“I don’t know if Jansen set us up or not.I didn’t want to risk reading his mind since he would know it was happening,” Katie said when she finished.
“Have you taken a look at the solid-state drive he gave you?”Liam asked.
“Encrypted like a damn maze.It’ll take me a day or so to hack it.I’m thinking the encryption is part of the test.He hinted we could maybe meet his employer if we managed to perform this job.”
“We already know his employer has to be the Pavluhkins,” Madison said as she balanced on one foot to pull off her shoes.
“He doesn’t know we know,” Liam reminded her.
“I find it a little disconcerting that the Reborn IRA knew you would be there.We didn’t run into any trouble during our lunch, and Donovan saw no signs of a tail on the way back,” Jamie said, grimacing.
“The UMG hasn’t seen any sign of foreign surveillance on your house,” Liam added.
“Which means they must have been following Jansen,” Kyle said.
“Cillian was never one to take an insult lying down.What happened to Tomas last night probably pissed him off.Jansen was an easier target to follow, so to speak,” Sean said from his seat on the couch.
Jamie moved farther into the house, causing everyone else to drift apart now that the meat of the debrief was over.Trevor finished molding a cold pack to Sean’s jaw above a quick-heal patch, the sticky side keeping it in place, before putting his individual first-aid kit back in order.Kyle could see that aside from his split and swollen lip, Sean had bruises forming, purple and puffy, under his left eye.The quick-heal patches would take care of that in a couple of hours, but it had to hurt.
“Are you all right?”Jamie asked.
“I didn’t lose any teeth, so I’m calling it a win,” Sean replied a little dryly.“I hate the regen regime that regrows teeth.”
“You phased Alexei.Why didn’t you phase yourself at the beginning of the fight?”
Sean shrugged.“We’re supposed to be human.That’s what the mission calls for.Getting punched in the face is a lot different than taking a dose of cyanide in the back.”
“If you knew they had cyanide embedded in their bioware, then you should have phased.”
“Let’s back up there for a second,” Sean said mildly, never taking his eyes off Jamie.“I didn’t know the Donnelly twins would be there.I didn’t see them in the restaurant, so maybe that’s on me.But the thing about a cover?You have to live it, down to the tiniest detail, otherwise, it’s not believable.If I phased in response to every perceived threat, I’d never get the job done.I did it this time because I knew Katie could change their memories of what happened, and I didn’t think Kyle would appreciate me letting his brother get stabbed in the back with a deadly poison.”
“Yeah, no,” Kyle said mildly as he threw himself into the nearest armchair.
Kyle thought Sean had a spine after all for arguing with Jamie over the details of the mission.Most other people outside Alpha Team deferred to Jamie’s decisions, usually because he knew what the hell he was doing.
Jamie crossed his arms over his chest and frowned down at Sean.“The fact that they went after you and not Jansen isn’t sitting well with me.I can understand them coming after us last night out of revenge for the humiliating position Alexei put them in, but coming after you specifically is worrisome.”
“You don’t leave the Reborn IRA unless you’re dead.You don’t break a business agreement with them without starting a gang war, even with an ocean between countries to separate you.I’m assuming Tomas let everyone know I was back, and since I didn’t leave on good terms last time, they put a hit out on me.Cillian was never all that stable to begin with, and he took minor insults badly.Reneging on a drug deal is a little higher on the insult scale than I accidentally spilled synthcaf on you during my rush to work,” Sean said calmly.
“If you think he’s targeting you, then you don’t go anywhere without one of us from here on out, understand?”
“You should stick Alexei with him.Jansen thinks they’re screwing, so it would be in keeping with their cover,” Katie said as she wandered off to the kitchen.
Alexei looked betrayed and Kyle nudged him with his foot.“>”
Alexei smacked him upside the head.“>”
“I need to replace their comms.That’s going to take a little while, and I need to set up a sterile zone.The parlor room is going to be unavailable for the next hour or so,” Trevor said to Jamie.
“Do what you have to do, just don’t get bloodstains on the rugs.My mother will kill me if you do.Katie?”Jamie called out.
“I’m taking over the office after I make some tea to get started on what Jansen gave me,” she yelled back.
“Here.”
Jamie threw two items at her, one after the other, across the wide-open floor.She caught each one easily and grinned once she realized what they were.“Thanks for the jam.”
Kyle caught Jamie’s eye when he turned around.“I’m going to run some recon around the neighborhood.”
