The STAT agent hesitated—like she was torn on whether to shoot Brielle or not—but then she slowly shoved the weapon back in its holster. Giving Jes a nod, she sat down.
Brielle looked around the table at all of them, her expression more earnest than Sawyer had ever seen on her. “This thing Yegor is planning is so much worse than you could ever imagine, and I don’t want it to happen any more than you do. But I’m not letting you imprison my brother and me for the rest of our lives. I can’t.”
Bloody hell, this was getting old.
Sawyer exchanged looks with Jake. Nodding, the other werewolf pulled out his phone and punched a number on his contact list.
“McKay, it’s Jake,” he said, dark eyes locked on the Frenchwoman. “You aren’t going to like this, but we’re making that deal with Brielle. If STAT doesn’t like it, that’s too damn bad. You can fire me after this mission. She and her brother go free in exchange for everything she knows about Yegor.”
Chapter 17
France
When Harley joined STAT, she’d tried to imagine all the different places her new job might take her. Since she didn’t have much experience with the world outside the United States—and none at all with covert operations—she hadn’t come up with a very realistic list of possibilities. But if there was one thing she could say with certainty, it was that she’d never expected to find herself at a microbrewery overlooking endless rolling hills of hops trellises on a tract of farmland right outside Calais, France. Probably because she didn’t know that there were microbreweries in France. Though in her defense, when Harley drank beer, she didn’t think too much about where it came from.
But as she stood on the back loading dock of the brewery, looking out over the tall trellises covered in thick, green vines as the late-day sun slowly set behind it, Harley decided it was one of the most beautiful and tranquil places she’d ever seen. She hoped she and Sawyer could come back here someday so they could look around at their leisure.
It seemed almost sinful that this tranquil locale was positioned smack-dab in the middle of where Yegor was going to strike…and soon, if Brielle was right about everything she’d told them. Not that there was any reason to think she’d lied to them. As soon as Jake had agreed to the deal, the woman started talking so fast it was hard to keep up with it all.
Unfortunately, the more she’d told them, the more terrified Harley and everyone else had become. It was official—Yegor Shevchenko was a psychopath. Basically, the whack job was planning to nuke the entirety of northern France, along with southern Britain and parts of Belgium and Germany. No doubt he considered the last two countries a bonus.
Harley breathed in the wholesome aromas rolling off the hops field, wondering how Tessa had been able to arrange the use of this place so quickly. They’d flown out of Athens late yesterday, and by the time they arrived in Calais, she’d already taken care of the paperwork to rent the brewery that had previously been up for sale. It made Harley wonder if STAT had simply bought the place outright. She was sure Caleb would approve. He liked beer. A lot.
Harley picked up Sawyer’s scent before he stepped out of the building and onto the loading dock. She turned, giving him a smile.
“There you are,” he said with a grin, his deep voice making her feel like she’d been wrapped in a soft, fuzzy blanket. “Everyone’s here. Jake and Forrest are about to start the briefing.”
As they walked inside, he rested his hand lightly against her lower back, his palm warm through the T-shirt she wore. It was difficult to describe how much that little bit of contact affected her. They’d been moving nonstop since Yegor’s crew had attacked the hospital, and opportunities to talk, much less touch each other, had been nonexistent. She leaned into his hand, her body coming to life under his fingers.
If they weren’t on their way to the mission briefing, she would have suggested finding a quiet, out-of-the-way place so they could talk. And yeah, make out, too.
Not that there were many places in the brewery to find that kind of privacy. The place was more warehouse than bed and breakfast, with big, open rooms full of cots in place of separate bedrooms. While the microbrewery was large enough to hold everyone from STAT and MI6 combined, along with their respective support teams, it didn’t make it easy to spend a few moments alone with Sawyer.
She glanced at him as they passed a collection of large stainless steel mixing and brewing kettles. “If there’s time after the briefing, do you want to get out of here for a little while? Maybe take a walk?”
Sawyer reached out and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze, mouth curving into a smile again. “I’d like that.”
As they stepped into a big room that had been used for tastings when the microbrewery was operational, Harley noticed all the new support people STAT had brought in. There had to be at least twenty agents. Maps and briefing charts were pinned to every available surface along the walls, and analysts were busy clicking away on computers set up on one of the larger tables.
Brielle stood off to one side, looking tense and uncomfortable. Thanks to some convincing from Caleb of all people, she’d agreed to come help them in return for Julian’s immediate release and a promise STAT would let her go as soon as they took down Yegor. Was she concerned they wouldn’t be able to stop him? Or worried they’d go back on the agreement now that she’d told them everything she knew?
McKay was standing near the map board with Weatherford, Jake, Jestina, and some other guy Harley didn’t recognize dressed in a suit and tie. About McKay’s age, with a mustache, he gestured wildly at several points on the map. From listening in on their conversation, it sounded like he was worried about how close their current location was to the Channel Tunnel and London. Based on the map they were looking at, the city was less than a hundred miles as the crow flies. Any other time she’d consider that far away, but not in this case.
“Weatherford and McKay arrived together from the airport a few minutes ago,” Sawyer said in a low voice as they grabbed seats in between Rory and Caleb. “MI6 and STAT must be nervous as hell if they’ve sent both of them here.”
All Harley had time to do was nod as Jake spoke. “Now that everyone is here, let’s get started.”
“Wait a moment.” Weatherford looked around the room with a frown. “Where the bloody hell are Erin and Elliott? I haven’t seen them since I walked in.”
Beside her, Sawyer tensed. Harley knew without asking this was the moment he’d been dreading. Harley had no idea why Erin and Elliott had yet to return to MI6 headquarters or even call Weatherford and tell him about Sawyer. But for some reason, they hadn’t, and now it was on Sawyer to explain everything.
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to answer when movement by the door interrupted him.