Page 35 of Undercover Shadow
Viper entered, her MI6 polish intact despite the early hour. Bellamy Hall had the kind of presence that commanded rooms without effort, and even in Tag’s ancestral home, she moved like she owned the place.
“We need to discuss your status.” She closed the door behind her. “The others are gathering in Tag’s study, but I wanted to speak with you privately first.”
My stomach tightened. “Has there been a development?”
“Your arrangement with MI6 is ending. You’ll return to Unit 23’s direct command for the remainder of the Labyrinth investigation.”
“I see.”
“MacTaggert will resume as your handler.”
No. Please no.
I steeled my expression through sheer force of will. “May I ask why the change?”
Viper moved to the window, gazing out at the loch. “The inter-agency loan was always meant to be temporary. With the investigation centralizing here and the full team mobilizing, MI6 no longer needs to serve as intermediary.”
My mind raced back to the London safe house, to Viper appearing in my doorway that night. She’d been testing me, evaluating my commitment to the mission. Had my swift departure soon after she left triggered this?
“I understand,” I managed, though understanding and accepting were vastly different things.
Her gaze sharpened. “Is there an issue I should be made aware of?”
“I—” I stopped and recalibrated. What could I say that would explain my obvious hesitation? “I’ve appreciated the autonomy of working with MI6. Returning to Unit 23’s structure will be an adjustment.”
She raised a brow. “Youarea Unit 23 operative, unless your intention is to leave that role.”
“No, ma’am. It is not.”
“Good.” She moved toward the door, then paused. “The investigation is entering a critical phase. It will require everyone to perform at their highest level. I cannot imagine any reason to anticipate you wouldn’t.”
“Of course not.”
“Typhon should be arriving shortly. The full briefing will begin then.” She opened the door, then glanced back. “Oh, and, Nassar? The gap between you leaving my presence at the safe house and MacTaggert finding you at King’s Cross—I trust we won’t see a repeat.” She motioned to the hallway. “Ready to join the others?”
“I’ll be along in a minute.”
She nodded once, then walked out. When the door clicked behind her, I sank onto the bed, my legs unsteady. Every mission, every briefing, every debrief—I’d be forced to work by Tag’s side. There was no refusing orders, no explaining why this arrangement was torture without revealing the very thing that would compromise us both.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I’d asked Kestrel for escape assistance, and instead, the chains had just gotten tighter.
When I enteredTag’s study, where the meeting would take place, our eyes connected. He stood near the far wall and had been studying a map. Heat raced through my veins despite every reminder I’d made to myself that we were back to Obsidian andNightingale, not that I heard his code name used that often anymore. I looked away, but when I glanced back, he was still watching me.
He strode across the room, in my direction, his eyes never leaving mine. “Mrs. Murray mentioned you hadn’t eaten breakfast.”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
His hand rose toward my face, a gesture so familiar from Dunravin that my body leaned toward him instinctively. Then he dropped it, and I stepped away, putting the table between us before taking a seat at the opposite end from where he’d been standing.
As soon as I’d opened my laptop and loaded my notes for the briefing, a helicopter’s distinctive thrum announced Typhon’s arrival. When he entered minutes later, urgency marked his expression. He greeted Tag and Viper as the others entered the room and took their seats.
“Thank you all for being here,” Tag said, looking at those assembled—Con and Lex, Ash and Sullivan, Gus, Renegade, and Archon. “Nightingale will be briefing us on recent intelligence regarding Project Labyrinth.”
I stood, pulling up my files on a digital display that lowered from the ceiling. Every eye in the room tracked to the screen, then back to me. I’d done hundreds of briefings, but this one felt different. Maybe because Tag was watching.
“Before we discuss what I found in Damascus and the developments since then, Sullivan, would you mind giving us an overview of how the investigation into Tower-Meridian began and what happened subsequently?”
“Of course.” She stood and cleared her throat. “My investigation into Eric Weber began months ago at a charity event in Edinburgh. While he wasn’t in attendance, the announcement of his billion-dollar donation stunned those whowere—myself included. The numbers didn’t add up, and the more I dug, the worse it looked.”
