“Okay,” he said slowly. “You’ll update me when you know more?” His deep voice was calm. Quiet. And it only made her miss him more. He was her rock.
“Of course I will.” She expelled a hard breath, torn. “Matt, what if we are being targeted again? I can’t come home and potentially put Rosie in danger until I know it’s safe.”
“Find out the latest when you meet up with the others tomorrow. You don’t have to decide anything yet.”
“If things turn operational, you know what that means.” His role as HRT commander made this even more complicated for them both. She couldn’t tell him anything, because if something went wrong and people in the government found out he’d known about it beforehand, it was bye-bye to his security clearance and career.
He nodded once. “I know.” No arguments. No complaints.
She swallowed, her whole chest hurting now. His understanding, his faith in her judgment and abilities, meant everything. “God, I love you,” she whispered roughly.
Sometimes that little voice in the back of her head occasionally popped up to tell her she didn’t deserve him. But it only happened rarely now. And she never doubted his love for her.
“Love you too. We both do, right, Rosie cheeks?” He walked over and scooped Rosie up, holding her in the crook of one muscular arm as they both grinned at the camera. “Say bye to Mama.”
“Bye, Mama.” Rosie waved her little hand.
Briar had to blink fast to hold back a rush of tears. “Bye, baby. See you soon.” She looked at Matt, wishing she could magically transport herself home for even just a few minutes to be able to hold Rosie, and feel his arms around her. “Talk to you tomorrow.”
After she ended the call she canceled her return flight, just in case. A weight settled in her chest as she left the empty office and headed down the hallway, only to stop when her phone rang and Rycroft’s number appeared.
Oh, this wasn’t gonna be good. But she answered anyway.
“Why did you just cancel your return flight?” he said without preamble.
He must have previously set up an alert on her to have found out so fast, she thought with a mental eye roll. She wasn’t sure how much he knew, and wasn’t going to give him anything just in case. “I’m extending my trip by a few days. Thought I’d go see Kiyomi and Marcus before I come back.”
“Uh huh.” His tone said he didn’t believe it for a moment. “And it has nothing to do with all the rest of you suddenly booking flights to London within the past few hours, right?”
Hell, he must have alerts set up on all of them, still sharp as ever in unofficial retirement. “It’s just a reunion.”
He snorted. “That would almost be funny if it wasn’t so damn insulting.” A pause followed, and when she didn’t say anything more, he continued. “I’ve been getting updates from Amber. I know what’s going on. What I don’t know is what you’re all planning to do about it.”
She didn’t know. And didn’t want him involved any deeper, just in case. Plausible deniability would protect him.
“Briar.” His tone was far less patient this time. “What are you guys planning?”
Trying to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about was stupid at this point, not to mention highly insulting to the both of them. So she told him straight. “I don’t know yet. We’re meeting tomorrow at Laidlaw Hall.”
He grunted. “Well, you tell the others that they better think long and hard on this one, because I’m not in the same position I was last fall. There’s only so much I can do in terms of damage control now, if you catch my meaning.”
The lead weight in her chest spread into her stomach, his message clear. If they went operational on this, they were going to be on their own, and would have to accept whatever consequences it brought. Rycroft wouldn’t be able to run interference on their behalf and mitigate the fallout. “I’ll tell them.”
“Briar.”
“Yeah?” she asked as she headed for the stairwell that would lead to the building’s lobby.
“Be careful. We still don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”
Yeah, that’s what bothered her the most.
Chapter Five
Trinity was in the UK.
Ivy leaned back in her chair, fingers resting on the keyboard as she studied her monitor and the customs records she’d hacked into. It was real. Trinity’s flight had landed less than two hours ago, and Briar had already been here for several days already.
She started checking for the others, sure this signaled that the Valkyries were gathering. Within ten minutes, she was looking at the passport picture of Chloe Wilson, whose flight from a different DC airport had landed an hour after Trinity’s.
Goosebumps broke out across her arms.
It was working. They had taken the initial bait she’d sent, and Ivy was willing to bet that more Valkyries would be entering the UK very soon. Amber for sure. Maybe others.
She’d love to know where they were going. The likelihood of her finding that out was almost zero, however. They were too good at covering their tracks, and would be extra cautious as they gathered together to…what?
Excitement fizzed in her veins as she anticipated watching what they did from here. There were several ways she could play this. But only a few that would be satisfying.
“What to do, what to do,” she mused as Mr. Whiskers rubbed against her calf. “Can’t overplay my hand. Gotta take this slow and careful,” she told him. “Amber and the team she’s assembling are smart.”
Smarter than any other target she’d gone up against before, and that made her dangerous. Knowing at least some of the surviving Valkyries were working together again on this made Ivy more paranoid. This was risky. Life-and-death risky.
She pulled up her carefully curated files, went through them and selected a few key pieces of intel. Enough to lead the Valkyries down the path she wanted, without giving away her…personal involvement with Tarasov.
Amber and at least some of the others had already swallowed the first bait. Ivy would keep feeding them exactly what she wanted them to know, and nothing else. Until they were all in.
Hook, line, and sinker.
****
This was not even remotely close to how Brody had imagined spending the rare and incredibly precious time off from his job as Hostage Rescue Team sniper team leader he’d requested two months ago.
“You talked to Rycroft about this yet?” he asked Trinity as they got into their rental car parked out front of Laidlaw Hall for the drive to the private range Marcus had arranged for them to use.
He’d come here with her because he wanted to know everything about the threat facing her and the other Valkyries, and what was being done about it. But he was treading a fine line. He couldn’t be involved in any of the plans Trinity and the others made. Not if he wanted to keep his job or ever work with an elite unit again.
“No.”
Yeah, he hadn’t thought so. And when Rycroft found out what they’d been up to here, he wasn’t going to be happy.
The golden limestone manor house loomed large in the rearview mirror as he drove down the crushed gravel driveway. Marcus had to feel like he’d been invaded right now, because the manor house was full to bursting with people, every bedroom occupied and even a few storage rooms pressed into service.