Sean knew Kyle had some unresolved hatred for the CIA that would probably remain unresolved for a long time. Neither Kyle nor Alexei had a favorable opinion of Sean’s old agency, and he didn’t blame them for it.
“How’d you get us out?” Sean asked.
Jamie glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “One of the Joint Chiefs put in a call for us. I hear he was very annoyed with the Metropolitan chief of police.”
Sean didn’t really care what excuse they used. He was just glad they were out of that place. “And the subpoena?”
“All four of us have been served,” Katie said. “We’re scheduled to appear before Congress in a couple of days. It’ll be a closed session.”
“They aren’t serving the rest of the team?”
“None of the rest of us are listed on the incorporation documents,” Kyle said, sounding annoyed. “I was arm candy and the others were bodyguards during that mission. Apparently, we aren’t important enough to be summoned by Congress.”
“Trade you,” Alexei said.
“I wish, but the director said anyone not subpoenaed isn’t allowed to go.”
Kyle sounded angry about that order, which meant the others probably were as well. But with the amount of media that would probably be present to document the hearing before the doors closed, they couldn’t risk their identities any more than they already had.
Sean wouldn’t put it past Kyle to find a way into the hearing.
In fact, he would bet on it.
“Katie told me you had a visitor, Sean. Who exactly was she?” Jamie asked.
“Old case officer,” Sean said, grimacing.
Alexei turned his head to stare at him. “What?”
“Her name is Helena Voakes. I reported directly to her when I was with the CIA, but all orders she received came down the pipeline from Bennett. I don’t know how deep she’s in with him.”
“Let’s go with she’s in deep and work our way from there,” Jamie said.
“Probably the best course of action. She had a holopic of you and Kyle speaking with Yulia Vitsina at the Empyrean brand party. I’m assuming that’s the picture Adam Dixon took in November before he was banished from your father’s campaign press pool?”
“I’ve wondered why that one hasn’t shown up. Dixon shared pretty much everything else delivered to him by the CIA, and he was the one who actually took that particular picture.”
“They may have ordered him to release everything he had on their timeline if he wanted the other pictures. To what end besides derailing your father’s career? I don’t know. Helena acted like she could make all of this go away.”
Jamie snorted. “Doubtful.”
“Yeah. But the CIA doesn’t make contact without reason.”
“What do you think that reason is?”
Sean leaned his head back and glared at the roof. “She wanted me to spy for them.”
“Why?” Alexei growled, his hand tightening around Sean’s. “You not theirs.”
“I think they wanted access to the MDF again. I don’t know if that’s what they really wanted though. I didn’t ask, because I wasn’t interested.”
“The Pavluhkins hoped to control Richard through compromising information concerning Jamie. That option ended in Boston. The current mess is based on revenge and to protect Bennett’s status quo, which not incidentally helps the Pavluhkins. We know he’s working with Declan and the Pavluhkins to undermine Richard’s campaign. They’re definitely looking for a way in since their last attempt got killed,” Katie said.
Sean thought back to two summers ago when Cora Everly, a shapeshifting metahuman who had hidden her status while working for the CIA before going on the run, had attempted to infiltrate the MDF ranks in order to destroy a supposed Splice cure. The cure had turned out not to be viable and Kyle had made sure she’d died a painful death at the time.
So, no, it wasn’t surprising the CIA was once again trying to spy on the MDF. What was surprising was instead of planting a mole, they were trying to turn Sean.
“They won’t find one through me,” he promised.
“That thought never even crossed my mind,” Jamie said calmly. “But the fact that Bennett sent one of his people to feel you out? Something tells me he’s getting desperate.”
“A desperate person in power. That’s never a good mix,” Kyle said.
“No, it isn’t.”
Sean closed his eyes, half-listening to the quiet conversation going on up front for the rest of the drive back to base. The other half of his attention was focused on Alexei’s warm touch, the way his thumb never stopped stroking over the back of his hand.
Once they arrived on base, the entire team gathered on Level 36, where MDF Director Amir Nazari was waiting for them.
“Next time, let’s leave bodily harm out of the mix when it comes to civilians, shall we?” Nazari said in greeting, looking at Alexei when he spoke.
“Yes, sir,” Alexei dutifully replied.
No one looked like they believed him.
Everyone took a seat around the conference table, focusing on the director. A three-star Army general edging into his late fifties, Nazari was a man Sean had seen far more of over the last few months than all the years before he officially joined Alpha Team. As the top active field team in the MDF, Alpha Team reported directly to Nazari or MDF Deputy Director Ranisha Stirling.
Sean had been seconded to Alpha Team last year during the Pavluhkin mission. Jamie had fought to bring him on permanently earlier this year. While everyone else on the team came from a military background, Sean didn’t, and he’d be lying if he said the adjustment was easy. But he felt safer in the field than he had in a long time now that he could retain solid communications with the rest of the team and the base through Katie’s telepathy. It made all the extra training he’d been subjected to worth it, as well as fighting by Alexei’s side.
“I understand from Callahan that the CIA is attempting to target us again through you, Delaney,” Nazari said.
“Their attempt was pretty transparent, sir,” Sean replied.
“It’s not an avenue we’re interested in pursuing, so we won’t be asking you to play double agent any time soon. However, the fact that Bennett sent one of his people into the field so blatantly is cause for concern.”
“He’s getting desperate,” Jamie said.
“As much as I wish he were, because desperate men do desperate things, no, I don’t believe Bennett’s fear of discovery has shifted one bit. If we out him before the investigation is finalized, he’ll out all of you. The Joint Chiefs as well as the president don’t want to see that happen.”
“What’s to stop him from outing us after the investigation into his activities concludes and he’s arrested?” Trevor wanted to know.
Nazari smiled grimly. “Nothing. We believe he’s looking for a way out before then.”
“A bullet to the head would be a nice way out,” Kyle said coolly. “Just say the word, sir.”
“Not yet.”
Which didn’t mean it wouldn’t become an option in the future. Sean wondered who was wearing down the president for that authorization. Justifying the legal authority for the president to authorize the targeted killing of a United States citizen wouldn’t be unheard of, it would just be messy.
In more ways than one.
“We’ll look into it,” Nazari promised. “See what we can glean from chatter. If it’s anything like what we’re currently piecing together, I’m not going to like it.”
“Sir?” Jamie asked.
Nazari tapped at a command prompt on the computer embedded in the conference table. Multiple holopics unfolded in the center of the table, projected into the air above for everyone to see. Several were duplicated in their individual terminals. Sean reached out and adjusted the data windows into an easy-to-see grid.
Several contained surveillance stills taken from CCTV. Others looked to be photographs taken by satellites of long-haul trucks on desert highways. On
e contained fifteen seconds of video from a security feed, and Sean focused on that first. He expanded it, watching as the SUV with tinted windows drove through a toll gate on a highway in Dallas.
The man driving had been identified as one of the ex-Special Forces operatives who had escaped the raid on North Star International and thrown their lot in with Declan, according to the note tagged to it. Sean wasn’t interested in him, but the two people sitting in the middle seats. The camera angle wasn’t the best, but it caught a woman with her face turned toward them at a three-quarters angle, though her eyes were looking at the man beside her.
Dark hair tied into a functional braid, fashionable if serviceable clothes, and no fear on her thin face. She didn’t look like a victim, wasn’t bound in any noticeable way, but neither did she look like a fighter. If she was riding with Declan—and Sean would bet her seat partner was Declan even if the camera hadn’t gotten a clear shot of his face—then she was important.
“Who is she?” Sean asked.
“Ella Blanchett. A French socialite from a radical family with ties to the Libération Nationale Français. She was last seen in the company of the Dutchman,” Nazari said.
In the center of the conference room table, a holopic of Nikolaas Jansen snapped into existence. A facilitator of all things illegal, he was a metahuman with an empathic power beholden to Stanislav Pavluhkin and the Presnenskaya Bratva.
“Don’t tell me, sir,” Katie said flatly. “Jansen introduced them.”
“That’s the leading theory.”
The Libération Nationale Français was a terrorist group with the same goal in mind as the Presnenskaya Bratva—funding illegal Splice labs to create their own metahumans. The group had been responsible for taking Alpha Team hostage nearly two years ago and removing them from the country by way of a teleporter. That mission had resulted in Kyle and Alexei’s secret status as metahumans coming to light.
Sean remembered that time very clearly—the way everyone who could be recalled to base was ordered to help track them down. Dying in the field was always a possibility, but no one in the MDF had been prepared at the time to leave the missing behind. In the end, Alpha Team had made it back with information that had put them on a road that felt more and more like one Stanislav built, and not their own.
“Is the LNF negotiating an alliance with the Sons of Adam?” Jamie asked.
“It’s a possibility, but the EAMSG hasn’t seen any evidence of the LNF outsourcing their people. Blanchett may be an exception, but she’s a dangerous exception,” Nazari said.
The European Alliance Metahuman Security Group was the MDF’s equivalent across the Atlantic. Sean had worked several joint missions with their people and trusted what conclusions came from them.
“Metahuman?” Trevor asked.
“Yes. The EAMSG believes she holds a nullification power.”
Sean flattened his hand against the computer screen, ignoring the data streaming away from his fingertips. “Do you think she was the one deployed in Boston, sir?”
He could talk about Boston now outside the confidential walls of his therapist’s office, without feeling thrown off balance. Dr. Elizabeth O’Malley had helped him and Alexei immensely by guiding them through much-needed therapy for months after being rescued last November.
Of all the details Sean had read about the fight in Boston, the metahuman with the nullification power had stood out. That particular power was capable of disrupting other metahumans’ powers within a specified area. The null power acted as a kind of biological EMP and could be targeted or used in a broadly directed attack. Either form resulted in metahumans temporarily reverting back to a kind of human baseline, their powers disrupted and inactive.
Nazari nodded, mouth pressed into a grim line. “We believe that is the case.”
“Then what’s the plan?” Annabelle asked. She tucked a piece of her red hair behind one ear, keeping her hazel eyes trained on the director.
“Considering the firepower Declan had at his fingertips when running North Star International, we have to assume he kept back any number of military-grade weapons through falsified paperwork. Using the cruise missile in Arizona the other day proves the Sons of Adam and Declan’s people have access to weapons they shouldn’t.”
“So what is their target?” Madison asked. “They’re obviously on the move, but any idea on their final destination?”
“Washington, D.C.,” Jamie said, voice flat and even. “It’s where my father has been most often recently, it’s where I am, and it’s our nation’s capital. Stanislav is out for revenge, as is Declan. Attacking us here would send a powerful message.”
“Hate to be the devil’s advocate, but what if that’s what Stanislav wants us to think and the real target is somewhere else?” Donovan asked.
Madison made a face. “They could be heading anywhere.”
“There’s a State Dinner planned next week for the United Kingdom,” Katie pointed out. “Every senator and congressman, not to mention lobbyist, billionaire, and everyone else who thinks they’re important enough to deserve a spot are going to be there. The invitations were sent out weeks ago and people have been talking about it all across their social media accounts. That’s a hard target to pass up.”
Nazari held up a hand to forestall their conversation. “Our intelligence division’s assessment is that the State Dinner is a possible target, but not the only target. However, chatter and evidence is limited. There hasn’t been a spike on the dark web about a coming attack as of yet.”
“Then let’s go to the source.” Jamie leaned back in his chair, shifting his attention away from the director to point at Jansen’s image in the holopic floating above the conference table. “That source.”
“We will be. The MDF is partnering with the EAMSG and UMG to locate Jansen. He seems to have gone to ground after we instructed Interpol and the FBI to put out a red flag on him. The warning is he’s armed, dangerous, and a metahuman.”
Sean blinked, turning his head to look at the director. “Will that information impact the Senate hearing we’ve been ordered to attend in any way?”
Nazari nodded. “I’m counting on it. The four of you will be briefed by Legal tomorrow. For now, be advised that Alpha Team is on alert for an upcoming mission and none of you are to leave Washington, D.C. That includes you, Callahan.”
“I’ll let my father know,” Jamie said.
“If he has a problem with my order, tell me and I will deal with him. I’ll make sure he understands he’s not calling the shots here.”
Jamie nodded, seemingly unruffled by the dig at his father. Over the past six months or so, Sean had become more aware of Jamie’s issues with his family. It reminded Sean a lot of the strain that used to exist between him and his own family. Now that his parents and brothers knew the truth about him, Sean’s relationship with them had become less rocky, though there were still a lot of issues to work through. Jamie might not be living a life of lies, but he was being pulled in too many different directions, and everyone demanding his attention had a valid reason for doing so.
The debrief went on for another thirty minutes. Until the MDF and other agencies had a solid lead on Jansen’s location, there wasn’t much Alpha Team could do at the moment. Eventually, the director dismissed them from his presence and the team filed out of the conference room.
“So what now?” Trevor asked on their walk back to the elevators.
“Now, we wait,” Jamie said.
The weight of the ring box in his pocket was impossible to ignore and Sean mentally sighed. For once, he didn’t want to wait, but finding time alone with Alexei in the near future looked to be impossible.
I’ll make the time, Sean promised himself as he glanced at Alexei. The taller man was speaking quietly in Russian with Kyle, oblivious to his perusal.
Even if it were in the middle of a mission, Sean would find a way to propose to the man he loved.
5
Bury the Damned
The United States Capitol Building was an imposing, historic structure located at the eastern end of the National Mall. Its white pillared exterior and massive dome filled the sky as the small convoy of SUVs and Secret Service escort drove past it. Kyle caught a glimpse of the Capitol grounds through leafy trees, but his attention shifted moments later once it was behind them.
The closed session hearing this morning was happening in the Hart Senate Office Building, a structure that had been knocked down and rebuilt twice on the same lot over the past two hundred years or so to meet upgraded building-safety and security requirements. Each time, they rebuilt it bigger than the last, though zoning laws kept it at a low height of just twelve levels.
Taking up two city blocks now, and equipped with a scaled-down version of the energy shield that could surround MDF headquarters in an emergency, it was sleek and modern. Wide windows of bulletproof plas-glass let in sunlight and a rooftop garden was shaded by trees. The walkway up ahead leading to the main entrance was lined with statues of historical figures.
Kyle thought it was ugly.
“And the vultures are out,” Leah said with a disdainful sniff from her spot in the middle seat beside Katie.
Kyle stared out the front windshield at the large group of reporters waiting near the main entrance. “Didn’t they include secret underground tunnels the last time they rebuilt this place? Why couldn’t we have entered that way?”
“Not an option. It’s tradition to do a walk of shame in front of the cameras.”
“It’s what we expected,” Katie said.
After the pictures of Jamie and him chatting with Yulia Vitsina at the Empyrean brand party hit the media streams, the focus on Richard’s campaign had increased for all the wrong reasons. What the picture showed wasn’t technically illegal, it was just really fucking suspicious, and chatting up a foreign spy on company time didn’t look good in any light.
Kyle slouched a little in his seat. He, Alexei, and Sean were crammed together in the far back seat. Jamie, his parents, and their legal counsel were riding in the lead vehicle, with the Secret Service and the Callahans’ private security providing escort and protection through the heart of the nation’s capital.
In the Requiem (Metahuman Files Book 5) Page 7