Casualties were inevitable in war.
When Katie initiated an uplink with Jansen in the home’s office Wednesday morning at 0900 sharp, the rest of the team was on hand to listen in and watch out of view of the camera feed as she greeted Jansen with a smile.
“Niko, good morning. Thanks for taking my call,” Katie said pleasantly.
“I’m surprised to hear from you so soon,” Niko replied. He looked tired through the uplink, as if he’d had another long night as a professional partier.
Katie shrugged and folded her hands together on the desk. She seemed cool and collected to Kyle’s eye, though it was anyone’s guess what Niko thought of her.
“I would have reached out to you last night, but it was after business hours and I thought you might be otherwise occupied. We’ve accessed the solid state drive you gave me during our lunch on Sunday and Root Source, Inc. is willing to work on the Saunders & Associates project.”
“You…accessed it.”
Someone quietly snorted; Kyle wasn’t sure who.
Katie gave Niko a closed-lipped smile. “I did say we would get the job done, did I not? While I didn’t realize when you assigned it to us that it would be a two-stage job—the encryption was a nice touch, but not impossible to overcome—we’re more than capable of completing something like this. I can set up a meeting with Mr. Saunders today if you like?”
“I—let me reach out to Mr. Saunders first.”
“If you think the introduction will go more smoothly that way, then by all means, get in touch with him.” Katie lifted one hand to tuck a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ears. “The testing of their firewall and other security systems will take several days before my company can recommend a viable fix. I understand, from your instructions on the drive, you’re looking for remote surveillance options?”
“Yes. Mr. Saunders, ah, travels a lot for his job. He’s very hands on, however, and likes to check in from wherever he’s staying, especially if there’s a problem. The remote access would be helpful, especially if the avenue itself is encrypted.”
Madison raised her hands and made air quotes while mouthing check in before rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner. They all knew who’d really be doing the remote accessing.
“That won’t be an issue to set up.”
“I suppose not if you managed to crack the solid state drive’s security.” Niko didn’t exactly sound happy about that fact, but it was the job he asked them to do. He probably hadn’t thought they’d be successful.
“Now that you know my company can do the work you require of us, we do need to know who we will be contracting with. You mentioned before that it wouldn’t be Oksana, but that a meet could happen at the gala. Jamie wants that meeting to go forward.”
“I was under the impression this was your company, Ekaterina.”
“It’s my company, Niko, but Jamie is my captain, in or out of the Marine Corps.”
“I see.” On the uplink, Niko pasted a wide smile on his face. “Please let Jamie know that we expect to see you all at the gala Friday night. A meeting with my employer isn’t guaranteed—”
“I’m sure whoever it is wouldn’t dream of passing up a chance to meet Jamie Callahan. He’s quite the businessman, after all. They’ll have plenty to speak about.”
Niko’s momentary pause before speaking was telling. “We’ll see. I’ll have you down on the list as a party of two?”
“Four,” Katie corrected. “My COO and CFO will also be attending. A networking chance like this in a foreign market is not one I’m willing to pass up. We’ll all be on hand to work.”
“You strike me as an exacting boss, Ekaterina.”
“You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Jamie giving orders in the field. Thank you for the gala invite, Niko. We look forward to meeting with your employer.”
Katie cut the uplink before he could respond. Only then did she wipe the bland smile off her face. “I don’t think he expected us to hack the drive.”
“Probably not so soon, but he should’ve known the gala would be a good incentive for us to try,” Sean said from his seat on one of the leather armchairs situated in front of the desk. The chair was angled enough that he’d been out of eyesight of the uplink feed and camera.
Jamie straightened up from where he was leaning against the wall near the door. “Good job, Katie.”
She propped her chin on her hand and closed down the holoscreens with the other. The spread of data on the screen embedded in the desk went opaque. “You realize I’m going to need a dress?”
“You realize you get to wrangle Alexei into a tux?”
Kyle cackled at his brother’s squawk of indignation from farther down the hall. Katie wrinkled her nose. “Dress shopping was supposed to be fun. Now you’ve turned it into a punishment.”
“You find your dress. I’ll find Alexei and me something to wear. I’ve been to a few things like this before. I know what the dress code is like,” Sean said.
“Pretty sure working the streets for drug deals as a member of the Irish mob isn’t a job that would lend itself to high-class gala fundraisers,” Kyle said, unable to help himself. It was a little reflexive, to be honest. His own history with his biological father and the Irish mob meant he was biased in a big way against that criminal organization.
“That’s not the only cover I’ve held.”
“You’re just full of surprises.”
Sean made a face as he stood up, but didn’t seem inclined to argue with Kyle. He slipped out of the office to go do his own preparations for the day. Kyle caught Alexei’s eye over Trevor’s shoulder and rapidly hand-signaled him to watch his back.
Alexei rolled his eyes but signaled back an affirmative, then flipped him off.
It was still early enough that the shops they needed to go to weren’t open, but the 24/7 customer service lines most design houses manned for their rich clients meant Katie was able to book an appointment on extremely short notice, as was Sean. They ended up name-dropping Jamie in order to be seen right away, with the design houses verifying their ties through the credit card company handling the account Jamie was using to fund this mission. The reimbursement of everything was going to be killer for the government when it was all said and done. Jamie wasn’t skimping on cost when it came to what they needed.
After the others left for their appointments, and Jamie holed himself up in the office Katie had vacated, Kyle immersed himself in doing some groundwork on the gala. Liam had dropped off another solid state drive last night, along with their approved orders, detailing out the history of the type of fundraiser someone like Jansen would frequent. They weren’t exactly on the up-and-up, but a mix of civic-minded people helped hide the men and women who led double lives as criminal entrepreneurs. Jansen’s skill in blackmail ensured that even people who didn’t want to be there showed up, lending an air of legitimacy to the whole thing.
The Fifth Annual Winter Gala was overseen by a charity that was transparent in their dealings—to a point. Administrative costs were through the roof compared to other charities who put together the same kind of fundraising drives that brought in the wealthy for a night of schmoozing in historical places. Last year they’d held it at some lord’s country estate. At least this time it would be held within London, but monitoring and securing the area was still going to be a logistical nightmare.
Annabelle joined him in the living room after a while, curling up at the other end of the couch with tablet in hand to start sharing in his workload. She grabbed the cashmere throw blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself, tucking her bare feet under the edge of it.
“What year are you lookin’ at?” she asked.
“Inaugural,” Kyle replied.
“I’ll get started on the one after.”
They didn’t have analysts on hand to distill the excessive amount of information into something digestible. That job was left to the team around everything else they were doing, des
pite the UMG’s distant help. Liam could only come around so often; he had his own habits he needed to uphold so as to not make anyone watching suspicious. His visits coincided with information drops, and it was up to them to figure out the answers they needed.
Kyle wasn’t all that great with research like this. Give him a gun and a target and he was solid, but trying to figure out who might show up this year based on past invite lists was tedious. The charity didn’t reveal names save for their guests of honor that were used to drive ticket sales. They had to trawl the internet for information buried in society blogs and other websites using a quickly built algorithm search Katie had coded for them to use last night. It shortened some search avenues, but the information it gathered still needed a human mind to pick it apart.
Jamie came out periodically to check on them and take any update they had before heading back into the office. Whatever he was working on, he ended up handing it off to the UMG agent disguised as a courier delivering a package later that day.
Katie and the others arrived back in midafternoon, laden down with clothes in protective covers and bags of shoes and accessories.
“<
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“Annabelle, you want a sandwich?” Kyle asked.
“Roast beef. All the fixin’s,” she said, not looking up from her tablet.
“Make mine turkey, Lyosha.”
Everyone started yelling out their preferences and Alexei made a show of throwing his hands up in mock defense. “I make all kinds, you eat what’s there.”
The team buckled down and picked comfortable spots throughout the first floor to work in. Katie set up camp at the dining room table to focus her attention on the Saunders & Associates angle, taking business calls through the rest of the afternoon and into early evening. Everyone made it a point to keep her tea topped up while they monitored the coffee pot and went through several refills.
By the time evening rolled around, Kyle’s brain was full of information and he desperately needed a break to process it all. Donovan had started work on dinner—three whole roast chickens and pasta carbonara because it was easy and filling—when Kyle finally got up from the couch and stretched until his spine popped. He left his tablet on the coffee table and made his way to the office down the hall.
He hadn’t seen Jamie in a couple of hours. When Kyle knocked on the door and didn’t get a response, he pushed it open and slipped inside. One quick glance at the control panel by the door told him Jamie had the privacy blackout mode going, along with the soundproofing.
“It’s going to be a viper’s nest of criminals and I can’t shoot any of them. Do you know how aggravating that is?” Kyle said.
Jamie didn’t look up from the 3D map of London he was studying and the overlay markers that popped out with specific field notations. “We all find it aggravating. We’ll make do.”
“What are you working on? Plan B or C?”
Jamie zoomed in on the view, focusing on the intersection of Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road. “Neither. I’m modifying the plan of attack that the UMG sent me today. Some members of the Royal Legion will be coming in with us. Liam can’t afford to lend even a shadow of the Crown’s support to the gala, so he’ll be on standby outside, holding down a perimeter.”
The clipped tone had Kyle narrowing his eyes. He didn’t remember Jamie coming out for sandwiches earlier and Kyle couldn’t be sure anyone had brought one to him. “Have you eaten anything since breakfast?”
“I’ll eat later.”
“It’s almost 1930. Dinner’s not ready yet, but it will be soon.”
“Then I’ll eat when it’s done.”
Kyle flattened his hands on the desk, fingers falling through color images of buildings and streets. “You need a break. You’ve been in here all day.”
“I need to finish this.”
“The next exchange won’t happen until Liam comes around tomorrow, right?” Kyle took Jamie’s silence as an affirmative. “Take a break, Jamie. Your frustration is just going to piss you off and that’s no good for anyone. Come on. One hour. If it’ll make you feel better, you can debrief us over dinner.”
Jamie finally looked up, blinking rapidly, as if to clear his vision. His blue eyes were tired and dull, brows furrowed from concentration. “Anything important I need to know?”
“Other than the fact I can’t shoot any of the bastards? No. Groundwork is coming along.”
Kyle watched as Jamie straightened up from leaning over the desk and rubbed tiredly at his face. “I guess this can wait.”
“It can,” Kyle agreed.
Jamie came around the desk and would’ve headed straight for the door, but Kyle caught him by the arm, stopping his forward momentum. Jamie turned to face him, a questioning look in his eyes. He was in a suit, sans jacket, clothes that worked for his cover but were part of his civilian wardrobe as well. Kyle lifted his hands to Jamie’s tie, gently loosening the knot.
“I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere tonight. You should probably get out of this and into something more comfortable,” Kyle decided.
Jamie managed a teasing, if tired smile at that statement. “Is that a ploy to get me out of my clothes?”
“Nah, it’s just me watching out for you.”
Kyle tugged on Jamie’s tie and pulled him down into an easy kiss that swiftly turned into another. They were technically home, surrounded by the team despite Sean’s presence, so neither thought twice of showing affection behind a closed door.
Except it wasn’t locked, and Kyle would kick himself for that later, alone, after the fear bled out, if it ever did.
“Jamie, why is your entire team—”
Jamie jerked away from Kyle, the tie sliding through Kyle’s suddenly lax fingers as they both snapped their heads around to where Leah Callahan stood in the office doorway, with Katie and Sean standing behind her with wide eyes.
“Leah?” Jamie got out in a shocked voice.
Shit, Kyle thought weakly through the white noise static in his mind.
11
Blood in the Water
Jamie’s thoughts screeched to an ugly halt in his head before his brain kicked back into gear. His sister’s surprise was rapidly morphing into anger, the kind of icy fury he knew well from his mother’s reaction to the decisions she didn’t approve of when it came to his life. Jamie had forgotten that Leah was more like their mother than their father in all the ways that mattered.
“What are you doing here?” Jamie asked, taking a step toward her. “Please tell me you didn’t bring any friends with you.”
“Not after Mother said you were using the Kensington house, which you never do. What is going on?” Leah’s gaze darted from him to Kyle and back again, brows furrowing. “What is this?”
“You didn’t answer my question, Leah.”
“Oh, don’t you dare give me your captain’s voice, Jamie. I’m not one of your subordinates. I’m your sister.”
“Who should’ve known better not to interrupt a mission,” Jamie snapped back.
“I didn’t know you were on a mission!”
Jamie stared at her, turning her words over in his head. “Our parents didn’t tell you?”
“As if they tell me anything about your choices other than to disagree with them.”
Leah folded her arms over her chest, planting herself in the doorway. Out in the hall, Katie hand signaled at Jamie they were leaving before grabbing Sean and hauling him away. Jamie s
hoved aside his worry about Sean witnessing him and Kyle kissing—a little voice in the back of his head wondered if he could blame it on their cover of needing to be together—before he gestured at Leah to come farther into the office.
“Kyle?” Jamie asked tightly.
“Yeah, I’m gone,” Kyle said, slipping out of the room without looking at him.
Jamie bit back a growl of frustration as Leah moved out of the way so Kyle could close the door behind him. Leah looked at the holographic map of London Jamie still had up and the glowing command windows lining the desk with far too much curiosity. Jamie closed everything with a quick verbal order the computer instantly obeyed.
“What are you doing here?” he asked again, turning to face his sister.
“I was in Paris, remember? I said I was leaving New York for a bit.”
“If you were in Paris, what made you come here?”
“I got an invitation to a gala from a friend.”
Jamie went still, mind latching onto that revelation. “Close friend?”
Leah shrugged. “More a friend of a friend. It looked like a fun.”
Jamie knew his sister wasn’t one to turn down a party, so long as it was worth her time, but the timing was suspect. Anger, sudden and biting, coursed through him at the thought of someone playing with his sister’s life. “Was it by chance the Winter Gala being held at the Victoria and Albert Museum?”
“Yes. Did you get an invite as well?”
“You could say that. It’s our mission.”
Leah blinked owlishly at him. “Come again?”
“I’m not discussing it with you because you don’t have the clearance to know what’s going on. Suffice to say you aren’t going to that gala, Leah. I’d put you on a jet going home if I thought it’d do me any good.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Leah retorted. “If I want to go to the gala, then I’m going!”
“Like hell you are,” Jamie ground out. “This isn’t a game, Leah. That gala is a front for criminal activity and I’m not risking your life.”
“Are you just saying that so I won’t go or is that the truth?”
In the Ruins (Metahuman Files Book 2) Page 22