16. Delfino
16
DELFINO
B ack at the Athens hotel that served as our base, the atmosphere was charged with a mixture of relief and unresolved tension. The suite where the command center had been set up was transformed into a makeshift medical station, with Reaper propped up on the couch, his torso wrapped in bandages. He winced as Greenwich, who had basic field medical training, secured the final piece of tape.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he muttered when he caught me watching. “However, he needs stitches.”
“Which you’re getting right now,” said Blackjack, approaching with a more substantial first aid kit than the one we’d used in the SUV. “Hold still.”
I stayed back, giving them space while observing the dynamic between the brothers. Their relationship reminded me of my own with Typhon. While ours wasn’t bound by blood, it was forged through something equally powerful.
Amaryllis hovered nearby, her usual composure fractured by what I recognized as concern. The look she gave Reaper when she thought no one was watching betrayed emotions far deeper than professional courtesy. Whatever was happening between them was complicated, layered with things unsaid.
While everyone was occupied, I slipped into the adjoining room, where Hornet was conferring with Typhon in low voices. They broke off their conversation when I entered, but not before I caught Typhon’s expression—a mixture of calculation and what might have been regret.
“How’s Reaper?” Hornet asked.
“Getting stitched up. He’ll survive,” I replied, leaning against the doorframe. “The question is, what now? Jekyll clearly wants us in Montenegro.”
“I agree,” said Typhon. “My sources confirm unusual activity at a particular villa outside Budva.”
“Where we stayed previously?” I asked.
“Different location,” he clarified. “More remote. Coastal access.”
The room fell quiet as we all considered the implications. Jekyll was orchestrating every move in this elaborate game, and we were still playing by his rules despite my earlier resolve not to.
“We need to figure out what’s going on with Reaper,” I said, breaking the silence.
Hornet and Typhon exchanged a look.
“I questioned him earlier,” said Hornet. “His response was, ‘Some truths aren’t mine to share.’”
“Which could mean just about anything,” I snapped in frustration. Things were definitely unsettled between us, but the conversation we’d eventually have had to wait until we were further along in the mission. It appeared he felt the same way I did. Until my relationship with Jekyll was resolved—and maybe theirs too—any reconciliation between him and me would be premature. I appreciated the subtle shift in his demeanor, though. He was treating me less like the ward he needed to protect and more as though I was his equal.
“I’ll talk to him again,” Hornet offered.
“Let me handle it,” said Typhon.
When both men looked at me, I shook my head. While I didn’t know Reaper as well as they did, that might be to my advantage. “I’ll do it.”
When I returned to the main room, Reaper was alone, staring absently at his mobile while everyone else had dispersed to prepare for our move to Montenegro. I took the chair opposite him, noting the pallor beneath his tan and the tightness around his eyes that suggested pain he was refusing to acknowledge.
“Ready to tell me what else went down?” I blurted.
“What makes you think I haven’t?”
“Years of reading people,” I replied. “And the fact that you’re one of the most straightforward operatives I’ve ever worked with, yet something about this has you choosing words with unusual care.”
A ghost of his familiar smirk appeared. “Perceptive.”
“It’s about Jekyll, isn’t it? What he said during your interrogation.”
Reaper shifted, wincing slightly as the movement pulled at his stitches. “He wasn’t the interrogator.”
“But he was there,” I pressed.
“Yes.” He set his phone down and glanced around, ensuring we were alone. “Let’s say your stepfather plays a convincing bad cop.”
“Convincing enough to fool the FSB?”
“Convincing enough that I wasn’t sure myself at first.” He adjusted himself on the couch, his expression guarded in a way I hadn’t seen before.
“What did he say about Dr. Henning?” I asked directly.
Reaper’s face closed off further. “Nothing specific.”
“Then, why do you tense every time her name comes up?”
He say anything but glanced toward the doorway where Amaryllis had disappeared minutes earlier.
“Reaper,” I leaned forward, lowering my voice, “whatever Jekyll told you could be crucial to understanding what we’re walking into in Montenegro.”
“Some truths aren’t mine to share.” He repeated what he’d told Hornet earlier verbatim. “What I can tell you is that Jekyll was adamant about finding Dr. Henning. He seemed…concerned for her safety.”
“Yet you don’t want this shared with Amaryllis.”
When he looked at me but didn’t respond, I knew I’d called it correctly.
Reaper hesitated a few more seconds. “Look, Delfino, I respect you too much to bullshit you. There are things Jekyll revealed that I’m still processing. Some of it doesn’t add up. Until I’m certain…”
“You’re protecting Amaryllis.”
His expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes. “I’m protecting the mission. And maybe a few people involved in it.”
The way he said it—careful, measured—told me pushing further would be futile. Whatever Jekyll had shared affected Reaper deeply, enough to make the normally forthright man deliberately opaque.
“When you’re ready to talk, I’ll listen,” I said, standing. “But if anything you’re withholding endangers this team?—”
“It doesn’t,” he cut in, his tone resolute. “Trust me on that, at least.”
I studied him for a moment longer before nodding.
Our conversation was interrupted by Amaryllis, who entered with fresh bandages. She looked between us, assessing.
“You need to rest,” she told Reaper, her professional tone belied by her concerned expression.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I said, standing. “We leave for Montenegro in three hours.”
As I turned to walk out, Reaper called after me. “Delfino.”
I glanced back.
“Whatever your history with Jekyll, whatever he did…I think he believes he’s protecting you now.”
I found Hornet in our room, methodically packing his gear and mine. He paused when I entered, and searched my face.
“How did it go?”
“As you know, he’s holding back,” I replied, sinking onto the edge of the bed. “Whatever Jekyll said to him during the interrogation, he’s deliberately keeping it to himself.”
Hornet’s hands stilled. “Did he say anything of consequence?”
“Only that Jekyll seemed concerned about Dr. Henning’s safety.”
“Could be misdirection,” he suggested. “Jekyll using Reaper to create divisions within our team.”
“Or to protect someone,” I countered.
Hornet set down the gear and joined me on the bed, his shoulder pressing reassuringly against mine. “What else is bothering you?”
I hesitated, organizing my thoughts. “The dynamic between Reaper and Amaryllis. There’s something there that doesn’t add up.”
“I’ve noticed it too. One minute, they’re at each other’s throats, and the next, they are sharing looks that suggest…” He trailed off, searching for the right words.
I leaned into him, drawing strength from his solid presence. “You think Jekyll is setting us up again?”
“I think he’s orchestrating a confrontation on his terms. The question is why. It all feels overly complicated.”
“Agreed.” My hands fisted at my sides. “I’m going to see what else I can get out of Amaryllis.”
“Good luck,” he said, leaning in for a kiss before I left the room.
I found her alone in the command center, reviewing satellite imagery of the Montenegrin coastline. She tensed as I approached and steeled her expression.
“A word?” I requested.
“Of course,” she said, closing her laptop.
I took the seat across from her, maintaining direct eye contact. “I need you to be completely honest with me about your relationship with Dr. Henning.”
If my directness surprised her, she didn’t show it. “As I’ve said, she was my mentor.”
“And everything else? The parts you’ve been careful not to mention?”
Something flickered behind her eyes—caution, perhaps, or calculation. “While at the Air Force Academy, Dr. Henning influenced my decision to pursue intel. Then, after I graduated, she arranged for an internship with the NSA.”
My head cocked.
“When she left the academy, it was to take a position there,” she explained.
“Go on.”
“Dr. Henning was ultimately responsible for my separation from active duty as well as my career path from that point on.”
“Did she mentor others to the same degree she did you?” I asked.
She opened her mouth to respond, then shut it.
“What about that question makes you uncomfortable?” I pressed.
“There were not,” she admitted.
“Do you have any idea why she was so invested in you?”
She sighed. “To be honest, I never understood it myself.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“It’s been years.”
While that didn’t answer my question, I didn’t bother rephrasing. Instead, I tried a different approach. “Do you have a theory as to why Jekyll specifically mentioned Henning to Reaper?”
She quickly steeled her reaction, but not before it was obvious that he hadn’t shared that information with her. Given I’d caught her off guard, I continued. “What is the nature of your relationship with Agent Black?”
She raised her chin. “Outside of working the same mission, there isn’t one.”
“Very well. In that case, I need you to understand something,” I said, keeping my voice level. “As you are abundantly aware by repeated reminders, I own this mission. If you continue to lie to me either outright or by withholding information that could compromise it or endanger my team, I will remove you.”
“Are you questioning my loyalty?” The edge in her voice was unmistakable now.
“I’m questioning your transparency,” I countered. “There’s a difference.”
She held my gaze for a long moment before nodding once. “Understood. But I assure you, my only agenda is finding Dr. Henning.”
I stood, having said what I needed to. “Then, we share a common action item. For now, that’s enough.”
As I turned to leave, she spoke again. “Delfino.”
I paused.
“I’m not hiding anything.”
I faced her and folded my arms. “As you Americans are so fond of saying, I call bullshit.” I left the room and went in search of Hornet.
“Well?” he asked when I found him securing one of the weapons cases.
“She’s definitely hiding something,” I confirmed. “But whether it’s related to loyalty or something more personal, I can’t tell.”
Hornet considered this. “Your instinct?”
I thought it over, replaying our conversation in my mind. “She genuinely wants to find Henning. That much is true. But there’s an emotional undercurrent that goes beyond professional duty.”
“Similar to your search for Jekyll,” he observed.
The parallel hadn’t escaped me. “Maybe. We’ll know more in Montenegro.”
The prospect of returning to the coastal country—this time, potentially coming face-to-face with Jekyll—sent a complex wave of emotions through me. Anticipation, dread, anger, and beneath it all, a sliver of hope I couldn’t suppress regardless of how hard I tried.
Hornet must have read my expression. He crossed to me and took my hands in his. “Whatever happens, whatever truths we uncover, you won’t face them alone.”
I squeezed his hands, drawing strength from his unwavering support. “I know.”
Three hours later, our entire team was airborne, heading back to Montenegro. Reaper and his brother sat across the aisle, engrossed in conversation, while Greenwich and Regent monitored communications. Typhon and Irish occupied the front of the cabin, reviewing intelligence on SMO Romanov. After we landed, he, Razor, and Gunner would continue on to London to brief the coalition on the organization.
Amaryllis sat alone, her attention fixed on her tablet. Whatever she was studying had her complete focus. I still believed she was operating on a parallel track to our own, aligned for now, but potentially divergent if circumstances changed.
Hornet’s hand found mine as turbulence jostled the aircraft. “Getting close,” he murmured, glancing out at the Adriatic coastline appearing beneath us. As the plane began its descent, I thought about what awaited us in Montenegro. I hadn’t figured out how yet, but whatever was about to happen with Jekyll would be on my terms. Even if that meant delaying a reunion between us. The man had broken my heart and shaken my belief in who I was, even made me question whether I belonged in intelligence. While I was sure Hornet sensed some of it. The last part, I doubted he’d picked up on. Then again, maybe he was the only one who had.