The look on his face reveals he knows she’s not being honest. “And you work for?”
She lets a second pass. “The Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency—Global Division.”
Ben exhales sharply, but it’s not relief—it’s wariness. “You’re private sector?”
“Yes, but we also do work for the government when necessary.” She holds his gaze. “Sometimes we’re contracted by agencies, sometimes by individuals or corporations.” She pauses, then adds, “It depends on the mission, but our objective is the same. Keep people safe and strategically neutralize threats.”
“And you?” He turns to me. “You’re a spy?”
“And you’re FBI.”
His brown eyes narrow on me, but they’re not accusatory. There’s a flash of amusement shining in them when he says, “It was you in the museum.”
“It wasyouin the museum,” I answer back.
“You’ve been undercover this whole time?”
“Only when you’re around,Craig Miller,” I say sweetly.
“Well, this feels like a weird first date,” Ruby says, swishing her hand at a fly. “But can we get back to why we’re here?”
“Yes,” Katherine Scott says. “Let’s talk about how the two of you are going to work together to protect national security—without letting your complicated history turn it into a classified disaster.”
Chapter 36
Ben
Cypress Creek, Texas
Sunday afternoon
I stare at the tablet Athena is reading from like it’s a loaded gun. In a way, it is. Russian KGB. International arms broker. Multiple encrypted calls. An expedited auction happening sometime in the next forty-eight hours. All of it tied to the reason I’m standing in a farmhouse on the edge of town reconciling the truth that Cybil Langford is a spy.
Or, as Athena described her, acover asset.
Forget protecting her—what I should’ve been worried about was how many ways she could kill me with a nail file and still make it look like an accident.
If there was any relief in learning Cybil wasn’t spying for Edmond or a former Russian KGB member, it was short-lived when Athena and Katherine explained why SNAP Global was now involved in Operation Shadow Broker—or rather taking it over.
“Ramirez has an operation in Brazil called PetroSul. It’s a subsidiary of Enzo Coal & Oil and works with a local energy consortium to explore for natural gas deposits in underdeveloped parts of the Amazon basin,” Athena explains. “While there, his team discovered a naturally occurring but incredibly rare mineral called Aurelite-X. On its own, it’s not much more than a shimmering metallic ore. Butonce it’s refined and combined with certain reactive elements—think niobium, scandium, even trace amounts of enriched boron—it becomes something else entirely. It’s lightweight, nearly indestructible, and can withstand extreme heat and energy output without structural failure, making it ideal for weapons casings, missile guidance systems, stealth drone components... even hypersonic delivery systems.” Athena pauses. “Because it’s new and unregulated, Aurelite-X isn’t on any export control lists. No watchdogs. No oversight. If Ramirez can get it out of the country and into the wrong hands, it’s not just a weapon. It’s an arms race shortcut.”
“And why we’ve decided to bring you both in today,” Katherine says. “Now that we’re dealing with a national security threat, we’ve hit a point where compartmentalization is no longer an asset—it’s a liability. Both of you have ingrained yourselves into a position we can use to effectively take down Lorenzo Ramirez and stop an international security threat before it’s weaponized.”
I glance between Katherine and Athena. Off to the side, Cybil is leaning against the wall, spinning her father’s gold ring on her thumb. She’s anxious. And rightfully so. If a global threat isn’t bad enough, if I understand what was just said, the situation isn’t just bad—it’s escalating. And Katherine and Athena are dropping us deeper into it.
Which—sure. Fine. I’ve worked hard missions. High stakes, ugly targets. But none of those involved someone I care about standing in the line of fire.
“What do you want us to do?”
Cybil’s question doesn’t seem to surprise Katherine. Or Athena. And Ruby looks almost amused. I am not.
I glance at Cybil. She meets my eyes—steady, stubborn. And I know she’s not going to back down.
“You’re both going to do exactly what you’ve been doing,” Katherine says. “Craig Millerwill continue to serve Ramirez’s financial needs regarding the deal. We know of two interested parties, Kamarov and Samuel Baird. The unknown is who Baird might be brokering the deal on behalf of. We need names in case the deal goes through.”
I frown. “In case?”
“Our goal is to prevent the auction altogether,” Athena says. “But we expect Ramirez’s growing suspicion will push him to accelerate the deal, leaving us without much time to intervene. If we have the names of the buyers, we can pursue them post-auction.”
