5. Dual Operations
Dual Operations
Steve
By early afternoon, the two operations have stopped being plans on screens and started becoming something we’ll have to execute.
Jax and Matthias reached Las Vegas around midday and joined Forest at Circa Resort & Casino. His three former military mates are with him too, giving Forest six people on the ground while G and Felicity keep feeding them everything we can find from here.
Hope has just given us something better.
I read Hope’s Beacon message again.
Alive. Drugged. Fontainebleau. High floor. One captor seen.
Enough to work with. “Smart kid,” I say.
Mercy looks across from G’s workstation. “She teaches people how to use the Danger app. She knows what information matters.”
“She’s doing more than keeping the SOS active,” G says. “She’s building us a picture from inside.”
Forest’s voice comes through my earpiece. “That gives us a confirmed location. We’ll start building everything we can on the penthouse from here.”
“Stay remote for now. Nobody approaches Fontainebleau until we know exactly what’s around her.”
“Copy.”
I switch back to the other operation.
Victor and Adrian are at the main table with the Saint-Pierre plans spread across three screens. Angus joins us from the adjoining workstation with the three operatives he’s chosen for the advance team.
I’ve seen all three names in the recruitment files, but this is the first time I’ve worked with any of them directly.
Ethan Cole is former US Army Special Forces, thirty-six, with close-protection and reconnaissance experience. Mateo Alvarez is thirty-four, former Coast Guard tactical law enforcement, comfortable around boats and cold-water operations.
“Alvarez?”
Crew’s voice carries across the operations room before I can move on.
Mateo turns, and Crew is already crossing toward him with a grin wide enough to derail the briefing.
“No fucking way.”
Mateo laughs as Crew grabs his hand and pulls him into a hard shoulder slap. “Hayes.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Same thing you are, apparently.”
Crew looks around at the rest of us. “I worked with this bastard out of San Diego. Joint interdiction exercises, boarding teams, a couple of very long nights chasing idiots who thought speedboats made them invisible.”
Mateo shakes his head. “You’re leaving out the part where you nearly put us into a container ship.”
“I missed it.”
“By about thirty feet.”
“Still counts.”
That gets a few laughs.
Crew thumps him once on the shoulder before stepping back. “Hell of an operator. If Angus picked him, he picked right.”
Mateo gives him a look. “You always this subtle now?”
“Nope.”
The third, Noah Bennett, is thirty-two, former Canadian Armed Forces intelligence, fluent in French and experienced in surveillance.
Angus has chosen well. More importantly, none of them has any public connection to HAVEN.
“You three travel with Angus to Newfoundland,” I tell them. “From there, you separate from Victor and Adrian and make your own way to Saint-Pierre. Four mates on a fishing trip. That’s all anyone sees.”
Mateo glances at Angus. “In March?”
Angus folds his arms. “I’ve already complained.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Questionable.”
A couple of smiles break the tension before we get back to work.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1400 hours.
Their role is backup only. Angus and his team will rent a house on Saint-Pierre, fish enough to make the cover believable and stay away from Adrian and Victor unless we call them in.
Adrian studies the latest travel instructions again. “They’ve permitted one security person. Nothing has changed there.”
Victor nods. “Which is why I’m the only person they see arriving with you.”
“And the only one who goes wherever they take me after Fortune,” Adrian says.
“That’s the plan,” I tell him. “Angus and his team are insurance. As far as the Council is concerned, they don’t exist.”
Across the room, G and Felicity have been trying to answer the question we still can’t.
Where the hell is the meeting?
Felicity brings a map of Saint-Pierre onto the third screen. “If they’re using a legitimate venue, there aren’t many obvious choices.”
G marks the first. “Centre Culturel et Sportif. They hold conferences there, but bringing twelve powerful families and their security into a public facility creates a lot of eyes.”
“Les Terrasses du Port has conference and event space,” Felicity says. “Hotel, marina, private rooms. Easier to explain wealthy visitors coming and going.”
Adrian studies the map. “And considerably easier to secure discreetly.”
“Those are the obvious possibilities,” G says. “Which is exactly why I don’t like either of them.”
Neither do I.
Felicity starts adding private properties, commercial buildings and larger residences to the search.
“The problem is scale. Saint-Pierre is small enough that we can build a list, but we don’t know what we’re looking for.
A formal conference venue, private estate, warehouse, business premises, something owned through a company we haven’t connected to Legacy yet. ”
“Or they don’t tell Adrian until they collect him,” Jan says beside me.
That’s the part I keep coming back to.
Adrian has been ordered to present himself in Fortune, Newfoundland, and wait for their transport. Once he steps onto whatever they send for him, we may have no idea where he and Victor are going until they get there.
“Keep working every property capable of holding the meeting,” I tell G and Felicity. “Ownership, recent bookings, unusual closures, private rentals, anything that changed in the last month.”
G nods. “We’ll narrow it.”
Maybe.
Right now, Saint-Pierre is a small island with too many places to hide twelve people who’ve spent decades making sure nobody sees them.
I bring both operational channels onto the main display.
Vegas on the left. Saint-Pierre on the right.
Jan has already built the communications architecture around them, keeping the channels isolated unless one of us deliberately bridges them. G and Felicity handle intelligence across both. Jan manages the flow between teams. I make the calls when something changes.
“From this point forward, these are two separate operations,” I tell everyone. “Nobody gets distracted because the other channel gets noisy. Vegas belongs to Forest on the ground. Saint-Pierre belongs to Victor. Jan and I hold both from here.”
Victor looks around the table. “Launch?”
I check the timeline.
Forest’s team has the rest of today and tonight to map Fontainebleau security. Angus needs time to get established on Saint-Pierre before Adrian and Victor are collected in Fortune.
“Saint-Pierre team leaves at sixteen hundred. Vegas keeps building through the night.”
Victor nods. “Then we move.”
Nobody argues.
Two operations are about to go live, one against the Council and another against whoever took Hope.
Tomorrow morning, Jan and I hold both.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1420 hours.
The briefing breaks into smaller conversations as everyone moves toward what has to happen next. Angus is going through travel arrangements with Ethan, Mateo and Noah when Jan looks toward Felicity.
“Before they go anywhere, they need Beacons.”
“I’ll set them up.”
“And full comms for all four,” Jan says. “Separate Saint-Pierre channel, emergency channel and direct access to us. Victor needs the same.”
She looks at Adrian. “We also need your wire ready.”
Adrian raises an eyebrow. “I was beginning to wonder when someone would get around to bugging me.”
“We like to build trust before we start wiring our friends.”
Victor laughs quietly.
Felicity heads toward the equipment room with Jan. “The wire needs to survive a search if they do one. Adrian gets discreet comms. Victors work independently of his. If they get separated, we want both feeds.”
“And spares for everyone,” Jan adds.
“Already on the list.”
“See why I like you?”
I smile as they disappear into the equipment room.
Beacons let us track our people. Comms let us hear them. Adrian’s wire could finally put the Council of Twelve on record when they believe nobody outside the room is listening.
“Got one more thing.”
G comes over with an ordinary-looking glasses case and sets it in front of Victor.
Victor opens it. “Glasses?”
“Camera.”
Victor lifts out a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses and turns them over in his hands.
“Non-prescription,” G explains. “Coated lenses, so they won’t affect your vision. Camera’s built into the frame. Live encrypted feed straight back to us.”
“So Adrian gives us the conversation and Victor gives us the room.”
“And faces,” G says. “If the Council members are there, Felicity and I can identify them in real time.”
“No wasted opportunity. Smart thinking, G.”
Victor puts the glasses on.
Angus studies him. “You look like an accountant.”
“Perfect,” I say. “Nobody’s frightened of accountants.”
Adrian looks him over. “They may be once they meet mine.”
G checks his tablet. “Feed’s live. Look at me.”
Victor does, and G turns the tablet toward us. The image is sharp.
For years, we’ve been trying to put names and faces to the Council of Twelve. If Victor gets through that door wearing those glasses, they may finally introduce themselves to us.
I sit back down and look at the two operational screens.
Vegas. Saint-Pierre.
Normally, I’d be checking my own gear, running through an extraction route or preparing to move with the team. There’s something easier about being in the field. You know where you’re going, who’s beside you and, when something goes wrong, you can do something about it.
In less than two hours, Victor, Adrian, Angus and the advance team will be on their way to Newfoundland. Forest will still be in Las Vegas trying to reach Hope, and we’ll be here listening to both operations unfold.
I’ll have every one of them in my ears and none of them within reach.
Jan returns carrying a case of comms equipment and catches me looking at the screens.
“You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Wishing you were going with them.”
“Am I that obvious?”
“To me? Yep.”
She takes the chair beside mine.
“I know this is where I need to be.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t make it easier.”
“No.”
I look across the room at the people we’re about to send in two different directions.
Command used to mean leading people into danger. This time, it means staying behind and holding the line while they go.
Turns out, I find that a hell of a lot harder.
Hollands Residence, San Francisco. 1835 hours.
By the time Jan and I get home, Victor, Adrian, Angus and the advance team are somewhere over the country heading east. Forest’s team is still working the Fontainebleau from a safe distance, but for now, nobody is talking in my ear.
Faris investigates beneath the dining table while Jan and I finish eating an early dinner with our phones beside our plates and secure comms within reach.
“You’re still at HQ,” she says.
“I’m sitting right here.”
“Your body is.”
I look across at her. She knows me too bloody well.
My mind is split between Las Vegas and Newfoundland, running through plans we’ve already checked and decisions I may have to make when I can’t physically reach any of the people affected by them.
Jan reaches across the table and takes my hand.
“You don’t have to carry it before it happens.”
“I’m trying not to.”
“I know.”
She comes around the table and steps between my knees. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close.
The next seventy-two hours will belong to everyone depending on us.
Tonight, we still have each other.
I slide my hand up under her top, and Jan lifts her arms, helping me pull it off over her head.
I reach around to unhook her bra, letting the lace fall to the floor.
My fingers move to the button of her jeans, popping it open and dragging the zipper down before peeling denim and cotton panties down her legs.
Now she stands completely bare between my knees.
“Just how I like my dessert,” I murmur, looking up at her. “Natural.”
“Is that right?” Her lips curve, but the amusement fades to a sharp intake of breath as I lean in, pressing my mouth to her bare folds.
“You’re already wet for me, darls.”
Jan's fingers thread into my hair, holding me close.
I cup one cheek of her backside, kneading the soft curve while sliding a finger inside her slick warmth.
I circle her clit with my tongue, licking and teasing until she moans, rocking forward against my mouth.
I slide a second finger inside, curling them in steady, firm strokes.
Her breath catches, her panting growing faster and louder until she shudders around my hand in a tight, shivering release.
I kiss her through the aftershocks, licking her gently until her legs give out and she goes limp against my chest. Standing up, I scoop her into my arms and carry her into the bedroom, laying her gently in the center of the mattress.
I strip out of my jeans and shirt, joining her beneath the soft glow of the bedside lamp.
“Round two?” I ask, brushing a stray lock of hair from her cheek.
Jan smiles, eyes hazy with desire. “Yes, please.”
I roll her onto her side facing away from me, settling in behind her. Gathering her close against my chest, I guide my shaft to her entrance and slide smoothly inside her velvety center.
I rest one hand on her hip, matching her rhythm as she pushes back against me. Her hand reaches around behind her, gripping my thigh to pull me deeper with every stroke. The tempo builds, our breaths mingling in the quiet room as the friction coils hot and tight in my lower belly.
I pull her flush against me, driving into her with deeper thrusts until my spine stiffens. A rough groan escapes me as my release breaks over me. Sensory overload quickly takes over.
Jan lets out a breathless cry seconds later, her pussy clamping tight around me as she follows me over the edge.
A warm blanket of contentment settles over me as we lie in companionable silence waiting for our pulse rates to calm.
Later, Jan lies beside me, her hand resting over mine. Somewhere beyond the bedroom, Faris is rustling around, probably investigating something he has absolutely no business investigating. He’ll probably slink into his little sleeping bag soon.
My phone remains silent on the nightstand.
“You still running both operations in your head?” she asks.
“Only one and a half.”
She laughs. “Progress.”
Tomorrow, every voice will come through our headsets while other people walk into danger.
I won’t be beside them, but Jan will be beside me.
We’ll hold the line together.