Lethal Echo by Cara Carnes

17

Ram scowled at Doug and Pierce as they entered the whiteboard room. Bree shook her head.

“At least it was us and not boss man,” Pierce commented. “Besides, it’s almost morning anyway.”

It was, but that didn’t mean leaving the bed he’d been enjoying very much with Bree was any easier. They’d spent hours making love and talking. Whatever had cut that short had better be worth it.

“We have some answers about what happened with the Melanie debacle,” Vi said. Ram’s gaze swept the room. Only his team and Operations were there.

“A new operative assigned for training with Medina’s team didn’t abide by the rules,” Mary said. “We vetted him, and he was clean. We believe he still is, but his recent choices prove he’s not Arsenal quality. He had a cell phone, one he failed to turn in to us.”

Fuck. All operatives were required to use Arsenal-issued phones for a reason. They weren’t trackable and HERA shadowed all activity, which kept everyone at the compound safe.

“What the fuck?” Doug asked. “Why? Is he dirty?”

“No, just very naive and stupid,” Zoey muttered. She sighed heavily as images flashed on the screens. “The short story is that he met a woman via an online dating service shortly after starting his training here. That relationship deepened. He chose to keep a burner phone we weren’t aware of because he didn’t want to lose contact with her or have us ‘in his business.’ Once Medina got custody of the phone, we were able to uncover her real identity as an operative.”

“She used to be with SAS, which is how HERA confirmed her,” Mary said. “We believe she’s with Knightwind now, but not Gavin’s faction of it.”

“The other group,” Gage muttered. “How did they figure out he was part of this operation?”

“That’s where the stupid comes out of our former operative Greene,” Zoey said. “He believed she was a flight attendant and traveled throughout the country. She used that as an excuse to keep track of his movements. She’d meet him at hotels near wherever he was while he was training with Medina’s team.”

“Fuck. That could’ve exposed the underground,” Doug said.

“That still doesn’t explain her knowing he was part of the team on Melanie,” Ram said.

“That’s where the Homeland mole comes in,” Mary said. “We’ve confirmed two individuals who became aware of our sting operation. They both accessed satellite surveillance of the area during our operation. Homeland has taken them into custody and questioned them. One of them admitted he was asked by a ‘friend’ of his in Knightwind to watch the operation.”

“Why would he agree?” Gage asked.

“Because he’s stupid and greedy,” Vi said. “They offered him a position with the organization. He’s wanted to move to Europe for a while, apparently. They used that to con him into helping in exchange for a new, higher paying gig with them.”

“Damn.” Ram crossed his arms. “So Knightwind knew Melanie was missing. Both sides knew.”

“Yes. That’s what we suspect,” Mary said. “They have assets in play in a lot of government offices. When we contacted Homeland, they likely got wind of it and moved in. We reviewed the satellite surveillance from the area around Bob’s house at the time we breached. It very clearly showed the handoff of a female to someone.”

“And that was enough for them to move in because their asset they had on Greene already knew he was in the area,” Pierce said.

“His movements were being tracked,” Vi confirmed. “The group that hit you at the airstrip was not with Alex. We believe they are working with the other faction of Knightwind, the one in charge of Facility Six. They were the only ones who would’ve known Melanie was in play at all, except for Gavin.”

“Whose movements and cell phone activities are being monitored,” Ram said.

“Yes. In short, we had a noob who screwed up and we didn’t catch it in time,” Mary admitted. “We’ll seam up those issues to prevent it from happening again. The other short falling was ours. We made the call to keep her in the area because there wasn’t adequate time to move her elsewhere. That was clearly a mistake.”

“One you were worried about, so you did the right thing by sending us in,” Gage said. “No one can be perfect. You had a gut feeling that something could go wrong. We handled it.”

“He’s right,” Ram said. “There are a lot of moving pieces to the massive puzzle right now. Something was bound to happen. Besides, this wasn’t entirely on us. Homeland shouldn’t have expanded their involvement without letting you vet everyone involved.”

“True,” Vi said. “We’ve been assured that won’t happen again. As a matter of fact, we have a new dedicated contact who will be working with us.”

“He’s Bob’s replacement for the time being,” Mary said. “With the president’s sincerest apologies that Homeland’s failure to abide by our requests could’ve potentially ended very badly. It will not happen again.”

Ram was glad they’d looked into what happened so quickly. Exhaustion filled their faces. None of them had rested yet.

“HERA is currently running all of our operatives. We’ll be doing that on a weekly basis from now on, in addition to random searches of everyone,” Zoey said. “Jesse’s speaking with his brothers about that right now. And no more noobs training with teams assigned to the underground. We can’t take that risk ever again.”

Ram agreed wholeheartedly. Too many people relied on the safety Zoey’s network provided.

“Come on. Let’s go get some breakfast with your woman.” Doug slapped Ram’s back. “I’m thinking you two worked up quite an appetite.”

Zoey’s eyes widened.

“Asshole,” Ram muttered as he stood. Though, he had a point. Breakfast with Bree sounded perfect.

* * *

Early morning in the mess hall was an experience. Bree couldn’t smother the grin on her face if she tried. Fortunately, there was no reason to. Ram chuckled beside her as Doug and Pierce arm wrestled for the last bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast taco.

“Should we tell them Nolan and his team are making more?” Ram whispered in her ear.

“Nah, let them burn off their energy.” She bit into her potato and bacon taco. “Besides, they’re egg-loving freaks.”

“What’s this?” Doug halted the battle. “You don’t like eggs?”

She scrunched up her nose. “I just don’t get the hype. I mean, I’ll eat them, but not all the time. It must be a Southern thing.”

“You’re a strange one,” Pierce commented as he shoved the taco toward Doug. He snatched one from Ram’s plate. “I’d ask how your night went after we left, but I’m not a fan of TMI and that thousand-watt smile tells us all we need to know. I’m happy you two are finally not hovering around one another anymore. I was about to lock you two into a detainment room.”

Ram tossed the pepper shaker at Pierce. “Shut it.”

Heat rose in Bree’s cheeks. “I can’t help it if he’s irresistible. Besides, I’m probably the only one who could deal with his two BFFs. You’re the crazy ones.”

The two men grinned. People started filing in and taking seats at the long table. A rightness filled Bree as all her friends gathered and ate their meals. The comfortable silence settled some of the unease rising within her.

Last night with Ram had been perfect, everything she’d imagined yet so much more. They’d whispered secrets to one another in the dark until she’d fallen asleep in his arms. The urge to purge the world of any asshole who’d hurt him in the past rode her hard. She wanted to end them all now more than ever, but it’d wait.

Today was all about giving Gavin his comeuppance for daring to use her friends. Mary had sent a group text telling everyone Bob would arrive at the compound within the hour.

They were finally getting a name. An end to the madness they’d been immersed in too long. The asshole behind Carlisle was finally going down. More importantly, they’d have firm answers about how much Bob had known—how deep his betrayal went.

Then they could focus on Shelly. Getting her friend out of Facility Six was critical. Dark circles filled the area beneath Zoey’s and Vi’s eyes. They both nursed coffees.

“Late night?” Bree asked.

“We got a couple hours sleep,” Zoey said. “Gage and Jud dragged us out around three. But we’ve got what we need for planning. Your girl’s good. Damned good.”

“No kidding,” Vi quipped. “Shelly had a trail carved out in the system’s security. Once we spotted the trail, it was smooth sailing.”

Bree tightened. “She’s okay?”

“We didn’t communicate with her, but yeah,” Zoey said. “She’d left encoded messages in a file for us. Most were focused on security details. Some provided passcodes into the surveillance cameras.”

“There was a diary where she recounted each day of her time there,” Vi said. “They’ve had her working. She was ordered to hack into a few critical databases. And HERA.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Bree whispered. “She’s good. I swear.”

“We know,” Mary said. “We left her what she needs to clone the backdoor area of HERA. That’ll free her up to do what Spade did. They’ll think she’s in, which will keep her safe until we can get her out while not breaching the system itself.”

“Is that safe?” Ram asked. “What if there’s someone else there who’d use that to dig deeper?”

“They won’t get any farther, not even her,” Vi said. “HERA’s security is impenetrable. Shelly knows that. Once someone accesses what they think is HERA, we’ll find out what they’re really after. Depending on what we find out today, we’re hoping to have a plan in the next few days. We warned her it’d take a while to act. Stalling is up to her, but she has what she needs to stay safe.”

“Thank you,” Bree said. Relief filled her. “I’ve tried hard not to think about her being there.”

“We know.” Vi reached across the table and squeezed Bree’s hand. “We’re gonna get her out.”

“She had a lot of interesting information to share about the biggest security threats we’ll come into contact with,” Zoey said. “She knew you’d likely find out she was there. She’s bait. They want you to continue what you’d been doing at Facility Six.”

“I’d never help them, not even for Shelly,” Bree said. “It’s bad enough my tech secures that place.”

“Oh, but it’s great that it does,” Zoey said, flashing a wicked grin. “Tell me there’s backdoors.”

“Of course.” Bree shrugged. “I learned all about those from the best.” She motioned to Mary and Vi. “If my tech is our biggest hurdle, that’s definitely a good thing.”

“I’ll make some calls,” Mary said. “The team will be light from our end in case things go sideways. I don’t want The Arsenal exposed. Our involvement needs to remain beneath the radar.”

Bree nodded. “What about after? Are we really leaving that place running?”

“Marshall’s making a call. That decision is above our pay grade. Facilities like that are critical. Too many high value targets need to remain contained. HERA’s digging through files to determine who’s there. So far we suspect there are quite a few people there without any electronic record.”

“Meaning they’re being detained where no one knows they even exist,” Pierce said, his voice more of a growl.

“That’s what Shelly suspects,” Zoey replied. “She’s contained within one sector of the facility but has identified one area few ever enter. Food is carted into it, so she knows there are prisoners. Who is the problem. They’re the ones not in the system, from what HERA has pulled so far.”

Damn.

“We don’t even know how many. We’re hoping we can uncover more before we penetrate the facility, but we might be winging it,” Mary admitted.

“There’s no one better at doing that than you ladies,” Doug commented.

Mary’s cell chimed. She glanced down. “Bob’s here.” She stood. “Everyone meet in the whiteboard room in ten minutes.”

“All of us?” Bree blinked. She’d expected the discussion with him to be contained to a few people.

“Everyone normally there,” Vi said. “We have a narrow window to get everything we need verified. You all think differently than we do. The more brains we have involved, the better. We could easily overlook something important. I’m bringing Jud and Mia in, too. He’s got a lot to explain. I want him sweating.”

“Leave him in a room with Jud for five minutes and he’ll piss his pants,” Pierce commented.

“That’s definitely a possibility,” Mary replied.

“Who do you think is escorting him to the whiteboard room?” Zoey grinned wickedly when Vi’s eyes widened. “What? You told me to call someone. You didn’t say I couldn’t make it Jud. Him and Gage are doing it. Bob should be ready to pop by the time we get there.”

Bree chuckled. “I love your evil side.” She reached over and fist-bumped with her friend.

There wasn’t much to be happy about within the tense environment, but Bree was determined to grip those threads love and family provided. They’d hold. They always did.

Wait. Love?

Holy shit. The thought had skittered through her brain last night while she was falling asleep. Yeah, there was no denying she was falling in love with Ram. Wow.

“You okay?” Ram asked.

“Yeah. I-I was just thinking about something.” She wrapped her arms around his middle and rose on her toes. “You’re too tall. I get a workout trying to kiss you.”

He grinned and kissed her mouth. “That’s the kind of workout I can get interested in.”

* * *

Tension filled the room as everyone filed in. Ram opted to lean against the wall with Doug and Pierce rather than take one of the seats. Bob wiped sweat from his brow as his wide gaze moved from Jud to Gage. Back and forth like prey between two predators. Both men glowered from beside the secretary of defense.

Mary and Marshall entered the room with a man clad in a suit. Bob paled seeing the latter enter.

“I-I thought we could talk in private, just me, you, and Vi,” Bob said.

“Afraid that option expired a long time ago,” Vi said. “I’m sure you know Liam O’Brien. The president was kind enough to assign him to the task force he created, the one The Arsenal is leading.”

“T-task force. Why am I just hearing about this?”

“Because one of our primary objectives was investigating you,” Marshall said, thumping a large folder on the table as he sat. “We’ve found out a lot of very disturbing things, Bob. The more you open up, the better this will go for you.”

He reached over and hit a button. Speakers echoed a moment as the line connected. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started.”

“Who’s on the call?” Bob asked.

“That’s not your concern,” Mary said. “Should we show what we know and can prove first, or would you like to begin?”

“Please, I can explain everything.” Bob trembled as he looked back at Jud and Gage. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“The beginning is always a good start. Once upon a time…” Zoey waved her hand. “The floor is yours.”

“I heard whispers that a committee was being formed, one focused on advanced strategic warfare initiatives,” Bob said. “This was when Mary and Vi were still at Hive. I pulled enough strings to get on the committee when I heard chatter that the committee was very interested in a program they’d heard about.”

“HERA,” Mary guessed.

Bob nodded. “I swear I only got on it so I could keep an eye on them and protect you both.”

“Fat lot of good that did,” Jud growled. “Who was on the committee?”

“Most are gone now,” Bob whispered. “At first, they considered HERA to be an imminent threat to national security. I convinced them we could use it to our advantage, that it was a valuable resource we should utilize rather than destroy.”

“So you got in our good graces,” Vi said.

“Yes, but I did admire the work you two did. I meant only to protect you both.” He wiped his brow again. “I soon realized there was more going on than I initially realized. A few weeks in Mary was taken and…” He paused. Regret and guilt flashed across the man’s face. “I did what I could.”

“So you knew about Peter, Mary’s kidnapping, and you did nothing,” Dylan said, his voice low with anger that rolled through the tense atmosphere.

“I did what I could!” Bob exploded. “You have no idea how terrifying it was. Everyone on the committee was…”

“Was what?’ Vi asked.

“They each had their own agendas, ones I wasn’t privy to at first. I had to get deeper, prove I was one of them. That’s how it started,” Bob admitted. “You were tied with The Arsenal and the contracts went through. I thought you’d be safe. Then everything with The Collective happened. By the time I’d found out anything worth sharing with you, it was all over. The threat had been neutralized.”

“More like we took out the trash vying for the system your committee wanted for themselves,” Gage said. “We eliminated a problem.”

“You did. That pleased the committee enough to back off for a while, but it became clear immediately that their plan to control use of HERA wasn’t going to work. The Arsenal was too formidable. Too honorable to act without credible intel. You refused request after request to test the drones and other tech with military personnel.” Bob shook his head. “I’ve never been so proud and terrified. There was nothing I could do.”

“Bullshit,” Zoey said. “You could’ve warned them, told them about this committee. I take it most of the assholes we’ve taken down since then were a part of it somehow.”

Bob nodded. “Most are out now.”

“Whose idea was Mandrake?” Marshall asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I missed a couple meetings. When I returned, they were in play as a way to control The Arsenal if necessary.”

“We don’t believe you, Bob.” Mary punched a button. Images of him meeting with Stan Carlisle and the head of the Mandrake rogue faction filled the overhead monitors. “You should know better than lie. Like Marshall said, we have a lot of evidence. This chat is a mere formality. Don’t waste our time.”

“I offered to facilitate it to protect you. I swear.” Bob held up his hands. “I needed to know how much of a threat Carlisle was going to be to you.”

“Yet you said nothing,” Rhea said. “You didn’t warn us.”

“It was too late. Not that it mattered. You found out on your own and everything spiraled from there.” Bob swiped his hands across his face. “I tried to convince the remaining committee members that there was no way Carlisle could provide the same level of tech, but they wouldn’t listen. They insisted they just needed more funding.”

“So you warned us to back off Carlisle,” Vi said.

“I was concerned other parties would get involved,” Bob hedged.

“Other parties being Probus?” Ram asked. Shock crossed the man’s face. He paled. “Yeah, we know more about them than you ever will. Problem with that excuse is that they wouldn’t ever go against The Arsenal.”

“You’re wrong. Almost everyone on the committee was tied up with Probus somehow.” Bob gulped. “That’s how I got roped in.”

“You saw a chance to gain political clout with their help,” Vi said. “What did they promise you? The Oval Office?”

“N-no.” Bob shook his head.

“We already have answers,” Marshall said. “Come clean while you still can.”

“Of course I wanted to move up. Who wouldn’t want that?” Bob shook his head. “I’m human. I know I’d do a better job than any of the idiots we’ve had. Anyone would be better than who was just elected.”

Mary choked on her water. Dylan rubbed her back. Marshall leaned back in his chair and smirked.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but the person you’ve been looking for isn’t just one person. It’s two.” Bob took a sip of his water. “General Kroeger ran everything in the field. He oversaw the shipments between Carlisle and the facilities, using his position to secure clear pathways.”

Nolan and Marshall both tensed hearing the man’s name. Ram had been in the field under Kroeger a few times before leaving service. He was a brute with a short fuse on a good day—and he had very few of those.

“Who backed everything financially?”

“Ryan and Ned Carew,” Bob whispered. “They’re cousins who run…”

“Carew Limited, competitors of the Department of Defense’s current contractors,” Vi said. “We investigated them. Extensively.”

“I know.” Bob hung his head. “I warned them you were looking into them. They hired someone to clear their servers and move everything where you couldn’t get to it.”

“You son of a bitch,” Zoey spat.

“I was backed into a corner. They threatened me. They knew you were too close.” Bob teared up. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice. You just keep making the wrong ones,” Mary said. “Let’s talk about Alex. He was a protective detail you hired. Why?”

“I was terrified. Someone…” Tears seeped from his eyes. “Someone took my kids.”

“Why?” Nolan asked.

“He wants something I can’t give him, even if I wanted to.” Bob fisted his hand. “I don’t even know if they’re still alive.”

“Yet you led us on a wild goose chase instead of coming to us with all this,” Vi said. “We could’ve helped find them weeks ago. All you had to do was come clean.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It was stupid. Everything I’ve ever worked for is crumbling around me now. I got desperate, okay? Hiring a few different merc groups kept you preoccupied. I thought misdirecting you would keep me safe from the Carews.”

Jesse shoved a pen and notepad toward Bob. “List out everyone on the committee and anyone else involved with all of this.”

“And don’t even think about leaving anyone off,” Jud growled. “You don’t want me coming back with questions.”

“Let’s talk about Knightwind,” Gage said. “How did you get mixed up with them?”

“They crossed paths with the committee several times,” Bob said. He kept his attention on the paper. “Their interest in HERA was known. We decided to ally with them rather than go against them. Their intel proved useful on several occasions.”

“I bet,” Marshall muttered. “And Melanie?”

Bob’s eyes widened as he looked up. “She got too close, knew more than she should have. They never should’ve sent her in. There was a war within Knightwind. We sided with the side she didn’t work for.”

“The ones in control of Facility Six,” Bree said. She nodded when the man paled. “We know all about that, too. What or who is there that the other Knightwind side wants so desperately?”

“Power.” Bob set his pen down. “Most prisoners there shouldn’t ever see the light of day. A few, though, are there to control someone. Or they have critical intel people want. Whoever controls Facility Six holds the power.”

Bree crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “There’s something I don’t understand. Exactly how did a war even happen? Knightwind was primary intelligence gathering only. They wouldn’t have had enough field operatives to war.”

“She’s right,” Mia said. “Care to explain, Bob? See, I’m betting your committee decided to gain control of Facility Six. I was embedded in Mandrake awhile. I remember quite a few times large groups of them would go off radar. Not even headquarters knew where they were.”

The man paled once again. “We realized Knightwind was more of a threat than we thought. They knew too much about our involvement with Carlisle and Mandrake. It was decided that we needed to contain them.”

“By starting a civil war,” Dylan surmised. “One you orchestrated by providing the operatives your favored side would need to secure the facility you wanted.”

“Yes. We cherry-picked leaders within their organization who’d play by our rules,” Bob admitted. “Giving them the manpower they needed was simple enough.”

“In exchange for access to Facility Six once it was secured,” Bree said.

“Yes.” He gripped the pen in his fist. “But the fight had more of a ripple effect than we anticipated. The other side was still strong, heavily entrenched within too many branches of international governments. Melanie was an unfortunate casualty.”

“Because the side you didn’t support wanted the evidence they’d need to get us involved,” Vi said. “Your new handler was right. You really should learn to play chess and think more than five moves ahead.”

“Y-you know about him?”

“We do,” Mary answered quickly. “We’re almost done. Just one more question. Several, actually. Who took your children and why? And how does Lily fit into all of this?”

“Lily is my one real regret in all this mess, other than you and Vi,” he said. “I met her father years ago, while I was in the service. He was in Mossad and working his way up the ranks quickly. I never imagined she’d follow her father’s footsteps. I know very little about her, yet more than almost anyone. She was a ghost within Israeli Intelligence. She was sent in when no one else could gather intel.

“When her father called and begged for my help locating her, I demanded to know where she’d been sent. Once I found out, I knew there was little I could do.” Bob looked down.

“We know she was sent into Probus and that Knightwind recognized her somehow,” Zoey said.

“Yes. I still don’t know how, but their intelligence gathering is far superior than most. They captured her, forced her to infiltrate The Collective. They wanted to gather what they could to ingratiate themselves with The Arsenal. She paid the price for that.”

“You knew The Collective had her. Why didn’t you tell us?” Vi asked, her voice low.

“How would I have explained knowing that? I’d heard from Knightwind that their plan went wrong. Besides, I knew you were already hunting down The Collective at that point.” He shrugged. “I knew your paths would cross.”

“They could’ve killed her,” Nolan growled.

“She is far too valuable alive. Or was. If they’d known her father declared her dead, she would’ve died. They couldn’t figure out who she was. No one could.”

“You should have told us once we rescued her,” Mary said.

“Any lie would’ve worked. You seem to be good at those,” Ram commented.

“She’s who the former Mossad agent wants,” Vi guessed. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It was a risk I couldn’t take, though.” Bob’s lips trembled. “Even though the bastard took my kids to force my hand.”

“Who is he?”

“Jaron Cohen. High up within Mossad before he was classified as rogue and branded a traitor,” Bob said. “His…his brother worked with Lily often.”

“What’s her real name?” Marshall asked.

“Leora. Leora Avraham.”

Vi’s fingers froze on the keyboard. Her lips thinned.

Yeah, anyone who’d ever worked in the Middle East recognized Avraham if they’d ever done intelligence work. The Quillery Edge had likely worked with him many times over the years.

“You let him think she’s dead,” Mary whispered. “Why?”

“She couldn’t go back home. It’s best for them both. For her. She never should’ve been in that life.”

“That’s not your call to make,” Mia spat, her anger striking the room. “You have a lot of sins to pay for, but that one is unforgivable.”

“Agreed.” Marshall’s gaze cut to the wall behind Bob. “We have what we need. Secure him in detainment. I’m sure we’ll have follow-up questions soon.”

Ram shifted his stance and let the silence unfold around him. All the women were typing away on their laptops. Jesse was talking with Nolan and Marshall in the corner. The latter held a phone in front of him. Whomever was on the conference call was likely still listening.

“You okay?” Bree asked.

“Yeah. You?” He stroked her arms when she nodded. “We’re getting closer. We’ve got names now.”

“We do. I get the feeling there’s more to Facility Six. He freaked out.”

He had. Ram glanced over at Mary and Vi. Their focus was on the Carews right now, but they’d have to look deeper into Facility Six soon. Something was definitely up. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll get your friend out.”

“Do you think he told us everything?” Liam O’Brien asked.

“Likely not,” Mary said. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Director O’Brien.”

“Please, call me Liam.” He glanced over at Marshall. “I’m thinking we’ll be working with one another a lot very soon.”

“So I’ve heard,” Vi quipped. “You should know we’re looking into you.”

“Deep,” Zoey added.

Liam chuckled. Wrinkles formed around his mouth and eyes. Ram suspected he was in his early forties, possibly middle. “I wouldn’t expect any less. I have nothing to hide, except maybe for an addiction to cotton candy and sunflower seeds. My ex-wife could testify my life outside work is rather boring, thus the ex.”

“Everyone has a body buried somewhere,” Zoey muttered. “I’ll find yours.”

“I’m sure you will.” His eyes twinkled with amusement. “I’d expect nothing less from the infamous Zero D.”

Zoey froze. Gage growled. Doug and Pierce flanked him.

Liam threw up his hands. “I’m just laying my cards on the table. I didn’t get where I am without being good at what I do. On the record, I applaud everything you’ve all done. Even the off the books work no one knows about.”

“How the fuck did you know then?” Gage asked.

“As I said, I’m good at what I do.” Liam crossed his arms. “The FBI may celebrate the windfalls they’ve had in the trafficking industry lately, but I’ve learned nothing that good comes without a lot of hard work by someone. It’s a shame credit can’t be given where it should. We’d all sleep a bit easier if there were more people like you in this world, Zero.”

“It’s Zoey.” The woman blinked a few times. “I’m still looking into you.”

“Good. I’ll forward the names of everyone who’ll be assisting me. I hand-selected my team and vetted them as good as I could, but my ability to do that is nowhere near HERA’s.” His expression turned grim. “It saddens me we can’t trust those we work with. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I have every confidence we’ll clean a lot of houses.”

“Bree,” Marshall said. “A moment.”

Ram froze. Marshall walked Bree out of the room. What the fuck was going on now?