Page 27

Joey

It took a few more hours, and several heated calls to Orchestra, to get Erin, Dad, and me signed on as consultants before anyone was in a position to interview Leland Buckner. Plenty of time for us to bring Erin and Dad completely up to speed with everything.

To say that Erin was pissed that none of us, including George, had come to her and let her know what was going on was like saying the Hindenburg had had a minor run of bad luck with a matchstick.

Now, Callum and I stood in a narrow room facing a one-way mirror. We’d been allowed to watch the interrogation unfold, as George deemed it good training for the future. Erin had eventually, and reluctantly, agreed, but only under the proviso that we remain in this room or watch via the TV in the office. At no point were we allowed anywhere near Leland.

When George had readily agreed to her request, I began wondering exactly how much say Erin still had in the agency, even after several years on the outside. Just how high and far did her reach go?

With my head tilted to the side and my arms crossed, I watched the man who had tormented me for days and Callum for months. Callum sat on the table behind me, his legs spread so I could lean against his chest with his arms wrapped around my waist and his chin resting against on my shoulder.

“He looks tired, doesn’t he?” Callum murmured into my ear.

“Mm,” I hummed in agreement, nodding slightly, even as my eyes narrowed to appraise our antagonist. It made sense for him to be tired, as it would have to be pushing three in the morning at this point. “He looks… smaller.”

His clothes rumpled, Leland sat slumped in an uncomfortable white plastic picnic chair, alone in the small, yet brightly lit room opposite us. The walls were a gunmetal gray, with a door to the left of us the only way in or out, and only two other white chairs and a white trestle table the other furniture in the room. The window we looked through spanned the length of the wall, allowing more people to join us later.

Just as Leland was currently alone in the interrogation room, Callum and I were alone in the viewing room, but that would all change soon enough.

Marcy was the first person to enter our room, sitting down and switching on the computer that was on the long shelf in front of us. After it finished booting, it showed four different points of view from the various hidden cameras in the interrogation room’s ceiling. She sat back in her chair and looked over at us. “You don’t have to be here for this, you know. This’ll all be recorded so you can watch it back later.”

A sense of determination came over me. She was right. I didn’t need to be here, but I wanted to. I wanted to see the man who had threatened my family, everything I held dear, and see him get what he deserved. Staring at Leland, I made absolutely no effort to move from where Callum held me steady. “Yeah, I know.”

She shrugged, turning back to watch the silent man opposite. Her hands rested on the armrests like she was getting ready to get up but was holding off for some reason. Her chair spun from side to side, fidgeting as she waited.

As time went on, I felt the need to fill the silence. “How’s Kiddo?”

Marcy glanced at me, then back at Leland. She chewed her plush bottom lip a little before she sighed. “He’ll be okay. He’s asleep at the moment and will probably stay that way for the next twelve hours or more.” She shrugged slightly. “I’ve been told in the past that suddenly having other people in your head can be exhausting. We have someone on their way to help him adjust and get trained. They should be here later tomorrow.”

“Good.”

Tama and Bailey were the next to arrive, entering the interrogation room and standing in opposite corners.

Leland flinched when he saw Tama, leaning as far away from him as he could get without falling out of his chair.

Tama simply stood there, his fierce face unreadable and his thick arms crossed in front of him.

Silently, Bailey crept up behind Leland while his focus was on Tama. He leaned down so he could speak directly into Leland’s ear. “He’s not the one you need to be worried about, Leland,” Bailey said at a normal speaking volume, but because he was speaking so closely next to Leland’s ear, it must have seemed like he’d been shouting.

Leland flinched, shifting the chair he was sitting on to the side in his attempt to get away from Bailey.

Chuckling wickedly, Bailey flicked the top of Leland’s ear before he stepped back into his designated corner, while Leland glared at him and rubbed his ear.

“I have rights, you fucks,” Leland said angrily, looking from Bailey to a stoic Tama and back again.

“Not in here, you don’t,” Bailey responded with an impassive shrug as he leaned back into the corner, relaxing with his hands firmly in his pants pockets.

Silence fell in the room for long minutes while we all waited, with Leland growing progressively more agitated with the fact that Tama kept staring at him without moving a single muscle.

Pippa and Dad were the next to arrive with Pippa opening the door to our room and ushering Dad in. He came to stand next to Callum and me while Pippa sat down next to Marcy.

“Where’s Erin?” I asked.

Without taking his eyes off Leland, Dad responded, “She’ll be interrogating him with George.”

I raised an eyebrow at that but remained quiet. I’d seen hints earlier about how different she was professionally compared to the fiery personality she had at home. When working, she was almost glacial in her demeanor, while at home, she was fiery and fun, and everything in between. I was curious to see how that would translate in an interrogation environment.

“They’ve worked together like this in the past many times,” Pippa said absently while she fussed with the PC and screen in front of her and Marcy. “They use footage of some of their best interrogations as part of our training.”

Huh. That meant I’d likely get to see them too when I worked through my own training.

I was broken out of my musings when the door to the interrogation room opened, and Erin and George walked in. George carried a thin manila folder in his hand, tapping it against his thigh with every step he took. Erin carried a large bottle of water.

“Has he been given any food or water?” I asked. We’d all been here for hours and had nibbled on things as we went from call to call earlier, drinking copious amounts of coffee when we needed more energy. The way Leland had been sitting earlier made me think he hadn’t, but I could have been wrong.

“No,” Marcy replied crisply.

I nodded shallowly, wondering if the appearance of the water bottle made Erin the good cop to George’s bad.

After glancing longingly at the water, Leland’s focus narrowed on George, his eyes almost closing in fury until I was sure there was no way he could see clearly anymore. Right there in front of me was clear evidence of how much he loathed George.

“Hello, Leland. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” George began, pleasant but with a hint of a bite to his tone, as he settled into the seat opposite Leland. Erin relaxed into the remaining seat, placing the bottle of water on the ground next to her. “It appears you’ve been busy.”

Leland sneered. “Like you’d know.”

Shrugging, George stated the time, his name and ID out loud. Erin followed suit, reeling her ID off like it was muscle memory. Even after so many years away, it probably was. Bailey spoke up last, announcing both his and Tama’s names and IDs.

“Tama doesn’t talk much, does he?” I said to Callum.

He chuckled, as did Marcy and Pippa. “He can actually be a bit of a chatterbox.”

Huh. I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, preferring to zone back in on what was happening in front of us, rather than wondering at the enigma that Tama presented himself to be.

Erin reached across the table and rested her hand palm up. “Please take my hand, Mr Buckner.”

“Why?” Leland’s eyes snapped to hers. “So you can screw with my head like that fucker did earlier?” He pointed at Tama. “No, thanks. I’d like to keep my brain-cells precisely where they are, thank you.”

Erin sighed but didn’t move her hand. “Leland, I’m sure that you’re aware that I’m a low-level telepath. I’m only here to confirm that you’re telling the truth when you speak.”

He nodded once, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Yeah. You’re also a high-level psychometrist. I don’t want you digging around in my brain while you search for buried treasure.” He sat back in his seat and shoved his hands under his armpits. “You can join up with this fucker—” He indicated to George with his chin. “—and go fuck yourselves. Preferably with monster-sized, spiked dildos.”

Without removing her hand from the table, Erin chuckled and looked towards Bailey. “Oh, how cute. He’s offering me a good time, and he hasn’t even bought me dinner first.”

Bailey strode forward and slammed Leland’s head onto the table. With Leland’s hands buried in his armpits, he had no way to stop his forehead from hitting the firm vinyl. “Be nice to the lady, fuck-knuckle. She only wants to hold your hand.”

With blood trickling from his left nostril, Leland looked dazed as he sat up, a nice egg-shaped lump already forming next to his left eyebrow. “How am I supposed to answer questions if you give me brain damage?” he slurred.

Erin held her hand up and wiggled her fingers at him like she was waving. “Telepath, remember? You just have to think it, and I’ll be able to hear it.”

“Fuck. You.” He raised a hand to feel the lump on his forehead.

Bailey let him for a second before taking hold of his wrist in one hand and Leland’s neck in the other and wrenched them both down to the tabletop so Erin could grab his hand. Leland struggled, but both Bailey and Erin held him firmly in place.

“Thank you, Bailey,” Erin said sweetly. “You’re such a gentleman.”

Dad snorted next to me. “Christ, she’s really enjoying this, isn’t she?”

“There’s a reason why she’s known in our circles,” Marcy agreed quietly, her eyes never leaving the scene in front of us. “It was a tremendous loss when she gave it all up to marry you.”

“Why?” Dad asked, his confusion obvious. “It’s clear how much she loves this.”

Marcy shrugged. “She loved you more.”

I smiled as Dad stilled. His love for Erin had always been transparent, but I now wondered if he’d ever felt as confident in her love for him until this very moment when someone he barely knew pointed it out to him so matter-of-factly. Reaching out, I rested my hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, my smile growing wider when he patted my hand with his and let out a shaky puff of air.

“Oh, you have been busy,” Erin said as she smiled like a Cheshire, her hand gripping Leland’s, and her eyes glazing over as she read him.

Even with his head turned to the side on the table, he snarled at her and tried again to get out of their grip but failed, Bailey bracing him in place by the side of his head.

George opened his folder, withdrew what looked like an enlarged copy of the polaroid that I’d seen earlier and held it up so Leland could see it. “Let’s start with something simple. This was found in an agent’s house approximately six weeks ago. Did you take the photo?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Yes, he took the photo. And you’re proud of that, aren’t you?” Erin asked, tilting her head to the side, the smile dropping from her face as venom filled her eyes instead of the glazed look she had when she was reading. “As an aside, Leland, that picture is of my son. I don’t appreciate his privacy being violated like that.”

He glared at her and clamped his lips together.

George put the image upside down and to the side, then picked up the next one. It looked like a traffic still, but I didn’t understand the relevance. Once more, George held it in front of Leland’s face so he could see it. “This was taken last night when the same agent and his partner were being followed. Is this your vehicle, Leland?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Leland, you’re just being repetitive now,” Bailey muttered, shaking his head. “Where’s the creativity in your language? The pizazz? The originality? Take some pride in your work, man, for Christ’s sake.”

“Fuck—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bailey said, rolling his eyes. “Heard it the first million times. Jesus.”

“He’s fighting me.” Erin narrowed her glazed over eyes and leaned slightly over the table. “How are you fighting me, Leland?”

“Fuck—”

Bailey lifted Leland’s head by his hair and slammed it down on the table again. “I told you to be nice, Leland. Answer the nice lady’s question.”

Leland snarled, before spitting out, “Not my car.”

Erin frowned, but said, somewhat hesitantly, “True.” Without letting go of his hand, she got up from her chair and came around the desk to get closer to Leland. “How are you blocking me, Leland?”

“Fuck. You.”

Erin’s lips tightened into a straight line as she stared at Leland, before giving a subtle nod to George to continue.

“Do you know who was following them?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Unclear, although I’m getting the sense that he does. How are you blocking me, Leland?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Do you know why they were being followed?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Oh, he definitely knows because the thought lit him up like a Christmas tree, but I can’t get a clear read. How are you blocking me, Leland?”

“Fuck—”

“Yeah, yeah. Fuck me.” Erin looked at Bailey in amusement. “It sure looks like I’m getting lucky tonight. My husband will be so thrilled.”

Dad snorted again, while both Callum and I cringed. Even when we both knew Erin was just playing, neither of wanted to think about our parents fucking.

“Oh, hang on. What was that?” Erin stopped and focused hard on Leland’s eyes. “I had it for a second… Let me chase…” Her eyes widened and she stepped back.

“You think you’re all so powerful,” Leland spat, his head still pressed flat against the table. “Just because you have abilities that us normies don’t.”

Erin’s mouth opened and closed before she focused on George, a look of horror taking over her face.

“You never could see me coming, could you, old man?” Leland continued, an evil smile emerging on his face. “What makes you think you could see any of us coming?”

Erin let go of Leland’s hand like it had burned her and took another step back. “Oh, God…”

Bailey held Leland where he was but kept shooting confused looks between Erin and George.

“It’s not like the old days, old man.” Leland struggled to slide his head around on the table so he could glare at George. “Two decades ago, you put me away. We’ve learned a lot since then.”

George watched Leland silently, slowly putting his paperwork back in his folder as he let him speak.

“How close do you think we’ve got, huh? Close enough to get to your family?” Leland laughed mirthlessly. “It was easy enough to get to Callum. Then Joey. Even you, Princess Petrichor.”

Erin paled. “How do you know that name?”

“How do we not? You’re famous. Didn’t you know?” Leland laughed again. “Famous little Petrichor and her mentor Zookeeper.” He slid his eyes to the window. “I bet Locksmith is behind the window, isn’t she? Hello, Marcy. How’s your husband, Carmine?”

“Fuck.” Marcy pushed back from the table and fled the room, leaving Pippa in charge of the cameras.

“What—” I started asking before Callum pushed me away from him.

“Carmine’s Marcy’s husband,” Callum said urgently. “He’s at home with their baby. Alone.” He looked at me pointedly before rushing out the door after her.

“Oh, God.” I stared back through the window at what was going on in the interrogation room. Had we missed something? We’d all been so focused on Callum and me, and how it all fit with George. Should we have spread the net wider? Looked at the team more?

“It sure would be a pity if I missed my check-in time, wouldn’t it?” Leland asked mock-innocently. “Oops.”

Frantically, Bailey looked over his shoulder at Tama, who was showing the first signs of worry.

Tama stepped forward, earning George’s attention. George shook his head ever so slightly, and Tama hesitantly stopped, his hands dropping to his sides, clenching and unclenching in his agitation.

“What about Mary, old man?” Leland taunted. “You think you can still protect her here? Where she’s away from her friends? Her family?”

George paled, even when his eyes went black.

“And there he goes,” Leland said, humor clear in his tone. “Trusting his tricksy, unreliable sight, when he couldn’t even see me coming, a lowly normie.”

Frowning in concentration, George held the edge of the table and focused harder.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have kept me waiting for so long. Old. Man.” Leland cackled.

“No…” George whispered, pushing away from the table so hard the manila folder went flying. “What did you do?” he asked Leland, horror in his voice. Pure pain and anguish filled his face as he dove across the table at Leland, who was an easy target, considering Bailey still had him pinned. “What did you do??”

A scream filled the air, not from the interrogation room, but outside. A mournful, pain-filled wail that went on and on and on, echoing through both rooms.

Everyone left in the narrow room looked towards the entry at the sound.

“Marcy…” Pippa froze, the blood draining from her face before she, too, darted out the door, leaving me and Dad to look at each other in horror before we refocused on what was going on in the interrogation room.

“There it is…” Leland sang gleefully, even while Bailey was wrangling him to the ground and away from George, who was tangling with both Erin and Tama. “The sweet sound of victory.”

“Shut him down!” Erin shouted above the racket, grabbing Tama’s hand and slamming it against George’s arm. “Shut him down now!”

“No!” George screamed as he fought Tama’s hold with everything he had. “Mary!”

“It’s amazing what difference having a mole in your team can make, huh, old man?” Leland yelled before cackling hysterically.

“Oh, God…” I said, grabbing onto Dad’s wrist in concern. “There is a mole… George said there was, but with everything else…”

“What?” Dad asked, flinging his horrified eyes between what was going on in the interrogation room and me. “What mole? Joey, what the hell is going on?”

“So much. So, so much…” I stared at the melee in the room in front of us, then at the computer screens still showing that they were recording everything.

“Get him out,” Erin ordered Tama in between George’s pain-filled sobs, pointing at the door. She rolled off George to allow Tama to drag him towards the door, even though George was kicking and screaming. Once they were out, she turned on Leland. “You.”

His only response was more unhinged laughter.

Erin righted the chairs and table that had been flipped over, before gathering the scattered paperwork from George’s manila folder, then sitting down. She took a deep, calming breath and stared at Leland like the ice queen she could be when pushed far enough. “Sit his ass down,” she ordered Bailey, pointing at the seat opposite her.

“Oh, shit,” Dad murmured. “She’s getting her claws out.”

Wordlessly, I nodded in agreement.

Without a word, Bailey did as she asked, picking Leland up by the neck grip he’d used before and plonked him in his seat, forcing his head to the tabletop much like earlier.

Erin rested her hands on the table, interlacing her fingers. “You seem to know a lot about me and this team, Leland, so let me make one thing perfectly clear to you.”

Both Dad and I gulped, and we weren’t even the ones she was talking to.

“I don’t know how you’re able to block me, but I don’t really care anymore.” She let go of her fingers enough so she could crack her knuckles before interlacing them again. “If you know so much about me, then you’ll know that I have connections. Connections I kept up with after I left the agency.” She tapped one thumb against the other and licked her lips. “One of those connections goes by the name of Coalminer . Do you know who that is, Leland?”

Both Dad and I leaned forward when the blood drained from Leland’s already pale face and went quiet. Even Bailey looked up at Erin in shock.

“Good. I can see that you do,” Erin continued calmly, her gaze drifting to her hands resting on the folder and ignoring Leland entirely. “See, the thing about Coalminer is that even though he’s young, he’s built himself an impressive reputation of being the best at dragging information out of someone, no matter what their defenses are.” She paused to take another slow breath in, releasing it deliberately. “He can literally get anything out of a person, but there’s a downside, and I think this is why you know his name. Apparently, the process can be truly unbearable if the person fights him.”

She leaned forward so she could glare deeply into Leland’s eyes. “After what you’ve done tonight and with how hard you fought me, I truly hope that Coalminer dives deep inside your puny little brain and that you fight him every step of the way for the information we need to stop the cartel you work for.”

A terrified shiver went up my spine at hearing Erin’s icy words. Judging by how Dad reacted, I had a feeling he felt the same way.

“I hope you fight him, and it burns . I hope it boils your insides until you lay there screaming like George and Marcy did tonight, while you’re encased in a block of ice that Tama will provide for you. I hope you push back so hard that you will beg for us to put you out of your misery. And. We’ll. Say. No.”

With an ever-growing smile, Bailey stared at Erin in admiration while I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if Leland had wet himself.

“You will never see the light of day again, Leland. I promise you that,” Erin spat at him. “By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be a drooling husk of a human who won’t be able to string two words together, let alone remember his own name.” She stared at him for a long moment before she looked up at Bailey. “We’re done here. Lock him down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bailey said gladly, beaming at Erin as she stood up, deliberately picked up the manila folder from the table and the still unopened bottle of water on the floor and walked out, her head held high.

Two hours later, we were waiting in what George had earlier called the war room. With fifteen people in attendance, almost every seat had been filled. Kiddo, George, and Marcy were, understandably, absent.

It had been confirmed that George’s wife Mary had been killed while Leland had been in custody, as had Marcy’s husband, Carmine, and their six-month-old baby son, Elian.

Details were still light on the ground, but it appeared the deaths had all occurred around midnight. There was speculation that Leland had been stationed outside our parent’s house to murder Erin, Dad, and maybe even me if I’d planned on staying there overnight, but because we’d been so focused on tracking him, we’d been able to nab him first.

Callum and I had come this close to losing everything, but our loved ones had survived.

George and Marcy’s hadn’t.

At the head of the tables stood a serious older woman with long, flowing white hair and black cat-eye-framed glasses. The shadows under her eyes had shadows of their own, and under a classy black and purple oversized shawl, she wore a tribal black and brown woolen sweater and black slimline slacks. She’d introduced herself to me as the Orchestra we’d all spoken to earlier to get our consultant passes, and, after learning what had transpired not only overnight, but over the past few days, formally offered me a role with the agency to work as a boost.

Orchestra was talking to a miserable Erin. Her pale skin and red hair, both so much like Callum’s, looked as washed out and tired as I knew she had to be. She still wore the satin green blouse and black jeans she’d worn last night to meet with friends, however, she’d swapped her black pumps for a pair of simple white sneakers.

After confirming with Erin and Dad that I would be dropping out of college at the end of the semester to accept Orchestra’s offer to join the agency, Callum had led me to the same seats we’d sat in earlier, still refusing to let go of my hand. I was starting to feel like a security blanket, but after the night we’d had, I couldn’t find it in myself to care. After I’d learned what had happened to George and Marcy’s immediate family members, numbness had filled me. The warmth from Callum’s hand holding mine kept that numb feeling from overwhelming me, and I suspected he was probably feeling the same way.

Other than Dad, who stayed close to Erin, I only recognized Bailey, Tama, and Pippa in the remaining group. Eight other men and women of varying ages I’d need to learn the names of if I had any hope of helping George find the mole. Although…

“Is that Ruben Steele?” I asked Callum, leaning into his shoulder so I could mutter into his ear whilst I frowned at the well-dressed man at the end of the connected tables. It didn’t quite look like him, but the golden-brown eyes and lightly tanned Mediterranean looks that had made him a Hollywood darling were identical. The long, curly dark brown hair that swept past his shoulders and thick, well-maintained beard, however, were new. A tiny part of me wondered if he was trying out a fresh look for an upcoming movie, but then my sanity returned and realized it couldn’t possibly be Ruben Steele. There was no way a Hollywood movie star would be working for the agency. It had to be a lookalike. Right?

Callum didn’t even bother looking at the man in question. He simply bent his head to whisper back to me, “That’s Ryan Tanner. He’s a normie that’s been with the agency for about a decade.”

Nodding shallowly, I brought my gaze back to the glass of water sitting in front of me and picked it up to take a sip. See? I’d let my imagination run wild. He was just a doppelg?nger.

“He’s Ruben Steele’s twin brother.”

The mouthful of water I’d taken was sprayed out, and I started coughing uncontrollably, making almost the entire room stare at me. “Sorry! Sorry, everyone…!” As a chuckling Callum pounded my back to stop me from hacking up a lung, I wiped the spilled water onto the floor before I glared at him. “You couldn’t have waited until I’d swallowed before sharing that bombshell with me?”

“Where would the fun be in that?”

Grumbling, I tried to absorb the fat droplets that were still littering my empty notebook with my sleeve.

A smiling young Asian man plopped down in the seat to my right, his straight black hair long enough to need a serious trim styled into messy spikes. Black gauges adorned his earlobes, and a thin black chain clung to his neck. “Hello. You’re new.”

“I am,” I said cautiously. Was everyone in this team so friendly? First Pippa, now this guy?

“I’m Koby.” He sent an appraising look slowly up and down what parts of my upper body he could see and licked his lips.

“Joey.” Was he flirting with me? Even with the terrible drama of the past few hours, a tiny grin flickered at the corners of my lips at his audacity.

“And I’m Callum,” my suddenly surly boyfriend said. “Back off, Goblin. Joey’s mine.”

Holding his hands up, Koby sat back in his chair and grinned cheekily. “No harm, no foul, Honey. Just checking out the newbie.”

I turned to raise an eyebrow at Callum. “Honey? Should I be jealous?”

“Short for Honeycomb, mo lus na gréine,” Callum growled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and lifting our clasped hands to my collarbone in an obvious display of caveman syndrome. “Nothing to be jealous about.”

This was the first obvious sign of possessiveness from Callum I’d seen, and I couldn’t deny that it made my cock perk up. I’d have to revisit this later with him when we were alone and not surrounded by a bunch of family members and strangers.

Koby placed a palm over his heart and dramatically reacted like he’d been shot. “You wound me, Callum. Here I was thinking we had something special.” He winked obviously at me to let me know he was just playing around.

“If you call being an eternal pain in my ass, sure. What we have is special,” Callum responded glibly. “Go annoy someone else.”

“Oh, if only I could,” Koby said sadly, settling into his chair and interlacing his slender fingers over his slim stomach. “I do believe that I’ve just met my new bestie and I’m already feeling the overwhelming need to integrate myself into his life. Step aside, former-bestie-Callum; make way for shiny-new-bestie-Joey.”

A slow grin spread over my face as I raised an eyebrow at him. “Overwhelming need?”

He nodded solemnly, but with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “Yes. The need is confirmed to be exceedingly whelmed.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

“Oh, dear God, help us all,” Callum muttered as he buried his forehead into my shoulder. “You’re not supposed to laugh, mo lus na gréine. You’re supposed to ignore him and lavish attention on me.”

“Who says I can’t do both?” I asked cheerfully, scratching my fingers through Callum’s mop of curls enough to make him purr and nudge into me to ask for more. My man was so needy.

“Alright, everyone, listen up.”

Instantly, the room fell silent as we all turned to look towards Orchestra, who stood at the head of the table. Even Koby sat up and became serious.

“I’ve called you all in for this early emergency meeting on a Sunday, because something has come up that we need all hands on deck for.” She leaned forward gravely and rested her hands on the back of the chair she was standing behind before she looked at me. “For those that don’t know much about me, I’m known as Orchestra. I don’t have any other name under this roof.”

I nodded once to let her know I’d heard her.

Satisfied, she turned her focus back to the others in this room. “You’ll notice that George and Marcy are not here with us. Sadly, they both lost their spouses last night—” A gasp went through the room. “—and Marcy also lost her son.”

The noise returned with a vengeance, with alarm, shock, and horror all being displayed.

Koby turned with wide eyes to Callum, all hint of his playfulness from earlier now long gone. “Callum?”

Callum nodded grimly. “It’s true. I was with Marcy when she found out.”

“Jesus.” Koby wiped a palm over his mouth. “How are you joking around with me when that happened?”

“Compartmentalisation.” Callum sighed. “I’m finding that I’m apparently excellent at it.”

Orchestra held her hands up in a stopping motion. “Guys, we’ll give you all the details soon, but note that neither of them will be in the office for the foreseeable future. That does leave us with an immediate leadership problem, however.” She glanced at Erin. “Some of you know Erin and have worked with her in other offices. She’s agreed to come out of retirement to take on George’s role while he’s out of action.”

A murmur rose at the news. It sounded mostly positive, although, understandably, several people were still focusing on the news of the deaths.

“For those of you who don’t know Erin, she worked closely with George for over twenty years before she retired. She has the knowledge and the skills to take on George’s caseload and hit the ground running; however, I will be sticking around for the next few weeks to assist.” Orchestra took a deep breath, then continued, “In light of what happened last night, we also have two new team members joining us.” She nodded to Dad, then to me. “Barry and Joey. Both will be receiving intensive training in the coming weeks to get them up to speed, but I’m positive that they will both prove to be valuable additions to our team.”

Silence filled the room once more, and I noticed several frowns looking at both Dad and me. I couldn’t tell if it was because of suspicion or concern, or both.

“Lastly, it has come to our attention that one amongst you here today is a mole.”

If I thought it had been silent before, now I could have heard a pin drop as Orchestra stared steadily at each and every person in the room with narrowed eyes.

“We may not know yet who amongst you is betraying us, but trust me when I tell you that we will find you. You may have succeeded in flying under the radar until now, but we know what you’re doing. We know you had a heavy hand in the murder of three innocent people last night, and we know that you’ve been hindering cases all over the country for the past several years. It will only be a matter of time before we catch you.”

I chanced a look around at the people destined to become my new work colleagues. Every single person looked shell shocked by the news that a traitor was amongst them.

“Because of this, I’ve authorized Coalminer to be transferred to this team as part of the ongoing investigation. He is on his way and should arrive by the end of the day.”

Once again, gasps filled the room. After how I’d heard Erin describe Coalminer when she spoke to Leland, I could understand everyone’s reaction. Whoever this guy was, his reputation definitely preceded him.

“That’s all for now, everyone. I’ve uploaded all relevant details to the server so you can catch up on the basics while Erin and I organize the team into smaller working groups where we can issue targeted assignments. Make sure you keep your eyes open, especially when you’re not within the agency’s four walls. None of us want a repeat of last night.”

The ambient noise within the war room lifted now that it was obvious the meeting was ending.

Turning towards Callum, Koby leaned forward to mutter, “If she’s bringing Coalminer in, things must really be desperate. How much trouble are we in, Honey?”

With no trace of amusement, Callum responded steadily, “A fuck ton.”

“Christ.” Running his hands through his hair, Koby nervously swallowed enough to make his Adam’s apple jerk. “Let’s get to work, then.”