Page 115 of A Touch of Treachery
“What happened?”Gia asked.
Charlotte explained how she had stayed at the resort, figured out where Henrika’s lab was, and persuaded Joan to help rescue me.Joan picked up the story and told how the two of them had moved through the underground facility and killed several guards.And then I recounted my ordeal in the actual lab itself, although I glossed over a lot of the details, including just how much Henrika’s Redburn poison had hurt.None of us mentioned Gabriel.No use dragging him into an already tense situation.
When we finished, Gia and my father looked at us, and then at each other, having a silent conversation I was too weary to interpret.Evelyn remained off to the side, her face neutral, but calculations filled her dark gaze, especially whenever she glanced at the General.
“Okay, that’s all I need for now,” Gia said, breaking the silence.“We’ll do a full debrief when we return to headquarters.Right now, I need to handle the mortal authorities, as well as the hotel workers and guests.They’re all asking questions about the explosion.”
She gestured at the strike team members, who followed her out of the library.Evelyn gave me a small smile and also left, as did Diego.
“Give me a minute with my son,” the General ordered.
Joan nodded and left the library, but Charlotte raised her eyebrows in a silent question.
“It’s okay,” I said.
Charlotte squeezed my hand, then shut the door behind her, leaving me alone with the General.
I slowly stood up, and the two of us faced each other.After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, my father jerked forward and wrapped his arms around me in a surprisingly tight hug.I couldn’t remember the last time he had done more than clap me on the shoulder.Emotion clogged my throat, and I lifted my arms and hugged him back.
We stayed like that for several seconds, then the General dropped his arms and stepped back.“I’m glad you’re okay, son,” he said, his voice rough and raw.
“You should be thanking Charlotte.She’s the one who figured out where I was.”
All the warmth and softness snuffed out of my father’s eyes, and his face hardened into its usual icy mask.“Ms.Locke was suspended.She had no right to access the information she did, much less mount a rescue mission without alerting her superior officers.She will be severely disciplined for those actions, as will Ms.Samson.”
“No,” I growled.“You’re not going to do anything to Charlotte or Joan.No suspensions, no reprimands, nothing.They saved my life.If not for Charlotte, I’d still be in Henrika’s lab, being injected with who knows what and tortured to within an inch of my life.”
“And because of Charlotte, Henrika’s lab has been blown to kingdom come,” the General snapped right back at me.“Henrika is gone, and she destroyed any chance we had of getting our hands on any Redburn samples.”
“Is that really all you care about?Henrika’s formula?”
The General shook his head.“Of course not.The most important thing is that you’re safe, son.”
“But?”I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest.
My father’s face hardened again.“But I want Henrika’s formula.We need to stop it from falling into the wrong hands, and we especially need to study it, so we can find a way to protect ourselves from its devastating effects.”
“And reverse engineer it, so you can start using Redburn against your enemies,” I accused.
“Don’t be a self-righteous fool.Of course I want to reverse engineer the formula,” the General said, a chiding note in his voice.“One day, when you’re the head of the board of directors, you’ll understand all the hard choices I’ve had to make over the years.”
My eyes narrowed.“Whatchoices?”
“That’s not important right now.Containing this mess is.”He hesitated, then clapped me on the shoulder.“Get cleaned up, go home, and get some rest, son.That’s an order.”
My father tightened his grip for a moment, then spun around, opened the door, and marched out of the library.But the imprint of his hand lingered on my shoulder, and in some ways, it burned far worse than Henrika’s poison had.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHARLOTTE
Thenextfewdayspassed in a blur of meetings and debriefings.
All my actions during the Winterfest mission were put under the proverbial microscope, and I spent hours being interviewed and typing up reports.Joan was also grilled, although to a lesser extent, since I was the instigator and she was merely my reluctant accomplice.
I stayed quiet about Joan’s alter ego as Nemesis and her interference in the Tannenbaum mission, and she kept her mouth shut about Gabriel helping us rescue Desmond.Between the two of us, we spun a plausible enough story to keep Gabriel out of the official reports.
Despite my going rogue, General Percy didn’t fire me, although I knew that had more to do with Desmond’s influence than any sudden benevolence on the General’s part.My suspension was lifted, and I went back to my normal analyst duties on level three.Percy didn’t return me to the hunts for Henrika Hyde, Niles Perran, and Oriana Luzzo, but I didn’t need him to.One way or another, I was going to find Henrika and make her pay for everything she’d done to Desmond.
