Page 52 of Avenging Jessie
Jessie went rigid and snapped her fingers. “That’s exactly it. Brewer wants us to believe he’s here so he can get all ofushere. Meanwhile, he’s also managed to get rid of Flynn.” She glanced at each of them in turn. “Hastings isn’t the only one going after the CIA.That’sBrewer’s real target.”
The room went silent.
“Shit,” Tommy said under his breath.
Tessa scrubbed her hands through her hair. “That can’t be right. He wants to take over the world.”
“He has a grudge against the Agency that could sink the Titanic,” Jessie countered. “Hastings, too. Together, they’re a formidable pair. Deadly. If they get revenge on the CIA, think of what else they can do.”
Dec paced and swore. “Brewer’s good, you have to give it to him. He’s completely fooled us, making us believe he’s trying to take over the world, when the only thing he really wants is?—”
“To destroy Langley,” Meg finished for him.
Jessie leaned her elbows on her knees. “Not the only thing. He still wants to ruin the world and then come in like a savior to rescue it, but I’d bet money that taking down the CIA is the first step.”
“And now, we’re all here,” Meg said, “when we need to be in Virginia.”
Tessa rubbed her face with her hands. “That bastard. That goddamn bastard! How did he do it? How did he fool us yet again?”
Spence leaned forward, laying his bad wrist on his knee. “Because he didn’t just feed us bad intel—he made us want to believe it. Berlin was always the loud target. Langley’s been the quiet one. We took the bait.”
Jessie crossed her arms, chin tucked low in thought. “If he gets inside Langley, it’s not just names and missions. It’s black files, embedded assets, deep cover ops—everything. Every country we have a footprint in is compromised.”
“And every operative in them, dead,” Tessa added grimly.
Dec stopped pacing and turned toward Spence. “Then we can’t waste another second. We need to figure out where and how he’s going to hit Langley, and we need to do it before he even boots up his system.”
Tommy nodded toward Spence’s laptop. “What do you need?”
“Access,” Spence said. “And time. Both of which are in short supply.” He looked around the room. “I can get us on a plane back to the States in an hour, maybe two. It may not be soon enough, but it’s all we can do.”
Meg shook her head. “Too risky. We’re probably on the no-fly lists. Dec and I came over on a private plane, thanks to a connection of mine, but there’s no round-trip option.”
“You forget that I had a life before I joined the CIA.” Spence pecked at his keyboard again. “I’ve got a friend who’s got a friend who happens to be a pirate. One who runs a lot of contraband across the Atlantic in his planes.”
“What’s it gonna cost?” Declan asked.
“More than we’re willing to pay, but we don’t have a choice.” He opened an encrypted email server.
Jessie rushed to his side and batted away his left hand. “Let me do it. Just tell me what to say.”
So he did.
“What about the summit?” Tessa asked. “I told my friend to notify those in charge, but he said they get threats like this all the time. They’ll take precautions,”—she made air quotes—“but they won’t call it off.”
Meg stepped closer to the desk, her voice in mission mode. “Typical. They’d never have summits otherwise, though. There’s nothing we can do for them at this point, unless we blow up the drone warehouse.”
Dec pointed between himself and Meg. “So why don’t we?”
One brow quirked at him. “Just the two of us?”
He nodded. “Tessa, Tommy—you two work with Spence and Jessie on Langley. If Brewer’s got an entry point, you need to find it before he does while you’re getting your asses back to D.C.”
Jessie’s jaw worked, clearly hating the division of labor but knowing they didn’t have time to argue. “What if we’re wrong?”
Spence looked up at her, eyes sharp but unreadable. “I know it feels like we’re chasing our tails, but we’ll get him, J.”
She gave a short nod. “I promise to listen this time.”
