Page 159 of Protecting You

More than anything, he wanted to believe her. He just didn’t know how.

She wrapped her arms around him, holding him, and for the briefest moment, he allowed it. Allowed himself to be weak and honest, trusting Alyssa with this deep, vulnerable part of himself.

“I’m sorry.” Her words were barely a whisper as she backed away and stood. “I’m going back to the library to work on the zero-day. We might need it for leverage. You let me know if I can help.”

She started to walk away, but he caught her hand.

She turned back to him.

I love you.

I need you.

But he couldn’t say the words.

He couldn’t think past the fear clogging his throat.

Alyssa held his eye contact, and he saw everything in her eyes. His own love returned.

His future.

But there was nothing, nothing beyond this moment. There was no future. And if Peri didn’t come home, there never would be.

Alyssa let him go and walked away.

Gavin closed the door behind her. “Sputnik is in the States.”

Callan had suspected that.

“After the kerfuffle in Munich last fall.” He glanced at Grant. “The one involving Bryan and his fiancée…” He waited, maybe to see if Grant would question him.

The man just nodded for him to continue. If thekerfufflewas news to him, he hid it well. Callan guessed that he knew all about what his brothers had been up to.

“Sputnik’s higher-ups decided he’d been turned,” Gavin said. “They came after him, but he escaped. He’s been in hiding and working his way west ever since. He flew to Montreal by way of Paris and made it across the border into Vermont a month ago.”

Callan needed this information, but in the short term, how would it help find Peri?

“Monday night.” Callan had just remembered what Alyssa said earlier. “You’re supposed to be in DC, right?”

The older man’s head lowered and rose. “I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, only that my presence was requested. The call I got confirmed that there’s a private dinner for a handful of people who’ve been involved with Sputnik over the years, a way to acknowledge the sacrifices he’s made.”

“How does Ghazi know?”

“He’s got a source.”

Which meant they needed to keep this circle very small. “Where is this dinner supposed to take place?”

Gavin named a DC hotel. A giant hotel with hundreds of rooms, potentially thousands of guests at any given time.

Callan thought of the zero-day exploit.

He thought of the attack drones that could be commandeered if the exploit were turned over.

He imagined Sputnik, Gavin, and everyone who’d ever supported the double-agent’s activities, sitting at tables and sharing stories.

“That’s the target,” Grant said. “A drone strike could take out the entire hotel and everyone inside.”

All in the name of vengeance. But none of it could happen without the zero-day. Which meant…

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