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“I really like Diana,” she said just before ending the call. I had to assume that was her way of letting me know she’d “read the room” at some point and figured out I had feelings for Diana. That was also probably Gwen’s way of letting me know she was happy for me.
Now for me not to fuck everything up to actually be happy.
“I’m guessing you heard the same thing my dad just told us. Bravo’s spinning up, heading to Turkey,” Gray said.
I shut the laptop. “Yeah, to chase false leads.”
“Maybe they’ll turn something up,” Griffin suggested, perhaps trying to be the voice of optimism.
Gray shot him a puzzled look, as shocked as I was at his words. “You mean find intel suggesting a terrorist group was behind this?” he asked him. “Maybe drag us into a new war because of it?”
“If it’s the Chinese government, they could be hoping to distract us in the Middle East from something?—”
“Speaking of China,” I cut Griffin off at the sight of Zoey’s name popping up on my phone. “Hopefully Zoey has news.” I stood, placing the call on speaker as Griffin and Gray rounded the desk to come closer. “Tell me you have something.”
“Hey, Camila’s here with me, and we managed to dig up some intel that I’d never have uncovered without her, um, abilities,” Zoey began, her English accent muffled a bit from background noise. A subway station, maybe? “It’s not the Chinese. Although they have a working EMP weapon, they’re not the ones who plan to use it. In fact, their top-secret research center was sabotaged back in July. Their lead scientists were killed and all of their work around the EMP weapon was stolen. They’d been trying to keep it under wraps, not wanting anyone to know they had a breach.”
I took a step back, bumping into the desk chair as I dragged a hand along my jawline. “So, shortly after America and eleven other countries agreed to work together on a project that was motivated by the fact China was on the verge of having an EMP weapon, China’s secure lab was hit.” Intel had been wrong. Not on the verge, because the Chinese already had a working weapon.
“Not exactly a coincidence.” Griffin set his hands on the desk, his wedding band drawing my eye, a reminder of what I’d done with mine only last night.
I shook that thought free and focused. “Based on what you know,” I asked Zoey, “if someone had the weapon design plans since July, is that enough time to assemble the weapon and the reactor needed for it?”
“To build the weapon itself, yes. The reactor to charge it? No,” Camila answered. “But if they had access to an existing nuclear reactor . . .” She let me connect the obvious dots. “And guess which country has the most nuclear reactors in the world.”
My hands went to my hips as I cursed and answered, “Us.”
“They’re going to use our own reactor against us.” Gray went for his phone, already on the move to call his father with the update.
“What do you want me to do now?” Camila asked. “Zoey’s being ordered back to London. I’d come to you, but I don’t want to run the risk of someone following me to your location.”
“Stick with Zoey for now. Head to London with her. I’ll be in touch when we know something.” We exchanged a few more words before we ended the call and I chucked the phone on the desk. After letting the news sink in, I locked on to Griffin and went over the conversation I’d had with Gwen, hoping he’d have fresh insight on the matter.
Griffin folded his arms, quietly thinking, and I gave him the time to do it. “We should let whoever’s really behind this think we’ve fallen for whatever bogus lead they give us in Turkey,” he finally said. “Otherwise, these pricks may switch to the emergency part of PACE and move up their timeline on an attack before Diana and the others can finish their work.”
He had a point, but we couldn’t leave Scotland yet. Diana had work to finish, and I’d never let her step foot in D.C. until I knew it was safe. “Are you suggesting we let them think we’re bringing Diana home?”
“Key word, think.”
I could get on board with a diversion plan. “Yeah, okay. In the meantime, we need to rethink our suspect list while we wait for word from Bravo.”
“And are we still not letting Diana know her friends are dead?” he asked. His gaze abruptly shot behind me toward the door, and he winced.
Damnit. Had Diana just shown up at the worst possible time? I slowly turned to see her standing there, staring at me with narrowed eyes and lips parted.
“What do you mean they’re dead? Who, exactly?” She removed her glasses, remaining in the doorway.
“I’ll give you a minute,” Griffin said, and Diana quietly stepped aside so he could leave the two of us alone.
As much as I wanted to go to her, I remained a block of unmalleable wood, fixed behind the oak desk, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears.
“Carter?” She chewed on her lip, keeping her distance while gripping her glasses to the point I was worried she’d break them.
“There was a fire. Three bodies were found. They were killed prior to the fire. Bonnie’s, William’s, and Bahar’s remains were found here in Edinburgh. Pierce also died in a car explosion in Belgium,” I spat out the details like bullet points, wishing that’d make the news less horrific somehow.
She let go of the glasses and dropped to her knees, her hands covering her face as she leaned forward, her body crumpling in grief.
I circled the desk to get to her, telling her the most inadequate words on the planet. “I’m so sorry.” I crouched before her, urging her to sit upright, but she didn’t move.
