fuck up and did what was right for her.
He let the decision percolate in his brain a moment, then spat it out. To hell with that. They’d both endured hells and survived. They deserved a happy life, hopefully one together. He couldn’t walk away now.
“We’ll send the details to your handsets, but the account owner is affiliated with the leader we took down in Cuba. He’s also had several hefty deposits from Carlisle Industries through the years,” Jesse said.
“We missed some of the ones tied to Carlisle,” Marshall said.
“We did. Whether they are actually a black-in-black team still tied with Carlisle is up for debate,” Edge said. “There’s another point to mention before we move off the Mandrake part of the discussion. We’ve been warned off.”
“Excuse me?” Marshall asked.
“Bob called Vi a couple hours ago, shortly after the raid on the bunker. The directive was clear—stand down and do not go after Mandrake in any way,” Edge said. “Needless to say, that conversation didn’t go as he’d hoped.”
Gage chuckled. “It rarely does when you and Vi are involved.”
“What’s the play with them?” Addy asked. “Those operatives who had us weren’t what I would’ve expected. They were barely trained.”
“We think the group was recruiting former Mandrake rejects,” Edge said. “We’re looking into that angle, establishing the backgrounds for the eight dead operatives from the bunker.”
“And the interrogator?” Kristof asked.
“We’re looking into him, but Jud was able to share some light on that,” Jesse said. “He’s former Collective. Jud recognized him as an enhanced interrogations expert they sometimes called in when Jud refused an assignment or needed to be shifted to a different assignment. He escaped the takedown.”
“And likely began working with Mandrake or was already working with them,” Addy said. “Did Jud know anything about an assigned protector?”
“No, but he’d expect there was one. Probably a Mandrake operative. He didn’t go anywhere without at least one protector,” Edge said. “Vi’s hacking into Mandrake’s files.”
“What?” Zoey leaned toward the com. “I’ll do it. You two should be on mama duty. Cord and I will take this on. Jacob can help us.”
“She’s not backing off this, Z,” Jesse said. “Bob’s call made it personal. Jud will pull her off if she gets too focused.”
Judson Jensen was an excellent operative—one who’d had Kristof’s back when he’d worked Collective assignments on many occasions. They’d formed a strange friendship through the years. Kristof owed the man a huge debt because he’d taken a huge risk and warned him about the takedown so he could extricate himself from the assignment he’d been on.
Navigating his work with The Collective while running his own underground operation had been difficult, but the latter was typically the cover story he’d needed for whatever missions he was assigned. Scraping the organization out of his life had relieved Kristof more than he’d initially realized.
“Okay, so the assumption is that the leftover Mandrake operatives have turned on Yesim’s organization and want the missiles back,” Jesse said. “Based on Rhea’s calculations from the Cuba data, we know there are still three in play. Our primary objective is finding them.”
“Agreed,” Marshall said. “Any leads on which doors to start knocking down?”
“We retrieved data from two cellphones on the bunker operatives. Both had frequent calls originating from this region.” A map with a red circle appeared on the television screen.
Fuck. Kristof’s insides burned. The bastard.
Addy’s gaze captured his from across the room. Silence descended as everyone’s attention settled on either him or her. Pale, she looked at him with wide eyes.
“That’s…” She stopped, cleared her throat. “That’s the camp.”
“Are you sure?” Zoey asked.
“You don’t forget a place like that,” Kristof said. “She’s right. But the camp was shut down nine years ago. Father turned it into a fortress. Added a huge house.”
“You’ve been there? Recently?” Edge asked.
“I’m allowed there once a month.” Kristof clenched his teeth and kept his attention on Addy. “I didn’t want you to know. Not like this. But I can’t keep quiet if you all intend to hit that location.”
“Why not?” Her question was a hushed whisper.
“Father is holding my cousin there,” Kristof said. “I intend to break him out when I take Father down.”
“Your cousin,” Edge said. “Olaf?”
Ice formed in his veins. He should’ve realized the brilliant women who led Zoey would’ve dug and found what he’d tried to hide. Maksim had warned him they’d find answers quickly. Had they already told Addy?
Did it even matter?
“Yes.”
“Let’s rewind and hit pause,” Zoey said. “Who’s Olaf and why is your dad keeping him prisoner?”
“Olaf