Page 128 of What Remains

“Well, um . . .” Gwen says in a shaky voice, like she can hear my thoughts, and they’ve tripped her up, too. “Now that we have Jezebel’s real name and photo, I can plug her into my program and find out where she’s been, who she’s met with, and, with any luck, where she is now. This is more important than studying the AI deepfake footage.”

Carter snatches his cell from the table. “While you do that, I need to step out and get Zoey on the phone.”

“I assume Zoey never crossed paths with Jezebel when she was Felicity at Interpol, or she’d have recognized her on the island,” Mya points out.

“Jezebel definitely didn’t expect to ever be ID’ed, or she’d never have let any of us see her face,” Gwen adds. “Which means she expects we’re all going to die. She’s probably clueless she’ll be another loose end wrapped up like the men at the compound were.”

“Molly and Jezebel have to be working with someone else, too,” I mutter. “It’s gotta be someone who ties this all together.”

“Are you planning on throwing your mother-in-law back out there as a possible someone?” Jesse asks Carter.

“I never took her off the list,” he grunts. “If you recall, I said she might be innocent.” He gestures with his phone toward Gwen’s laptop. “Let me know when you get a hit on the hacker’s location.” He starts to turn, only to halt and spin back around. “You said something before . . . That they went to a lot of trouble to bring you to that island specifically. Not to London. Not somewhere else, but there.”

Where are you going with this?

“We said that island might have a secondary purpose for their plan.” Carter angles his head, eyeing me next. “Did you ever see what was in the cargo you were flying?”

“No, but I had my guesses. High-end weapons, things like that.” I look down at my laptop, thinking.

“What if Molly wasn’t lying about the traffickers having a tie to who killed Preston,” Carter says steadily.

I set my hands on the table as more of the truth clicks into place. “Because it was Molly who hired The Chechen to kill Preston, like she probably hired him in Somalia to take out the leader there.”

“The proof she gave Zoey to draw her to the island looked legit, because it was legit. Molly obviously failed to mention the ‘financials and criminal activity’ tying to Preston’s killer were her own records,” Gwen says with air quotes.

“Makes sense, I guess.” Oliver squints, like he’s still not buying something. “I mean, I get why Molly might hire an assassin to take out Preston if he was onto her for being a traitor or something, but why’d she care about regime change in Somalia?”

“Not her, but the people she reported to—The Collective.” Jesse’s voice is strained at the mention of that group’s name. “And maybe it wasn’t about a change in leadership, but to get the U.S. military out of there so they’d stop disrupting the trafficking networks.”

Oliver palms his forehead, pushing at the skin, uneasy.

Don’t blame him.

Jesse shoots him an apologetic nod, then shifts to Carter. “Maybe The Collective was actually in charge of the trafficking networks and only made it appear they were Al-Qaeda’s. Or had some kind of trade deal, who knows.”

Carter drags his free hand through his hair. “That’s possible.”

“No,” Gwen murmurs. “I mean, yes, but no.” She sits taller. “There was no CCTV of Preston’s death that day. I know, because Zoey asked me to look last summer.” Her gaze wanders to the phone, and I forgot Julian’s still listening in. “I mean, if Molly hired The Chechen to kill Preston, wouldn’t she have kept the footage so there’d be no question he did it?” Her gaze flicks to Carter next. “The only reason she’d go to the trouble of making it disappear is if she knew who actually killed him, and she never wanted that information getting out.”

“Because she did it herself,” Carter hisses. “She had to be out there that day.”

“Zoey’s been cozied up close to the real killer this whole time.” Gwen lifts her eyes to the ceiling, thinking. “Ugh, I’m going to be sick. To be betrayed by someone you think you can trust like that . . .”

“Almost as bad as sleeping with the enemy,” Oliver mumbles, which has Mya rolling her eyes at him and playfully swatting his arm.

“I assume you didn’t use the CCTV nuke antidote once you had it to go back and⁠—”

“That footage is too old to be recoverable,” Julian interrupts Mya.

“Believe me, I tried. I just didn’t tell Zoey. I was too worried I’d get her hopes up if it didn’t work out,” Gwen says to Mya. “And before you ask, I didn’t tell Zoey we have the antidote. Didn’t feel fair for her to know the truth is out there, but I still can’t get her answers.”

“Which means Zoey didn’t slip and share intel with a trusted someone,” Mya notes.

Well, shit. I hadn’t thought of that, but damn.

“Zoey would’ve told us if she accidentally said anything to Molly, anyway,” Carter says. “But I’ll ask her just in case.”

“Prepare to get an earful,” I mutter. “She’s gonna be pissed you’d insinuate negligence on her part.”