Chapter 11 Beacon #2
“What we are facing predates Minerva. My grandfather and Horatio were investigating it in 1989. They got close enough that they were murdered for it, and what they had died with them. Lyra, Eleanor, and Edgar revisited it thirteen years ago. Minerva Protocol is gone now. We continue. That is going to take multiple teams working at the same time, each with its own target and its own job.”
Blackjack cleared his throat. “All the teams will have Romanov in their mandate. The difference is the angle.” He turned to the board and highlighted the first group.
“Team One goes at Vasiliev directly—his people, money, and movement. Dagger and Givre will be primary with support from Agatha in London as needed.”
Doc leaned forward. “Three of his shells went down in the last seventy-two hours. The assets came out the other side under names we haven’t placed yet. Something put him in motion.”
“We need to know what it is,” Blackjack said.
“We won’t move on Vasiliev until we understand his network well enough that taking him out collapses it instead of rearranging it,” I added.
Givre looked up from her notes. “Two of the sources I’ve been working in Europe had movement on their patches last week that matches what Doc’s describing. I’ll have a handler framework built by end of day.”
I took the next one. “Team Two is Reaper, Amaryllis, and Hornet. They’ll work Romanov’s European footprint, including the trafficking routes, the diplomatic cover Vasiliev uses for his operatives, and the embedded assets we know are scattered across the continent.
My old contacts feed into this team, and the people who used to report to me will be reporting to you now. ”
“Roger that,” said Reaper.
Blackjack continued. “Team Three is Magnolia and Delfino. Magnolia runs imagery and cross-border tracking on every facility we flag. Delfino builds the behavioral profiles on Vasiliev and on anyone in his network who surfaces.”
Magnolia raised her chin. Delfino nodded once.
Doc stood. “Team Four is K19. Gunner, Razor, and I run tactical, cyber support, and cross-border alongside the three teams. We’re partners on this operation, not support.”
“Blackjack, Dagger, and I will lead it, but Mercury’s security is everyone’s responsibility,” I continued. “It will run alongside the investigation, not beneath it.”
“Every team reports to Beacon and me,” Blackjack said. “If you need a decision that crosses teams, come to one or both of us.”
Lyra raised her hand from the far end of the table.
“There are relationships that belong to the generation before this one. Directors emeriti, former heads of service, people who will not take a call from an organization they’ve never heard of, but who will take mine. Tell me what doors you need opened.”
“All of them,” I said.
She nodded once.
I looked around the room at the people who had come when we asked.
“Questions?” Nobody reacted. “In that case, what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work.”
After everyone broke into teams, Blackjack and I made the rounds. When no one appeared to need me, I excused myself and walked out into the corridor.
Blackjack followed. “Taking a break?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Me too. But there’s something I need.”
“What?”
He crowded me against the opposite wall with one palm flat beside my head.
He nuzzled my neck. “Maybe it’s what you need more.”
“Blackjack—”
He shook his head. “Say my name, Katarina.”
“Bishop.”
“Good girl.”
He brushed my lips with his, dropped his hand, and returned to the command center without a backward glance.
Lyra came out as he went in. “Everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I needed a break.”
“An old contact of mine has ties inside one of those private banking houses Dagger was asking about after you stepped out. He’ll only make that introduction through me. I need to know if you want me to make that call.”
“Of course, and thank you,” I said as I followed her inside.
By seventeen hundred, I was beat. I went up to my room in the main camp, showered, and changed for dinner.
Anna had been cooking all afternoon, and the dining room smelled of roast and bread. My grandmother was in a chair near the fire in the great room, with a blanket across her knees. I crossed to her and kissed the top of her head. She raised her hand and cupped my cheek.
“How was your day, Katarina?”
“Long. Tiring.”
“I suppose it would be if you stay out until four in the morning.” She patted my arm and winked at the same time Anna called us to the table.
I helped my babushka to her seat and reached for my chair when Bishop pulled it out for me, then took the one beside it for himself.
Over dinner, we all laughed at the stories Anna told about being at the camp.
Reaper and Amaryllis argued about something from the morning brief.
Henry leaned in and whispered something in Lyra’s ear, and she smiled.
It was the first meal since we left Switzerland that felt like we were a family again.
I’d taken my last bite when Bishop put his hand on my thigh under the table. Conversations went on around us, and when Amaryllis asked if I wanted another serving, I thanked her and took it.
His hand hadn’t moved even an inch. Until I brought another forkful to my mouth. Then it did.
I finished the bite and lowered my fork. His fingers crept higher. Lyra asked me a question and cocked her head when I only nodded in response. He was within an inch of the top of my thigh when he lifted his hand away and rested it on the table.
The absence was worse than the presence had been.
After dinner was cleared and dessert served, Lyra announced she wanted to play cards. Anna was in. Reaper was in. Amaryllis and Henry were in. My grandmother said she’d watch from her chair. Bishop said he was in without looking at me, so I said I was too.
We played Crazy Eights. He was still seated beside me, and within three hands, his palm was on my thigh again. He started higher this time, and when his fingers pressed into my flesh, I threw a card without paying attention to what it was and lost the round.
This went on for what felt like several hours but was probably only one.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take another minute of him toying with me, he moved his arm and offered to help clear what was left on the table. I did the same, hoping I’d make it to the kitchen without breaking half of the plates I carried since my hands were trembling so badly.
I was at the sink, drying the last of the dishes, when Bishop came in from the dining room.
He glanced around to make sure we were alone, then leaned in close behind me.
“My door will be unlocked for exactly five minutes. The clock starts ticking as soon as I walk out. If you want to finish what we started last night, that’s your window.”
“And if I’m not there?”
“Then, you wait another day.”
I set the dish down on the counter carefully for fear I’d drop it. When I looked up, he was headed out the door.
My apron strings were already untied before it shut behind him.