Page 17

Tessa entered the grand study, her voice echoing off the high ceiling as she issued orders to the staff. “Find every bulletin board in the castle, no matter how small. I need index cards, markers, and pushpins. Hurry.”

Moda, Randall, and Clarence nodded, scattering to carry out her instructions. Although it was early fall, the London weather already made it feel like winter. The room was silent except for the soft crackle of the fire in the hearth.

Her mind turned over every detail and revelation swirling inside her brain in a chaotic storm. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, trying to force everything into order—Harris, Jessie, the suits that had shown up at Kaltrain, Dr. Wyn.

Tommy lingered near the massive desk, his arms crossed with a frown on his face. His gaze was fixed on her, a mix of concern and anger. Concern for her safety. Anger at Harris. Uncertainty over Jessie. “You’re sure we’re safe here?”

“Relatively. For now.”

“I need a weapon. Where do you keep them?”

She led him down the hall into a library of sorts. There, she ran her hand along a rugged tapestry covering half of the wall.

She flipped the hidden switch, and behind the woven picture of a fox hunt, part of the wall slid aside. She held the tapestry so he could enter.

The weapons room was as impressive as the rest of the place. Tommy seemed impressed. “Whoa. You don’t mess around.”

“I’ve been on my own for a long time, Tommy. I’m always prepared.”

She marched to a selection of handguns, loaded one of the Glocks, and shoved it in the waistband of her pants. It wasn’t her favorite Sig, but it was a powerhouse anyway. “Help yourself.”

He did, following her out a minute later with a shotgun and Glock. “I will protect you, you know.”

Her laugh was little more than a sharp grunt as she closed the secret room. “I can handle whatever Harris throws at me.”

“I know relying on someone doesn’t come naturally to you, but maybe it’s time you started believing you can rely on me.”

She didn’t answer. Couldn’t. She stopped at an enclosed cabinet and opened the wooden doors to reveal a wall of monitors displaying the castle security feeds. With a few taps on the console, she expanded the view of the perimeter cameras. “If you intend to protect me, keep an eye on these.”

She headed for the door. He stopped her, blocking her path. “You’re not going to leave me here while you figure things out.”

“We need to watch for unwelcome visitors. Either you do it, or I have to have one of the staff do it, which pulls them away from their posts at the entrances. Your call.”

His lips firmed. “I can tap into the security feeds with your laptop and watch for Harris and his goons while I’m in the study with you.”

A fissure of relief broke open inside her. She wanted him by her side, and if that made her weak, so be it. “Do it.”

While he worked on that, she stepped away to make a call she dreaded. Flynn answered after two rings, his tone clipped. “Yeah.”

“Always so professional when you answer your personal line.”

“You bet your ass I am when people who don’t work for me interrupt my workday.”

She wanted to call him petty but decided she needed to get to the reason for this call. “Did you know?”

She heard someone in the background say something to him. He covered the phone and responded, then came back to her. “Know what?”

“About Harris.”

There was more background noise, and she thought he must be walking down one of Langley’s many hallways, encountering plenty of people who wanted his attention. “Who?”

She’d expected a deflection but not outright denial. Did he honestly not know? She wished she could believe that. He’d seen her personnel files. Knew everything about her. Harris had been a contractor long before Flynn even went to The Farm, but still… “If you’re playing dumb, you’ll regret it.”

“I’m late for a meeting, so whatever this is about, spit it out, Vulpe. I don’t have time for games.”

“Neither do I. Look him up—Harris Brewer. He’s behind the superconductor sabotage. He’s working with Dr. Wynn at Cal Line. Harris Brewer is supposed to be dead, and he’s using the name Viktor Renard as his alias.”

She laid out the rest, explaining the LLC and its connection to the Russian investors Tommy had uncovered. She didn’t mention Jessie. “You’ve got a real problem on your hands, Director. I suggest you skip that meeting you’re about to attend and put your brilliant mind to more pressing matters.”

There was a long, calculating pause. “Where are you, Tessa? How did you discover this Harris fellow is behind all this?”

“I’ll be in touch,”

she said and hung up before he could press further.

The staff returned with several bulletin boards and office supplies, piling them onto the table. Tessa set to work, her movements quick and precise. She scribbled notes onto the cards, each representing a piece of the puzzle: Harris’ connection to the LLC shell companies, Jessie’s involvement, Mosai Hagar’s role. The framework began to take shape but was still incomplete, riddled with gaps.

Tommy joined her, his handwriting a scrawl across more cards as he added what he knew. She felt his stare on her back as she kept rearranging the collection into different patterns, building out her stepfather’s plan as if constructing the blueprints of a large, impressive structure.

The foundation. The frame. The facade. The space, form, and function of each element.

Moda entered with a tray of food and tea, setting it on the side table. “I already had this prepared. I’ll take up my security point now,” she said.

Tessa ignored her and the tray, her focus unyielding. Tommy glanced at the tray, then at her. “You should eat.”

“Not now,”

she muttered, pinning another card to the middle board. “I’m onto something. I have to figure this out.”

“Tessa,”

Tommy’s voice broke through her thoughts.

She turned to see him holding a card with Jessie’s name on it. “What if Harris didn’t just use Jessie? What if he…?”

He hesitated, then continued, “What if Harris did save her from Hagar?”

She turned that over, the idea that Jessie had done the wrong thing for the right reason. A form of Stockholm Syndrome—feeling indebted to the person who had kidnapped you. Hurt you. Forced you to commit crimes. “It doesn’t absolve her of anything, even if he is manipulating her, but it fits more with the Jessie we knew.”

Tommy chewed on a bite of sandwich. “But why? What does he gain from keeping her alive?”

“That's what we need to find out before it's too late.”

Her phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with Meg’s name. Tessa hesitated before answering, hitting the speaker button. “Made it to my place, I take it?”

“How could you?”

Meg’s voice sneered with accusation. “Are you with him now? Have you been sleeping with him all this time?”

Tessa flinched, setting her teeth and taking a breath before she responded. “Who?”

Tommy’s gaze was once more boring into her back.

“You know who. Tommy.”

Meg was yelling now. “He was here. His fingerprints are all over the place.”

“Fingerprints?”

She gave a dry chuckle. “I see. So Flynn sent you to catch me in the act, did he? You guys suspected me all along. All that talk about needing me for the team… How could you?”

she threw back. “I thought you wanted me to trust you.”

“I did. I still do. But now? After this?”

Meg made a disgusted sound. “Why? Why did you keep this from us?”

Dec came on the line. “What’s going on, Tessa? Talk to us.”

She shot Tommy a look that screamed, I told you they’d figure it out. “We have bigger things to worry about,” she said.

“You lied to me,”

Meg snapped. “This whole time, you’ve been lying.”

“Well, guess what? So has Jessie.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and forced calm into her voice. “She’s alive, Meg. Jessie’s alive.”

Silence. Heavy, pregnant silence. “Have you lost your mind?”

Tessa explained her discovery, the revelation she and Tommy had made. Meg responded with more silence.

Tessa felt as if she might collapse into the chair next to Tommy. She leaned on the desk instead. “I haven’t told Flynn,”

she said softly. “There’s a lot I haven’t told any of you.”

Tommy gripped her hand, giving it a squeeze that encouraged her to let down her guard.

Handling a terrorist or crime lord here and there wasn’t out of her skillset. Handling a massive planned terrorist plot that could affect the entire world? She needed a team. “How fast can you get to London?”

“What’s in London?”

Dec asked.

“Jessie,”

Tessa told them. She met Tommy’s gaze, needing it to keep her vulnerability from overwhelming her. “We need to bring her home.”