“Like I told the director, I’ll go along with whatever Jamiewants.”
“I know you will. He won’t let Richard throw you underthebus.”
Kyle snorted. “Wouldn’t be much I could do if his dad tried. I’m not apolitician.”
She didn’t say everything would be all right. In their line of work, they knew that was nothing but a false promise. But they were a team, and they’d support each other no matter what. Jamie’s family was a complicated problem they all had to deal with, and the current mission wasn’t making that anyeasier.
“We should pull out,” Kyle said, slouching in hischair.
“Not uptous.”
“I know, but fuck, Katie. The mission is putting my family in danger and Ihatethat. I can handle it. So can Alexei. But they don’t deserve to be in the middle of all this and I don’twantthemtobe.”
He’d said as much to the director during his debrief. Kyle knew he didn’t have the authority to kill a mission, but it was getting to the point where he wasn’t sure the risk was worth it anymore. Making deals with the enemy and compromising their own safety for the greater good wouldn’t be worth anything if Kyle lost the people closesttohim.
Jamie was at the top ofthatlist.
When he’d seen the flash of a scope on top of the building’s roof, his first thought was for Jamie, and how he was so unprepared to live a life without him. A split second after was when he started worrying about the Callahan family as a whole, and had gone racing up the stage to get Richard secured. He hadn’t wanted Jamie to experience losing a parent in such a public way, which made the current situation all the moreaggravating.
It’s not like Kyle had any experience living beneath the expectations the Callahans put on themselves in public and in private. He’d seen the way Jamie quietly tore himself apart over the demands the MDF and his family put on him. Kyle was only able to provide so much comfort during those moments—the decision of what to do was Jamie’s alone. But Kyle would support him, always, and Jamieknewthat.
“You know his father refuses to cancel the rally tomorrow?”Kylesaid.
“I’m aware of that. Jamie took over dealing with thesecurity.”
“He’s got less than twenty-four hours to turn that park intoFortKnox.”
“If anyone can do it,Jamiecan.”
“Yeah, but he’s going to be pissed as fuck about needing to.” Kyle stared up at the ceiling while the anchor on the holoscreen said goodnight to his audience and it rolled over to the next news show. “We should be there to watchhissix.”
Kyle knew it wasn’t possible, but a guy could dream. If the entire team showed up to help Jamie handle security for his father, people would talk.The New York Timesarticle back in January hadn’t exactly painted them all in the best light, despite the Marine Corps agreeing to help cover for them at the MDF’s request. Only so many lies could be told before they crumbled, and journalists, in Kyle’s experience, were tenacious littlebeasts.
“Word came back that the shooter and his partner identified with the Sons of Adam,” Katietoldhim.
Kyle turned his head to the side and made a face. “I know. I’m not surprised. If that group is following Declan now, and if he knows all our classified identities through Stanislav, the Sons of Adam are going to want revenge. Jamie killed Valerie,afterall.”
Katie rubbed at her nose, a frown tugging at her mouth. “The director is aware of that problem. It’s why he approved having undercover MDF agents on the ground during the rally. The local police are aware of the threat and are taking extraprecautions.”
“I don’t think it’ll be enough. We should bethere.”
If they didn’t get permission to go, Kyle knew he would spend all day tomorrow glued to the news, watching the rally, and be in constant contact with Jamie. He knew the others on the team felt the same way, but they didn’t have clearance to go, and itrankled.
“It would cause too many problems if Alpha Team was seen onsite. Youknowthat.”
“Doesn’t mean I have tolikeit.”
Katie looked like she would have argued, except the door to the conference room slid open and Elena Flores, Sean’s coworker, came rushing inside. “The deputy director needs to seeyou.Now.”
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked as he quicklystoodup.
Elena grimaced, fingers white-knuckling the tablet in her hand. “Alexei and Sean aremissing.”
Kyle had no recollection of leaving the conference room. He blinked, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of the MDF’s command nerve center where active missions the world over were handled by supervising officers and support crew. Kyle stared at MDF Deputy Director Ranisha Stirling across a work table inundated with holoscreens pulled up into brightlayers.
“When?” Kyle demanded, his voice sounding strange inhisears.
“Their trackers went dead at 1409. I was made aware of the situation when the supervising officer on duty couldn’t raise them oncomms.”
