53. Easton
Easton
IN THE AIR
Standing here while someone else flies, especially during a storm, is a special kind of torture. Every instinct says I need to be in the cockpit, hands on the yoke, doing something instead of waiting.
Carter’s with this plane’s captain, insisting he keeps circling until we know for damn sure London is our final destination.
Sebastian’s on his own jet with Nash as a copilot if need be, and they’re trailing behind us.
Since I’m not currently at the controls, I’ve stationed myself outside the cockpit door.
When Carter opens it a minute later, he barks out, “I need good news.” I take it he’s talking to me. A quick look around confirms I’m the only one close enough to catch the blast radius of his mood.
I turn to the side, and glance at Gwen and Natasha shoulder-to-shoulder, sharing Gwen’s laptop. Gwen hasn’t blinked in a minute, which means she’s close. “Should be any second now.” I hope.
Carter walks over and drops down next to Gray.
The team is scattered about the cabin, but the only ones busy are the two genius women.
I steal a quick look at Wyatt, sandwiched between Griffin and Jack on the couch opposite Gwen. They’re propping him up like he might fall over, even though he’s sitting ramrod straight.
I’m still not sure how we convinced Wyatt to agree to this new plan—fake deaths, covert landing, a blind run into London—but he’s on board.
Figuratively and literally. Of course he refused pain meds, along with Carter’s best Scotch.
Just raw willpower and fury are holding him upright after the beating he took from that explosion.
“My father’s patience is running out,” Gray mumbles as Carter scrubs a hand down his face.
“While the Swiss are doing what my dad and POTUS asked and hiding what happened as ‘neutralizing a terrorist cell with zero survivors,’” he says with air quotes, “they won’t lie and say that included any Americans, especially not Secretary Chandler’s granddaughter. ”
We already know this. We learned it twenty minutes after takeoff.
Guess the man feels the need to fill in the awkward, empty silence.
“Makes sense,” I repeat what I said earlier, but I voiced those thoughts to Jesse and Constantine upon first hearing the news, not my team leaders.
“But it still buys us time if Molly or whoever’s in charge gets wind of fatalities inside the safe house.
With any luck, they’ll assume that means we’re down for the count and not en route now. ”
“Unless someone on our team has a knife in our . . .” Carter can’t finish that thought, same as I can’t stomach hearing it.
There has to be another way we were betrayed, but I’ve run out of ideas.
“Anything from Gideon?” Some new intel to mull over while we wait for a miracle from Gwen and Natasha would be nice.
If I don’t keep my mind busy, I’ll worst-case my ass into some pretty horrific scenarios—like Julian dying for real and how that’ll impact Gwen going forward.
Plus, he is a decent guy and should live to see another day.
Ideally, find a woman to love who isn’t Gwen.
“Julian’s laptop still hasn’t been powered on, so they’re more than likely planning to clone it like we thought they would do with Gwen’s.” Carter sits taller and hooks a hand around the base of his skull. “Other than Gideon blowing up my phone with a status check-in every other minute—nothing.”
“At least their family has both the prime minister and royal family on speed dial so they can handle the Brits for us while my dad and POTUS deal with the Swiss,” Gray grumbles.
“We’ve got so many countries on our asses at this point, it’s starting to feel like we’re international fugitives with targets on our backs. ”
“So much for not ruining my father’s run for presidency. This has gone from a trap to a hurricane of epic fucking proportions real damn fast.”
“I’m so sorry.” Gwen’s voice is small and soft, and we all turn to look at her.
Gray holds up his hand. “None of this is on you, you hear me?”
“Listen to my brother.” Natasha nudges Gwen in the side. “And look . . .” She points at the screen. “The program is done.”
Carter jumps to his feet as Gwen slides her laptop closer and leans in as if she doesn’t trust her own eyes. I follow him over as Gwen stays engrossed in whatever’s on her screen.
I don’t realize I’m fidgeting with the chain around my neck until I spot Wyatt staring at my hand with a raised brow. Clearing my throat, I hide the medal beneath both my shirts and grab a stick of Spearmint to deal with my stress.
“We rebuilt the antidote, as well as the CCTV trigger tracker,” Gwen reiterates what Natasha said, fingers flying across the keys again. “I had to pair them first. This lets me backtrack deployment routing.”
I understood about half of that. “Translation?”
“I can find out what happened and exactly where they used the nuke to cover their tracks.” She gives me an uneasy smile, and I know I won’t be seeing a full-blown one until Julian and Zoey are safe and alive. “Give me a minute to find out what went down at the hotel.”
“Maybe get Gideon on the phone?” My suggestion is unnecessary. Carter’s already calling him over speaker.
From what Gideon already informed us back in Bern, Julian and Zoey were in Julian’s suite working, and when Gideon went to let them know about the Swiss attack, there was no answer.
He used his key to get in, and they were both gone, along with Julian’s laptop and the footage displaying what the hell happened.
“Hey,” Gideon answers, barely letting it ring once. “I assume since you’re calling me this time, you know something?”
“I’m pulling up the raw footage so we know what happened,” Gwen shares.
“It looks like they nuked quite a bit of footage.” Natasha points to the screen as Carter and I head over for a closer look. “And they may have inadvertently created a roadmap for us by doing that. With any luck, they still don’t know Gwen’s alive, or that we can see the truth.”
Yeah, we’re going to need more than luck on our side.
“Got it!” Gwen blurts out. “I’m pulling up the footage in the hallway outside their hotel room.”
“We never heard any commotion, and they were in the suite next to us. So, I don’t think they were attacked inside,” Gideon’s sister, Hollis, interjects, letting us know she’s on the line, too.
Gwen sits back, face blanched. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“What is it?” I rasp, nerves locked tight.
“Zoey walked out of Julian’s suite alone,” Gwen says, her tone hesitant. “And she’s got Julian’s backpack with her.”
“And there’s Julian leaving shortly after her.” Natasha spins the laptop to the side so we can look on.
He’s sprinting down the hall, and he takes the stairs instead of the elevator.
What the hell happened?
“What?” Gideon grates out.
“Let me switch frames to a street cam and get a view of the exterior of the hotel,” Gwen says while sliding her laptop around in front of her.
“There. Stop.” Natasha’s brows snap together as she squints at whatever’s before her. “He caught up with her.” They turn the screen again, rewind, then hit play.
Across the road, in grainy but usable footage, Julian and Zoey are facing each other. Based on the hand gestures and movements, they’re arguing. An SUV pulls up, blocking the camera’s view of the two of them. Seconds later . . . they’re both gone.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Gideon demands. “Talk to me.”
I glance at Carter, his jaw set tight, nostrils flaring as he stares at the screen.
Natasha takes point and gives Gideon a play-by-play as Gwen switches cameras to find a better shot of what went down.
“Got it. Four men are visible in the SUV. Two have weapons drawn. From the looks of it,” Gwen shares, “they were forced to get in.”
“So they were taken, but . . .” Hollis lets her words trail off, as confused as we all are.
“Can you track the vehicle?” Gideon asks.
“Hopefully,” Gwen answers, locked in on the work already.
“I think we’re safe to head to Heathrow now.” Natasha looks at Carter, but he’s staring in a daze at the floor, probably trying to understand what this all means.
Gray goes ahead and barks out the orders. Jesse’s the first to react, quietly heading to the cockpit to let the captain know to prepare for landing. Landing in a storm, too. We’re riding above the bad weather now, but it’s about to get dicey when we begin our descent.
“Why would Zoey take my brother’s laptop and cut and run?” Gideon asks a few seconds later.
I check on Carter’s reaction again, knowing he’s gotta be as stunned as I am. Because does this mean . . .?
Before anyone can respond, Natasha abruptly stands and covers her mouth with both hands.
“What is it?” Wyatt attempts to get up, but it takes both Jack and Griffin helping him to his feet for him to do so.
Gwen’s fingers hover over the keyboard, but she’s not typing anymore. She’s waiting for Natasha to go on. To say something I can only assume is going to give me a damn heart attack.
The cabin hum presses in around us as we wait.
Natasha lowers her hands to her sides, lightly shaking her head. “Zoey, she . . .”
“She what?” Wyatt closes the space between them and holds his wife’s hands captive between his.
“The night you left with her for the island to go undercover . . .” Natasha begins, eyes shooting to me. “She stopped by to see me before you two left. I—I never thought of this, because why would I? It’s Zoey.”
“What is it?” The words punch free from my lips, and I stagger forward, knocking into Griffin.
“Zoey’s the one who planted the seed,” she whispers. “She asked me how Gwen was holding up. I told her she’d been down, and she was going to be much worse now that Easton was going on an op without her, and—”
“Zoey’s the one who told you to take Gwen on a vacation?” Wyatt asks in a strained voice. “It was her idea?”
“Not in those exact words.” Natasha’s eyes become like green glass, shimmering with unshed tears of regret and misplaced guilt.
Nope, not her fault.
Fucking A.
It’s Zoey’s from the sounds of it, but how can that be?
“Zoey casually said it always helps her clear her head when she gets away with friends. That’s all, but it was enough to get me thinking about it. And—and I forgot about that conversation, because who would ever think she’d betray us?”
If Zoey sent Gwen to Dubai so she could be taken, then she sent her to that island, too. Rage simmers hot beneath the surface as I try to get a handle on this.
I reach around to my back at the memory of the lash marks. “That’s why Jezebel never touched her like she did me. She was protected. On their side.”
“This can’t be,” Carter says in a hoarse voice. “She may have taken Julian’s laptop, but there has to be another reason. Someone got to her. Threatened her and forced her to take it or else.” He passes his phone to Griffin as if it’s on fire, and he can’t handle the coming inferno.
“Zoey genuinely looked shocked when she saw me on the island.” A shaky breath falls from Gwen’s lips.
“Maybe Carter’s right. I can’t imagine she’d hurt me like that.
I refuse to believe it.” The tears slipping down her cheeks say otherwise.
“Whose cover story idea was it?” She looks over at me, her lower lip trembling.
“Who said you two should go as husband and wife?”
My stomach bottoms out, and without a second thought, I reach for that chain to hold on to as if it can truly protect me.
Not from a bullet, but from something much worse.
Betrayal.
“Zoey’s,” I grit out. “The entire mission was her idea.”