Page 22 of A Touch of Treachery (Section 47 #3)
I told them about the envelope I’d received, then laid the invitation on the table. Everyone leaned forward and studied the handwritten note.
“Why would Henrika want you to attend her weapons auction, Ms. Locke?” General Percy said. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
I bristled at his snide implication. “I am not working with Henrika. I would never betray Section 47 like that.”
I would never betray Desmond like that. The words dangled on the end of my tongue, but I held them back. Reminding the General that I was involved with his son would not help my case.
General Percy kept glaring at me, suspicion stamped in every line in his wrinkled face.
“Perhaps all the times Henrika has tried to kill you are just a clever cover. Your father was quite adept at such deceptions, and I have no doubt he passed those skills down to you, Ms. Locke, along with his many insubordinate tendences.”
Anger flared in my chest, and I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but Gia cut me off.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Jethro,” the cleaner supervisor snapped. “We all know Charlotte isn’t involved with Henrika. You’re just pissed because Henrika wormed her way into your private email.”
A muscle twitched in the General’s jaw, but he didn’t deny her accusation.
“The real question is what are we going to do about the situation?” Gia’s dark gaze flicked to me. “Charlotte, are you familiar with the Winterfest event?”
“Yes, I did a deep dive into the charity and its finances last year when I first started tracking Henrika. Winterfest is exactly what she said—a weekend of games, activities, and events at the Glittertop Resort in southwest Virginia. The resort is one of the crown jewels of Henrika’s empire, and it has ski slopes, a luxury spa, gourmet restaurants, a golf course, and other attractions. ”
Diego hit some keys on his laptop, and more photos of the resort appeared on the screen. “The resort covers several thousand acres in the Appalachian Mountains. Not much else is around it. Lots of dirt roads and hiking trails, although the area is riddled with abandoned coal mines.”
“And the Winterfest event itself?” Joan asked in a skeptical voice. “Does it really raise money for charity?”
I nodded. “Yes. Every penny raised during the weekend goes to fund cancer research at legitimate companies, including Henrika’s. She even donates some of her own money.”
“Why would she do that?” Desmond asked.
I shrugged. “Henrika gets a lot of good press and a hefty tax write-off out of the event. Winterfest has become a hot ticket among the rich and wealthy, both mortal and paramortal.”
Evelyn tapped her pen on her notepad again. “And now Henrika is going to use all those people as cover to conduct her weapons auction,” she murmured, breaking out of her assistant role to make a rare comment. “You have to admire her audacity.”
“I don’t have to admire anything about that woman,” General Percy growled. “Now that we know where she’ll be, we’ll send in a strike team to capture her. The only thing Henrika will be enjoying this weekend are the dark confines of a Section black site.”
Gia shook her head. “You heard what Henrika said. If you go after her at the resort, she’ll turn on the guests.
We all know about the horrific biomagical weapons Henrika has developed.
If she has a big enough stockpile, especially of the Redburn explosive, she could kill every person at the resort. ”
“She could do that anyway, just for spite,” General Percy growled again.
“Yes, she could,” I replied. “But Henrika also loves to play games. She is literally a genius, and one of her main pleasures in life is proving how smart she is and beating people at their own games. In this case, she’s decided to turn her attention to Section 47.”
“Are you suggesting we actually go along with her demands, Ms. Locke?” Percy turned his icy glower back to me.
“This is the closest we’ve been to Henrika in months ,” I replied, struggling to keep my own voice calm in the face of his frosty anger. “She’s giving us a chance to play her game for a change. We can’t win if we don’t even sit down at the table.”
General Percy kept glaring at me, while everyone else glanced back and forth between us.
“Charlotte’s right,” Desmond chimed in. “Henrika blames Charlotte and me for keeping the Grunglass Necklace from her at the Halstead Hotel last year. And now she wants to get her revenge on us, along with the rest of Section 47.”
“But?” Percy demanded.
Desmond looked at his father. “But if there’s even the smallest chance we can recover the UC list before Henrika leaks it, then we have to take it. The lives of hundreds of Section agents are at stake, along with all the innocent civilians at the resort.”
Desmond glanced over at the film screen where Henrika’s face had been. Anger flared in his eyes, making them flash a bright silver-blue. “If Henrika wants to play a game, then I say we show her just how formidable Section 47 really is.”
“For Graham,” Joan added in a soft voice, her hand drifting up to the sword brooch pinned to her suit jacket.
Desmond nodded back at the liaison. “For Graham and all the other agents who died on the Blacksea mission.”
He looked over at his father. So did everyone else. General Percy drummed his fingers on the tabletop for several seconds, then his hand abruptly stilled and curled into a tight fist.
“Fine,” he growled again. “We’ll play her game—for now. But the second we get the chance, we’re taking down Henrika, along with everyone else who shows up for her auction.”