* * *
A throbbing headachehad taken up residence behind her right eye.
Hadley sighed and rested an elbow on her desk. She’d kept up her Secura cover job, working round-the-clock with the communications team to try and fight the fires of all the media stories taking over the press. She’d also done some work with Hex, trying to find out who Westley was.
Someone was out to get Bennett, and she was going to find out who.
And stop them.
He might leave her confused, and feeling things she didn’t want to feel, but she wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.
“Iwillfind you.”
Hex was turning over Bennett’s life, looking for who might be responsible. It was looking more and more likely this was due to his time in the military. All his missions were classified.
She touched her laptop. A photo of Hamed appeared. There was another one of the interpreter with Bennett, grinning. Their friendship and respect for each other was obvious.
There was another shot of the pair with Bennett’s SAS team. Some of the faces were blurred—they were still active military. A few were not. She saw one young, blond man, his arm slung around a grizzled, dark-haired veteran. Their faces weren’t blurred out because they were dead.
She glanced out her office door. Bennett’s door was still closed. He’d been so busy today. She’d only glimpsed him once, and his face had looked carved from rock, but she could tell there was contained fury under the surface.
The stories running in the media were not good, to put it mildly. Someone had leaked that Secura gear was being sold to terrorists. That shipments meant for aid groups and foreign military hadn’t arrived, or had been delayed.
The media was spinning it as a money grab. A greedy billionaire out for more money.
A few reputable places were reporting about the lost and stolen shipments. But the rest of the gutter trash was coming up with the wildest, most salacious headlines. They were quoting “sources close to Bennett,” saying that he was a money-hungry playboy more interested in fast cars and ski trips. One paper had dredged up a picture of him in the Alps, grinning while skiing. It looked to be several years old, but no one would care.
Her throat tightened. She wanted to scream at these people for judging him, telling lies.
He’d started Secura in the hopes of helping, so she knew all this garbage would cut him deeply.
Hadley paused. It would hurt him. Was designed to hurt him.
It wasn’t a coincidence. The mysterious Westley was behind this. He’d leaked the story to the press.
Whoever Westley was, he didn’t want Bennett digging into him. That meant Kitty knew something, and Westley didn’t want them to find it.
That was if Westley knew Kitty was in custody. People had seen her arrest, but MI6 had managed to keep it out of the press.
Hadley grabbed her phone and sent a message to David. She mentioned that maybe Westley didn’t know Kitty was in custody.
We’ve left her phone on and have access to her computer. She’s willing to do anything to cut a deal.
Hadley snorted. No doubt.
She is the key, David.
We’ll get whoever Westley is. How’s Knightley holding up?
She heard shouting from Bennett’s office.
Not great. You’ve seen the reports in the press?
Yes.
I’m pretty sure Westley is behind it.
We’re closing in.