18. Alpha #3
“He’s rotting in hell with Pavel,” Gabriel replied.
“Thank you, Gabriel,” Z said. “Very pertinent info.”
“I’m sorry, G,” Greystone said.
Gabriel tossed him a nod. “I’m not the enemy here, Grey.”
“Tomorrow is the 8th,” Z said. “We’ve got two dozen undercover agents working at Dulles tomorrow. This is a challenge for us. We don’t know what kind of packages are being delivered or from what airline.”
“Or if they’re already here,” Stoni added. “They could have arrived early.”
“The original date was January 15th,” Halston said, “then Petrov changed it to the 8th.”
“We’ve got another team covering several locations in Ashburn, hoping to spot the two vans,” Z continued.
“But this assignment hinges on no changes to the original schedule, “Kathrine explained. “There’s been zero chatter about any deliveries and, to make this more challenging, we don’t know where they originated. These packages could be coming from anywhere. Russia, China, the Middle East. Even somewhere in the US. We have very little to go on.”
“This is where ALPHA steps in,” Sin said. “The CIA had been handling this case and managing Halston.”
“We were concerned for Halston’s safety since one of her handlers had been turned, so I took over,” Evangeline said.
“But we still don’t have control of the case,” Z said. “My attempts to take it have failed.”
“So did mine,” Sin added before pointing at Stoni. “We still have one more ace in our hand.”
Stoni shook her head. “If neither of you could do it, I don’t see how I can.”
Z took Stoni’s phone, scrolled through her address book. He dialed, put the call on speaker.
It rang, then a man answered, “Steve Belkin.”
Stoni glared at Z. “Steve, hello! It’s Stoni Alexander.”
“My favorite author. How’ve you been?”
“Busy,” she replied. “I wanted to see how your new position is working out for you.”
“Great. Never been happier. I want to thank you again for making my little problem go away.”
“It’s all about who we know, right?”
“Well, yes and no,” Steve replied. “Develin can’t stand me, but I’m grateful he likes you.”
After a pause, Stoni continued, “Do you remember what you told me after Sin cleared your name?”
Silence.
Stoni bit back a smile.
“I do,” he said. “I told you I owed you one.”
“I’m calling in that favor, Director Belkin.”
“What can the CIA do for you, Ms. Alexander?”
“Turn over the Halston Devereux case to ALPHA.”
“Dammit, Stoni. Are you doing Z’s bidding for him now?”
“How many cases is the Agency currently working around the world?”
“Several thousand.”
“Well… now it’s several thousand minus one.”
“I can’t,” he said. “It’s highly sensitive—”
“This is bigger than anyone realized,” Stoni pressed.
“Sorry, my hands are tied on this.”
“You won’t have your Presidentially-appointed job tomorrow if you don’t do this today.”
“Are you threatening me?” he barked.
“That nasty scandal we covered up for you will be front-page news tomorrow morning. I promise you that.”
“Dammit,” Belkin said. “Hold on.”
The seconds ticked by. Gabriel locked eyes with Halston. She was sitting like a statue, her gaze locked on Stoni.
“I’m back,” Steve said. “If you go into ALPHA’s portal, it’s there.”
“Wonderful. Congratulations again on your appointment. I can’t think of a better person to run the Agency.” Stoni hung up, shifted toward the team. “It’s all yours. Get it done.”
“Nice work,” Sin said.
“I learned from the best,” Stoni replied.
“Thank you,” Sin said before tapping his laptop. A schematic of US power grids from each blackout location populated on the screen. “Halston, this is one of the docs you took off Bulgrov’s laptop.”
“I’ve never seen that before,” Halston said.
“Greystone, Caroline, Teddy, and Sydney, can you see if there’s a connection between this and the power outages?” Z asked.
“My team at NSA can help decode it,” Kathrine offered.
Caroline and Sydney grinned.
“We get to work with Mom,” Caroline said.
“Excuse me,” Halston said. “I appreciate that this group—”
“ALPHA BLACK OPS,” Greystone said.
“Has the case,” Halston continued, “but I can’t work this alone.”
“You won’t,” Gabriel said. “You have me and I’m all in.”
“Thank you.” After a beat, Halston swept her gaze around the room. “The ambassador caught me in his office when I was downloading these docs. Dmitri Petrov is searching for the armed militia who gunned down Pavel Donskoy. I was with that person when Donskoy was taken out—”
“What?” Z blurted.
“I need my work phone and Pavel Donskoy’s phone wiped, including all cell tower records,” Halston said. “I’m concerned if they learn I was with him, I’m fired… or worse…and there goes your inside connection.”
“I got you,” Teddy said. “I can scrub the phone records and remove your cell phone’s history. That’ll kill any chance they have of GPS tracking—”
“This happened days ago,” Halston said.
“I got you,” Teddy said. “What’s the number?”
She rattled it off.
“Where’s the phone?” he asked.
“It’s with me, but I turned it off at the embassy.”
“I can also permanently delete any records of Donskoy’s cell phone,” Teddy said, “but not before I lift the data.”
The lights in the conference room brightened, the power outage had ended.
Gabriel set a cell phone on the table in front of Teddy. “Donskoy’s. Also turned off.”
“Oh boy, you two have been busy,” Z said. “Halston, we need you to continue downloading files from the ambassador’s computer.”
“Understood,” she replied.
“And if you’re caught?” Gabriel asked.
With determination pouring from her eyes, she replied, “I got caught and I handled it. I’m not afraid, but I am concerned about the information I was able to take. This is way more unsettling than anything I lifted from his computer the entire nine months I was in Moscow.”
“They’ve been working toward something,” Z said, “and the delivery of the packages means their project is moving to the next phase.”
“I’ll stay on top of it and continue to funnel everything through Evangeline,” Halston said.
Z’s phone rang.
He answered, listened. “Thank you.” He hung up. “All seven cities lit up at the exact same time, all across the country.”
The energy shift in the room was palpable.
“Not a coincidence,” Gabriel said.
“No, it’s not,” Sin agreed.
“Whoever is doing this—and my money’s on the Russians—are going after something big,” Z said. “Since tomorrow is January 8th, we have to hope for the best… and expect the worst.”
The room went pin-drop silent.
In Gabriel’s world, he ran toward danger. In this particular case, they didn’t know what they were running toward.
As he looked across the table at Halston, his thoughts jumped to dark places. He’d just found her. Their relationship had barely started.
Halston wasn’t just walking toward danger, she was standing in the epicenter of it.
And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop it.