Her lover’s ass…
“Are you coming?” David asked, lifting a single eyebrow.
“Yes. Fine. Yes.” Goddamn, she remained rattled.
She followed David into the conference room, their team the last to arrive. The director certainly looked pissed; no doubt he’d been chastised by the upper echelon. The word stupid came to mind again.
Director Jeff Montgomery stood at the far end of the table, glaring at each one of them, his expression grim. “All right, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t need to tell you why we’re here. As you can imagine, even the President of the United States is pissed about this one. Stephen Wallace was ceremoniously taken out as if our people were amateurs.”
“Any idea who’s responsible?” one of the agents asked.
“The Player. This reeks of his method of killing, the fact he can gather information from some unknown source and be in and out within minutes,” Sophia answered. Almost every person in the room turned in her direction.
Director Montgomery nodded, although he didn’t seem too pleased that she’d been the one to answer. “That’s what everyone at the Pentagon believes; however, there appears to be more.” He flicked a control, popping up a visual on the main screen. There were eight men, all of them at a distance leaving some sort of building. “Meet theRifugio Oscuro, or the Dark Haven.”
“A consortium,” Sophia whispered, more to herself but she drew the director’s attention.
“Yes, Agent Waters. I wasn’t at liberty to discuss this a few weeks ago. While this is unconfirmed, these eight men are believed to be some of the most powerful in the world, capable of bringing down governments. They are also well connected, well funded, and have the ability to crash any county’s economy within days.”
“What?” David managed, his face paling.
“Why isn’t this confirmed?” another agent asked.
“Well, Agent Brennan, they are also very elusive, their individual wealth affording them the kind of security that obviously we didn’t have in our effort to try and protect Mr. Wallace. An unconfirmed rumor is that Alessandro Comali is in charge of this Dark Haven.” The director smirked, allowing the information to settle in.
She’d heard the name before, but from where?
“Before you ask, Mr. Comali is considered head of one of the oldest crime syndicate families in all of Europe. During his reign of terror, he and his capos supposedly killed over two thousand men, women, and children.”
“I thought he disappeared,” Sophia offered, remembering some of the vague details from watching the History Channel.
Director Montgomery nodded, his tired eyes reflecting the long hours worked. “That is absolutely true. Dropped out of sight in the late eighties.”
“That would make him ancient now,” David joked.
“That doesn’t mean he’s dead, Agent Camden, but I assure you, if this consortium truly exists, none of the men serving handle any of their own dirty work. There are various government agencies that have been working on this for almost a year, but we have nothing concrete except rumors and limited information from overseas informants.”
“A group of assassins,” Sophia said under her breath, shaking her head as she tried to fathom the concept.
“What does this have to do with the hit on Wallace?” David asked.
Sophia twisted in her seat as the director switched the slide, moving from one to the other. She recognized government leaders, corporate CEOs, and several men who she honestly had no clue about.
“These are supposedly a growing list of men who have contracts on their lives. We believe the consortium has a plan, one that could involve breaking down commerce and leadership throughout the world. Now, from what I’ve been told, this list also included some of the kingpins and drug cartel leaders.” The director looked around the room.
“They don’t want any competition,” an agent at the front said, laughing, others following suit.
Director Montgomery gave him a dirty look. “That is correct. As far as the man we protected, Stephen Wallace wascapable of providing a security system that could have stopped their advances on the various computer systems.” Director Montgomery rubbed his eyes. “We believe the consortium has a group of hitmen, with one being the leader.”
“The Player,” Sophia said in a commanding tone. Her guesses were right.
“Exactly. What makes this situation particularly unique is that every assassin is supposedly a son of one of the members of the Dark Haven.”
“You’re shittin’ me!” David exclaimed.
“No, Agent Camden, I assure you that I am not shitting you.” The director furrowed his brow, obviously far too drained for bullshit.
“Any idea at all what this player looks like?” Agent Brennan asked quietly.
