“I’d argue that your father is a career politician and long ago dedicated his life to this country and that this falls within the boundaries of his job as a senator.I will agree your mother and sister shouldn’t be dragged into the middle of this, but they share your last name, Callahan.We can’t carve them out of this.Believe me, we tried.”
Jamie ground his teeth until he thought several might crack.“Did you?”
Nazari leaned back in his seat and studied Jamie with a calculating look in his dark eyes.“I’ll overlook your attitude since I know the issue at hand is personal to you.Yes, we planned for a second team in the event you say no, but the cover won’t be as tight.People who come from your kind of wealth know each other.You run in the same social circles, you show up at the same parties, you know who’s who and who’s not.Throwing someone into that viper’s nest as a nouveau riche person won’t get them very far, and it sure as hell won’t get the Pavluhkins to bite.But you, Callahan—you, they would do anything they could to reel you in.”
Jamie knew what it was like to be seen only for his last name: the wealth and prestige it meant to a friend, a lover, a hanger-on.When he was a teenager, before he’d gone to Annapolis and joined the Marines, Jamie had measured himself by his family’s wealth and status.He knew better now, even if everyone in that world he’d left behind didn’t.But his last name and the billions that came with it would open more doors than the MDF could scheme to open alone.If they used his identity, if they played their hand right, the story wouldn’t have to be made up of a house of cards.
It would only have to be his life.
“What are the parameters that pertain to me?”Jamie asked, practically biting off the words.
If Nazari took his question as a win, the director was smart enough not to telegraph it.“We can’t ignore the fact that you’re military, but we can change the story.A dismissal put you out of the Marines two years ago.Several members of your platoon went with you.Ovechkina used her skills with a computer to build up a cybersecurity company with Dvorkin’s help.You backed it with your money in defiance of what your father wanted you to do.”
“Politics, I assume?”
“It fits the narrative, so yes.You’ve been fighting your father on that for two years since your dismissal and are branching out into business on your own.We thought about trying to work Empyrean into your cover, but Delaney argued against it.He said your parents would never agree to something like that.”
“No, they wouldn’t.”
Empyrean was a luxury space cruise line that catered to the wealthy elites of the world.The small fleet of civilian-owned and -operated spaceships flew routes around the Earth and the Moon, each trip lasting a week or longer, depending on the package, providing their well-heeled passengers with an unparalleled and extravagant experience.The company’s launch terminals were located in over a dozen countries.From there, smaller, space-faring shuttles ferried customers up to a civilian-run space dock halfway between the Earth and the Moon where the cruise liners stayed when not in use.It wasn’t the only civilian company geared toward travel branching out beyond Earth, but it was one of the most successful to date.Luxury and exclusivity was a selling point the rich would never stop ignoring.
Jamie’s maternal grandmother had backed the company in its early years and eventually bought out the other owners for full control.Charlotte had inherited ownership of the company when her mother signed it over to her.Jamie’s grandmother was enjoying her golden years by living the high life in whatever country caught her fancy these days, while Charlotte oversaw a board of directors and CEO who ran the day-to-day functions of the company.One day in the future, Empyrean would belong to Jamie and Leah in a fifty-fifty split.If this mission ended badly, most likely it would all go to Leah.Jamie couldn’t see his parents giving him half the family’s crown jewel if he dragged their name and reputations through the dirt.
“Delaney has a good read on people, Callahan.When you work deep cover, you need to have that skill if you want to survive.He’s built backgrounds for you and your team that we believe will hold up under deep vetting.We wouldn’t have signed off on this mission if we thought otherwise,” Stirling said.
“At the end of the day, you’re the moneyman.That’s all that matters,” Nazari said.
“Where does the UMG come into play?”Jamie asked.
The United Metahuman Guardians was the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the MDF.Jamie had an idea of who Nazari would request as their contact and wasn’t surprised when he guessed right.
“Lt.Colonel Liam Wessex is the UMG’s choice for the mission since apparently you two know each other.”
That was putting it very mildly.
Jamie and Liam had met as children at the Royal Ascot in London when they were ten.Liam, youngest son to Prince Samuel, Earl of Wessex, had been bored out of his mind when he and Jamie were first introduced, though you’d have never known by his polite expression.Their mothers were friends from years spent working the charity circuits, and the Callahans had been invited as special guests of the Countess of Wessex.He and Liam had stayed in touch over the years, and when Jamie entered Annapolis, Liam entered Sandhurst.Liam eventually joined the Special Air Service, the same way Jamie found himself becoming a Recon Marine.And like Jamie, Liam’s squad fell victim to a Splice chemical bomb attack during a mission.Unlike Jamie, Liam was the only survivor.
“I see,” Jamie said slowly, looking past Nazari and out the heavily shielded windows behind the director.Outside, the sky was overcast, with the local forecast one of mild temperatures for the rest of the week and through the weekend.
Jamie knew he wouldn’t be here to enjoy the weather.
Nazari would claim he gave Jamie a choice, but in truth, there was no choice.Declining meant the MDF fielding a team that had no hope of succeeding, not how Jamie and his team could.Success depended on an airtight lie, and the best lies, as everyone knew, were ones based on truth.
If the MDF wanted him to revert to the rich fucking bastard he once was before the Marines beat sense into him and Katie beat the arrogance out of him, then so be it.
“You realize I’m going to bill the government for the entire cost of this mission, don’t you?”Jamie asked mildly.
“I see you’re already getting into character,” Nazari replied dryly.
Jamie smiled, the cold twist of his lips familiar from a childhood of knowing he was better than everyone else in the world.He sat down without asking for permission, digging deep for the remnants of a personality he’d buried in pieces over the course of years on the front lines of a war that would always, in some ways, exist.
“Let’s talk business, Director.”
* * *
Katie found him afterward when she tracked him down at his office.Jamie wasn’t surprised when she stepped inside and locked the door.
“Ceres, initiate privacy blackout mode,” Katie ordered.
