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“In my heart, he is.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Just get to safety, Omar. I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Very well.”
The call ended, and Ash turned to face Jules, who looked both confused and terrified. “Who’s taken Serena, Ash? And how did you know who was compromised?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s head to HQ, and I’ll fill you in on the way.”
OZ Headquarters
Every OZ operative at the table in the conference room looked exactly the way Ash felt. They’d been in this room thousands of times, and each time, they had believed in the importance of their mission. But this one? Yeah, it was different. One of their own—one of the most loyal and kindest people they knew—had been taken.
Not that long ago, Jazz had been in a similar position, and they’d been just as motivated and focused. Serena had been at the forefront, giving them bullet-fast intel day and night. If not for her, they wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint Jazz’s location and save her life. Professionally, she was monumental to their success. Personally, she was a sister to them all, and Ash knew everyone here would give their life to save hers. He just hoped it didn’t come to that.
At the front of the room, he faced his team. “Here’s where we are. A couple of months back, Serena came to me with a plan. The Wren Project knows where her family lives, and she was concerned they’d try to use that against us.”
The distress on Jazz’s face was easy to read.
“Jazz,” Ash said, “this is not on you, so do not go there. These bastards likely have known about Francine, Wisconsin, for a while, but they showed us for sure when they came after you. Feels weird to say, but having them reveal that was actually a blessing. We got a glimpse at their reach, and it gave Serena enough time to prepare.”
“So she figured she’d be taken at some point, and they’d try to use her family against her?” Gideon’s summation, as usual, was right on the money.
“Exactly,” Ash said. “With that in mind, she developed a series of protocols, hoping they would never have to be used. Since she has activated them, we know she’s been taken.”
“What happened?” Eve asked. “How did she prepare?”
“She created a fail-safe. If she was forced to reveal OZ secrets, she could provide fake intel that looked authentic. She updated it frequently to keep up with current events. It has enough real information in it to fool people for a few hours, giving us time to do what we need to do on our end. To give it some credence and believability, she revealed the identities of five of our CIs. Those CIs all have protection protocols in place and have been contacted.”
Ash felt to his soul the stunned silence that followed. Option Zero operated under the deepest of covers. The secrets they kept could topple entire governments. Because of that, their CIs were provided with the highest degree of protection. Without their CIs, OZ likely would have failed at numerous missions.
He clicked a key on his laptop, and the names of the compromised CIs appeared on the screen behind him. “Most of these people were already ghosts, so they can’t be found no matter how deep WP digs.”
He sent a small smile over to Jules, knowing she would be concerned. “I spoke to Omar. He’s being protected. He sends his best to you and Josh.”
As expected, she gave him a quick smile of relief. “That’s good.”
Pushing aside the oddity of his sweet, beautiful wife having a soft spot for the brutal weapons broker who’d once kidnapped her, he returned his attention to the room.
“Another part of Serena’s plan is to ensure that her family and those she loves are safe. I contacted her father immediately. They’ve had an evacuation protocol in place for years. They’ve implemented it.”
“The whole community?” Jazz asked.
“Yes.”
“What about the animals?”
“Even the animals are included.”
While it was hard to believe an entire community could relocate at a moment’s notice, and he knew it was a monumental undertaking, he had no worries that Ed Allen and every resident of Francine were now safe.
“Any idea how they found Serena?” Hawke asked.
“Wait,” Eve said. “She didn’t go back to Francine for her time off? She was taken here?”
“That’s my belief,” Ash said. “I don’t know how or where she was when it happened. Security cameras show her leaving the HQ parking lot around midnight two nights ago. She didn’t appear to be under duress.”
“She knew cameras were on her,” Liam said. “She would’ve found a way to signal to us if she was in distress.”
