“I set up a trap: I rigged a building with explosives and let her follow me in. I exited before the explosion. We didn’t see her exit, but clearly she must’ve.”
Lachlan rubbed his jaw. “How did no one see her exit?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” James said. “Maybe she had help, maybe she got to one of our team members and they covered for her... I still don’t know to this day.”
He tapped the photograph. “But this is a message. She wanted us to see this. Why? She’s planning something and I’m not going to sit around and find out what it is. My suspicion is she’s angry and wants revenge, and she won’t just take it out on the CIA. Widow knows the risks she’s taking, and clearly she thinks they’re worth it. She wrote that list knowing we’d somehow see it. The message was received, and now we’re going to send her one back—one she never expected. This is our one shot to end this and, personally, I’m scared if we don’t succeed this time we may not get another chance.”
Lachlan inhaled deeply, his body tense. James knew a war was waging in his mind. The message hadn’t only been for James, it had been for them both. His life was on the line too.
James continued. “I’ve made a career out of hunting people and I couldn’t find her. She’s the only target who’s ever escaped me. She’s cunning, calculating, and vanishes without a trace. But I know where she is now and I’m not going to wait for another opportunity because there won’t be one. Tomorrow this mission begins, the only thing you need to decide is if you want to join us...”
Lachlan nodded and James could see the look in his eyes he’d often felt—the excitement mixed with chilling fear. Because for agents like James, like Lachlan, it was in their blood. James truly believed that. It took a certain someone to do what they did, and the man sitting in the chair opposite him, whether he wanted to believe it or not, was that certain someone.
“Anyway, enough talk. I’m hungry and dinner will be ready. Will you join us?” James asked, placing his hands flat on the table.
Lachlan chewed on his cheek. “Dinner, then I’ll give you my decision in the morning.”
James smiled then extended his hand. “Deal.”
Lachlan shook it as they stood.
LACHLAN
Lachlan walked through the CIA hallways, taking the same route he had no less than an hour ago, yet the walk felt very different. James Thomas walked beside him and had a presence that couldn’t be denied. He had once been the infamous agent Liam Smith—the agent known for doing the impossible—until, one day, they said he’d been killed in a raid that every agent had questioned. Two teams had died that day and it had all the markings of a setup.
Then years later, Liam Smith—now James Thomas—was on the news, alive and well; a short time after that, he was recruited back to the CIA by Fred. Lachlan wondered again how Fred had persuaded James to re-join the agency that had once tried to kill him.
That was a question Lachlan would like the answer for, and it was also a question he would never ask. But he did have one question. “Where exactly is this rooftop we’re going to for dinner?”
“My security headquarters. We rebuilt it some years ago, seven to be exact, and when I had the opportunity to move the CIA headquarters, I moved it as close as I could. I like convenience, and less time commuting between headquarters makes me more efficient.” He gave a knowing smile. “And in our game, efficiency is everything. As it turned out, we found the ideal site, converted it for the CIA and it worked out perfectly.”
The sound of honking New York traffic greeted them as they stepped outside the building. Though Lachlan didn’t miss living in a big city, he loved the energy—even the loud traffic.
“Why did you rebuild your headquarters? I’d imagine that was a big task,” Lachlan said. James turned right as they exited and he followed.
James looked to him. “Someone blew it up,” he said with a cheeky smile. “We had outgrown it and were looking at options. But as you said, it was going to be a huge undertaking as the building serves as a headquarters, a training center, and has some private residences, but when you’re forced to make a change it almost always works out for the best. The rebuild was a massive undertaking.”
Lachlan remembered the first home he’d built with his late wife, Eden. It wasn’t a process he wanted to repeat, and that had been a home for one family not an entire headquarters and everything else that went with it. “That would’ve been fun,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
James grinned, “We had a few arguments with the builder,” he said with that same smile, “but we’re all still friends so it turned out okay.”
“Here we are,” James said, holding out his hand to a glass door. Lachlan came to a stop and looked up and down at the mega glass structure in front of him. He looked back to James, speechless for a moment. “This is your headquarters?”
James winked. “I told you it turned out okay.”
Lachlan cleared his throat. He had no idea what a building like this was worth in NYC, but the ground it was sitting on must’ve been worth several hundred million alone. Lachlan had thought about moving into the lucrative field of private security, however in sleepy little Redwater there wasn’t much opportunity. And as glamourous and shiny as this building was, Lachlan had no desire to live in New York.
Their footsteps echoed on the polished tiles as they walked through the lobby that was opulent yet warm. Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling, a large marble desk—that no one sat at—was to the right, and a wall of mirrors showed their reflections as they walked toward it.
“It’s very quiet,” Lachlan remarked.
“We only use this area when meeting clients. Everyone else enters via more discreet doors and the parking garage—for both security and convenience purposes. But I thought I’d give you the full tour.” He pressed the wall and an arrow lit up. Lachlan leaned in but he didn’t see any buttons, nor did he see the down arrow.
James grinned. “The down button is two inches to the right of that arrow. Our staff know how to access the elevators, but for everyone else it should be a mystery that gives us more time to react to a breach.”
Lachlan nodded. “So far I’m impressed.”
James chuckled. “I appreciate that, but the real reason I brought you here is for you to meet the team. A fancy building, the latest gadgets... they’re all great, but the best thing you can have on a mission is a team you can trust. A team who would die for you. That’s who you’re here to meet.”