Asher pressed his fingers to his temple. “I can’t . . . I can’t . . .” He didn’t even know what he was saying. He couldn’t think past Lamberi’s name.
“You don’t have to do this. We will,” James said, calmly. But Asher wanted him to scream—to be as furiously mad as he was.
“What are you going to do?” Asher demanded, his voice sharp.
“The first thing we need to do is wait for contact from Lamberi—if that’s going to happen at all. Second, we need to continue to collect intel on the identified individuals. If we can find them before they attack, we can stop them and foil his plans. Third, we need to consult with Abi.”
“Why?” Asher asked.
“Because we might need her to play a role in this,” James said as Asher’s eyes flared.
“In what way?” Asher all but shouted.
“That depends,” James replied calmly. “Not as bait, but she might be able to play a role that will help you resolve this. If that’s a possibility, it needs to be considered because if those attacks occur and you’re blamed for them, you’re going to be crucified.”
“I’m not involving her in this. I’d rather be crucified,” Asher said flatly.
James nodded but the determination didn’t leave his eyes. “Let’s wait and see what happens next. If contact is going to come, it’ll come soon.”
“How do you know that?” Asher asked.
James looked him dead in the eye. “Because I have the ability to think like a criminal without indulging in the behavior. That’s why I’m a strategist—I can put myself in their shoes and predict their next moves. Lamberi has a single focus, and that makes him predictable.”
“You knew he was going to do this,” Asher realized.
James nodded slowly. “I thought it was highly possible, but I wasn’t going to worry you until it eventuated.”
Asher glared at the man. “What else have you not told me?” he hissed.
“I’ve told you everything you need to know,” James said, his voice still damnably calm. “I won’t tell you every bad thing that could happen because, frankly, I don’t have the time, and it will serve no purpose but to make you lose your mind,” James continued, his words contrasting starkly with Asher’s unraveling thoughts.
“If you think this is blackmail, why have you already deployed teams?” Asher asked, reaching for the million questions in his muddy mind.
“At this point, they’re there for intelligence purposes. They’re looking for anyone scoping the area, anyone placing objects that could be bombs, or anyone looking suspicious in general. We can do that via CCTV, but we might miss something, so it’s better if I have teams on site. These guys are what I call ghosts. They blend in and they’re extremely hard to spot. Lamberi’s guys won’t see them—that’s one thing I can guarantee.”
James must’ve seen the doubt in Asher’s eyes, because what James asked next blew his mind. “Have you seen two additional security teams following you around? Did you see them at the burial grounds?”
“I have multiple teams on me,” Asher said slowly.
James shook his head. “These teams are in the background, at a distance. They hide in the shadows like ghosts, hence the name. They’re not there for bodyguard services, they’re there to look for unusual activity your bodyguards might miss—someone peeking out from behind a curtain in a three-story-high building, someone walking a little too slowly or too fast. The ghosts are chosen because they have eyes like a hawk. They’re on site now, and if there’s something to see, they’ll see it.”
Asher felt some of the anger leave his body, but he was still reeling. He’d almost lost Abi once, and there was no way he was letting her leave the palace—if that’s what was intended.
“We’re going to wait for contact,” James said, holding up a hand. “Once that’s done, we’ll make our plan.”
Rachel
“Abi?” Rachel called, spotting Abi walking jerkily ahead, surrounded by her security team.
Abi turned, giving a forced smile. “I was just looking for you.”
“What’s up?” Rachel asked, not waiting for a response. “You shouldn’t be walking on that ankle. You’re really limping again.”
“It’s fine,” Abi said, waving her hand dismissively. As Rachel walked toward her she could see something was amiss. She knew Abi well enough to know when she was stressed.
“What’s up?” she asked again, but Abi’s eyes darted to her security team.
Rachel got the message.
“I need to go through some matters concerning IFRT with you. Let’s go to your living quarters,” Rachel said, knowing that was as much privacy as they were going to get.
As they walked past Asher’s office, Rachel noted Abi looked at the closed door of the adjoining office. She heard low, muffled voices—like someone was yelling inside—and Rachel slowed her pace without thinking, but security was quick to hurry them along. She realized Abi had done the same.
In the living room, Abi asked, “Can you please give us a moment?”
Security nodded and left, although Rachel knew they were still being monitored via cameras.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked as they sat on the sofa.
“I don’t know,” Abi said quietly. “Something big is going on. Reed escorted Asher to Asher’s office—something to do with a terrorist attack. That was Asher yelling as we walked by,” she explained, running a hand through her hair.
Rachel’s eyebrows wove together—she hadn’t heard the voices clear enough to distinguish who they’d belonged to, let alone what had been said. She tried to stay positive. “Well, whatever it is, they’ll handle it,” Rachel said.
Abi nodded but she seemed less confident. “Do you really need to talk about IFRT, or was that just a cover?”
Rachel smiled but there was nothing behind it. “You said you wanted to be kept updated, which I still think is a mistake—you’re only torturing yourself by knowing things you can’t do anything about.”
Abi looked at her expectantly and Rachel sighed. “Three villages were attacked last night. That makes a total of fifty-one in the past few weeks. Other groups are stepping up their efforts, but everyone is afraid. They’re saying if IFRT pulls out of the region, it will convince others it’s too dangerous and they’ll give up too.”
“We’re not pulling out! We’re on forced vacation,” Abi said, her words dripping with contempt.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Rachel said, pointedly.
Abi held her hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to take out my frustration on you. This whole thing is a mess, and I keep asking myself if I should’ve done something differently when I knew I was going to be taken. Maybe I should’ve run . . .” Her voice trailed off and she looked away.
“If you’d run, they would’ve put five bullets in your back,” Rachel said without pause. “Don’t blame yourself for this. You have given years of your life to IFRT and always put it first. You didn’t ask to be kidnapped.”
“It doesn’t change anything,” Abi said through gritted teeth. She stared at her feet, and then her head snapped to Rachel. “Tell them we’re back. Tell them we’ll have two teams on the ground tomorrow.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped into her lap. “Are you out of your mind? Who is going to lead these two teams? You’re not, and I’m not allowed to leave either. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m beginning to dislike being confined to a palace.”
Abi smiled. “You ungrateful princess,” she said with a strained laugh. Abi and Rachel had always been able to find the humor in the darkest of situations—one of many reasons they’d survived in IFRT. “IFRT needs to have a presence right now. We can’t let everything we’ve worked for be destroyed overnight. If the other groups are looking at us for leadership, we need to step up. Daniel’s not confined and he can lead one team, at least. Maybe we can ask Samuel to help? With their intelligence, our missions would be a hell of a lot easier.”
&nb
sp; Rachel tilted her head thoughtfully. That was a damn good idea, but she didn’t think James Thomas would be willing to extend his services that far. She didn’t even know how Asher was footing the current bill.
Then again, IFRT did have some money if they could get him to agree.
“I really don’t want to distract Samuel right now, though,” Abi said with much less enthusiasm than she had moments ago. “He needs to be focused on Asher and finding his father’s—and Noah’s—killers.”
“Agreed. But maybe there’s something else we can do,” Rachel said as an idea began to formulate in her mind.
But the idea remained only a seed, because Asher strode in, slamming the door behind him. He nodded as he bypassed them, going straight into the bedroom.
Rachel’s stomach churned. Had Asher overheard them talking about sending two IFRT teams out?
“Um . . .” Abi said, her voice trailing off.
“It’s okay, I’m going to make a few calls,” Rachel said quickly. “I’ll be in the guest wing with Lenna if you need me.” She felt ill—the last thing she wanted was to cause trouble for Asher and Abi.
She gave Abi a hug and then nodded at security, who were lingering in the adjoining kitchen. A few of them followed her out, but she understandably had a much smaller team than Abi or Asher.
She heard voices in the hallway. “My job is not to please Asher. It is to make sure he stays alive, and that Santina doesn’t fall.”
Rachel slowed down, but security didn’t give her a chance to eavesdrop. Once again she had no idea who the voice belonged to.
“Twenty-four twelve,” one of the guards said and with a gentle nudge she quickened her pace. When they turned the corner, the hallway was empty. Rachel knew she wasn’t supposed to overhear that conversation, and now she second-guessed why Asher was in such a mood. She didn’t wish a crisis upon him, but she would be relieved if he wasn’t upset about IFRT plans.
She realized that despite living in the palace, she really didn’t know what Asher was dealing with behind the scenes and what was being done about Adani officials. She knew she was being unfair to herself, but once again she questioned if she had the strength and courage she would need to lead IFRT. Abi was a good strategist, and that was one of the main reasons they’d been successful. Rachel doubted herself. Had she spent enough time in the palace, surrounded by security and daily encounters with the king, that she should know what was going on? Even an inkling? Had she missed things she should’ve paid attention to?
Not any more, Rachel decided.
From now on, she was going to treat this like a game. She wouldn’t bemoan her confinement in the beautiful palace—because there were much worse places to be confined. And if she was surrounded by a team that was said to be the best in the world, this was her chance to learn.
That chance came much sooner than expected when Reed opened her door half a second after he’d knocked.
Rachel looked to her security team, who either weren’t surprised to see him or were used to him entering as he pleased.
“Hello?” Rachel said, pointedly.
“Sorry for the interruption,” he said with a straight face, but there was no apology in his voice. He’d said that purely for pleasantries, Rachel knew.
“How can I help you?” Rachel asked.
That question seemed to catch Reed off guard but then he shook his head, as if clearing a thought from his mind.
“I do need your help, actually,” Reed said. “Well, Abi needs your help.”
“Abi? What’s wrong?” Rachel asked quickly.
“Take a seat,” he said, his calm manner surprising her.
“Where is she?” Rachel said as panic rose in her throat like acid.
Reed, obviously noting her reaction, held out his palm like it was a stop sign. “She’s okay, for now. Please, take a seat.” He sat on the sofa and Rachel sat obligingly, knowing it was the only way she was going to get any information.
But she sat a safe distance—at arm’s reach—which was hard to do given the small sofa, which was really more of a day bed.
Reed was too good looking, and little butterflies formed in her stomach whenever she saw him. She hadn’t felt like this since Noah, she realized absently.
“We have a situation,” he said, looking directly at her. “Asher is being blackmailed. Lamberi wants Abi, and if Asher doesn’t hand her over, Lamberi is going to target seven heavily populated sites in Santina.”
Rachel’s stomach was in her throat. “Hang on—what do you mean, target?”
“Bombs. Likely suicide bombers,” Reed said simply.
Rachel pressed her fingers to her temples as her head spun. “Oh, shit,” she said, her voice a harsh whisper. “That’s why he was so mad.”
“Partly,” Reed said. “Asher is more mad about what happened next.”
Rachel’s head snapped up. It gets worse?
“This is a difficult situation,” Reed said, his eyes softening. Rachel wondered if it was a weak apology for what he was going to say next. “We have designed a plan, one which Asher doesn’t like, but we think it’s his best chance at beating Lamberi and, without trying to sound arrogant, this is what we do. Asher plays political games; we play security games. They are two very different skill sets and ways of thinking.”
“What do you want me to do?” Rachel asked, her stomach churning.
Reed met her gaze. “We want you and Abi to go into Santina. We’ll choose the location—one which gives us an advantage. We need to make it look like you’re there on your own. We want Lamberi to find you both so we’ll make that easy for him. I—and multiple teams—will be close by, but if any of us are seen, he’ll know it’s a setup. Abi can’t go on her own, as that would look suspicious given her relationship with Asher. Lamberi would never believe she’s walking around on her own.”
Rachel frowned. “He’s not going to believe it just because I’m there, either. Anyone who’s been watching us would know that we haven’t been home in weeks and it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out where we’re hiding.”
Reed gave a small grin. “If Lamberi thinks you have a good enough reason, he’ll believe it. And a good reason will make him think you’ve even given your security teams the flick.”
“And what reason would be good enough for us to do that?” Rachel asked.
Reed hesitated, biting his lip. He shifted, as if sitting back a little—distancing himself. “A reason like the email we deleted from IFRT’s relations account this morning before you could see it,” he said, looking dead into her eyes, which she was sure had doubled in size.
“What?” she asked, her voice scathing.
“We deleted it because we were suspicious of its origin,” Reed said quickly, seeming to watch her carefully, like she might launch at him at any moment. If he was thinking that, he wasn’t far off the mark.
“You don’t get to delete IFRT business,” Rachel said with hard eyes. “That has never been the agreement. Abi doesn’t see it, and we’re not responding to emails—but you don’t delete them.”
Reed nodded, but an apology didn’t come. “An email came from someone who wanted to meet Abi in Santina. We checked where the email came from, and confirmed its source: the uncle of an Adani civilian. What we don’t know is if that person was forced to send the email. James made it very clear at the funeral who was handling security in an attempt to stop something like this from happening, but Lamberi is potentially wounded enough to try. This email could be legit, or it could’ve been coerced. We’ll know once we’ve checked a few things, but it will take time to do that, and we don’t have time.”
He looked at her seriously. “The email says this person can meet Abi this evening. If she can’t meet this evening, the information will be too old and IFRT won’t be able to act on a rescue. There’s seventy or more being held in a known location, apparently.”
Reed paused, searching her eyes. “Tell me, if you received that email, would your first thought hav
e been how to get rid of your security team so you could make it to that meeting?”
Rachel’s jaw ground but she refused to look away. “That is my job.”
Reed nodded. “And it’s our job to stop you from doing that. I get it, I really do. I think what IFRT does is incredible, but when it comes to our mission, it comes second.”
“These people have no one else. No one else will risk their lives to rescue them,” Rachel said, her voice rising.
Reed nodded. “I get that, but—”
“No, you don’t,” Rachel said harshly. “We know what we’re doing—trust me, we know the risks, because Abi wasn’t the first leader to be taken—but if we have information and don’t act on it, we have to be able to live with that. We can’t. We have to try.”
He raised a hand. “So here’s the dilemma: we can’t verify this email was legit. Yes, it came from someone with no links to Lamberi, but the timing is very coincidental. If we use this to our advantage, though, it will give us two chances to outsmart Lamberi.”
Rachel put a hand to her forehead, her head was beginning to ache. “I’m not following.”
“We’re going to send you and Abi to that meeting. It’s in an hour, so we don’t have much time to prepare. If it’s a legit email, you’ll get the information and we’ll help you facilitate a rescue—that’s our gift for the risk you’re taking. If Lamberi is behind it, we’ll get a chance to choose the location of the meeting and activate our plan to draw him out. If Lamberi isn’t there, our next chance will come later at the time and location he’s requested for Abi to be handed over. However, he’ll be much more in control of that situation. It’s better if we can set the terms and put people in place rather than play his game.”
“Asher has agreed to this?” Rachel asked, incredulously.
Reed crossed his arms. “No, Asher has not agreed to this, but we’re relying on Abi to get him to agree, because this is a good opportunity to end Lamberi. He’s hard to find—he’s a nightmare that won’t end. The sooner we take him down, the sooner Asher can sleep at night without worrying about him coming after Abi. And Lamberi will; we’ve always thought it inevitable. Abi has always known it too, and whether Asher wants to deal with it or not, at some point he’s going to have to. Abi is being fully briefed now, and if she gives the go ahead, we’re relying on her to pacify and convince Asher. We’re here to do a job and sometimes he won’t like that job.”
Serpenti Page 16