“That’s why I called. We’ve confirmed that Strickland is dirty and is connected to Kaufman. SOS is officially off the grid—the administration, we assume via Strickland, has issued a quiet burn notice on you and me for refusing to cooperate. I’ve tapped into our network of trusted officials, and I’m working with them to resolve this issue. I need your intel.”
“We’ve been attacked more than once by a team of highly trained, combat-ready men. We ditched our cell phones in case they were tracking us through them. I haven’t used this one to contact anyone, but now that you’ve contacted me...”
“I’m using an encrypted phone, but I get that you might have to ditch that burner. Swede is tracking this call for your coordinates. I need you to stay put as I’m sending you a package with secure equipment, ETA eight hours.”
“Roger,” Rogue said.
“And, Rogue,” his boss said, “keep the target safe.”
Keira frowned.
Rogue cringed at Royce calling her the target. “Her name is Keira.”
“Keep Keira safe,” Royce corrected. “She’s key to blowing this thing wide open.”
Royce ended the call.
“He referred to me as ‘the target,’” she said. “Can you trust him?”
“With my life,” Rogue said. “Royce isn’t just my boss. He’s one of the good guys and the most honorable man I know. If he says he’s helping, he’s helping.”
Keira’s frown remained. The woman had reason not to trust men. Words wouldn’t convince her. Royce’s actions would.
“Eight hours until his drop?” Keira’s lips pressed together. She sank onto her end of the sofa and opened her laptop. As soon as she booted it to life, a ping sounded.
“I thought you said we were off-grid here?” Rogue commented.
“I had one of my contacts set me up with satellite internet and a virtual private network that routes traffic through an encrypted tunnel to mask my IP address.” Her lips quirked.
Rogue grinned. “You really didn’t want anyone to find your secret cabin, did you?”
“No.” Keira frowned down at her laptop.
“What was the pinging sound for?”
Her frown deepened. “I set up facial recognition software a couple of days ago, scanning for Viktor and other Onyx operatives. It found a match.” She turned the laptop toward him. “This surveillance video is from a hotel in San Antonio.”
Rogue moved to sit beside her, their thighs touching, as he looked at a CCTV image of a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, with dark hair and Asian features, moving with the same precision and confidence as Keira.
Keira’s face paled. “She’s Onyx.”
“You know her?” Rogue studied the woman.
“Yes,” Keir nodded. “That’s Jade. If she’s active...it’s to replace me.” She pulled the laptop close again and clicked the keyboard. A news anchor appeared.
“Breaking story,” the man said. “A federal prosecutor was found dead in his Houston home this morning of apparent suicide.”
Keira’s eyes narrowed. “That prosecutor didn’t die of suicide. That’s got Onyx written all over it. One of the ways we stage our kills is to make it look like suicide.”
Rogue leaned close to view the news report and study the victim. “They’re not standing down because one of their weapons has gone rogue. While they hunt you, they’ve activated your replacement.”
Keira’s brow knitted. “She’s doing what I would’ve done—blindly follow orders based on lies and brainwashing. Only now, they’re going after political enemies, not just cartel leaders. And I can do nothing to stop her. I can’t believe it took me so long to see the truth. They’re turning girls into killing machines. They’ll do the killing, and the people calling the shots keep their hands clean.”
He hated seeing how distressed she was. “If we can find her, is it possible to flip her?”
Keira’s gaze met his, her eyebrows dipping into a V. “Flip her?”
He nodded. “Make her see that she’s being used. Show her that she doesn’t have to do their bidding? Maybe we could use her testimony along with yours to expose Onyx for what it is.”
