“We’ve been dealing with the Riveras and Vipers for the last couple of years. Those two, among others, are messing with us and presenting the main complications for us. If this Obsidian Eye takes off and we are targeted in any of their operations or if they interfere with any of our revenue sources, then it only makes sense to believe that the best pre-emptive defense is offense.”
I nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“I understand that you are busy as well, adjusting to your life after the agency and just being retrieved. You will be busier yet once this baby comes.”
I smiled, resting both of my hands on my stomach. “It sounds like it.”
He huffed. “For one, you will not sleep for months.”
Emil shook his head. “It’s not that bad.”
He shot his son a look. “Just you wait.” Facing me again, he was serious. “With everything that is going on, would you be willing to assist us in an operation to prevent the Obsidian Eye from forming?”
“Absolutely. I think I am more vested in stopping this group than you are. I was set up and almost killed for the knowledge I have about it. I was taken and held captive because of my involvement in spying on the potential members of it. You’re damn right they need to be stopped. You have my word that I will help.”
“Before the baby comes,” Emil added, almost sounding worried.
Luka shrugged. “Hopefully.”
“That means we need to work quickly,” I said. “Now.”
“Music to my ears,” Luka said. “I’ve already prepared Ivan, Alexsei, and Emil to have men ready to report in for this. The first meetings will begin today.”
He really meant it. No need for red tape here. He wanted to actnow.
And we did. From this breakfast room, we moved to his study. Allan had prepared for the men to have space in there, but I was the one who spoke the most as the one who had the most insider intel.
“The problem with going after any one of them is that no leader wants to publicly be identified. It’s designed with so many layers of secrecy, and no one seems to want to take the responsibility of having this group as ‘theirs’,” I said.
“Probably because if there is fallout from the Obsidian Eye, their own organization will be hit from the association with it,” one of the older Dubinin spies said.
I tried not to roll my eyes.Duh.
“Having said that, I do have a compiled list of the decoys certain leaders are sending as representatives.” I gestured at the laptop I used so far to share my copied files. “And also the contenders for the location of where this first meeting is supposed to happen. Since I’ve been…” I rolled my hand to vaguely gesture instead of finishing that sentence, I sighed. “Since I was held hostage, I haven’t been tracking the lines of communication I once had access to.”
“But you know which locations are possible sites?” Ivan asked.
I nodded.
“We can take over that step,” Emil said. “We’ll set our men to track those communication lines.”
I almost frowned. Or even pouted. I hated the feeling that I was back at the agency, talked over and dismissed. Never delegated for the “real” action.
As the day of meetings continued, it became clear that Luka and his top-ranking men saw me as a resource to exploit but not include. By reading between the lines, it seemed that they wanted me to share what I knew. And that was it. They didn’t view me as an active part of the mission, this critical pre-emptive takedown of the Obsidian Eye group.
I tried not to let it bother me.
I wasn’t an agent anymore. The thrill of being included in forming a mission wasn’t something I could look forward to inthe future. When Luka asked me to work for him and the family, it was a loose concept. I knew that.
Yet, I couldn’t dispel the nagging wish that I wasn’t “done”. That I still could contribute to making the world a safer place. I wasn’t ready to quit this passion I'd cared about for so long. That drive burned within me despite the obvious awareness that I would have a different “job”. I would be a mother soon, and while I was overly excited for that to happen, and how much I would grow and learn in that process, I didn’t want to completely surrender my identity of being a disciplined woman who’d join the fight against crime.
“Sadie?”
I blinked, annoyed that I’d zoned out for a moment there. My frustration at being excluded in the planning part of this mission wouldn’t make them want me here. It seemed like every little bit of this was being converted into what the Dubinin force would handle. I wasn’t in any shape to fight, but I was a skilled and experienced project manager to delegate appropriately.
Emil raised his brows. “You okay? You spaced out there for a while.”
“No,” I answered bluntly. I glanced at Luka, then the two cousins. “I’m not okay with being excluded from all of this.”
