Alexei had been present in the biotech lab when Jamie shot and killed Valerie while Declan looked on over an uplink. Declan would know that Apollo from Alpha Team murdered his wife, and if Declan was in contact with Stanislav through Niko, then he could know that Apollo was Jamie. To say nothing of a possible leak coming from the CIA. None of them could escape the possibility that Stanislav had seen their true identities in thefuture.
We shouldn’t have agreed to their request in Paris,Alexei thought tohimself.
The team had three days left to deliver the information the Pavluhkins wanted and the MDF was scrambling to make it happen. Jamie and Kyle were in New York City for an Empyrean brand party tonight to retrieve the right targets for the trade—wealthy contacts for criminal ones. No one else on the team was going, mostly because of the media presence that would be there, and the MDF was still working to mitigate the Secret Serviceproblem.
“Director know?” Alexeiasked.
“The report was sent to him this morning. His aide indicated they might need me for a briefing later after the initial meetings with my division head.” Sean finally dragged his attention away from the intel and focused on Alexei. “It’ll probably end up in Alpha Team’s hands at somepoint.”
“Not know where they target,” Alexei pointed out. “Could beanywhere.”
“Chatter indicates it may be a domestic attack. We’ve got an election coming up next year and Jamie is kind of a focal point in all this. That’s a prime opportunity rightthere.”
“Think they target hisfamily?”
Sean rubbed a hand over his face, shoulders tight with a tension Alexei wished he could ease. “I don’t know. Theycould—”
He broke off as a sharp alarm cut through the office, a red warning line streaming across the top of every holoscreen. Sean immediately leaned forward, brown eyesgoingwide.
“What the hell?” heexclaimed.
Everything shifted in the displays, screens minimizing until only one large holoscreen remained. It bisected into two separate camera feeds, each one streaming a familiar-looking apartment—as well as the group of masked men entering thepremises.
“Senya,” Alexei ground out as he rose to his feet, eyes locked on theholoscreen.
Two of the masked men moved farther into Sean’s apartment while the third paused just inside the door, looking right into the embedded security camera in the wall. Alexei didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the man pulled off his balaclava. The face that filled the screen was familiar from too many hours poring over dossiers and reports, even if Alexei had never met him inperson.
Cillian Halloran was in his late thirties but looked older than that, face pockmarked with chemical scars he’d never bothered to fix. Thick black hair was cut short to tame his curls, making his ears stand out more than usual. Heavy brows curved over hooded blue eyes, and a tiny scar cut through his left eyebrow. Cillian smiled into the camera, teeth a crooked mess in his mouth, and slid his thumb across his throat in a cuttingmotion.
Then the feedcutout.
Sean slammed his hand down on the comms uplink. “Agent Flores, I need a team sent to my apartmentnow. There’s been a security breach. Put the security details on my family and the Dvorkins on notice for a possibleattack.”
Alexei was already halfway to the door when he felt Sean’s hand on his arm, pulling him to a stop. He turned around, jaw tight with a fury he could practically taste, seeing his own rage mirrored in Sean’s gaze, along with a fear Alexei wished he couldwipeaway.
“Where are you going?” Seanasked.
“Where you think?” Alexeiretorted.
Sean went back to his desk and pulled a Beretta M90 tactical pistol and holster from a drawer. He clipped it on his belt as he hurried past Alexei to be the first out of the office. “You’re not leavingwithoutme.”
“Da.”
They didn’t stop by the ready rooms to gear up in their combat uniforms since this wasn’t a mission so much as anemergency. Sean’s apartment was unlisted for security purposes; Cillian shouldn’t have been able tolocateit.
Alexei had a feeling they weren’t being unpredictable enough to outsmart Stanislav, and that realization left a sour taste in his mouth as they exited the base inrecordtime.
“How you think Cillian find out?” Alexei asked as they drove past the security checkpoint at top speed, followed by an SUV carrying an armed team of MDF field agents. Half of Alpha Team was taking advantage of some downtime, and they couldn’t wait for everyone toregroup.
Sean angrily shook his head, raking a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. “Bennett, mostlikely.”
The CIA deputy director was becoming a problem Alexei wished they could send Kyle to take care of. One bullet was all he would need to give everyone some peace of mind. Rationally, Alexei knew that would only cause more problems in the long run, but he’d feel a lot safer with that traitor taken care of in the only way that mattered in their lineofwork.
“Not good,” Alexeigrunted.
“Iknow.”
Alexei swallowed the angry retort sitting on the tip of his tongue. Sean’s usual calm demeanor had disappeared in the wake of the latest clusterfuck to hit them since starting this mission in January. Eleven months of subterfuge and lies had gotten them nowhere except increasingly backed into a corner with nowayout.
