Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
ALEX
It had been three days since I’d enacted protocol and reached out to my handler, and I hadn’t heard a word back from Cardinal. I was starting to wonder if I was being blown off. I’d started putting together a list of the known significant others and close relatives of everyone I’d helped put away. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a short list. Working my way through their whereabouts was an unfortunately slow process. Some were also incarcerated. Some were definitively out of the country. And many I hadn’t yet managed to track down. I just needed more time to find the information. It was out there, somewhere. I’d dig it up eventually, with or without Cardinal’s help.
But my deep dive would have to wait until tomorrow. Today was the Mullen-Vaughan wedding at Ardinmuir, and Ciara had been in go-mode since yesterday. So far, the weather was holding. It was cold, but not rainy. A massive tent had been erected on the grounds, and the entire staff, plus all their significant others, were on hand and prepped to move the chairs, currently set up for the ceremony on the front lawn of the castle, at a moment’s notice. Ciara was glued to her tablet, keeping an eye on the radar and communicating with other event staff via a headset as she bounced between the two ceremony locations and the reception set up in the Great Hall of the castle.
“So far, so good. Who has eyes on the bride?” She angled her head, listening to someone on the headset. “I’ll take care of it.”
She did an abrupt about face and stepped straight on my foot for about the fifth time today. Frustration flashed over her features, and I watched her try to reel it in.
“Sorry. Where to?”
She reached up to frame my face. “Alex, love, I appreciate everything that you’re doing for me, but I need you to back off a bit so I can do my job. You can’t go to the bridal suite. No men allowed.”
I suspected she’d have been amped up today under normal circumstances, but my hovering wasn’t helping. I didn’t like the idea of letting her out of my sight, but I also understood that she needed a little more latitude than I was giving her.
“Okay. You do what you need to do. Just… don’t go outside alone. There are a lot of people here today that we can’t account for. Both extra event staff and guests. Be alert, aye?”
Rising to her toes, she brushed her lips over mine. “Promise. Go check the emergency tent to see that the heaters have been put in place, please. I need to go speak to the bride.”
“On it.”
As she disappeared up a stairway to the bridal suite, I reached for my own earbud. “Status?”
“Clear,” Callum reported.
“Clear,” Ewan echoed. “Guests are starting to arrive. Connor and Hamish have been pressed into valet service.”
“There are some stupendous appetizers in the kitchen,” Finn answered.
“Better not let Afton catch you sampling those, or she’ll hand you your arse,” I warned.
“I’m the guinea pig to make sure they’re right.”
“You’re on duty. Stop thinking with your stomach.” I knew I was unreasonably snappish, but I hated everything about this situation.
I understood Ciara had a job to do, but I hated how little control I had over the circumstances. If I’d had my way, I’d have done up a full dossier on every guest and extra event staff. And I’d have organized the event from a security standpoint. But when I’d proposed making some adjustments, I’d been summarily shut down. The bride and groom would get their way. Period.
There was no reason to believe anything would happen today. We’d done exactly as I’d proposed and continued on business as usual for the past three days. But my instincts were keeping me on edge.
My mobile vibrated in my pocket just as I stepped outside to go check the heaters as requested. I checked the readout, expecting Ciara or perhaps my mum. But “unknown number” flashed on the screen. Bracing myself, I answered.
“Hello?”
“The falcon can’t find purchase.”
With a relieved exhale, I continued the exchange. “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?”
“Not secure. In public.”
“That’s fine. You can simply listen to what I have to say. I’m sorry for breaking protocol and for the delay. It’s taken me a little longer to pull the information than I’d like, but I wanted to be discreet, lest I set off any alarms.”
“I appreciate it. What did you find?”
“I’ve put together a packet and sent it via the usual channels. Inside is everything I can offer you about known close associates of everyone arrested or killed in connection with the operation. You can read through when you’re able. But there’s one I wanted to bring to your immediate attention. Andrew Davies.”
My gut clenched. Andrew Davies was the high-ranking government official who I’d uncovered as the mole leaking information to the anarchist group.
“I thought his wife divorced him.”
“Oh, she did when he went to prison. But it turns out that Davies had a lover.”
This was the first I was hearing of a lover, though it wasn’t surprising. A man willing to commit treason was hardly a poster boy for marital fidelity.
“Who?”
“Johanna Klein. She was born in Germany and immigrated to the UK in her early twenties. Actual age, unknown. According to her profile, she’s highly intelligent and technologically savvy. She’s suspected of involvement in multiple data breaches but has never been charged. Evidently, she met Davies through the anarchist group and became his lover. Because of him, she lived a comfortable, protected life, with access to insider information.”
“A life she’d have lost when he went to prison.”
“Exactly. By all accounts, it seemed like they had legitimate feelings for each other. So if anyone’s targeting you for your role in the takedowns, she seems like the most likely option.”
The situation he’d described had the ring of truth. It fit with what had been going on here. “Current whereabouts?”
“Unknown. There’s more in the files I sent, but you should know this woman has a multitude of skills. Forgery. Hacking. Even bombs.”
“Why wasn’t she brought in before?”
“Never had enough to make anything stick. She’s smart. Always manages to keep herself a few degrees removed from anything truly illegal. And she excels in manipulating others to do her bidding.”
Someone like that would have no trouble at all manipulating an embittered, entitled ex-boyfriend.
“Thanks, Cardinal. This was the piece I needed.”
“I hope you’re wrong about all of this, but I wish you luck, nonetheless.”
“I’ll take all of it I can get.”
The moment I hung up the phone, I bolted for the castle. I’d brought my laptop, just in case. It wasn’t my full kit, but it’d be enough to hopefully get a look at any photos included in the dossiers Cardinal had provided. I locked myself in Sophie’s office and logged in, working my way through the layers of encryption until I could open the files. There were seventeen in total. I went straight to Klein’s folder.
There were multiple surveillance photos inside, obviously older, as she was with Davies in most of them. There was no question they were lovers. The only close-up had clearly been pulled from some government ID database—a passport or driver’s license photo. She appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties, with sharp cheekbones and Slavic blue eyes. Her hair was listed as blonde, but that was changed easily enough. I snapped a quick photo with my phone, then moved on to open the other files. I didn’t have time to dig through any of them yet, but I took pictures of all the potentials. I’d share them with the others, so they knew who to be on the lookout for.
When I was through, I hailed the rest of my team. “Meet me in the family kitchen. I have updates.”