Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
ALEX
By mid-afternoon, I’d set up a decent shell of a website for the adventure company. I’d be able to do more once we settled on an actual name. For the moment, I had it hosted under a private sandbox, so I could build and tweak to my heart’s content without worrying about anyone seeing the work in progress.
Because I’d hit a stopping point, I logged into RealmQuest, making my way back to Grumlik’s cave to check the message board for a reply from my handler. A scroll icon hovered above Grumlik’s head. Thank God.
I opened the message.
Re: Your custom order
I would be honored to take your commission, but the price is not cheap. 1600 rubies. Please return when you have gathered the fee from the usual places, and I shall begin.
So Cardinal would call at 4 PM from a secured line.
I checked my watch. Ten minutes. I needed somewhere more private, where no one was likely to walk in on me. Shutting down the game, I went to check on Ciara. She was buried in a mountain of notes.
“I have a call coming in shortly. I’m going to be out of pocket for a little while. Don’t go anywhere.”
Her salute was distracted, but I was confident enough that she’d heard me. I wandered my way through the castle, keeping an eye on the signal from my mobile. In a place this size, I wasn’t concerned about surveillance. There was no reason to believe that whoever was behind this had gained access, and there was too much ground to cover to properly surveil the place on the off-chance that they’d get information on Ciara. In the end, I ducked into a room in the older part of the castle. This section was built of rough-hewn stone and, according to what Kyla had mentioned at lunch, it dated back to the sixth century. Some other time I’d geek out over the full suits of armor and ancient weapons I found. For now, my focus was on what was coming.
The call came in precisely at 1600.
“Hello?”
The voice on the other end began the official coded exchange. “The falcon can’t find purchase.”
“When the cliff face crumbles.”
“Leaving only the valley below.”
“Or the open sky above.”
“We still have a lot of ground to cover.”
“And a long trail to blaze,” I finished.
“This is Cardinal. What is your status, Echo?”
“Echo is secure. Thanks for getting back to me, Cardinal.”
“I have to confess, I was surprised to hear from you.”
“Aye. I was hoping we’d never have cause to communicate again, but the situation has changed.”
“How?”
As succinctly as possible, I explained what had happened. “I need to know if everyone who was documented as involved with the op is still incarcerated.”
“Standby, I’ll check.” The clear clicking of keys sounded over the line as my handler accessed systems I didn’t have clearance to check myself.
“All targets are locked up tight. What makes you think this situation has anything to do with us?”
“My father died while I was running this mission.”
“That was ruled an accident.”
“You and I both know such things are easy to change. I couldn’t get access to his vehicle to verify my suspicions. I didn’t make that mistake again. Her brakes were sabotaged by a professional. We’re talking about a woman who works for an event planning company. She’s twenty-five. She hasn’t led the kind of life or met the sort of people who do such a thing. I’m the common denominator here.”
“What are you suggesting, Echo?”
“I’m wondering if there’s any way that any of the primary actors could have connections on the outside who might be willing to exact payback on their behalf. There are bound to be a lot of people who are angry with me for the role I played in taking them and their organization down. I cost them a lot of money. They shouldn’t have been aware that it was me behind it, but my original aliases should never have been leaked, either.”
“Well, you and I both know that we should never say never in this business. That said, a multitude of efforts have been made to prevent such things. But I’ll certainly look into it and let you know what I find out. Replies will come through the usual channels.”
“Thanks, Cardinal. I appreciate it.”
“You were an asset to your country, Echo. You deserve better than this. Cardinal out.”
He was gone before I could say anything else.
I paced a restless circuit of the room, not feeling any better than I had before. If my handler said he’d look into it, I trusted he would. But I couldn’t shake the sense that he thought I was simply being paranoid.
Was I?
There was no question someone was out to hurt Ciara. But who? And why? I couldn’t fathom that she’d pissed off someone enough to do this. Her being targeted because of me was the only thing that made sense in this scenario.
But maybe I should go back to Brodie. Do a deeper dive into the man. Maybe there was something under the surface that I hadn’t found yet and hadn’t considered. Maybe Brodie Drummond wasn’t who he seemed to be.
No closer to clear answers, I struggled to throw off my frustration as I wound my way through the labyrinthine halls of the castle, back to the area the event planning company used as an office, thus proving that competence I’d teased Ciara about this morning.
“As two of the four of us are pregnant, and one is barely recovered from a concussion, I’m calling us done for the day,” Kyla announced.
“I’m for that.” Ciara rubbed at her neck.
“I’m at a good stopping place, too. Ready to leave whenever you are. I just need to pack up my laptop.” I crossed over and closed my hands over her shoulders and neck, digging my fingers into the knots there.
She made a whimpering noise. “We can leave in a century or two, when you’ve finished with that.”
“I’d say you’ve earned some of Dom’s cottage pie and Gilmore Girls reruns.”
Ciara cracked an eye, tipping her head back to look up at me. “Are you trying to win points?”
“Trying? No. It’s just completely natural.”
“I’d be annoyed at that cocky attitude, but this feels too good.”
“Speaking of dinner…” Sophie drawled.
“Were we?” Ciara wanted to know.
“Someone’s talking food, and as previously mentioned, I’m pregnant. So yes, that means we were talking dinner. Don’t argue with the preggo logic.”
“Understood. Speaking of dinner?” Ciara prompted.
“Family dinner is tomorrow night. You should bring Alex.”
“We’re hosting,” Kyla added.
My hands stilled. “Family dinner?”
“She means she wants to introduce you to all the husbands in connection to me. Honestly, it’s probably a good trial run before we tell my brother.”
I’d been trained to survive literal torture. I could handle this just fine. Right?
“I’d be happy to.”