Harrington and his group had an extremely diverse portfolio. They were involved in banking and finances, real estate, energy, construction, communications, and food production. Surprisingly, the one area the group was not into was arms and weaponry. Between his generosity and violent opposition to the defense industry, it was difficult to believe that the man could be behind a scheme to steal twenty nuclear weapons and apparently use them to power a laser strong enough to destroy half the world. No matter how hard Caleb tried, he couldn’t make sense of the dichotomy.
Not that he thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell the man wasn’t involved. Misty and Genevieve had found enough evidence to confirm it several times over.
First, there were pictures of people from one of Harrington Group’s advanced research teams arriving and departing from a small airport only a few hours away from the underground facility in Siberia. Next, ownership of one of the ships leaving the port near Incirlik had been connected to Harrington through a complicated series of shell companies. That ship had sailed straight to New York City, where it had been met by people from the Harrington Group, who had unloaded crates that looked perfect for holding the stolen nukes. And if those two pieces of evidence weren’t good enough, just this morning, STAT had confirmed that the satellites used to redirect those laser beams had belonged to a communication company that essentially answered to Harrington.
Once Misty and Genevieve laid it all out, Caleb had a hard time believing it had taken so long to get to this point. Shouldn’t the combined resources of three intelligence agencies have been able to figure this out faster?
Unfortunately, while they might know for sure that Xavier Harrington and his international conglomeration were involved in the theft of the nukes, that didn’t mean they had any idea where the man might be keeping them or what he intended to do with them next. Hence Jake’s scheme to sneak into the Harrington Group offices so Misty could surf her way through their secure computer servers while Xavier was at the UN conference.
Caleb moved a little closer to Harrington and his entourage, hoping to pick up the man’s scent…and failing. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if that was because Harrington wasn’t a supernatural or simply because his nose was so worthless.
“Uriel Cerano and about a half dozen members of his security team just arrived,” Harley announced softly over the radio in Caleb’s ear. “But right now, they seem content to wait in the parking garage with Harrington’s limo. I’ll stay out of sight and keep an eye on them so I can let you know if they head your way.”
Caleb breathed a sigh of relief at that announcement. If they wanted to avoid that confrontation Jake had been worried about, staying out of sight of the supernaturals they’d fought in Moscow was obviously necessary.
While they were still digging when it came to learning the identity of most of Harrington’s bodyguards, Misty and Genevieve had come up with quite a bit on the telekinetic supernatural who ran the security team. Uriel Cerano had been born and raised in Palermo, Italy, where he’d lived until he was in his late teens, when he’d gotten into some kind of trouble and had abruptly fled his hometown to join the French Foreign Legion.
Caleb skirted the perimeter of the atrium, the well-dressed and the well-to-do ignoring him for the most part but still subconsciously making room nonetheless. Caleb almost laughed out loud when he thought about Uriel being in the Foreign Legion. Honestly, he’d thought the legion wasn’t even a thing anymore, but as it turned out, he was wrong. Uriel had fought in a few dozen battles in Africa as part of the global war on terrorism, even earning himself French citizenship when he’d been seriously wounded during one of those battles. That was another thing that had surprised Caleb. It didn’t matter where a person was from. If you bled for France, you became a citizen. He had to admit that was kind of cool.
But then something happened four years ago that got Uriel dismissed from the Legion. Misty and Genevieve were convinced it had something to do with him coming into his telekinetic abilities. There was no way of knowing for sure, but regardless, a few months later, the man had begun working for Harrington.
Caleb stopped when he reached an alcove along the wall where the UN staff had set up a temporary bar. With the crowd of people waiting for their orders, he wasn’t too worried about Harrington noticing him standing there staring.
Harrington was talking with a stocky, blond-haired man in a language Caleb didn’t recognize. A few moments later, he turned and addressed a dark-skinned woman in yet another language, all three of them laughing at whatever had been said. The people standing with them joined in. Apparently, Harrington was an expert at working a crowd. Maybe that was his supernatural gift, Caleb thought. He supposed that was possible, assuming the guy actually was a supernatural and not simply a smooth talker.
“Xavier Harrington is definitely a supernatural,” Brielle announced softly over the radio, as if reading Caleb’s mind. “Though I’m not exactly sure what his abilities are yet. He gets visions. In fact, he’s getting them right now. But they’re only a blur of random images coming so fast I can’t tell what they mean.”
Caleb looked across the atrium to see Brielle watching Harrington out the corner of her eye. McKay had gotten Brielle assigned as an interpreter for the French delegation, which had to be the most perfect cover ever. She was even wearing a glamorous black cocktail dress that let her blend right in with the other fancy people. Except she didn’t really blend in at all. On the contrary, she stood out like a rose among weeds. Hands down, she was the most exquisite woman here.
It took Caleb a few minutes to realize he was staring. It wasn’t his fault. Brielle was so damn beautiful. It was hard being close enough to see her but not able to touch her. Actually, hard was an understatement. A better word for it would be painful.
It had been like that since they’d made love in the safe house outside of Moscow. While his nose was as crappy as ever, for some reason, he still found himself able to pick up her honeysuckle perfume. Even now, he could smell it across a room this large. But while touching her was pure heaven, being separated from her when they were in the same room was agony. It seemed he couldn’t go five seconds without thinking about what it had been like sleeping with her.
He clenched his jaw as a member of the French delegation leaned close and whispered something in Brielle’s ear, then laughed at his own joke. It was impossible to miss the slimy bastard’s interest in her, and it was all Caleb could do to stop himself from striding across the atrium and ripping the guy’s face off.
“Dude, you might want to chill out a bit,” Forrest said from beside him. Crap, he hadn’t even realized his teammate was there. “Your eyes are starting to glow. That might be a bit hard to explain if someone sees.”
Caleb dragged his gaze away from Brielle, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to focus on Forrest and the small plate of hors d’oeuvres his teammate held, hoping it would calm his omega side.