“Finally,” Zacharias muttered.
The minutes stretched on. The Korean buyers would have to go through a pat down check before being admitted. It was one of the perks of being on time.
At long last, three men in similarly cut suits entered. One spoke, his language smooth and completely unintelligible.
“My Korean is dusty. But I suspect you’ll understand this?” Zacharias set his briefcase down on a long conference table, the only furniture in the room. He opened it and stepped back.
“Has it been tested?” The same man now spoke in English.
“I verified it is still in working order. I just came from supervising its extraction.”
“We will want a demonstration.”
Zacharias barked a laugh.
“You don’t demonstrate a nuclear warhead, gentlemen. You detonate it.”
If the North Koreans didn’t want the bomb, there were other buyers who would. Regardless of who his customer was, Zacharias was bound to make a pretty penny.
The last mother Abigail had been introduced to was Baron’s. After they’d already been engaged. Sort of. The whole process had been rather anticlimactic. All that had mattered to Baron and his family was how far they could trace her bloodline. Who she was hadn’t mattered.
Luke’s mother was through that door, in his kitchen, and this meeting would be nothing like meeting her former mother-in-law.
Abigail had faced down terrorists, militant minded idiots and the true crazies of the world. The woman through that door scared her far more than anything else could.
The one person who mattered the most to Luke was cooking them breakfast. After spending the night in a hotel. Luke had assured Abigail that his mother had been understanding, but Abigail wasn’t so sure. She had offered to leave. To stay at one of the barrack apartments in the Aegis building, but Luke wouldn’t allow it.
Besides, the way he saw it, his mom got the five-star treatment for a night. He’d left her for a few hours to pick up his mother, take her out to eat, and get her settled. Truth was, Abigail had spent those hours sleeping, so now she had all of the anxiety that should have been building bubbling up in her right now.
She’d prolonged the introduction by showering, drying her hair, and generally dragging her heels.
It wasn’t like her. Then again, since Luke crashed into her life, she wasn’t like anything she’d ever been.
The door cracked open and Luke stuck his head in.
“Breakfast is almost ready.” He smiled and her stomach flip-flopped. “What’s wrong?”
“I shouldn’t be here,” she said.
“What?” Luke stepped through, pushing the door closed behind him. “No, mom understood.”
“She’s going to hate me.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“She hasn’t met me yet.”
“Look, all she knows is you’re like me, and we had a really bad job go down. You got hurt, and you’re staying with me.”
“In your bedroom. You really think she’ll buy that?”
“Hey, no sense denying the chemistry is there.”
Abigail rubbed her face. What she wouldn’t do for make-up or something to help her feel more…prepared.
“What’s bothering you?” Luke sat on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what? Eat? I hate to tell you, sugar, but you can eat.”
“Not that.” She glared at him. “Normal things. Meeting your mother things.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. She’s my mom. You’ve kept your cool through so much crazy shit, this should be easy.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Okay, then explain it to me.”
“That’s work. That’s…me pretending to be someone else. This,” she gestured around them, “is real. It’s me. And this me doesn’t know what to do.”
Luke pushed to his feet and wrapped his arms around her.
“What do you know? Wonder Woman is human after all.” He rubbed her back. “Mom’s cool. And you know what? She’s probably going to keep cooking until you go out there. It’s what she does when she’s nervous. Come on.”
He took her hand and tugged her forward, one slow step at a time.
Abigail wasn’t ready for this, but she hadn’t been ready for Luke in the first place. All there was to do now was to hold on for the ride.
He ushered her out into the living room and toward the small, country kitchen.
“Mom? This,” —he kept one firm hand on her back— “is Abigail.”
Mrs. Briar turned, a spatula in hand. She was a trim, tall woman with generous laugh lines around her mouth and large eyes framed by shoulder length hair. It was all too easy to imagine her laughing at something ridiculous Luke had said.
“Nice to meet you, Abigail.” Mrs. Briar wiped her hand on a towel and then extended it to Abigail.
She swallowed her nerves and took a step forward—just close enough to clasp her hand with Luke’s mother.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She hoped she didn’t sound lame.
“Lord.” Mrs. Briar slashed a suspicious glance her son’s way. “What lies have you been telling?”
“That you’re a loving, warm mother who dotes on her son.” Luke circled the bar and perched on a stool.
“Well, that’s not too far off the truth. Have a seat.” Mrs. Briar waved her over next to Luke. “How long have you worked with my boy?”
“Mom, I told you—” He clamped his mouth shut at a look from his mother.
Abigail squeezed his knee.
“We met on our last job. I don’t work for Aegis, if that’s what you mean.”
“Where is it you’re from?”
Abigail kept her answers as truthful as she could, pulling mostly from what she’d already told Luke and bits of the truth. Princeton would always be home to her, though not in the sense that most people thought of. It was the one place she’d lived the longest, spent time finding herself. As the questions kept coming, she relaxed into them and found herself laughing at the mother-son banter, their easy manner, and wished she knew what it was like to have that sort of relationship with a person.
Breakfast was a hearty affair, with plenty of food and more laughter. The more they talked the easier it became to piece herself together. Luke seemed to realize when she was floundering and ran interference for what she couldn’t answer. His mother took it all in stride.
“I’m going to run the trash downstairs. Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone.” Luke hefted two garbage bags and exited out the front door.
If Abigail didn’t know better, it was a planned maneuver to leave her alone with his mother.
“Breakfast was wonderful, Mrs. Briar.”
“Lord, stop calling me that. My name’s Linda.”
Abigail nodded and folded her hands in her lap.
“I take it things didn’t go well on this last job?” Linda sat on the couch, one leg folded under her, facing Abigail.
“No.”
“And you can’t tell me more?” The strain in her voice… She was a mother worried about her son.
“If…Luke was never really in danger, if that’s what you want to know.” A little lie. He’d been in danger while in Nador’s hands, but Linda didn’t need to know that. What she was asking for was comfort.
“I don’t know how you do this.” Linda sighed and propped her head in her hand. “Every time he doesn’t answer that damn phone I convince myself something awful has happened.”
“He’s very good at his job.”
“I know. Too good.” Linda crossed her arms over her chest. “Do me a favor? Watch out for him? Sometimes he doesn’t have any sense. He goes off trying to be a hero.”
Don’t I know it?
The front door opened, but Luke didn’t step in. His mouth was set in a grim line that made Abigail’s stomach clench in a bad way.
“We gotta go to work, mom.”
It was time.
She’d known this was coming from the moment she spoke with Baron.
Abigail let out a breath and glanced at Linda, a short, quick nod.
She’d do her best to watch out for Luke, however long she could.
Luke stared at the bastard’s smug mug on the screen and wished he could rip it off the fucking wall. If only Baron had the nerve to step into a room with him. Luke would tear the man limb from limb, if only for the hell he’d put Abigail through.
She—was amazing.
In a room crowded with the heads of Aegis, Admiral Crawford, Mr. Stevens, Zain and a few others, a handful of FBI agents and two state-side Mossad liaisons, Abigail stood out. She was a beacon of calm amid what was becoming a fucking three ring circus.
“Gentlemen. Ladies.” Baron’s voice crackled over the speakers. “What we know is that a rogue Mossad operative is on American soil. What next? That’s what we’re trying to find out. Not whose fault it is.”
The way the admiral was staring at Baron’s face said it all—bullshit.
Baron was trying to deflect the blame sitting squarely in his lap. And succeeding.
“What were his last known coordinates?” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Ryan Brooks aimed a tempered version of Admiral Crawford’s glare at the two in-person Mossad liaisons.
“Zacharias was spotted in Newark airport. After that, he vanished,” the more senior Mossad agent said.
“What kind of a risk does he pose?” Ryan turned in place, asking the Aegis team more than the Mossad agents. Ryan’s team wasn’t usually the unit to handle terrorist threats. Their focus was violent crimes, but given their history working with Aegis, they’d been dispatched immediately over other teams.
“A serious one,” Abigail said.
“We don’t know that.” Baron inclined his head.
“Actually, we do.” Zain laid his tablet on the desk. “Lali and I were able to identify three potential groups, all of whom have begun talking, coordinating.”
“Where? Show me.” Brooks leaned on the table.
Zain tossed a digital map of Washington, DC onto the wall.
“We traced some of Zacharias’ money to DC, where he made some investments about eight years ago. There’s a security company out of there—mercenaries, really—who just took on a new contract. They backed out of a bidding war with us yesterday morning, citing a change in manpower. If Zach is hiring help, these are likely the only guys he could get without giving up something more valuable than money.”
“DC?” Abigail sat forward.
Wait—wait—wait…No.
“What would be in DC?” one of the other Mossad agents said over her.
Abigail turned toward the screen, her gaze unreadable. Baron stared back at her, some sort of non-verbal communication happening between the two. Luke curled his hands into fists, fighting the surge of jealousy. Abigail had chosen him, but that didn’t mean her history with Baron was wiped away.
They’d discussed this at length last night, how she expected Baron to try to use her, manipulate her. And they’d come to their own agreement. Ways to keep the trust. To never allow doubts between them.
“If Zacharias is in DC…there’s only one thing he’d go for,” Baron said slowly.
“What’s that?” Brooks glanced from Abigail to Baron. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
Baron shook his head slightly. It might have been a shift of his body, were Luke not watching him for the sign.
Abigail sat forward, her eyes on Luke. Shit. There went their leverage. “We have reason to believe that sometime during WWII the Germans hid a bomb near Washington with the intent to detonate it remotely at a time when they stood to benefit the most from a disruption in the American government.”
Luke stared. He couldn’t help it.
He knew it. She’d given him the highlights. And still.
A German bomb, outside the capital?
Did this sort of thing happen outside of bad action TV?
The room buzzed with talk. The two Mossad agents were quick to deny it, but Abigail didn’t sound uncertain. In fact, she sounded as though she were tempering her words, downplaying the severity of what the hell was going on.
“Where? How do we know if it’s still there?” Ryan asked. There was a note of strain in his voice now.
“The reports of the bomb were in our files. Unverified information,” Baron said. “Rumors.”
“Can you find out?” Ryan turned toward his team. “We’ll need to send a team, get an expert in—”
“You already have an expert.” Baron nodded toward Abigail.
Luke reached for her hand under the table. Baron wanted to send her after a bomb. Likely a nasty bomb if he were reading between the lines right. A bomb some really bad guys wanted.
“Luke was an explosives tech, too,” Admiral Crawford said. “Between the two of them, we’ve probably got the best experts on hand already.”
“It will take time to find the information. Zacharias set off a virus that has blocked our system.”
“Then we better find out all we can, any way we can.” Brooks straightened. “We’ll reconvene tonight. My team will head back to DC so we can be on the ground, ready to act.”
“Abigail—a word?” Baron’s image flickered off the screen.
“No,” Luke said.
She leaned toward him.
“I don’t want to, but this has to be done. Please, Luke?” She canted her head to the side. Yeah, they had to go through this song and dance for appearances.
“No surprises.”
Abigail nodded.
“Fine.” He pushed to his feet. “You have your phone?”
She held up the slim smart phone he’d given her.
“I’ll be outside.” At least they were a team in this.
He got up and filed out with the rest, hanging back with Zain.
“This is a mess,” Zain muttered. “Everything working out for you?”
“We’ll see.”
Abigail remained seated; soaking up the silence long after everyone was gone.
She stared at the phone screen, the weight of her choices threatening to suffocate her.
Baron had sat in on that meeting, determined to say nothing. He’d been more concerned about protecting his precious reputation than the danger to human lives. This was why she wanted out. Because some choices turned her stomach.
She was a free agent, and she needed to remember that.
Mossad no longer pulled her strings.
She didn’t have to answer to Baron.
Just Luke. He was the only person who mattered. Who got to tell her what to do.
The phone lit up, the Unknown Number a dead giveaway.
“Hello?” She eased back in the chair and closed her eyes, pretending Luke was still at her side. With him there, supporting her, she could stand her ground. Without him she wasn’t so sure of herself anymore.
“How are you doing?” Baron’s tone was softer, more like when they’d seen each other in Egypt than before.
“You don’t get to ask me that.” She could almost taste her anger.
“All right.”
“What is it, Baron?”
“The bomb—”
“Is a nuclear warhead in Arlington Cemetery. I’m aware of it. Why aren’t you sharing this information with the FBI? You’d better have a good reason, or else I’m going to tell them what I know.”
“We can’t implicate ourselves in this. Keeping a secret like that from our allies is—”
“It’s not very allies-ish.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. As an American ally, Mossad should have warned the American government decades ago about the warhead. Instead…they’d chosen to sit on the information. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“We believe the customer is North Korea. One of the extremist factions.”
“There are moderate factions?”
Silence.
“It was a joke
, Baron. Christ. What are they going to do with it?”
“A US chemical lab contracted to the military was raided last night. Publically, they make vaccines, but—”
“Let me guess, what they really make is biologics.”
“Yes. This is a new one. It hasn’t been tested yet, but it’s…it’s bad. I only know about it because the Prime Minister had a secret, closed door meeting after the US President refused to stop working on it.”
“And you think—what?”
“The Americans are scrambling to keep their secrets. If the UN finds out they developed this—nothing good will happen.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a phosphorus-containing organic chemical—”
“It’s a nerve gas.”
“Yes, it’s a nerve gas engineered to start out as a common cold. The idea is that it’s communicable.”
“Shit—Baron…” She scrubbed her hand over her face. Not only would Israel want to keep their bomb knowledge a secret, if it got out that the US was manufacturing state-of-the-art nerve gas, it would be a new kind of open arms race.
“The problem I see is that no one is going to make the connection to Zach because their intelligence agencies are not communicating. Even in house. The Koreans have been trying to wage biological warfare. They’ve been looking for an opening like this. Zach provided the manpower and tools to do the theft. Our intel indicates they want to use the bomb blast to deliver the gas over a wider range.”
“Why are you telling me this?” She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
“Because you know the location of the bomb. You’ve seen it. You’ve had your hands on it. The others don’t know. You know Zacharias the best. He was your handler for years—”
“You mean before he had me killed?”
“I need you to tell the others you aren’t feeling well. Miss tonight’s meeting. I’ll have someone there to arrange a flight for you, gear, everything. The FBI won’t get there in time.”
“But I will. Only I can do this. It’s all up to me. How do I know you aren’t lying, Baron? Is this your way of getting rid of me?”
“I’m not proud of the things I did back then. I…know I made the wrong choices for you, but they were still the right choices.”
Dangerous Assignment (Aegis Group Book 4) Page 26