Chapter Fifteen #2
“I trust you, Olivia. That faith is sacred. If you betray me, that’d mean our friendship and my love for you means nothing. What do you think I’d do?” Staring at her, he seemed to see straight down to her soul. “How do you imagine I would make you pay?”
She swallowed around the cold lump in her throat. “You’d hurt Eli.”
Sean chuckled, the sound so coarse it sent a shiver to her heart. “I’d do far worse. The memory of him and your child would be all you’d have left of him.”
After cooking enough food to feed ten people, Eli set platters of flatbread pizzas and cookies on the table. Working in the kitchen with his hands had been just what he needed to push out the chaos and focus on everything clearly.
Autumn took a slice of pizza as Chance and Takoda joined them at the table.
“Did anything click into place for you?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Eli leaned back against the kitchen counter, choosing to stand. “But my theory is a little out there and it has holes.”
Chance sat. “Let’s hear it.”
“I think Autumn was right that Olivia would’ve tried to give me a clue about the reasoning behind her choice. I’ve racked my brain about the last day we spent together when I visited her. The only thing that stands out is our trip to the Raptor Refuge.”
“What about it?” Takoda asked.
“Olivia’s code name at Aegis is Kestrel. A bird of prey. Like the raptors.”
Chance took a cookie. “Are all the code names for the clandestine operatives at Aegis birds of prey?”
“Yeah. So, that was the first clue that this is somehow tied to Aegis beyond Olivia’s involvement. Also, Shepherd left the note asking for the Aegis NOC list. It’s not a coincidence.”
“But how do you think it’s related?” Autumn asked.
Rubbing his jaw, Eli was reluctant to voice his thoughts. It sounded outlandish to him. They were probably going to think he had completely lost his grip on reality. “I told you guys that Olivia shouted something to me right before she got out of the harness.”
Autumn nodded. “Ree. Like free or three or something close to it.”
“What if it was osprey?”
“What’s osprey?” Takoda asked.
“A hawk,” Autumn said. “A bird of prey.”
“Osprey was also the code name for her former partner. Sean Gannon.”
“Isn’t he dead?” Chance asked.
Hesitating, Eli glanced between them. “What if he isn’t?
” he said, and everyone gave him a weird look.
“I know it sounds bonkers. But this is all connected to Aegis. Birds of prey. And Autumn, it’s like you said, Olivia wasn’t scared.
She wanted to go, needed to meet Shepherd.
She gave me a clue associated with the Raptor Refuge.
Then she shouted something that ends in ree.
Like Osprey. I think she was trying to tell me Shepherd is Sean Gannon.
It’d explain why he wanted a parley. When they worked together, he was in love with her.
He would want to recruit her, not hurt her.
It’d also explain why the invitation wasn’t extended to me. Sean hates me.”
No one said anything as they shifted their gaze away from him. Except for Autumn. She was considering the idea.
“Do you think I’m losing it?” Eli asked.
Takoda frowned. “I think you’re grasping at straws.”
“You’re desperate,” Chance said. “We get it.”
Autumn stared at him. “How did Gannon supposedly die?”
“In an explosion. He planted a bomb in a server room. Got locked in.” Guilt gnawed at Olivia every day over it, not being able to get Sean out of that room, being the one to survive.
“So, he’s familiar with handling explosives,” Autumn said, and Eli nodded. “What do you know about him? Where is he from?”
“He comes from money. Former military, but he didn’t discuss with me what he did in the Army.
I assumed he was prior intel, like Olivia, but he could’ve been in Special Forces.
He had that vibe about him.” Eli found it difficult to put into words.
Once you’d been around the type enough, they sort of stood out.
“Cagey,” Takoda said. “A coiled readiness to him. Like he was always on alert. Prepared for anything. Dangerous.”
“Yeah.” Eli nodded. “At the time, I chalked it up to him being an Aegis operative, but what if it was more than that? Oh, and he’s from here. Montana.”
Autumn looked at Chance and Tak. “Eli might be onto something.”
“Okay, even if he is, how do we prove a dead guy is really alive?” Chance asked. “How does that help us get any closer to finding Olivia?”
Sighing, Eli crossed his arms. Chance had a point. Even if Sean was indeed alive, proving it wouldn’t help them find Liv. “What did Orson say?”
“The hacker is willing to do it,” Chance said. “For an exorbitant fee. Depending on the level of encryption that Aegis uses, it could take anywhere from twelve to seventy-two hours.”
Three days was far too long to wait.
“You can’t seriously still be thinking about giving Shepherd the list,” Autumn said.
In a way, Eli had no choice. “I won’t endanger other covert operatives. But I’m going to make Shepherd believe that I got the list.”
“How?” Takoda asked.
“I’ll wait an acceptable amount of time. Twelve to twenty-four hours.” Enough to make it feel plausible. “Then I’ll reach out through the chat room. Tell him I got it.”
Autumn tapped her finger on the rim of her cup. “What are you going to say when he asks how you pulled it off?”
“I’ll tell him I paid a hacker to do it for me.”
“And then?” Chance asked.
“This time we set a trap for him instead of falling into one.”