Alexei blinked rapidly, staring up at the SUV’s roof as he tried to swallow back the bile crawling up his throat. Trevor had a field med-glove on and the cold touch of the device on his skin made himgrimace.
“Bullet isn’t inside the wound, but I’m not sure about shrapnel,” Sean warned Trevor from the seat in front of him. “And he took a hit from a neuro-jammergun.”
Trevor’s swearing wasn’t loud enough to drown out Kyle’s shout over the comms. “Inferno got hitwithwhat?”
“How the fuck did they even know to have a neuro-jammer gun?” Madisondemanded.
“Is the line secured?” Sean asked, staring at Alexei with a tight expression onhisface.
“It’s an MDF setup, so why wouldn’t it besecured?”
“Get someone to double-check.”
“It’sfine—”
“Someone double-check the fucking security of the goddamn line!” Sean snarled in a tone of voice none of them had ever heard come out of his mouthbefore.
A tense silence filled the SUV for a good minute before Katie’s voice came over the uplink. “Line is fully encrypted andsecured.”
Sean rubbed hard at his face, mouth twisting. “Adrian and Declan knew my name. Myrealname.”
Alexei wanted to reach out and hold Sean’s hand, but it took everything he had at the moment not to get sick all over the car as Trevor worked on him. Sean must have seen something in his face, because he twisted in his seat a little more and draped an arm over the back. Alexei didn’t have to move all that much for Sean to wrap his fingers aroundhishand.
“We’ll traceback what happened when you return to base and reassess your covers,” Nazari said in a clippedvoice.
“We didn’t make a misstep while in the field here in Las Vegas, sir. They didn’t find out because we slipped up somehow. Before our meeting with Declan, I saw Kevin Stableford in the lobby as he was leaving thecasino.”
“Iknewyou must have seen someone,” Madison said. “Who’s thisKevinguy?”
Alexei was having a difficult time paying attention, but every ache in his body momentarily disappeared at Sean’sanswer.
“He’s a CIA protective agent assigned to watch over CIA Deputy Director Carter Bennett,” Sean said tightly. “Bennett oversaw my extraction from Belfast and transfer to the MDF. He knows I’m ametahuman.”
Alexei didn’t know he had tightened his hand so hard until Trevor reached out to pry his fingers off Sean’s before his fingernailsbrokeskin.
“Was final sign-off on our missions,” Alexei said, hissing through his teeth as Trevor prodded the area around his wound while scanning it with the med-glove.
“What?” Sean said, staring at him inconfusion.
“Bennett was always the final sign-off on any missions we were seconded to with the CIA,” Kyle explained slowly. “He was also in charge of the internal investigation into Cora Everly’sbetrayal.”
“We all know how wellthatwent,” Annabellemuttered.
“I want you five back on base ASAP,” Nazariordered.
“No. I’m sorry, sir. I can’t go back. I need to get to New Seattle,”Seansaid.
“That wasn’t asuggestion.”
“I can’t prove it, but Bennett purposefully leaked my identity to the Wolcotts through Stableford, and he did it for a reason. Whatever that reason is, it’s because he sees me—us—as a threat. He knows everything about me. The CIA still has my file in their archives. He knows I’m MDF now and he knows where my family is. If Bennett is leaking intelligence to the enemy, then he sure as hell isn’t going to stop from targeting my family. I’mnotletting them become atarget.”
“He could know about our family, too,” Kyle added in a voice that promised murder if anything happened to their family. Alexei could appreciate his little brother’s rage when he could barely focus enough beyondthepain.
Alexei reached for Sean’s hand this time, pleased when he squeezed back tightly. Alexei cleared his throat, ignoring the taste of rancid bile on his tongue. “Wego.”
“You’re wounded and can’t use your power,” Trevor pointed out. “And stop moving. You have a few pieces of shrapnel embedded in your abdomen. Bad enough I’m trying to sterilize the area while Annabelle drives like a maniac, but you squirming isn’t helpingmeany.”
“Hey!” Annabelleprotested.
