The Spy in 3B, стр. 34

Rhodes tapped in the key he gave us, and we prayed. I checked my watch. We only had forty-five seconds. “We’ve got to go. This place is about to be crawling with police.”

Rhodes nodded. “I hear you.”

He got the safe open and searched inside. All he found were passports, money, jewels. Nothing of interest.

He cursed under his breath. “We have a problem. I repeat, we have a problem. The device is missing.”

And I knew the woman on the beach had taken what I’d come there to collect.

Lyra

Once back at The Firm headquarters, I couldn’t shake the feeling or the intensity I’d felt from the man on the bluffs.

My brain was still trying to lock onto any detail that might help me identify him as I took the decryption device to tech and headed down to the conference room for debriefing.

I was sore and achy, and all I wanted to do was crawl into my own damn bed. But the debriefing came first. I eased down into one of the conference room chairs, the normally smooth leather feeling like sandpaper on my raw nerves.

When Roz walked in, she did not look pleased.

Her piercing baby blue gaze said everything, and in my head, I heard her voice asking what she’d not yet said with her mouth. What the fuck happened on that mission?

In reality, she spoke only one word. My name. It was clipped and businesslike. Roz was not there to play. “Lyra?”

I understood her confusion. I had my own in spades. “I don’t know what happened. I retrieved the device from the safe. Addie was watching my back. Once we had the device, we went to the door for egress as planned. But there was no guard. Then we heard shooting, so we went to the secondary point of egress. As you can hear on the comms recording, we have no idea what went on inside the house. We were just as blind as you were.”

She turned her attention to Tyler then. “You were on over watch. How the hell did Exodus know we were there?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. The mission was airtight. It should have been an easy in and out. But they must have been after the device too, which means someone has been feeding them intel.” He shrugged. “Or maybe it was a deal gone wrong with Tusk himself. But they came fully armed, so they were expecting trouble, which would hardly have been the case if they’d had a deal with Tusk.”

Roz leaned her hands on the desk and pinned each of the five of us with her glare. “I want this buttoned up. Exodus has shown up on one too many of our missions. They know our moves before we do, so we need to figure out why. I’m concerned they’re going to show up on the Stannis Prochenko mission as well, because right now, they are too much of a constant presence. And they seem to be one step ahead of us. I want it locked down. Tyler, you’re in charge.”

I almost started to argue, but I was too tired, and Tyler was technically the senior agent. I hated it, but it was true. Besides, we had a common goal. If Exodus was trying to infiltrate our missions, they were up to something. The question was, what?

Roz crossed her arms. “We do have another problem. The Bacchanal organizers have asked for a guest list. Couples or throuples. They are being very inclusive in that respect, but absolutely no singles are allowed. You are going to need to look the part. So I’m going to assign—”

I knew what she was going to say. I was about to get paired with Tyler. And no way no how was that going to work for me, so I piped up with something outlandish. “Do you think the fair and the exhibit are a smokescreen? The artist’s brother has ties with Victus. She’s never been associated directly, but he’s her half-brother. If it’s a smokescreen, no doubt they’ll be vetting all the guests. We should pair with civilians if we can.”

Roz lifted a brow. “Go on.”

If we do some civilian pairings, especially since the nature of the event is geared toward couples, it would be really suspicious if two of us vanish at once. But if one of us needs to sneak off for a ‘bathroom break’ while we’re paired with a civilian, it will look completely natural. No red flags.”

“That’s an interesting idea. I can set it up. We have some civilian marketing partners.”

I started to breathe a little easier. At least that meant I wouldn’t be stuck with Tyler, and I’d already set it up to go with Marcus.

But that would put him in danger. Right in the crosshairs.

But while I was worrying about Marcus’s safety, Tyler was trying to get his digs in. “While this whole couples thing might actually be a real problem we have, let’s face it; Lyra just wants to take her new boyfriend on a mission, like it’s show and tell or something.”

Addie, ever loyal, chimed in. “Tyler, don’t be jealous. It’s not becoming. Marcus may be a civilian, but he lives and works in the community. He’ll provide Lyra with a good cover.”

Roz was nodding. Why was she nodding? This was a terrible idea. All I wanted was to avoid Tyler. I hadn’t meant to drag Marcus into it, but there might not be an easy way out of this one since I’d already asked him, and Roz appeared to think it was a great idea.

“Right. I think Lyra’s partner is settled. It looks good, and he’ll be an easy-access pass. Tyler, we’ll need to find you someone above reproach. Perhaps the local librarian. Addie and Kira, same goes for both of you. We’ll make it work.” She then turned her attention back to me. “Good call, Lyra. Smart thinking.”

As Roz walked out of the briefing room,