Page 7 of Redeeming Violet

“Why’s that?” I shouldn’t have asked. It really didn’t matter what she believed about me, but deep down that was a lie. It did matter. I would never have betrayed my country or the oath I took if it wasn’t for Timothy Clark and what he’d threatened.

“I don’t think you have it in you to be underhanded. We know why Timothy Clark did it. He was a greedy piece of shit that roped in his brother Louis and the two of them together sold whatever information they could get their hands on to the highest bidder. They didn’t care who got hurt or what foreign government wanted the intel, they just wanted the money. Neither of them would admit to what they had done. You? Complete opposite. That means Timothy Clark, Siles, Gomez, or someone is yanking your chain. They have something you need. Something you’re willing to die to protect. That something is a person.” Jasmin’s normally tough exterior had softened a fraction before she continued sliding her mask of indifference back into place. “Not that I fucking care who it is. Bottom line is you’re a traitor.”

I couldn’t argue with her, she was right. My reasoning behind what I had done didn’t matter. I’d gladly give up my freedom if it meant he was safe.

“We should be landing in less than thirty minutes. Tex has a man named Faheem Wadood meeting us. Tex has worked with him before and says he’s the best. He’ll be our guide. Hopefully he’ll be able to lead us to the men.”

“We won’t need Faheem.” I hope I wasn’t making a mistake but letting the guide take us around Juba would be a waste of time. Time the team didn’t have.

“Why is that?” Jaxon asked.

“Because I can track them once we’re on the ground.”

“Come again?” Zane was going to need dental implants soon the way he ground his teeth together.

“Why did we fly all the fucking way to Africa if you could track their location. There are boots on the ground in the area that could’ve been sent in,” Eric added.

“I swear to God, if you do not start talking, I’ll have your ass locked up in a prison that makes Iceland look like Club Med. Whomever you think you’re protecting will never see you again, and whatever you’re protecting them from will no longer matter. Either you trust us with what you have, or you have nothing.” Zane was no longer angry and that scared me more; he was flat out done.

Shit.

“I’m being blackmailed.”

“No shit, really?” Zane cocked his head to the side and looked at me like I was stupid.

I didn’t care. It felt good to say it out loud. To finally admit the truth.

“It started with Timothy Clark.”

“I hate to be a dick, but we land in less than thirty minutes. Why don’t we hit the high points for now?” Eric made a move-a-long gesture.

“Timothy had a list of covert operatives that were embedded all over the world. Long cover CIA agents. He told me he would release the list if I didn’t help him find something to use against the Attorney General Peter Newton.”

“That’s impossible. We stopped Louis Clark, aka Deepweb336, from completing the hack.” Zane told me. “He played you. His brother never got the names.”

“He has the list,” I insisted.

“How do you know the list he gave you was real? You’d have no way to authenticate the names – once the agent is under, the CIA no longer keeps records.”

“Trust me, it was real.”

“Sorry to tell you, you’ve been duped. I personally put the bullet in Louis’ forehead before he completed the hack. We had Garrett, our technical analyst, in the CIA’s database watching what Louis was doing. Deputy Director Banning instructed us not to shut down the system and watch if Louis could breach. He couldn’t. He didn’t, Violet. He never got the list.”

“He did get the list. While all of you were playing cyber war games to see who could hack whom, did you ever stop to think who was watching Timothy?”

“How do you know?” Jaxon narrowed his eyes.

“I know they have the names because it was my job to scrub the agent’s files when they went under.”

“Timothy is dead. Who the fuck has the list now?” Jasmin asked.

“Timothy was working with a man named Manuel Ortega,” I told them.

“Manuel Ortega? I know that name,” Jasmin commented.

“You should. Manuel Ortega is ex Bolivian Special Forces turned rogue,” Eric seethed. “I thought that asshole was dead.”

“Why are the Chinese after you?” Zane asked.