Page 76 of A Touch of Treachery
I quickly filled Joan in on Gabriel’s and my search, my killing the guard, and the two of us dumping the body in the lake.“What’s been happening here?”
Joan shrugged.“I’ve been trailing the other paramortals around the hotel.Steig hit on one woman after another before finally giving up and returning to his room, bitter, drunk, and alone.Oriana and Niles have both been roaming around the lobby, the common areas, and the terraces with various gadgets.They’re obviously searching for Henrika’s lab, although they haven’t had any more luck than you two had in the woods.”
“Maybe the resort is just a giant smokescreen,” Gabriel chimed in.“Maybe Henrika’s lab isn’t here at all.Maybe it’s back in D.C.”
Joan nodded.“I had a similar thought, so I asked Diego to check topographical maps of the area around the resort, as well as thermal imaging, although he hasn’t found anything unusual yet.”
Gabriel gave her an appreciative look.“Smart and beautiful.If you’d been my liaison, I might have stayed on as a Section cleaner.”
He winked at Joan, who rolled her eyes.But the most curious thing was that both their auras flickered, his with obvious interest and hers with something I couldn’t quite decipher.
Gabriel clapped me on the shoulder.“Well, Slick, this is where I leave you.I’ve got my own missions to check on.Try not to get yourself and Charlotte killed before morning.Okay?”
Gabriel strutted around a bookshelf and vanished from view.
“All the reports about him were right,” Joan muttered.“Gabriel Chase is one of the most arrogant cleaners I’ve ever met.”
She glared at the spot where he had disappeared, then focused on me again.“Gia texted me right before you entered the lobby.General Percy wants an update.Apparently, he’s frustrated with our lack of progress and wants to send the strike teams in tonight in hopes of catching Henrika and the other paramortals off guard.”
I shook my head.“He can’t send strike teams into a hotel full of innocent guests and workers.Henrika has probably rigged the whole structure with explosives, just like she and Adrian Anatoly rigged the lawn at the Halstead Hotel to blow up Charlotte and me.If she has enough Redburn on-site, Henrika could kill everyone in the hotel and turn the entire mountain into a giant smoking crater.We can’t risk creating a mass-casualty event.”
Joan nodded.“That’s what Gia told Percy, but she doesn’t know how much longer he’s going to wait.He outranks her, so he can assume tactical control anytime he wants.”
It wasn’t a question ofifthe General would take control butwhen.My father wasn’t known for his patience, and sooner or later, he would decide that eliminating Henrika was worth any risk, even endangering civilian lives.
“We’re still supposed to meet Henrika at eight a.m.in the lobby.Supposedly, that’s when we’ll get down to business, and she’ll finally show us a sample of Redburn.After that, maybe we’ll at least know where the lab is.”
Joan nodded again.“I’ll tell Gia and the others.Be careful, Dez.”
“You too.”
She slipped out of the library.I had started to follow her when my phone vibrated.I pulled it out of my pocket and grimaced.The General was demanding a video call.
I sighed and accepted the call, and my father’s face appeared on the screen.
“Mission update,” he barked.
I told him everything that had happened, from our first meeting with Henrika and the other paramortals in the penthouse to the poker game in the ballroom to my searching the woods.I edited out a lot of details, though, including Charlotte using the Grunglass Necklace as a bargaining chip and Gabriel accompanying me into the woods.When I finished, my father shook his head in a slow, disappointed motion I knew all too well.
“How hard can it be to find a weapons lab?”the General said, fixing his steely blue gaze on me.“It has to be on that mountain somewhere.”
“Well, wherever it is, it’s extremely well hidden.I’m hoping the Redburn demonstration tomorrow morning will give Charlotte and me some more hints about where the lab might be.”
My father’s lips puckered, and I could hear the steady drumming of his fingers.“Maybe you’re right.Maybe Henrika will take you to the lab in the morning.Surely she won’t risk demonstrating the explosive out in the open where all the guests could see it.”
I didn’t think there was anything Henrika Hyde wouldn’t risk, especially if it meant keeping herself out of a Section black site, but I held my tongue.
“We have made some progress,” I said, trying to put a positive spin on things.“Charlotte got Henrika to gamble away the UC list.”
Instead of being pleased, the General let out a derisive snort.“I don’t care about the list.We can always pull our undercover agents out of harm’s way if needed.Getting our hands on the Redburn formula and eliminating Henrika are the two most important things.Those are still your primary objectives, Desmond.Everything else is secondary.”
“Iknowthat,” I snapped.
“Then get itdone,” the General snapped right back.“Or I’ll send in the strike teams and take care of matters myself just like I should have years ago.”
I frowned.“What does that mean?”
My father hesitated, then cleared his throat.“Henrika has been a thorn in Section’s side for far too long.She needs to be eliminated, no matter what.Do you understand me?”
