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“Okay, I suppose. Apart from believing Mithras would either be in custody or dead if I’d been on my own.”
“While you and I share a frustration with the slow-moving cogs of the more visible intelligence agencies, I caution you to play along, as I did before.”
“Understood.”
“And with Poseidon?”
She sighed. “You are like a dog with a bone.”
“Answer the question, Oleander.”
“There is no difference between my interaction with him and anyone else working this mission. We are all professionals.”
I raised a brow.
“I do wish you’d let this go.”
“I will when you tell me the truth.” She was well aware my reference had nothing to do with her boyfriend. It was her obsession with finding Mithras I wanted her to confide in me.
“So this is why you went through the ridiculous exercise of staging a private call rather than pass me information that could’ve easily been sent via secure message.”
“If necessary, I can assist the coalition myself, then I can find out what’s really going on.”
O laughed. “An idle threat. You’d sooner slit your own throat than put up with the tedium of, what did you call it? Slow-moving cogs?”
“Stay alive, Oleander. You’re needed here,” I said before disconnecting the feed.
In the next report I received from Hornet, he said Oleander had requested immediate transport to Egypt and that she was taking a crew to the Pernicious, while another team remained in Sharm el-Sheikh.
I’d anticipated such a reaction. Her only reason for wanting to interrogate those being held in Corradino was to learn where Mithras had been transported. Since I’d passed on the intel I received, she had no reason to remain in Malta.
What I hadn’t expected was to receive a call from Z a few hours later.
“Oleander’s yacht is under attack. We fear all on board are dead.”
I put my head in my hands. “What evidence do you have to support this?”
“No communication whatsoever.”
“There is a safe room in the hull. If Oleander believed they couldn’t fight off the attack, that’s where she would’ve ordered everyone to go.”
“Wait—”
“What’s happening, Z?”
“Cayman led a dive team out after I was able to secure an MDX-940.”
There could only be one reason they needed the device. “And?”
“He’s reported six explosives on the underside of the Pernicious.”
“Bloody fucking hell.” I slammed my fist on the table when Z abruptly ended the call. First, the Countess. Now, Oleander.
I put my head in my hands again, knowing chances were good I was about to lose two agents under my command. It didn’t matter that they knew the risk inherent to any mission—more so one assigned from the unit. My fear was the same as I’d experience if any member of my family was in danger of losing their lives.
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ELIZA