“Probably the best course of action. She had a holopic of you and Kyle speaking with Yulia Vitsina at the Empyrean brand party. I’m assuming that’s the picture Adam Dixon took in November before he was banished from your father’s campaign press pool?”
“I’ve wondered why that one hasn’t shown up. Dixon shared pretty much everything else delivered to him by the CIA, and he was the one who actually took that particular picture.”
“They may have ordered him to release everything he had on their timeline if he wanted the other pictures. To what end besides derailing your father’s career? I don’t know. Helena acted like she could make all of this go away.”
Jamie snorted. “Doubtful.”
“Yeah. But the CIA doesn’t make contact without reason.”
“What do you think that reason is?”
Sean leaned his head back and glared at the roof. “She wanted me to spy for them.”
“Why?” Alexei growled, his hand tightening around Sean’s. “You not theirs.”
“I think they wanted access to the MDF again. I don’t know if that’s what they really wanted though. I didn’t ask, because I wasn’t interested.”
“The Pavluhkins hoped to control Richard through compromising information concerning Jamie. That option ended in Boston. The current mess is based on revenge and to protect Bennett’s status quo, which not incidentally helps the Pavluhkins. We know he’s working with Declan and the Pavluhkins to undermine Richard’s campaign. They’re definitely looking for a way in since their last attempt got killed,” Katie said.
Sean thought back to two summers ago when Cora Everly, a shapeshifting metahuman who had hidden her status while working for the CIA before going on the run, had attempted to infiltrate the MDF ranks in order to destroy a supposed Splice cure. The cure had turned out not to be viable and Kyle had made sure she’d died a painful death at the time.
So, no, it wasn’t surprising the CIA was once again trying to spy on the MDF. What was surprising was instead of planting a mole, they were trying to turn Sean.
“They won’t find one through me,” he promised.
“That thought never even crossed my mind,” Jamie said calmly. “But the fact that Bennett sent one of his people to feel you out? Something tells me he’s getting desperate.”
“A desperate person in power. That’s never a good mix,” Kyle said.
“No, it isn’t.”
Sean closed his eyes, half-listening to the quiet conversation going on up front for the rest of the drive back to base. The other half of his attention was focused on Alexei’s warm touch, the way his thumb never stopped stroking over the back of his hand.
Once they arrived on base, the entire team gathered on Level 36, where MDF Director Amir Nazari was waiting for them.
“Next time, let’s leave bodily harm out of the mix when it comes to civilians, shall we?” Nazari said in greeting, looking at Alexei when he spoke.
“Yes, sir,” Alexei dutifully replied.
No one looked like they believed him.
Everyone took a seat around the conference table, focusing on the director. A three-star Army general edging into his late fifties, Nazari was a man Sean had seen far more of over the last few months than all the years before he officially joined Alpha Team. As the top active field team in the MDF, Alpha Team reported directly to Nazari or MDF Deputy Director Ranisha Stirling.
Sean had been seconded to Alpha Team last year during the Pavluhkin mission. Jamie had fought to bring him on permanently earlier this year. While everyone else on the team came from a military background, Sean didn’t, and he’d be lying if he said the adjustment was easy. But he felt safer in the field than he had in a long time now that he could retain solid communications with the rest of the team and the base through Katie’s telepathy. It made all the extra training he’d been subjected to worth it, as well as fighting by Alexei’s side.
“I understand from Callahan that the CIA is attempting to target us again through you, Delaney,” Nazari said.
“Their attempt was pretty transparent, sir,” Sean replied.
“It’s not an avenue we’re interested in pursuing, so we won’t be asking you to play double agent any time soon. However, the fact that Bennett sent one of his people into the field so blatantly is cause for concern.”
“He’s getting desperate,” Jamie said.
“As much as I wish he were, because desperate men do desperate things, no, I don’t believe Bennett’s fear of discovery has shifted one bit. If we out him before the investigation is finalized, he’ll out all of you. The Joint Chiefs as well as the president don’t want to see that happen.”
“What’s to stop him from outing us after the investigation into his activities concludes and he’s arrested?” Trevor wanted to know.
Nazari smiled grimly. “Nothing. We believe he’s looking for a way out before then.”
