Page 54 of Baby Take Me Home

“Sorry,” she said, but I didn’t know whether it was to me or to Kessler.

And then she was bundled into the car and taken away. I climbed into the passenger seat of our car as Penn took the wheel, announced my presence to X and whomever else was on the line with her, and braced myself for the tongue-lashing of a lifetime.

* * *

Ashlee

I satat the conference table inside the SCIF at HEAT headquarters. I was familiar with the concept of it as a place where classified documents could be created and read, and classified conversations could occur, but I’d never been inside one. Right now, it just looked like a conference room where we weren’t allowed to bring our personal electronic devices. But the mood inside the SCIF was like a wake for a dearly departed loved one.

In a way, that’s what it was. They all loved their team, their agency, and each other, and all of that might be coming to an end. They needed a miracle. It just so happened, I had one. Now I had to work up the courage to admit it and tell them how I had betrayed them to obtain it.

TJ, sitting at the head of the table and to my right, pinched the bridge of his nose. The rest of the Alpha Team seated around the table was engaged in various versions of avoiding eye contact with me and each other. Only X was on her feet, dressed in her signature black, today in a sleeveless dress and heeled sandals.

I had just joined the team’s 9 a.m. meeting, having been brought here by Cynthia at X’s request. It was the first time I’d seen TJ since we’d been driven away from the parking garage last night. If he’d been able to visit me during the night, I would have already unburdened myself. The waiting had only made it so much harder.

“Tell me we’re at least sure the FBI and Interpol will act on our information from Kovac’s office,” Mai said. “That might not completely destroy the Carbonados, but it will do serious damage.”

“They’ll rebuild unless we can take down their protectors like Calder,” X said without interrupting her pacing.

“There has to be a way to do that,” Alder said, although she provided no statistics on the likelihood of a solution, maybe because she thought the number was too close to zero.

“There is,” I said quietly. When no one responded, I realized I hadn’t spoken above a whisper. I cleared my throat.

“Is something wrong, Ash?” TJ watched me with concern.

I hoped his look didn’t turn to disdain when he heard what I’d done. “There is a way to take down Calder.” I slid two fingers into my shorts pocket and fished out the tiny mini recorder disk.

Jason whistled. “That is some serious old-school tech, right there.”

“Do you have a player?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not in here. Maybe in the tech room, but maybe not. It’s been a while.”

“Can you bring mine in here?” I asked.

He glanced at TJ, then X. “I’ve already scanned it. It’s clean.”

TJ nodded and Jason left to retrieve my device, which was with our personal electronics in a safe outside the room.

“Do you want to tell us what this is about?” TJ asked. The furrow in his brow had deepened and he was frowning. “What is that, and where and when did you get it?”

Jason returned with my player and set it in front of me.

“I recorded this last night,” I said. I dropped my voice. “During the power outage.”

TJ winced, apparently processing my meaning before even hearing the recording. I slid the tape into the player and hit play before he could ask more questions.

“And I’m telling you, I don’t trust her, Kovac.” Senator Calder’s voice filled the room.

TJ reached across the table and pushed the recorder’s off button. “What the hell have you done?”

I glanced around the room. No one other than TJ would look at me except X, who had stopped moving and now stood with her arms crossed over her chest, boring holes into my skull with her unblinking gaze. I swallowed hard and looked down at the table.

“I recorded a conversation between Luka Kovac and Senator Calder,” I stated the obvious.

“Jensen, when we’re done here, make a backup of that and run a transcript,” TJ said. He started to speak again, then huffed and sat back in his chair. It looked like he was fighting to control his anger.

“We wouldn’t have sent a civilian into that house if we’d known you were going to expose yourself to that kind of danger,” X said.