Page 53 of Avenging Angel

“Yeah, except it might be Emily’s brother who snapped,” I say.

“What brother?” Bennett asks. “There’s no record of another family member.”

Owen drops his bag and pushes past me, getting in Bennett’s face and not backing down. “The fact that you know that means you’ve been keeping information from us. You’re a real piece of work, you know that? We’re trying to save a girl’s life, and here you are keeping secrets.”

Bennett steps forward, closing the distance, while the rest of us take a step back as these two prepare to go to blows. I should stop them, but my brother can handle himself if Bennett takes a swing. As for Bennett, he could stand to get knocked down a peg or two, which is guaranteed if he strikes Owen.

“I’ll share information when it’s relevant.”

My brother doesn’t back down. “Understanding the ‘why’ is always relevant.”

“Yes, but you’ve proven that you can’t be trusted with the information I’ve already shared,” Bennett seethes. “Despite my warning, your Director is looking into Dominion and asking questions that shouldn’t be asked. While I understand the FBI has a duty and responsibility to the American people, the CIA has a duty on a global scale. I know where that road leads, Owen. It’s going to end up in a public debacle that will only send Dominion underground, solve nothing, and jeopardize countless other missions beyond your crusade. I won’t let that happen.”

That’s when Bennett turns to me. “If you want to chase your rabbit down the hole, by all means, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you.”

A sliver of a smile forms at the edge of Roger’s mouth, but the mischievous glint in his eye can’t be missed. “Of course you’re not. You’ll be going with her.”

Angel and I both yell, “WHAT?” at the same moment Bennett shouts, “Absolutely not!”

Vinny sighs as though he’d been expecting this response. “Daisy, you have less than 24 hours to get the information you need from the Blooms and return before the girls from the Academy show up for their camping trip. Angel, you and your family have hiked the PCT and know it better than anyone here. We need you to guide Owen and Scott, who won’t have any trouble keeping up. They’re trained for this kind of mission.”

“Faith knows the trail as well as her brother,” I say with a thin thread of hope that they’ll change their minds about the arrangements.

“Not like Angel,” Faith says. “Jeremy and Jack will be staying at the campground in case Kenneth Johnson doubles back. Jaxon and I will be entering a deer path on the west side in case he takes a more circuitous route. We’ll be on standby while Vinny operates the drone, locates our target, and sends us more information so we can cut him off at the pass. Unfortunately for us, there are more than 100 routes he can take.”

Jaxon shrugs as if the assignments don’t matter to him. “Daisy, if you’d rather stay here, we’ll switch places with you. Faith and I can go to Colorado and talk to the Blooms.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Bennett adds. “I need to be here to question Kenneth Johnson. So far, he’s managed to evade capture.”

Personally, I don’t like what the word “capture” entails when it crosses Bennett’s lips. Images of a solitary light bulb, a man tied to a chair, and blood pooling on the floor come to mind. I shudder at the thought. My team can extract information without resorting to such measures, and because of that, I decline Jaxon’s offer to take my place.

If Bennett coming with me gets him as far away from our target as possible, then I’ll suffer through a three-hour plane ride and close quarters in a vehicle to spare such an atrocity. Although spending any time with the man is its own kind of torture, and I should get a medal for my sacrifice.

“That surprises me with the number of resources you have at your disposal,” I tell him. “And you probably shouldn’t have shut down our search with that virus of yours.”

Bennett’s fists clench as I argue with him and point out his errors. In an attempt to justify his actions, he says, “It led me here, didn’t it? The CIA only suspects his involvement in the abductions. What I need to know is how. I can only do that if I catch him.”

“What do you mean by ‘how?’ I thought you said he and Brad are partners,” Vinny asks.

“But in what capacity?” Bennett retorts. “We can confirm that Brad Callahan, aka Douglas Jenner, works for Dominion. But I have not yet been able to confirm if Kenneth Johnson is an employee of the organization or if Brad has contracted him privately to do the dirty work. Don’t you think it’s odd that Brad has left the immediate area, and suddenly Kenneth shows up again?”

“What does it matter?” I ask.

As if placating an idiot, Bennett says to me, “If Kenneth works directly for Dominion, then any information he shares is classified and above most of your pay grades. If he’s contracted by Brad, then he can spend the rest of his life in a dark hole somewhere in Siberia. Either way, he needs to disappear. You can get the justice you want and keep your hands clean, while I get to protect Dominion and the missions around the world that depend on their dirty deeds being kept secret. It’s a win-win for everyone. But for that to happen, I need to speak to him alone.”

Owen sneers. “That’s not how we do things here. Bennett, do you have an ounce of morality left in your bones?”

These two going head-to-head is going to be the death of me. Before I can step between them, Bennett steps back. “There’s no room for morality in the CIA. Sometimes we have to do what others won’t to preserve what’s right in the end. Have any of you asked Vincent here how many lives were lost bringing a cartel leader into power down in Colombia? He allowed it to happen for the sake of bringing ‘stability’ to the region. Then there’s Angel. How many lives did he take from a distance without knowing why he was tasked to kill his target?”

The room goes silent as Bennett looks at each and every one of us. “No? Cat got your tongue? Answer this for me: How are my actions any different from those in this room who have done far worse for the greater good?”

“The heart matters,” I mumble. “When you lose sight of doing the right thing, it’s a pathway to darkness; one I fear you’ve been on far too long.”

“You should know, Daisy,” Bennett fires at me. “Here you are with 52 handguns and 24 rifles in your cabin to hunt down a man because someone hired you to? What are you planning on doing with all of that firepower? It certainly isn’t to take Kenneth or Brad on a stroll through the park.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” I fire back. “It’s three rifles and two handguns.”

Rolling his eyes, Bennett says, “My point is that they’re proof that your intentions aren’t merely to detain and question. If push comes to shove, you’ll do what’s inherently wrong to do what’s right in the end. Taking a life to save a life. Who are you to decide which life is worth more?”