He unwrapped his fingers from their wrists. Together, the three of them left the copse of trees behind and trudged across the open field to a flatter area. The sun beat down on Sean’s shoulders, though the combat uniform he wore kept him mostly cool.
Annabelle pointed out the combat jet’s arrival first, her keen eyes easily locating the dot on the horizon. “There they are. You know who’s onboard?”
“Alexei and Trevor,” Katie said.
“Bet Jamie’s pissed.”
“Not a bet I’m willing to take.”
Less than a minute later the combat jet landed in the field, engines still running hot, ramp already lowered. The combat jet’s energy shield disappeared and they jogged up the ramp to safety. Alexei and Trevor waited impatiently inside, both men assessing everyone’s physical state.
“We’re fine,” Katie assured him.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Trevor said.
Annabelle hurried past him to replace the agent piloting the combat jet. Katie and Sean dutifully allowed Trevor to do a field assessment on them while Katie reported back to base about what had happened in the air after the EMP hit. Alexei sat beside Sean for the entire flight home, his arm a warm weight over Sean’s shoulders.
“Stanislav not stopping,” Alexei said when they were halfway back to base.
“No,” Sean quietly agreed. “He’s not.”
Whatever was coming for them next, Sean knew none of them would like it, and he had a sinking feeling they were all massively unprepared. He didn’t know how they could win against someone who could see the future, but they had to find a way.
Somehow.
10
State of Distortion
“Keep me updated,”Jamie said over comms, trying not to clench his jaw. “Donotkeep me out of the loop this time, sir.”
“You’ll be kept apprised of the situation. Ovechkina and the others are en route to base and will be debriefed accordingly,” Nazari replied, ignoring Jamie’s tone.
Jamie had a multitude of responses to that, but what came out of his mouth was a teeth-gritting, “Thank you, sir.”
The line went dead without the director saying goodbye. Jamie glared at the wall in his father’s home office before shaking his head. He’d have returned to base to greet his team, but he couldn’t get out of the dinner tonight. If it were anyone else but the President of the United States, he’d cancel and reschedule. But he’d practically been ordered to attend, and Jamie couldn’t escape.
“Something wrong?”
His mother’s voice broke through his thoughts and Jamie looked over at where she stood in the doorway. Charlotte wore a pristine white business suit, her red stiletto heels matching the red silk blouse she wore. Her makeup was perfect as always, but it couldn’t hide the tiredness in her blue eyes.
“Some members of my team were just shot out of the sky over Kansas while transferring a metahuman prisoner,” Jamie said flatly.
Charlotte’s eyes widened. “Are they all right?”
“Yes. Sean was onboard and got them clear. The fact they were attacked at all is disconcerting.”
If it were just to take Jansen out, then Stanislav could have done that in Europe. This attack on home soil was nothing more than Stanislav playing with them, much as a cat played with its prey.
“Do you need to leave?”
Jamie shook his head. “As much as I want to, I can’t be a nonappearance at dinner tonight.”
“Your father will be happy to hear that.”
“I’m not doing it to make him happy, Mother.”
He and Richard had been at each other’s throats where the media couldn’t see ever since the closed session hearing. The strain between them felt like a Cold War that had no end in sight. Jamie had done all the apologizing he was willing to do, but it was never enough for his father. Charlotte and Leah had done their best to act as mediators, but Richard was the consummate politician and Jamie would always be a Marine. They stood for different things, and their common ground was vanishing a little more with every day that passed.
