begged for a few more favors and even used the hint of blackmail in one instance. I didn’t manage to save this organization but I held on to enough to keep you men. I have a new job for you and this job should be easier than any job you have had since coming to me. I want the money Conrad stole back in our accounts. I want all his connections accounted for and I want to know everyone he talked to in the last year, where they live, what they do for a living, and if they had anything to do with the missing funds. I want to know what the man had for dinner the day before he went missing.”
One of the men tilted his head up in a quick gesture and Landel stopped talking and returned the gesture indicating the man could talk.
“You haven’t ask us to find Conrad. Why?” Donald asked.
“Because I don’t need him found. Allies have him and they will hold him until the end of time for crimes against their people. I know this team is the best out there, I recruited each one of you myself. But even with all your training, you can’t find Conrad and I promised our allies we wouldn’t try.”
“They realize we could make him talk if we had him? Any way to get an hour alone with the man?”
“No. I gave my word and each and every one of you know how I feel about giving my word. That is the reason I need this team. I gave my word. End of story. We have to find his money, or rather, the money this organization should by rights have and we need to find all his assets. If he owned a sock in Sweden and he put it in a locker for safe keeping I want the combination to the locker. Everything the man has or ever had, I want it located.”
“Everything? What about heirs? Didn’t he have a son or grandson or something?”
“Forfeit. Everything. The organization, or rather the organization that existed before bled and died for their missions. Money and things can’t bring back one team mate or return one drop of blood to a body. But when you joined I told you anything taken from the ones we go after, anything, would go to the organization to fund the next mission and the next mission. I gave my word I would do what it took to make certain the team always had enough to pull a mission. We don’t have the money and innocent lives will suffer for that loss. But we will have it back and we will take the next step after that and the next one. Our mission, our ultimate mission is to save the innocents who have no one to fight their battles for them. That hasn’t changed, but how we get there has changed. We can’t save them if we don’t have the funds or resources to save them.
As Landel outlined the plans he had for his agents a few eyebrows went up but by the time he was done everyone was on board. He had offered to find them a new place in a different organization if they choose. No one had chosen to leave his team. He wasn’t surprised. That is why they were his best.
Chapter Eight
An expression far beyond her years sat upon the girl’s face as she studied the paper in front of her. Silence pervaded the room, and had for the last little while as no one wanted to disturb the girl. Leah wasn’t sure that giving the paper to Alice had been the best thing. She had argued long and hard against it. She knew, better than anyone, how precious her new daughter was and how helpful the child had been to the pack. But she didn’t want Alice to have such a massive responsibility weighing on her young shoulders. She didn’t want the child to meddle in the affairs of the pack company at all, and would have put her foot down over that if she hadn’t realized early on the data the girl absorbed and played with was almost necessary for happiness. The child played with numbers and data like most children played with toys so she encouraged her while doing her best to shield her from the comments of others who didn’t think what the child did was natural.
It was one thing for Alice to help out at the plant.