"Rickon, Madam President." Her voice cut through the silence, clipped and professional. "We have a problem."
"What happened?" I asked, though part of me already dreaded the answer. The Prime wore the expression of someone delivering a death sentence.
"Declan Hewes' prison transport was intercepted three hours ago. A Romvesian royal ship ambushed them en route to the prison planet."
My blood went cold, ice flooding through my veins, freezing everything in its path. "Is he...." I couldn't finish the question. Death was too easy for that bastard. I wanted him to suffer, to spend decades toiling on a prison planet, breaking rocks under an alien sun until his body gave out and his mind shattered from the monotony and pain.
"They took him. Alive." The Prime's jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath her skin. "The Romvesians are claiming jurisdiction. They say they want him for crimes committed against their people."
"Do you believe them?" Ellie asked, leaning closer to the projection, her shoulder pressing against mine, her warmth a contrast to the chill spreading through my chest.
The Prime's gaze shifted to Ellie, and I watched something flicker across her holographic features—acknowledgment, perhaps even respect. "No, I do not." Her words were measured, deliberate. "The route his ship took to Planet Palaydium was classified at the highest level. Onlya handful of individuals knew the transport schedule and trajectory." She paused, letting the weight of her next words settle over us like a shroud. "Yet the Romvesians knew exactly where to intercept him. Down to the parsec."
I felt Ellie's fingers dig into my arm, her nails pressing crescents into my skin. We both understood what the Prime was telling us, what it meant.
"He still has someone on the inside of the Alliance," I said, the words tasting like ash.
"Yes." The Prime's expression hardened further, if that was even possible, her features transforming into something carved from stone. "Someone embedded deep enough to access Level Omega intelligence." She leaned forward slightly, the blue light of the projection intensifying, casting stark shadows across her face. "And now that Declan is in Romvesian custody, he'll have the resources and freedom to coordinate whatever he's planning next."
"He won't return to Earth. He no longer has any power or assets here." Ellie's voice remained steady as she spoke, but I felt her pulse racing against my side, a frantic rhythm that betrayed the calm exterior she projected.
"I agree," the Prime said with a curt nod. "Whatever he plans, whatever revenge he's plotting, will need to be carried out through his associates within the Alliance."
"We need to find a way to flush him out," I muttered, my mind spinning through possibilities and discarding them just as quickly. I should have killed the bastard and been done with it, should have ripped his throat out when I had the chance.
Ellie's grip on my arm tightened. "I've got an idea." Her eyes centered on the holograph with a look I recognized, the one that meant she was already three steps ahead of everyone else. "You know when the US finished seizing Declan's assets,we found a dozen or more residential properties, most of them containing abducted women."
My wings flexed involuntarily, the anger surging through me making them twitch and strain against my back.
"I am aware," The Prime said dryly.
Ellie drew in a deep breath before she continued. "And you recall one of them is Cullen's daughter. Agent Chloe Blackwood. She was working undercover with the FBI when she got too close to Declan's operations and he grabbed her."
The memory of that day crashed over me, Ellie's hands trembling as she'd opened the comm channel to Cullen, her voice shaking as she delivered the news that his daughter was alive. I'd watched the storm of emotions cross his face through the holographic projection, each one hitting him like a physical blow. The initial disbelief, the surge of rage that made his jaw clench and his hands ball into fists. Then the overwhelming relief that had nearly brought him to his knees and made his voice crack when he'd tried to speak. The mix of fury and gratitude in his eyes had tugged at something deep in my chest, something raw and painful. I knew with absolute certainty that I would never see my daughter's face again until I joined her in the heavens. I could not fathom what he must be feeling, to have his child returned from death.
"I am aware," The Prime said, and I watched distaste flicker across her normally impassive features like a shadow passing over stone.
"The details of her captivity...." Ellie paused, and I felt her body tense as she searched for the right words. I'd been with her when she'd read the full report on what Declan had done to Chloe. I’d watched the color drain from her face as she'd scanned page after page, her hands shaking harder with each paragraph until she'd barely made it to the bathroom before she vomited. She'd emerged pale and hollow-eyed, her skin clammy,insisting through gritted teeth that Cullen be told nothing beyond the fact that his daughter had been found alive and well. "Declan kept extensive records. Video surveillance. From what we've learned, she was his favorite. His greatest prize, as he called her."
The Prime's gaze narrowed, her eyes glinting like molten gold in the blue light, dangerous and sharp. "Cullen and I planned to visit Earth within the next few rotations so he could visit with her."
"What if we send Chloe to you?" Ellie suggested, her voice gaining strength as the plan took shape in her mind. "Declan is an egotistical bastard. I think he'd jump at the chance to reclaim her, especially after all he's lost."
"It would be effective bait," the Prime agreed quietly, thoughtfully, her mind already working through the possibilities. "If Declan believes Chloe is vulnerable, accessible…."
"Cullen will never agree to this," I cut in, my voice sharp. "He'll tear apart anyone who suggests using his daughter as bait." I would.
"I know, Rickon," Ellie said, her voice thoughtful. "But it's Chloe's choice. She is an excellent agent. I met with her several times when she came to the White House for security briefings before she went undercover. She's brilliant, fearless, and like her dad, stubborn as hell." She looked at me, her green eyes searching mine, then back at the Prime. "And from what her supervisors report, she's been relentless in demanding they clear her for active duty."
I watched the tension coil through Ellie's shoulders, felt it radiating from her body in waves as my hand traced the length of her spine. "What is your plan?" I asked, my fingers mapping each vertebra, each knot of stress that had settled there like stones beneath her skin. She never made these types of decisionslightly. I felt the weight of it in every rigid muscle beneath my palm.
"If Chloe agrees, we send her to visit her father, embedded with a tracker." Ellie's gaze dropped to the crook of her left arm, where George, theHistoria'smedic, had implanted a small tracking device with her consent. A tiny piece of technology that would let me find her anywhere in the galaxy.
"And we let it be known that Chloe is traveling." The Prime's voice was measured, calculating, her strategic mind already mapping out the operation. It hadn't taken her long to catch on.
"I think Declan will jump at the chance to get her back." Ellie's frown deepened, carving lines between her brows. "Not to mention the bastard will think that having Chloe gives him leverage over Cullen, who works at your side."
Something flickered across the Prime's face when Ellie mentioned Cullen. Something soft and unguarded and vulnerable that vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like a door slamming shut.
