yours as well.”
There was a pause as all the energy in the room simmered. George was holding on to his authority, promising us nothing but more intel. Lukas was worried about the possibility of having a tracker in his shoulder, and I was crawling out of my skin, desperate to get to Clark and fill her in.
“Reginald Banks,” the first analyst said, breaking the tension.
There was an audible gasp as we all remembered the mission that had called us all together in the first place. It seemed like the closer I got to Regg, the less I wanted to go after him. Between Ryan and this tracker nonsense, I had ample reason to remain close to my girlfriend and not wander off to get my revenge.
But I knew I had to pack up all my grievances and get on with the job. The world was counting on me. Clark would never agree to my sticking around. She would want to follow protocol and do whatever it took to bring New Dawn down.
I couldn’t argue with that. Ashcroft had seriously messed with her life, and the fact that he expected her to carry his torch was reason enough to fight against him. We needed Dark Sparrow, MI6, and the CIA to help us. New Dawn was just too big.
And I had to play my part by finding Regg and bringing him in. Even though it hurt my heart to think about parting ways with my lover, I knew it was the only escape route to this life that we were forced to lead. With the goal of retirement on a deserted island in mind, I set my jaw. I could do this; I could see this through. I could be the man that Clark needed me to be.
“Are we finished?” I snapped. Though I’d decided to play along, that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.
“For now,” George allowed. “Your team is ready. I expect you to move out within the hour.”
“Understood,” I growled. Glancing down at Lukas, I caught him avoiding my eye. He was wrestling with his own demons, and I could respect that. It was time for us to part ways, and I trusted him to watch out for Clark while I was gone. Nothing more needed to be said.
Storming out into the command center, I breezed past all the techs at their computer stations. The massive monitors with their blinking lights didn’t even enter into my thought process. I approached the elevator, stabbing the button to call the car, my mind a blur.
I knew I was supposed to report to the hangar bay to meet up with my team. We had a bead on Regg, and that was too important to pass up. Yet I didn’t want to leave without letting her know what was about to happen. Better she hear it from me than from George or anyone else in command. They wouldn’t care about her feelings and they were likely to approach it with a clinical perspective.
I thought about her beautiful eyes and her soulful expressions. I remembered the way she felt beneath me and on top of me, her sweet love the only thing worth rescuing in this hectic world. I couldn’t wait until all this business with New Dawn was behind us. Rather than focus on stopping a threat to global humanity, all I could think about was Clark.
When the elevator door opened, I found myself face to face with my newest enemy. Ryan Abrams, now dressed like a Dark Sparrow operative, stood with his hands behind his back, a stupid smile on his face.
Suspicion roiled within me. Had he been on his way to the command room? Was he following me, or did he have an appointment with the higher-ups? Neither option was appealing.
“Wells,” Ryan said easily.
“Abrams,” I growled, beyond caring if the man knew I disliked him.
“Do you have a second?” he asked, making room in the elevator.
I held my ground, not interested in being trapped in a metal box with him. He caught my drift and stepped off, leaving us exposed at the edge of the command center. It wasn’t exactly the place I would have chosen to have a confrontation. But maybe that was for the best. The presence of so much technology and manpower would keep us from going for each other’s throats.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“I want to know the nature of your relationship with Clark,” Ryan said.
“We’re in love,” I answered. But since that didn’t seem to be as definitive as I wanted to be, I added, “She’s mine. Stay away.”
Ryan smirked. “I thought so. Not that she belongs to you, but that you were in love. Pity.”
I grabbed his collar, thrusting him up against the wall. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Do you think I haven’t been keeping tabs on her?” Ryan teased, seemingly unconcerned with my physical aggression.
“From your Russian prison?” I sneered.
Ryan shrugged, a mean feat considering that I had him pinned to the wall. “I had my sources. I’ve been aware of everyone she’s ever fucked since me. And there have been a lot of them.”
I saw red. Clark’s history was her own business, and I didn’t care how many people she’d been with. Ryan was just trying to goad me into doing something I would regret, but I couldn’t think clearly in that moment. For him to suggest that she was somehow less desirable because she owned her own sexuality was preposterous. Everyone knew that sex was part of the game. A mark would see straight through you if you attempted to stand on principle.
I wanted to punch him, to wipe that stupid smile off his face. But instead, I released him and straightened my shirt.
“I’m on to you,” I said menacingly. “You weren’t in any Russian gulag.”
“I’m back in Clark’s life,” Ryan said, maintaining his aura of superiority. “We’ll just see who she chooses.”
“She’ll never chose you,” I snapped.
“Are you sure?” Ryan taunted. “Or are you afraid she might still have feelings for me?”
“She’s smarter than that,” I asserted.
“She wasn’t the first time,” Ryan said, daring me to hit him.
I punched the elevator button again, turning away from the slithering snake in the grass. He had it coming to him, but I couldn’t very well take him to task in this public arena. Despite his claims to Clark’s heart, I knew she wasn’t an idiot. His story about being held captive for years was so obviously a lie that it was pathetic. No one with any amount of experience in the field would fall for it.
I needed to find Clark now. There was no way I was going to hop on a plane and jet off to find Regg without settling a few things first.
