“Enough,” said Trent grimly. It was rare to see him anything other than happy-go-lucky, but apparently the idea of a traitor in their ranks was enough to make even him act serious. “I really don’t know what to think about all this, but I guess we have to act on the assumption that it’s true until proven otherwise.”
Rhys shook his head. He was having a hard time believing it, but clearlysomeonehad been setting him up, and if Michael had found evidence of it then he had to take it seriously, once he’d had a chance to look into it.
I found that photo of him, though, the one that could have made him into mincemeat,he thought, his mind spinning furiously.It looked like he’d been compromised. But what ifhe’dgiven the arms dealers that photo, to prove he really was with the Agency and could get them the info they wanted?
He frowned. It seemed far-fetched, but itwouldexplain how they’d gotten the photo that gave Aaron’s true identity away. It was exactly the kind of thing a bunch of crooked arms dealerswouldask for, too – not only because it’d be proof, but also because it could be used as blackmail against Aaron later, if he got sick of playing the double agent.
And then, he called me while I was at the resort. He didn’t say why, he just wanted to know where I was…
Whywould he have called? They didn’t know each other well. And Aaron shouldn’t have been talking to him at all, considering he was the subject of a suspension and investigation.
Put all together, this is looking pretty fishy.
Rhys looked at his phone, but there were no documents from Michael as yet. Probably he hadn’t had a chance to send them before he had to shift. Rhys could only hope that he didn’t curl up in his quokka form and go to sleep for the day.
Rhys sighed. “So, Townsville,” he said. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Yeah, seems a bit dodgy,” Trent agreed. “Definitely not procedure, at least as far as our office goes. But at least we’ll get there sooner.”
Euan put his hand on Rhys’s shoulder. “We’ll get her out safe and sound, Rhys. You have our word.”
He nodded. “Thanks, guys.” Even if everything else had gone completely to shit, at least Rhys knew that he could one hundred percent rely on his team.
“They’ll know we nicked the boat, of course,” said Trent, as he expertly steered clear of a barely visible shoal. “And they’ll know that we’ll be able to find out where they’ve taken her. We’ll be walking into a trap.”
“Well,” said Rhys, “I guess we’d better try for the element of surprise, then.”
Not that he really knew what that would entail. He supposed that he would probably just wing it – so to speak – when he got there. Sometimes it was better to let the griffin’s instincts take over.
Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have at least a vague idea of what he’d be up against – and so he pulled out his phone,looking up images of the Hotel Silver so that he could get an idea of the building’s layout.
The boat – sorry, thesuperyacht– sped along, and Rhys stared at the water as it zoomed past, lost in thought. The thoughts were mostly along the lines ofI’m coming for you, MaisieandI’m going to kill these arseholes, with some griffin rage thrown in for good measure. He just wanted to betherealready – he’d never been great at exercising patience at the best of times, and times were definitely not at their best right now.
At some point Euan passed him some food that he’d presumably taken from the boat’s supplies, and Rhys ate mechanically, not feeling at all like eating but knowing he needed all the energy he could get. It killed a few more seconds, anyway, and distracted him from thoughts of what might be happening to Maisie right now. He had to keep a clear mind. There was no room for error.
After what felt like an eternity, the boat started to pull in closer to the shore, and Rhys could see Townsville approaching on the horizon.
He tensed, adrenaline coursing through his veins, his fingers twitching against the edge of the console, his griffin screeching in anticipation.
Hang on, Maisie,he thought.I’m almost there.
Finally the boat pulled up at the dock, and Rhys was jumping down onto it before the boat had even completely stopped. Euan must’ve been close behind, because he grabbed Rhys’s wrist, an unstoppable force holding a breakable object. Rhys winced as the hold tightened even further.
“Hang on,” Euan said firmly. “We’ll have a better chance of succeeding if we work together.”
“Yeah,” Trent said as he hopped down. “You’ve helped us all enough times in these situations – now it’s our turn to help you.”
Rhys wasn’t sure he needed Trent’s particularly annoying kind of help – but, he supposed, they had a point. Not that he was about to admit it.
“The hotel’s about five hundred meters west of here,” Euan said, pointing, and Rhys took off, leaving the others running to catch up.
They hurried along the foreshore, and quickly the hotel came into view. If Rhys hadn’t recognized it from the pictures online and the signage, he would’ve recognized it by the agents hanging around outside, still in their expensive pleasure yacht clothes, trying very hard to look like they were here to enjoy milling around some budget-price accommodation with no particular goal in mind, rather than trying to keep anyone from getting to the alleged spy they were interrogating.
Whoever does their undercover training up here should be shot.
Rhys started forward, but Trent grabbed his shoulder.
“Leave it to me,” he said with a grin that Rhys knew most people would describe as ‘charming’. Rhys was not charmed, but, he had to admit, Trent was probably the best person to send in to deal with these clowns.
