by Lila Dubois
With Norah well-flanked, Selene and Luca exchanged a glance, then took the remaining two seats across the table. They couldn’t see the computer screen, but Selene didn’t mind. She sort of preferred to study the other faces at the table.
She had been unaware of her knee bouncing nervously underneath the table until Luca reached down and placed his hand on it, stilling the motion. She gave him a quick, apologetic smile. Her sudden case of the nerves wasn’t based on what Norah, Devon, and Oscar were doing, but rather the end result of what loading those designs to the dark web meant.
Her time with Luca and Oscar was about to end. She was mere hours away from…a broken heart. A shattered heart.
Luca gave her leg a squeeze and murmured “it’s fine,” in a low voice meant just for her. While neither Norah nor Devon appeared to hear, Oscar’s gaze shifted to the two of them, his brows furrowed with concern.
She gave him a quick wink, hoping to set his mind at ease. It worked. Oscar’s lips tipped up in what Luca had dubbed a grumpy smile. Only Oscar could pull off such a look, and just the sight of it sent a sharp, piercing pain through her heart.
Selene had been playing fast and loose ever since arriving in Boston, acting on her immediate attraction to Oscar, then Luca, inviting the latter to their bed. She’d assumed she could keep her physical desires for both men tucked safely in a box where emotions didn’t come into play, simply because she’d always been able to do so with other lovers in the past.
She’d been a fool.
“Okay, I scrambled all the public networks around us, and the hotel Wi-Fi is down for everyone but us.” Norah looked up. “We’re cleared to talk.”
Devon cleared his throat. “For the sake of clarity, and also to remind all of us of the gravity of this situation, I’ll restate the purpose of this meeting.” He looked at each of them in turn. “We are here to discuss the possibility of releasing a set of flawed, but still dangerous schematics for a backpack-sized nuclear bomb.”
Devon let that statement hang for a moment before continuing. “Agencies around the world are already monitoring known supplies of neptunium, which is the heavy element used in this design; however, if we release the plans, there are no guarantees that someone won’t attempt to create this weapon, and in the process, create something horrific.”
“Nothing can happen until my sister is safe,” Luca said. “I was promised—”
Devon held up a hand. “We are just discussing our options.”
“But you already have people watching neptunium,” Oscar countered. “Seems to me your mind is made up.”
“The fact that Mr. Campisi used neptunium in his design is evidence enough that we should have been monitoring it already.”
Norah looked up from the computer. “So what’s your deal, dude with the sexy accent? You evil or what?”
Selene narrowed her eyes. Hands off, bitch.
“I am well aware that I am not a good man,” Luca said slowly. “I am…”
“He grew up in a cult. They tortured him for being bi, forced him to learn how to make bombs, and are essentially holding his sister captive to keep him in line.” Oscar didn’t look away from the screen as he spoke. “How do you have access to all these sites on the dark web?” He pointed at her screen.
Luca made a choking sound, and Selene squeezed his hand.
“Damn, dude. I’m sorry.” Norah shook her head. “That sucks. We got him out?” Norah looked at Devon.
“Yes, Luca is our newest member, and a task force has been sent to raid the headquarters of the cult. They will rescue his sister.”
“Any word?” Selene asked, knowing that was what Luca had been waiting for.
“We’ll let you know,” Devon said.
Luca released a long, slow breath. Selene knew he wouldn’t rest easy until Joli was no longer on the Bellator Dei compound.
“Back to this…” Oscar tapped his fingers on the table beside Norah’s laptop. “How do you have this kind of access?”
“I used to be a merchant on Silk Road. And I’m a moderator on a lot of these sites.”
Selene blinked. “Isn’t Silk Road like eBay for drugs?”
“Yup.”
“You…sold drugs on the dark web?”
“You got it,” Norah said cheerfully. “But just the good stuff. High-quality weed, and prescription drugs that Big Pharma uses to extort people. Epi pens. Antibiotics. Nothing addictive.” Norah glared at them. “None of you are dumb enough to think weed is addictive, are you?”
Selene shook her head. Luca just looked confused. Devon seemed slightly pained.
“You still operating?” Oscar asked with interest.
“Why? People who couldn’t get insurance and needed me now can. Universal healthcare, baby. It’s not perfect, but it’s better. And pot is legal.”
“Not in South Carolina,” Oscar grumped.
“I’ll hook you up, friend.”
Norah and Oscar bumped fists.
“Did he just buy drugs?” Luca asked. “Can I… Can I try some drugs?”
“I’ll put it on the list,” Selene joked.
“It was one of those no-drug cults?” Norah shook her head. “That makes it all so much worse. At the very least, it could have been one of those new age shroom cults.”
“Ah, no. No drugs. No alcohol. But we already tried that,” Luca said, pointing to Oscar and Selene. “I liked the gin. And the bourbon.”
Norah’s attention had shifted to the list on the window. She smiled. “Get it, boy. Get it. I have a couple of suggestions if you’re looking to expand your horiz—”
“Bomb. Dark web,” Devon interjected.
“Right.” Norah dragged her attention back to her computer. “Okay, so what are the bomb plans? I mean, are we talking about an image? Do we want to encrypt it?”
“I had it encrypted,” Luca said.
“How hard was it to break?” Norah asked.
Oscar shrugged. “It took me a minute.”
“Okay, so that works.” Norah looked around. “One more time, the bomb doesn’t work, right?”
“No, but it took a DARPA supercomputer to run the numbers and figure that out,” Selene said. “The flaw is only evident in the math, and the calculations aren’t part of the schematic.”
“My question to you, Norah, is where within the dark web would it be released?” Devon asked.
“Depends on who you want to find it. And who do you want to have posted it? Dark web people are paranoid. They’re not just going to think some asshole posted this out of the kindness of his or her heart.”
Devon’s phone rang. He glanced at it and frowned. “Excuse me.” He rose from the table and walked over toward the door.
Norah looked back at the list on the window. “Okay, if you want to stay natural, I’m suggesting you try some MJ in a vape, then an edible, then maybe peyote.”
“How the fuck is an edible the stepping stone to peyote?” Oscar demanded.
“You a peyote expert?” Norah asked. “Because I’m not, but I could be. I have a fucking spiritual connection to it. It’s from the earth. It’s natural.”
“If he starts tripping balls and has flashbacks—”
Oscar’s rant was interrupted by the sound of Devon opening the door. He said something they couldn’t hear to Andre, and then swung the door wide.
Owen Fraser walked in with a dark-haired, uber-handsome man who looked like he’d stepped off the pages of GQ and an equally dark-haired, medium-complexion woman with dramatic eyebrows and full lips that Selene would have needed filler to get. She was gorgeous even with her hair scraped back in a low bun and wearing a simple black shirt and jeans.
For a moment, Selene was struck by the arrival of the three gorgeous people.
Then she registered their expressions. Particularly Owen’s.
Anger. Cold, hard anger.
And they were looking at Luca.
“Luca Campisi, stand up.” Owen’s voice was cold.
“What’s going on?�
� Oscar was the first out of his chair, and he glanced from Owen to Devon, who stood off to the side, expression grim.
Then Oscar backed up, around the table to their side, and put himself squarely between everyone else and Luca.
Norah closed her laptop and scampered out of the way.
“Oscar, step aside,” Devon said softly
“Fuck that.”
“Luca Campisi,” Owen began, “you are under arrest.”
“What?” Selene jumped out of her chair and joined Oscar, another barrier between Luca and whatever was happening.
“Where’s my sister?” Luca pushed between her and Oscar. She expected him to be confused or scared—she was both—but Luca was pissed. “Where is Joli?”
Oscar grabbed Luca, holding him back.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Owen went on. “You have the right to—”
“What charges?” Selene asked. “Why are you arresting him, and what happened to the Bellator Dei?”
“I think the fucking Trinity Masters lied to him,” Oscar said. “Tricked him.”
Selene went cold. “No, they wouldn’t.”
“We did not,” Devon said. “Oscar, Selene, I know you may have developed a relationship with this individual, but I need you to step away from him.”
Luca jerked from Oscar’s hold. “What did you do to them? They were innocent! Most of them, my sister—” His words tumbled to a stop, and Selene could feel the grief and anger pouring off of him.
The dark-haired man said something in Italian. Luca responded in the same language. Within thirty seconds, it turned into a loud argument, which she didn’t need a translator to understand.
“Milo, English, please,” Owen said.
“He continues to pretend he doesn’t know.”
“Pretend he doesn’t know what?” Oscar demanded.
Devon stepped up, a calm, cool presence amid the anger and accusations. “There was no one at the Bellator Dei compound. We need to assess the possibility that perhaps Luca warned them we were coming.”
“What?” Selene demanded.
“No, he didn’t, you dumb fucks,” Oscar countered.
“My sister wasn’t there?” Luca staggered as if he was going to collapse. Oscar yanked him back, held him up. “Where? Where is she? Is she still alive?”
The dark-haired woman’s eyebrows rose. She looked at Owen, whose expression had gone blank.
“The compound was abandoned,” Milo said through gritted teeth. “It was rigged with explosives. The whole thing was a trap to kill as many of us as possible.”
“Booby-trapped?” Selene asked in shock. She shook her head. She may not have known Luca for long, but no part of her doubted his honesty. “No. Just no.”
“Land mines,” the woman said in a lovely accent. “If Owen hadn’t spotted the disturbed stones, we would have driven over one.”
“I didn’t,” Luca said softly. “I didn’t tell them, but if they knew…do they know I betrayed them?” Luca began to curse quietly in Italian. Selene put her hand on his arm. He was shaking.
Milo took a half step forward, his attention on Luca.
“What’s he saying?” Owen asked.
“He’s scared his sister is being…tortured. Because they know what he’s done.”
Oscar turned Luca around, hugging him and letting Luca bury his face against his shoulder.
“I’m going to use small words, you stupid fucks,” Oscar snarled. “He didn’t contact them. I’ve been with him the whole time. Yes, even at night. We fucked like rabbits and ate room service. He didn’t contact them, which means something you did spooked them. And maybe got his sister…”
Luca shuddered.
Killed.
The unspoken word hovered in the air. Owen and Devon were looking at each other. Milo appeared uncertain, and the woman who’d come in with Owen and Milo walked over to Oscar’s computer, which was on the coffee table.
“I’ll verify that he hasn’t communicated with anyone.”
“Touch my computer, I’ll deck you,” Oscar said.
The woman held out one finger, then very deliberately poked the black laptop.
“Hold him.” Oscar thrust Luca at Selene.
“Sidika, don’t provoke him,” Milo said softly.
“You okay?” Selene asked Luca.
“How long have they had her?” Luca’s eyes were wild. “How long has my sister been tortured while I was here…”
Oscar yanked his computer away from Sidika and hauled it over to the table. He thrust it at Norah. “Here, I’ll let you touch it, but not her.”
Norah shrugged, took Oscar’s laptop, and sat down. Sidika pulled up a chair beside her.
Thirty minutes later, Norah and Sidika both confirmed that Oscar’s laptop, Selene’s laptop, and their phones hadn’t been used to write any emails—in draft form, by SMS or internet-based messaging system, by any PHP or other code-writing program—which might have allowed Luca to leave a text message hidden within the code of a website or program—or several other things Selene didn’t understand, which was rare for her.
Luca had sat still as a stone throughout their search at the dining room table, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. Selene had never seen a person so wracked with guilt and despair. All her attempts to comfort him were met with silence.
“Satisfied?” Oscar demanded.
“And they never left the suite?” Devon turned to Andre.
“No, sir.”
“No calls from the hotel landline?”
“We monitor those. Any calls and we would have known right away,” Devon said.
“I didn’t contact them. I…” Luca’s bowed head rose, and anger made his features sharp, more angular somehow. “I joined you…I trusted you to keep her safe. And now she’s, she’s…”
Milo snarled something. Owen yanked his phone from his pocket, and Devon surveyed the room.
“If you didn’t contact them…” Owen’s thumbs were flying over the screen. “Then we need to know who did. It might mean there’s a traitor in the Masters’ Admiralty side of the MPF.”
“And,” Selene said, “we need to know where they went.”
“New plan,” Owen said. “This is no longer a raid. It’s a rescue mission.” He looked up. “Everyone have their passports?”
“Why?” Oscar demanded.
“We’re going back to Italy. All of us.”
Chapter Seventeen
Luca didn’t pray—they’d beaten any belief in a higher power out of him long ago—but on the seemingly endless trip from Boston to Rome, he hoped that his sister wasn’t in too much pain.
The compound had been abandoned and booby-trapped. Somehow, they had discovered his betrayal, which meant Joli was no longer safe. The Bellator Dei wouldn’t hesitate to punish his sister for his crimes. He’d learned that lesson the hard way when his love affair with Roberto had been revealed. Signore and Signora Campisi had been quick to threaten Joli’s future in order to force his obedience and compliance. God only knew what they’d do to her now.
Selene and Oscar had both tried to assure him she was probably fine, but their words had felt hollow, offering no reassurance or comfort. Eventually, they fell silent and left him to his thoughts.
They landed at a small airport outside of Rome. Luca practically flew down the steps from the large private jet. A man and a woman, both wearing polo shirts with an emblem he recognized—that of Cohortes Praetorianae—were waiting near two black SUVs.
Milo, who had been Luca’s point of contact when he’d worked for Cohortes Praetorianae for years, walked over to them.
Luca wasn’t aware that he’d stopped dead until Oscar bumped into him from behind.
“Luca?” Selene was at his side, and she laid a hand on his arm.
He stared at Milo. Could it be that simple?
“What did you just figure out?” Selene was peering at his face.
“I…” Luca squashed the hope blossoming
inside him. Hope was dangerous. “I need Owen.”
“Owen,” Oscar called out.
The FBI agent turned around, examined their little tableau, and walked over, his steps quick. “What’s going on?”
“Who…who helped you enter the compound? Them?” Luca jerked his chin toward Milo and the two other Cohortes Praetorianae staff.
Owen shook his head. “No. The MPF, but Cohortes Praetorianae staff assisted with logistics—airport pickups, physical recon to ensure that our planned approaches matched what we could see with satellite surveillance.”
Luca exhaled and relief made him weak. He leaned back against Oscar, who stiffened to help support his body weight. “I know how they knew. And it wasn’t me.” Luca briefly closed his eyes.
“How?” Owen snapped. “Wait. Milo, come here.”
Something in Owen’s tone made Milo whip around and then jog, not walk, toward them. “What’s wrong with him?” Milo asked.
Luca stood up so he wasn’t leaning against Oscar. “I think I know how they were alerted.”
Milo shifted his body weight ever so slightly, but in that micromovement, it was clear he was ready to fight if needed.
“The Bellator Dei know that Cohortes Praetorianae is a part of the Masters’ Admiralty.”
Milo bristled. “What do you mean?”
“The benefactor told them, the leaders. It was why I was allowed to move off the compound and get a job—so that I could find a way to make you my client.” Luca gestured at Milo. “They monitor your company.” He didn’t admit that the “they” in that sentence was actually his sister. “If they learned you were suspicious of them, sending people to do surveillance…”
“Fucking Petro told them about us,” Milo snarled. “Why didn’t you tell us this before? Why didn’t you tell us everything they knew about us?”
Luca heard the unspoken accusation that went along with the two voiced questions. What else are you hiding?
“You didn’t ask,” Luca said simply. “I answered all your questions in Boston, but it wasn’t until now, until I saw them,” he gestured to the people by the vehicles, “that I remembered.”
“The devil is always in the details,” Owen breathed. “Okay. Clearly you need to do a debrief with Milo since you two have a history. That’s on me and Percival, we should have looped Milo in since we did talk about you having contact with him.”