55. Gwen
Gwen
The cabin is only half as full as it was up in the air, but the energy and intensity has doubled.
Everyone in here is restless and waiting for the green light, which requires me to get a target location.
As Natasha and I work, I tune in and out of the conversations happening around me.
Theories and ideas. It’s enough to make my head spin if I hang on to every word.
“She also knew about the helo crash in Surrey while we helped Julian’s sister. Knew about me taking off after the crash.” Easton’s words have my hands going still over the keyboard. “And she’s the reason I was called back.”
He’s digging Zoey’s grave with every word he speaks.
“Elaina’s and Camila’s visions,” Carter notes, voice tight. “She knows about their abilities.”
That’s right. Shivers burst under my hoodie. “She must’ve guessed how I felt about Easton.” Even before I acknowledged it. “She knew how depressed I would be about their undercover assignment, then she planted that seed with Natasha about taking me on a trip to get my mind off things.”
Easton and Zoey shared a roof for a month together as husband and wife, and that was her doing. It was her knife in my chest, carving out pieces of my heart every day she was off on that island with him.
“I’m sorry I said yes to the op.” Easton’s jaw tics, a storm of emotions radiating from him.
“I pressured you. You didn’t want to go.” Carter’s words jerk my attention to him. “The only one to blame here is me.”
“How about we don’t do that?” Griffin stands, his hands up, palms out in a placating gesture, like he can somehow alleviate everyone’s guilty conscience that way. “No one on board this aircraft is to blame.”
“He’s right,” Natasha agrees. “Given this new information, we need to think this through carefully and play back what we know with a new set of eyes.”
“Like how Zoey kept wanting to go rogue after my rescue?” I go back to typing while talking. “And how many times did she say it was all her fault and act remorseful?”
Were the signs really in front of us all this time, but we were blinded by trust?
“We made it off that island alive. It makes more and more sense how and why we did,” Easton continues. “And it’s because she was working with whoever was in charge of that compound.”
I manage to keep unscrambling code while I theorize, not missing a single key. “It’s possible Zoey didn’t know Jezebel beforehand, and actually thought she was tied to the trafficking ring.”
“And tied to The Chechen. To Preston’s killer.” Carter’s voice is steel and gravel. Each word continues to shoulder blame despite Griffin’s insistence not to. “Someone turned her somehow. That’s the only way this makes sense.”
I stop typing, my eyes flashing to Carter’s. “You think Zoey was somehow tricked into believing we’re her enemy?” An idea impales my mind like lightning striking the second I say that.
“What is it?” Easton asks, reading me well.
“Oh God.” My stomach roils as the truth digs deeper. “What if Zoey was shown a deepfake AI video of something?” I pause to let that sink in. “Zoey and Molly have been friends for a long time. Molly knows how desperate she is to find Preston’s killer. She could’ve used that to her advantage.”
“But something had to springboard this all into motion for Molly to suddenly put together this plan now out of nowhere,” Natasha points out.
“Molly weaponized our trust. Zoey’s, too.” I go back to work, muttering, “She turned us all against each other.”
“This fake video that may have been shown to Zoey . . .” Dad starts, and his words hang in the air before he finishes, “. . . what was it of?”
“Me killing Preston.” Carter snaps out a curse, and the cabin goes still. “Molly gave Zoey the answers she’s been searching for. Proof she couldn’t ignore.”
“Fake proof,” I grumble.
He glances at me, eyes dark as black glass as anger slices through him. Maybe a little hurt, too. “It was real enough for someone hell-bent on revenge and drowning in grief.”
“I suppose the video could’ve passed forensic checks at first glance,” Natasha suggests. “Especially if Jezebel had a hand in creating it.”
“And she convinced Zoey you were covering for me,” Carter says, gaze still sharp on me. “Protecting the chain of command.”
Bloody hell. “Maybe Zoey just wanted to get ahold of my rig, but to do that, she needed me away from The Sapphire. She knows I never go anywhere without it.” Piece by piece finally fits into place. “Zoey figured if you’re guilty, we’re all guilty. She assumed the evidence would be on my rig.”
“She intended to set us up for crimes we didn’t commit as revenge for the one she thinks I did.” Carter’s icy voice blasts through the cabin. “All of us, including the president. The secretary of defense. Anyone she believes knows the truth and kept it hidden from her.”
“But I just can’t imagine she ever thought I was going to be taken and hurt like I was.” I’m not sure why I’m defending her, but something still doesn’t sit right with me. “Justice is different than murder. She’s not evil, just misguided. Heartbroken. Still burdened by the pain of her loss.”
“What are we really saying here?” Easton stands, his corded arms dropping to his sides.
“Are you suggesting Zoey only thought your laptop would be stolen, and you’d be framed for the fake attacks?
Did she really go to all that trouble—living on that island for a month, risk all those innocent lives—just to take us down? ”
“But no one innocent did die,” Natasha reminds us. “They were all artificial attacks. From the fake bombing to the air traffic control one in London.”
“Wouldn’t all these AI videos have her questioning if what she saw was real, then? Question if she was played, and wonder if Carter didn’t really kill Preston?” Easton asks, raising a good point. “Throw in the fact Gwen was taken, and if she really didn’t expect that, she had to wonder if—”
“That’s why she felt guilty,” I interrupt him, lifting my hands from the keyboard. “It’s why she wanted to go off on her own to hunt down Molly and get to the bottom of what really happened. Find out if she had been tricked and betrayed.”
“And she took the first chance she got to run to London, too,” Natasha adds.
“I bet while she was working alongside Julian, she learned about the CCTV nuke antidote. She decided to steal his rig—probably saw him type in his password—and thought she could verify the truth about Preston’s murder for herself.
See if what Molly showed her was real or not. ”
“But since I never told her about the antidote, she also had no clue it wouldn’t work that far back,” I whisper. “Julian was in London, sleeping next door to the enemy because of me.”
“Better than actually sleeping with her,” Jack grumbles, and Gray nudges him so hard in the side, he stumbles forward and nearly collides with Carter. “Shit, sorry.”
Carter doesn’t shoot Jack daggers, though. Instead, he peers at Easton with an anguished expression for some reason.
“Either Molly was having Zoey followed, and that’s how Molly learned Julian’s alive, or Zoey told her beforehand,” I say. “Regardless, Molly switched up her plan to have me killed and to take Julian hostage.”
“If Molly knew Julian was alive, she would also know how powerful his family is, which is why they didn’t break into the hotel while they’ve been holed up there.” I wrestle my attention toward Dad. “But then Zoey made a run for it, so they took advantage of the chance to grab them.”
“You really think it’s a coincidence Zoey ran while we were being attacked by the Swiss?” Easton asks, and I redirect his way.
My shoulders slump. “I guess I’m reaching, but I don’t want Zoey to be bad bad, you know?”
Gray steps forward, hands slipping into his pockets. “We’ll figure this out once we can talk with Zoey face to face. For now, let’s get to Julian.”
“You’re right.” I lock in on my rig. “But unfortunately, it looks like they were driven outside of city limits, and that’s going to take me even longer to—” My words die in my throat at what pops up on my screen. “Julian!” Oh. My. God.
“What is it?” Dad asks as Natasha leans in to have a look.
I zoom in on the blinking indicator and spin my rig toward everyone. “You see this?” Relief presses under my ribs, slowing my pulse. “That’s not a breadcrumb Julian left us. That’s a damn Bat-Signal to his location.”