“More of the usual lies,” Bella said as Jasper muted the TV at the tail end of the press conference.
“Basically what we expected.” Edward sat forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “Problem is, plenty of people will believe him.”
And that, of course, was what ate her husband up inside. “I guess I expected more than merely, ‘she’s only a friend’ and then leaving it at that.”
“And making the rest out to be an accounting mistake?” Seamus rolled his eyes. “That’s the weakest excuse for the offshore bank records I’ve ever heard.”
“He’s in cover-your-ass mode,” Holden said, pacing behind the couch.
“That’s where we want him.” Emmett stood, heading out of the living room.
Bella noticed a commotion on the screen they’d muted. “Jasper, turn the volume back on.”
He did as she asked, and they all sat there as Dylan Anderson began yelling at the director's back. “Do you have an excuse for the alleged links to the Taliban my newspaper has become aware of?”
“We said no questions!” someone replied; apparently security, based on the outfit.
“You’re a public servant, Mr. Blithers! You answer to the people!” Dylan continued.
They watched as Dylan struggled against the throng of security personnel ushering her quickly out the door. Derrick Blithers had already disappeared, no doubt to lick his wounds. Others in the room were shouting questions as well, creating all-out chaos.
“Are you in contact with the mercs?” Seamus asked Ben.
“Sure am. They’re waiting just outside the entrance to escort Dylan out of there.”
The scene cut to the newsroom, where they were dissecting the actions of the reporters in the conference room. Behind the two serious-faced women, the exterior of the agency building was shown on the screen. Activity had exploded among those outside, between protestors waving signs and those trying to leave now that Blithers had retreated. Police struggled to hold back the shouting crowd, now excited at the idea of some action.
“There,” Edward murmured, pointing to the entourage of men in black masks painted with white skulls. “They’ve got her.”
The six mercs had surrounded Dylan, and as Ben brought up their communications for all to hear, she was thanking them profusely.
“How the hell did you get in there, woman?” Nigel was asking.
“I forged a press pass.”
“Course you did,” Dwayne said. “Good looking out, though.”
“Bring her here,” Edward ordered, and Dwayne nodded imperceptibly to acknowledge the order.
“Brave of her,” Emmett retorted, standing in the doorway holding a bag of chips.
“She’s not afraid to bring the agency down on her head.” Bella was impressed and wondered what her next plan was. She might have to go into hiding now like the rest of them.
“Not if it brings his sins to light,” Edward agreed. “That's why I picked her.”
“Hey, guys,” Dara piped up from the dining room. “I’ve got some audio you need to hear.”
They rose and joined her, leaning over her shoulder to see the MP3 file sent from Tito. They’d given him instructions on creating a new email account and how to wipe the evidence from his computer each time. If not for Dara and her skills, no doubt Tito would have been discovered by then.
Dara clicked the mouse, and the sound of Blithers losing his ever-loving shit flooded the room.
“Where the fuck is this information coming from!” he screamed. “I don’t understand how anyone got the picture off my phone, much less the bank records! They’re supposed to be private and completely sealed.”
The placating response from whoever was in the room was too low for them to make out clearly.
“Fuck off, Johnson! Someone is ruining my fucking life one piece at a time. Did you hear that reporter? How the fuck does that bitch know about the shit Barrett and I buried?”
Another muffled response.
“Find her, do you hear me? Fucking find that bitch and bring her to me on a pike!”
The audio ended, and they all sort of stood there staring at each other.
Finally, Seamus spoke up. “Good thing we had the boys bring her here. She really did put her neck on the line with that stunt.”
“We know we’re pushing the right buttons. Now is the time to push them harder.” Quinn glanced at his father for confirmation.
“Time for someone to release the proof about the director paying the Taliban to kill off American citizens.” Edward clapped his hands together. “Blithers has no idea he’s being ruined by a bunch of ghosts.”
The perimeter alarm beeped, and Ben checked the camera feed. “Mercs are back.”
Layla ushered Aerinn out of the kitchen and upstairs to distract her with her other set of grandparents while Dylan met the rest of the crew.
“Gotta say, it was a brilliant move to send these guys for me. Who do I thank for that?”
“It was me,” Edward volunteered, moving closer to her.
“You’re the one I met with.” She stuck her hand out in greeting.
Once they’d shaken, he ran his hand through his hair before shoving both of them in his pockets. “How’d you know?”
“Are you kidding me?” Dylan glanced at them all. “I’d recognize that voice anywhere. Which one of you is the wife of scary guy?”
Bella smirked and raised her hand in a little wave. “That’d be me.”
“Told him he was mighty lucky to have you and that I hoped you’re strong enough to withstand his demons.”
With her brows raised, Bella studied Edward briefly before turning back to Dylan. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“So, who is this merry band of thieves, anyway?” Dylan asked, pushing her braids behind her shoulders.
Holden stepped forward. “It’s a long story. Basically, Derrick Blithers has screwed us all in one way or another.”
“As far as he knows, we’re all dead by his order.” Quinn dropped his gaze. “He set us all up to die, but we managed to mess up his plans.”
Nodding, Dylan said, “So now that I’m his next number-one target, where do we go from here?”
Having removed most of the intimidating gear he’d left the house in, Dwayne joined the group. “That’s the question we’re trying to answer.”
She appraised him from head to toe, her eyes widening. “Not what I was expecting to see under the mask.”
He grinned, tucking his thumbs under the edges of his tactical vest. “Commander Dwayne Namron, retired lieutenant colonel, at your service.”
“A girl could get used to this,” she muttered, then cleared her throat. “Um, I wasn’t thinking about never returning home when I left this morning.”
“Neither were any of us at the time it happened.” Dara gestured to the group. “We have everything here you could need. I’m Dara, by the way. Dara Cullen, married to scary guy’s cousin Killian.”
“And I'm Seamus Cullen, Killian’s brother and therefore also scary guy’s cousin.”
“Can we all stop referring to me as scary guy?” Edward’s tone was droll, but the edges of his mouth were lifting in a crooked smile.
“I’ll take you upstairs and show you around,” Dara offered. “There are several other women, but I’m the only one here alone if you want to bunk with me.”
“How long do we expect this to last?” Dylan asked as they left the room.
Bella looked at Edward. “This is getting out of hand.”
“Not intentionally.”
“The bigger our numbers, the harder it will be to hide.” She glanced at Ben. “The supplies you got for us aren’t going to last forever.”
“I might be recognizable if seen,” he said. “From the Zion mission.”
“You weren't really in the field,” Edward said. “But I don’t want to risk your life, either.”
“Angela would figure out how to kill you if anything happened to me.”
Nodding, Jasper snorted. “We have to move faster now.”
“How?” Emmett asked. “Dude is already unraveling.”
“True, but I need more than that.” Edward closed his eyes for a second before reopening them and focusing on Bella. “As I’ve told my wife, Blithers will release the entire fucking agency on my ass the second he figures out it’s me.”
“Dylan can leak the Taliban story under a new pseudonym.” Bella tapped her fingers on the table. “But at most, he’ll be fired. I sincerely doubt the bigwigs will do anything other than distance themselves.”
“We’re talking about the VP, though,” Jasper stated. “He has to go down, too.”
“If we gather all the evidence and send it to one person, then they’ll have to do something,” Seamus said. “Right?”
Edward scrubbed his hands over his face. “No, I don’t think they will.”
“Then what is your end goal?” Bella demanded. “He’s ruined personally, financially, and soon will be ruined in his career. If the authorities higher than him press charges for terrorism and embezzlement, then what else do you want?”
“Honestly?" he nearly shouted. At her narrowed eyes, he lowered his voice. "I want him to suffer. He’s getting a taste of it now, trying to figure out who’s behind the leaks, but he’s not having a breakdown yet. That’s the end game, right before I put a bullet between his eyes.”
“Dragging it out helps no one.” Emmett sat and sighed heavily. “We need to move on with our lives, brother.”
Drumming his fingers on the table, Edward met Bella’s gaze again. “If I could get close enough to drop him, I would.”
“And die in the process,” she whispered.
“There has to be a better plan.” Emmett turned toward Jasper. “We used to do this shit for a living, man. What would we have done next if it was twenty years ago?”
“Plant a bomb.” Jasper huffed a laugh. “Can’t do that to this low-level director guy. He’s still got high security, especially now.”
“No, they’d be prepared for that.” Emmett turned back to Edward. “You’re the one with the devious mind.”
Edward held up a finger. “Sniper would be detected.” He held up a second finger. “Bomb would be detected.” He held up a third finger before dropping his hand. “Me running into him in a dark alley is out of the question. There’s got to be a play that I’m somehow not seeing.”
“The wife,” Bella murmured. When they all looked at her questioningly, she elaborated. “Back in the day, I had to marry you for the protection it provided, even knowing it put a target on my back. We need to narrow in on Natasha Blithers and use the scorned woman to our advantage.”
“She could help us set up a meeting,” Ben suggested.
“I don’t like to involve the innocent,” Edward said.
“What if Tito could find the contact within the Taliban and use them to dispose of Blithers for letting the cat out of the bag?” Holden finally said.
“That . . . that could work.” Edward stood. “One way or another, we’ll send Blithers to an early grave.”
“I know you don’t think it’s enough,” Bella said.
“It’s just that I want to face him one more time, and it’s looking less and less likely that’ll happen.”
“I’ll email Tito and ask him to dig for a contact name.” Ben left the room, carrying his laptop with him.
“We need to make sure Dylan is kept safe,” Bella said.
“She’ll have to stay here.”
“You’re lucky I’m on board with not dying,” Dylan said as she came into the kitchen, having obviously overheard them. “It’s gonna be weird being locked up with strangers.”
“Sorry,” Bella said. “But it really is for the best.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Dylan plopped down. “So, what’s next?”
“Leaking the connection between Barrett, Blithers, and the Taliban.” Holden regarded her steadily over the rim of a coffee cup. “It’s one thing to have assets, but this was something else.”
“Plus, we have the proof we kept after Zion.”
Dylan’s mouth dropped open at Bella’s statement. “That’s where I know you from!”
“Somehow, we jumped straight from national heroes to the blacklist.”
“Because I had the nerve to say no to Blithers,” Edward reminded her. “I didn’t want to be involved in this.”
“Um, the guys who brought me in took my cell and stuff. How can I assist you otherwise?”
Holden chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry. Either Dara or Ben will get you into your accounts from here.”
“Great. So, the agency has been working with terrorists?”
“Not the agency, just the VP and Blithers. It’s not sanctioned.” Edward rose, pacing around the kitchen and rolling his shoulders. “If we drop this story, it’ll eat him up inside. No one should have access to that information.”
A phone rang from in the other room, and they all frowned. Ben’s voice drifted in their direction, becoming more urgent as he spoke.
“What the hell?” Bella asked.
Soon, they were all gathered in the dining room, and Ben had the speaker on.
“They’re on to me. You’ve got to get me out of here!”
Tito.
“Personally, I think we should let you figure out an exit strategy yourself.” Bella grinned wickedly. “Since you’re such a tough man and all.”
“Godammit, this isn't funny!” he shouted. “I somehow knew it was you assholes.”
“If you can get out of the building, we can have your former comrades pick you up.” Ben scribbled something down. “Where are you now?”
“In the fucking bathroom, dude.”
“Are they waiting for you, or following you?”
“I was listening to the device, and heard that stupid assistant, Johnson, mention how shit started going south when I joined the team.”
Bella said, “So just walk out calmly, and make sure you stay out of sight once you get out.”
Emmett rounded up the mercs, giving them the short version of the story.
“If that fucker thinks he can come back here and be the same pervert he was before, I have news for all of you,” Bella seethed, arms crossed. "That bastard can sleep alone in the garage."
“We can’t let him die for helping our mission,” Dara said.
“Then I’m considering saving his ass to be the remaining payment he’s due.”
She left the room, and Edward watched her go. “Okay, well, go get the douche.”
“Don't sound so thrilled, mate,” Nigel said.
Edward only smirked, following Bella up the stairs. Shit was getting serious, and that was what they wanted. His only fear was what the final cost would be when the bill came due.
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| Dylan |
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| Dwayne |
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| Tito |
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| Dara |
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