he said. Toly stabbed his fork in his potatoes and scooped a large bite into his mouth. He watched Reginald as he chewed then shrugged.
“Don’t touch anything.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it!” Reginald said and smiled sweetly at Blink as he reclined in his seat and watched them. “Unless you have something better for me to do.” He raised his brows hopefully, even though it was obvious that Blink didn’t want to upset Lavender or Toly and was staying out of it. Alon drifted into the room and bent so he could whisper in Blink’s ear.
“Agent Sloan is back,” Alon murmured. Reginald jumped from his seat and hurried from the dining room and skidded past the Christmas tree as Paul stormed up the front steps and into the foyer.
“What’s happened?” Reginald asked as Paul unwound his scarf and shrugged out of his coat.
“I’m not sure but I think I’ve got a name,” he said as Blink and Alon joined them in the foyer.
“It must have been good if you flew right back from DC,” Blink noted and Paul shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was in his new grey herringbone and it was beautifully cut, hugging the muscles in his back and arms, as Paul studied Blink.
“That depends. Know anything about an Operation Blackout?” He asked and Blink’s head cocked and his eyes widened with fury. Alon stiffened at his side as he raised his sleeve and whispered.
“Operation Blackout?” Blink growled as he prowled closer but Paul held up a hand.
“Don’t kill the messenger. I thought I’d see if a friend at the CIA might know something but he was weird the minute I walked into his office. I played dumb and kept him talking until he got called out to listen in on a call and I took a peek at what he was working on. He was reading a report about a vanload of dead mercenaries attached to an Operation Blackout,” he said and Lavender whistled as he inspected his nails. Everyone but Elliot and Matteo straggled into the foyer and gathered around them.
“Who’d you piss off at the CIA?”
“Everyone,” Blink replied with a swat then pointed at Paul. “What else?”
“Not much... I didn’t have time for more than a quick scan,” he said but Blink’s brow jumped. He was impressed. Paul didn’t care. “I did see a name Alon might recognize. Lahav Shamir.”
“Lahav Shamir?” Blink asked as he turned back to his butler. Alon looked troubled and his eyes darted wildly as he calculated.
“He’s a former Mossad agent. I trained him and his specialty is PsyOps,” he said then nodded. “I see what this is now.”
“Excellent. In here,” Blink said as he strode into the study and headed for his desk. He opened the cigar box on the corner and selected one. “Please help yourselves,” he said and went to prepare his. “Please share, Alon,” he ordered and Alon bowed his head.
“Lahav was an exceptional officer and I am assuming the CIA has hired him so they can keep their hands clean. Lahav would have built his own team to test and penetrate Blackhurst. The attacks against the hackers were for three purposes: to gain intel—taking Captain Walsh alive would have been a bonus if they could interrogate him but I doubt they were counting on it. But he’d also want to create confusion by turning the different sides against each other and Mr. Blink while tripping all of our security protocols to see how we’d react.”
“The transmitters?” Blink asked and Alon smiled.
“Follow them to see where they go inside Blackhurst and if your security is as good as you think it is,” he explained and Grim chuckled.
“The last one went inside one of your dogs’ bellies until it took a shit in the woods.”
“We still don’t know what they’re after,” Lavender pointed out.
“I’m working on it,” Toly said and his hands danced through the air, making Reginald’s soul ache as he longed to be in on the hunt.
“Couldn’t I just...” Reginald attempted sheepishly.
“No!” Almost everyone yelled as they pointed at him.
“Fine,” he said as he held up his hands. “I’ll just hang out and cheer you all on. Go, team!” He pumped his fists then rolled his eyes as he went in search of champagne. “I’ll be in the conservatory getting high if anyone needs me.”
“Do not go outdoors,” Blink called after him and Reginald waved. He’d see how many more of Toly’s bugs he could find around Blackhurst. Reginald saw him drop