Page 30

Athanasios

CHAPTER THIRTY

"Apologies for the delay, gentlemen," Odin says as he walks into Zeus's conference room. He shakes each of our hands before sitting in an empty chair beside Ares.

My day is nearly consumed with back-to-back responsibilities, and I endured hellish traffic in Manhattan to get here. But nothing could stop me from attending this meeting. I’m obsessed with finally uncovering the truth about the bastard who deceived Brooklyn.

"I’m on a tight schedule," I say. "I have surgery in three hours." I have no doubt their schedules are packed too, but in my case, a life depends on me being there on time.

"Did you drive here?" Dionysus asks.

"Yes, and I regretted the hell out of it. I wasn’t sure if your helipad was available."

"I’ll arrange for the pilot to take you back," Zeus offers.

Normally, I don’t accept favors, but I can’t risk spending hours in traffic again. "Thank you."

"Since we’re all pressed for time, I’ll get straight to the point," their cousin begins. "Moses Raines—or Wren Floding, Dean Cornell, or any of the half-dozen other aliases he used—was, in the past, an FBI agent embedded in a criminal organization primarily involved in human trafficking."

"What?" Zeus asks, and I can’t hide my shock either.

Since the video call we had on Saturday, I’ve entertained dozens of theories. That was definitely not one of them.

"An FBI agent?" I repeat, stunned.

" Ex-agent. His real name was Jordan Rogers, but he stopped using it years ago, and I’ll explain why."

"Holy shit!" Ares exclaims, standing. "I thought the bastard was involved with the mafia, a common criminal, not a former agent."

"He became a common criminal in the end. From what I’ve gathered, Jordan spent years embedded in the mafia. He and his partner, fellow agent Shelley Edward."

"Enya!" I exclaim.

"Exactly. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let me lay out the timeline. The story is much more twisted than you can imagine. Jordan and Shelley were two of the best agents of their time. From what I’ve found, they were also lovers. Both were assigned to infiltrate the Chinese mafia."

"The Chinese mafia? But from the photo I saw, he was blond," I point out.

"Yes, they use Americans—people of various nationalities, in fact. The point is, both Jordan and Shelley executed their roles brilliantly. Jordan rose as a trusted man within the organization, Shelley as the lover of the mafia boss's son."

"How long were they undercover?" I ask.

"Years. At least five, from what I could uncover. In the end, they managed to dismantle the operation. However, their lives were ruined. They had to reinvent themselves, or they would have been killed. They entered the witness protection program, leaving behind their pasts and families."

"So, the false identities . . . is this tied to that story?" Zeus asks.

"No. I’ll explain. From here, there’s about a year’s gap in their lives, so what I’m about to say is my educated guess. They disappeared, were given new identities—everything that happens in witness protection. But I believe they’d spent too much time immersed in the criminal world, and that changed them."

"‘If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you,’" Hades says, quoting Nietzsche.

"Exactly," Odin continues. "They grew accustomed to a lawless life, easy money, drugs, I assume, and began criminal operations on their own. As lovers and with the knowledge they had gained in the Chinese mafia and FBI, they quickly became wealthy. But from that point on, they were on the run not just from the Triad, which sought revenge, but also from the FBI’s witness protection program."

"Hence the need for so many false identities," I conclude.

"Precisely."

Fuck, it feels like I’m hearing the plot of a horror movie. Brooklyn had no idea who she was really involved with.

"And what kind of work were they doing?" I press.

"A little bit of everything, offering services to other mafias as freelancers, for instance."

"Such as?" Ares asks.

Odin shrugs. "Mainly assassinations. But Shelley got greedy and decided to enter the very trade she once fought: human trafficking."

"Were they still together?"

"I think so, at least until he met Brooklyn. I believe Jordan got involved with her casually—perhaps a feeble attempt to have a normal life, or maybe because he was an irresponsible bastard who didn’t care about putting an innocent woman at risk."

Tension spreads through my body. As a doctor, I’ve never wished to kill someone—my job is to save lives. But that has just changed. I could strangle him with my bare hands if he were still on this damn planet.

"Continue," I demand.

"Anyway, I think he genuinely fell for Brooklyn, or maybe upon learning she was pregnant, he wanted to change his fate. It was too late, of course. I’m not certain what happened, but if I had to guess, I’d say he ended things with his partner to try to become a family man."

"Family man, my ass!" Hades snaps. "The bastard put a target on her back and on the backs of her babies."

"Yes, I think that’s exactly what happened. He underestimated Shelley’s rage—the bitterness of being replaced by a younger, beautiful, and pure woman. Everything she no longer was."

"So Brooklyn was indeed the intended target," Zeus says, and my hands clench the arms of my chair in fury.

"Yes. Shelley wouldn’t have killed him. She wanted him back, the way they once were."

"Where is she?" I ask.

"Not in the United States, or I’d have found her already."

"Why didn’t the hitmen rat her out?"

"I think they were hired without knowing who she truly was. I suspect if they’d known how skilled Jordan was with weapons, they would never have entered his house that night."

"We need to find her," I insist.

"We will," Odin promises. "Now that we know her identity, there’s nowhere in the world she can hide."

"Are we involving Interpol?" I ask.

"No. Someone far more effective—a longtime partner of my cousin Christos. I’ll track her, and Beau LeBlanc will bring her back to our country."

"And then?" Zeus asks.

"We’ll let the justice system deal with her. Shelley Edward has a bounty on her head, both from her former government employers and the Triad. Once she’s imprisoned, her punishment will come swiftly. I’d wager she won’t even make it to trial."

My mind is racing, but at least now we have a starting point.

"I have to go," I announce, standing.

"I’ve already messaged the pilot. He’ll be waiting for you at the helipad," Zeus says, standing as well. "I’ll walk you to the elevator."

I quickly say goodbye to his family, but in the hallway, he stops me.

"Let’s keep this conversation under wraps for now," he suggests.

"Why? Brooklyn deserves to know."

"She does, but it’s better if, when she finds out, Shelley is already in custody, or your . . .”

"Girlfriend," I finish for him.

He looks at me, surprised. "Right, girlfriend. Let’s wait until everything is resolved and that wretched woman is dealt with, or Brooklyn will live in terror until then."

"No. You all need to stop treating her like a baby. I promised not to lie to her or keep things from her. I won’t go back on my word."