“Okay.”
Leah sighed, clutching her coffee mug with both hands.“Jamie’s my big brother, and I know how hard he’s worked to get where he is.He wouldn’t throw it all away for a one-night stand.”
Kyle choked on his sip of coffee, coughing through it.He had to set the mug down on the counter so he wouldn’t spill any as he struggled to breathe, fighting the sudden flush that stung his cheeks.Leah stared at him before palming her face.
“Oh my God.Seriously?”she said.
“If I don’t talk about my sex life with my sisters, I’m definitely not talking about it with you,” Kyle replied, voice a little raspy.
“That’s a good motto to live by, but I’m never letting Jamie live this down.”
Kyle picked up his coffee mug again and took another sip.“Just please don’t do it in public.”
Leah raked her hair out of her eyes with one hand, the other clutching her coffee mug with the white-knuckled grip of one who’d spent hours worrying about a loved one gone off to war.“I won’t.Just promise me you’ll watch his back.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about that, Leah.I will always guard his and everyone else’s six,” Kyle said.
“Good.”She waved her mug at the coffeepot.“Top me up, would you?I think I hear someone moving around.”
“Probably Alexei.He’s bunking down here and has a nose for coffee.”
Kyle filled up her mug and his, deciding he’d give his to Jamie’s and drink the cooled-down coffee in the other one.Leah gave him a little smile of thanks before heading back upstairs.Kyle watched her go, feeling an odd sense of relief wash through him.
Maybe he and Jamie could make this work after all.
* * *
Sean wasn’t used to working with a team.When working deep cover for the CIA, it had been just himself, his training, and his instincts to get through the months or years of the mission, wrapped in the identity he was supposed to be living.Communication with his handler at the time rarely happened.For once, he was glad the MDF had opted to field a team for this particular mission.It definitely required more hands than just his own.
“You think Jansen is going to bomb the gala?”Liam asked slowly, staring at Jamie.
“Not Jansen, but Cillian.He has a past history of targeting such events, and we believe he’s in London,” Jamie corrected.
“Half those people are criminals.He’d lose any shred of support in those circles, and it’d paint a bloody big target on his back.That’s a terrible way to do business.”
“Not if you’re trying to get rid of the competition.”
“Well, when you put it likethat.”
Sean shifted a little on his chair, listening to Jamie and Liam work through the details of the briefing for their audience.Alpha Team was arrayed around the living room of the home, all of them sitting straight-backed in their seats beneath half a dozen watchful eyes from the UMG brass on the secure, encrypted uplink Katie had created on Jamie’s order.Jamie had broken their no-contact protocol because they had no other choice.They needed more bodies in the field than Alpha Team and Sean could provide, and the lag time between information drops wasn’t something they could afford now.
Leah had been escorted to Clarence House upon Liam’s arrival that morning, leaving beneath the watchful eyes of her personal security intermixed with UMG agents to see her safely to her destination.Jamie wasn’t risking his sister, which Sean more than understood.Family was important to Sean, even if he didn’t have the best relationship with his own right now.
Sean squinted at the main display up on the flat-screen, taking in Director Nazari’s expression.He’d joined the briefing through a secondary uplink on the UMG’s end, his image appearing in a holoscreen within their headquarters.If anyone managed to hack Katie’s communications encryptions and get through the vine pathway they ran through in nearly a hundred countries, they’d only see calls to local London numbers.
“What evidence are you basing your conclusion on, Captain Callahan?”Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service Olivia Bailey asked.
Olivia was a stern-looking woman in a crisp suit, face only lightly lined with age.Her brown hair was cut to her shoulders in a sharp bob that accentuated the severity of her features.An Army veteran who’d changed careers for one in MI6, she’d served as chief through two prime ministers and was angling to keep the position through a third after the next elections.
The UMG sometimes worked with MI6, though it wasn’t an easy partnership.Intelligence was shared between the two agencies because neither could afford to be kept in the dark when it came to securing the United Kingdom’s borders.That was more than could be said about the relationship between the MDF and the CIA.
“An MDF agent here with us in the field was previously a CIA officer.He’s had dealings with the Reborn IRA before, and Cillian Halloran and Emmet Doyle in particular.I trust the intel he’s given us, ma’am,” Jamie said.
“How old is this intel?”
“Several years out of date, but with what’s happened here in London already, I think it’s safe to say certain aspects of the intel are still valid,” Liam answered.
“We trust Captain Callahan’s conclusion, Chief Bailey,” Chief of the United Metahumans Guardians Norris Chapman said in a deceptively mild voice.
