3. Holding The Threads
Holding The Threads
Janice
The live feed from Henderson disappears from the main screen as Forest and his mates begin following the convoy.
Hope is alive.
Drugged, barely able to walk and surrounded by six men, but alive. Right now, I’ll take it.
I sit back at my workstation and look across the operations room.
Mercy hasn’t left since the Beacon alert came through.
Serenity, Faith and Destiny have made sure she’s eaten something, although I doubt she tasted any of it.
She’s watching the tracking information G is feeding onto the screen while her husband flies toward Las Vegas to bring her sister home.
This morning, Hope was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student getting ready for another day at Stanford. By lunchtime, she’s been abducted, drugged and flown across state lines because someone may have wanted leverage over Mercy.
My hand settles over my stomach before I realize I’m doing it. There’s nothing to feel yet. Steve and I have barely had time to get used to the idea ourselves. Our families only learned about the baby days ago, and most of the world doesn’t know at all.
I look toward Mercy.
Legacy found Hope. If they can trace an operative’s sister, they can trace parents, brothers, partners.
Children.
I know because they already found my family at their farm. Now they’re safe in Scotland because we learned the hard way what Legacy is capable of.
Before, protecting our families meant secure phones, Beacon devices, training, safe houses and people watching their backs. Risks we could identify and prepare for. Now I’m carrying someone who won’t be able to protect themselves at all.
Steve looks over from the main table. He knows me too well. His attention drops briefly to where my hand rests before returning to my face.
I lower it. He comes over anyway.
“You okay, Jan?”
“Ask me after we get Hope back.”
His expression softens. “Fair.”
I glance toward Mercy before lowering my voice. “We were right to lock everyone down.”
“Yeah.”
“If this is Legacy, Hope changes things.”
“I know.”
“They didn’t go after Mercy. They went after someone she loves. This was targeted. They chose Hope because they knew exactly what taking her would do to Mercy.”
Steve leans against the edge of my workstation.
I look at him. “What happens when they find out about our baby?”
His face changes, and there it is, the same question I’ve been avoiding since Forest’s camera showed Hope stumbling down those aircraft stairs.
“They won’t get near wee Scottie.”
“You can’t promise me that.”
“No.”
I appreciate that he doesn’t try.
Steve reaches down and takes my hand. “But I can promise you we’ll make it bloody difficult.”
A small laugh escapes me despite everything. “That sounds more realistic.”
“I thought so.”
I squeeze his hand, then let go. There’s too much happening today for either of us to disappear into what might happen months from now. Hope needs us now. So does Mercy.
Across the room, G calls Steve back to the main screen. Forest’s convoy is moving away from Henderson, and Felicity is already mapping possible destinations.
Steve straightens. I catch his hand before he can move.
“One more thing.”
He looks down at me.
“When this is over, we review protection for every HAVEN family member again. All of it. No assumptions.”
“Agreed.”
“And ours.”
His eyes hold mine. “Especially ours.”
I release him and turn back to my workstation. I give myself five minutes for what could happen months from now, then turn back to the job in front of me, bringing Hope home.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1145 hours.
Mercy is still at the operations table when I see her pick up her phone. She stares at it without unlocking the screen.
I know what comes next. Her parents.
They’re going to hear that their youngest daughter was abducted from Stanford this morning, flown to Las Vegas and is currently being followed by a rescue team while drugged and surrounded by armed men. There isn’t a gentle way to tell a parent any of that.
I leave my workstation and cross to her.
“Have you called them?”
Mercy shakes her head. “I keep trying.”
“Want me to stay with you?”
Her eyes meet mine. “Please.”
I pull out the chair beside her and sit.
“I don’t know how much to tell them.”
“The truth they need right now. Hope’s been taken, we’ve found her, and people they can trust are following her. They don’t need every frightening detail while we’re still working out what it means.”
Mercy nods slowly.
“And tell them Jax is on his way to her,” I add. “They know him. Give them something solid to hold onto.”
She unlocks her phone.
I’ve made calls like this before. Sat beside families waiting for news, answered medical questions nobody wanted to ask and watched people discover that life can divide itself into before and after with a single phone call.
This is different because I know this family. I know what Howard and Lin went through when Mercy was held in Arizona, and what it took for all of them to come through it. They have their own Beacons now because none of us forgot how close they came to losing one daughter.
I draw in a deep breath and drag a hand through my hair, giving myself a few seconds to clear my head. Even after everything we’ve seen, this is a lot.
Legacy found my family at their farm. We moved them to Scotland because leaving them where they were was no longer a risk any of us were prepared to take, but I don’t tell Mercy that. This isn’t the time to hand her my experience and ask her to carry that too.
Her mother answers.
“Mom?”
Mercy’s voice wavers.
I reach across and take her free hand.
“Something’s happened to Hope.”
I stay beside her while she explains. She keeps it simple, exactly as we discussed. Hope was taken from Stanford. We tracked her to Las Vegas. Forest has eyes on her and Jax is flying there now with Matthias.
Her mother starts asking questions.
Is Hope hurt?
Do the police know?
Who took her?
When will they get her back?
Mercy looks at me, and I shake my head slightly at the questions we can’t answer yet.
“We don’t know who has her yet, Mom. But we know where she is, and we haven’t lost her.”
That matters.
When the call ends, Mercy lowers the phone into her lap.
“They’re terrified.”
“Of course they are.”
“I told them we’d bring her home.”
I squeeze her hand. “Then we do everything we can to make sure you’re right.”
She looks toward the main screen where G is tracking Forest’s progress across Las Vegas.
“I should be doing something.”
“You are. You’re here, you’re available if we need information about Hope, and you’re letting the people trained for this do their jobs.”
Her mouth twists. “I hate that answer.”
“I’d hate it too.”
That earns the smallest smile. I stand and touch her shoulder before heading back toward Steve.
Pregnancy doesn’t make me less useful to HAVEN. I settled that question for myself before Washington, and today only makes the value of this role clearer.
From this room, Steve and I can see both operations. Forest following Hope through Las Vegas. Victor and Adrian preparing for Saint-Pierre. Angus building the backup team. G and Felicity feeding intelligence wherever it needs to go.
Someone has to keep those threads from tangling when distance and incomplete information start pulling everyone in different directions. That’s where I’m strongest.
Steve looks up as I take the workstation beside him.
“How are Mercy’s parents?”
“Scared. She handled it well.”
“And you?”
I glance at the screens.
“Ready. What have we got?”
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1200 hours.
Mercy doesn’t stay still for long.
By the time I return to my workstation, she’s beside G and Felicity, going through Hope’s recent calls, messages and movements. It’s better than sitting in front of a screen watching Forest follow her sister across Las Vegas.
I understand the need to be useful. I also know when someone needs watching, even when they insist they’re fine.
Mercy is holding together. For now.
Another thought occurs to me.
Baby Bump.
Hope isn’t simply Mercy’s younger sister to the people there. She’s become part of the place in her own right through the Danger app, running workshops and teaching women how to use it. Sophia knows her well. So do plenty of the women who’ve attended those sessions.
I look toward Mercy.
“I’m going to let Sophia know. Okay?”
Mercy pauses, then nods. “Yeah. She should know.”
I send a short message rather than call: Hope has been abducted. We’ve located her in Las Vegas and have people following her. Please keep it within the family for now.
The reply comes less than a minute later.
Oh God. Whatever you need. Anything. Tell Mercy we’re all here.
I take the phone over and show her.
Her eyes fill again, but she manages a small smile.
“Sounds like Sophia.”
“It does.”
“She loves Hope.”
“A lot of people do.”
Mercy looks back at the screens.
Legacy may have chosen Hope because of Mercy. A pressure point. Someone they could use to hurt her.
What they won’t understand is how many people will come for her.
Hope has people.
A lot of them.
I squeeze Mercy’s shoulder and return to Steve.
Two operations fill the screens in front of us.
Forest is following the convoy carrying Hope through Las Vegas.
Jax and Matthias are still in the air. Victor and Adrian have twenty-four hours before they’re expected in Newfoundland.
Angus will use that time to prepare the advance team before they all travel north together.
Steve is working through contingencies with Victor while listening to Forest’s channel at the same time.
I take the workstation beside him and pull up the Vegas medical contingencies.
Hope has already been drugged. We don’t know with what, how much they gave her or whether they’ll give her more before Forest gets her out. Matthias will handle whatever he finds on the ground, but I can make damn sure he has everything he might need before he gets there.
I start building the list. Medications. Fluids. Monitoring equipment. Trauma supplies. Anything that could matter if Hope comes out injured, sedated or confused.
Steve glances across at my screen.
“You okay?”
“Yep.”
He studies me for another second.
I know what he sees. Mercy’s devastated. Hope’s in the hands of people we’ve spent years fighting, and another team is preparing to walk straight toward the Council of Twelve.
It’s a lot. But this is where I’m useful.
Steve and I have two operations to run, people depending on us in two countries and no margin for missing something important.
I meet his eyes.
“We’ve got this.”
He nods once.
Forest’s voice comes through our earpieces.
“HQ, I’ve got an update.”
I bring his feed onto my screen as Steve turns toward the main display.
Whatever comes next, we’re ready.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1215 hours.
Forest’s feed settles onto the main screen.
The convoy is moving north from Henderson, two dark vehicles surrounded by ordinary Vegas traffic. Forest is far enough back that I can’t see them through his camera anymore, but G has both vehicles marked on the map.
“Still heading toward the Strip,” Forest says through my earpiece.
“Copy,” Steve replies. “Keep your distance.”
I watch the route for another few seconds before turning to the other half of the screen.
Saint-Pierre.
Two days away, but that operation needs to start moving now.
Two missions running simultaneously means two separate teams, two intelligence streams and two sets of people who need information without hearing everything happening on the other operation.
I pull up our secure communications system.
“G, I want separate channels for Vegas and Saint-Pierre.”
“Already building them.”
Sounds right.
“Steve and I need access to both. You and Felicity too. Vegas gets Forest, Jax and Matthias. Mercy gets access from here.”
Mercy looks over from Felicity’s workstation.
“Thank you.”
I nod and keep going.
“Saint-Pierre gets Victor, Adrian and Angus. Add the advance team once Angus confirms who he’s taking.”
Steve looks across at me. “Emergency channel?”
“One shared channel above both. Nobody uses it unless an operation is compromised or somebody needs intel from the other side.”
G glances up. “Done.”
I start mapping the support around them.
Medical stays with me. G and Felicity handle live intelligence and tracking. Steve and I make sure neither operation starts stealing attention from the other simply because one becomes louder.
I bring up Forest’s route again. The convoy is still moving.
“Forest, your team stays on Vegas channel unless you need HQ. We’ll hear everything either way.”
“Works for me.”
“When Jax and Matthias land, they join you there.”
“Copy.”
I switch my attention to Victor.
“Same for Saint-Pierre. Once you leave Newfoundland, your channel stays isolated from Vegas unless Steve or I bridge them.”
Victor nods. “Agreed.”
Adrian looks at the growing communications map. “You’ve thought this through.”
I glance at him. “I like knowing where everyone is.”
Steve gives a quiet laugh beside me.
“That may be the understatement of the year.”
I nudge his leg with mine under the table and keep working.
For the next few minutes, G and I test every connection while Felicity builds redundancies around them. Primary communications, backup, emergency. If one route disappears, another takes over.
By the time we finish, the mess on the main screen makes sense.
Two operations. Separate teams. One command point.
Steve studies it beside me.
“That’ll work.”
“It has to.”
He looks at me.
I shake my head before he can ask whether I’m okay again.
“I’m fine. And before you ask in another ten minutes, I’ll still be fine.”
His mouth twitches.
“Wasn’t going to ask.”
“Liar.”
That gets a smile.
Then Forest’s voice comes through my earpiece.
“HQ, convoy’s slowing.”
Every trace of humor disappears.
G enlarges the Vegas map.
Forest continues, “Looks like they’re turning off Las Vegas Boulevard.”
I lean toward the screen.
“Stay with them.”
“I’m on it.”
Beside me, Steve focuses on Forest’s feed while I watch the map and G starts pulling everything he can find on the surrounding buildings.