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“And where your safe houses are,” Pierce said.
There was total silence. Pierce knew that Black would institute a complete overhaul of his vehicles and safe house system, a monumental task. But in the meantime, any Black Inc. safe house was now … unsafe.
“We’re someplace safe now,” Pierce added.
“Don’t tell me,” Black said urgently, holding his hand up, palm out.
“No, sir.” Pierce was sad. The idea of not trusting Black and Black Inc. hurt. “I won’t.”
Another silence.
“Okay,” Black said. “You guys sit tight. Riley’s done what she could, which was amazing. But I’m not exposing her again. Now I need to contact some more people, start gaining a consensus. Start planning payback.”
Against the Sommers Group. He didn’t need to say it.
“Sir?” Riley barely stopped herself from raising her hand, permission to speak. She didn’t need anyone’s permission.
“Jacob,” Black growled.
“Jacob. Yes.” She stopped, swallowed. “When we were in the briefing room, I got the impression that General MacBride wasn’t following the technicalities, and if you don’t, it’s easy to be fooled.”
“MacBride is an ass. And is where he is because of politics. Guy hasn’t spent time in the field in decades.”
“Yessir. Um, Jacob. But General MacBride’s aide, the Captain, he wasn’t fooled. He followed perfectly. Contact him and have him with you, if he’ll volunteer. If you guys have any difficulties, let the Queens know and they’ll put me in contact with you.”
“Done. I’ll send the Queens briefings that they’ll send to you and we can talk tomorrow. There’s some kind of drumbeat for war, and we need to stop it in its tracks.”
“We do,” Pierce said. Anyone who had been to war—and he and Jacob Black had seen far too much of it—wanted to stop this rush to war based on a lie. It had been bad enough with weaker militaries, like in Afghanistan and Iraq. Against a very powerful enemy, in some respects more powerful than the US, war could destroy the world. “The drumbeat will be about money. Follow the money.”
“Yeah. Someone’s got an economic interest, and if the world burns to ashes he won’t care. Probably got a bolt hole somewhere. Okay. So you’ll be getting updates via ASI, and if there’s another attack, I’ll let you know immediately.” His dark face tightened. “But it’s Riley they are after, not me. When briefing, I’ll make it clear that Riley’s intel is out in the open and everyone should call off the dogs. She’s done enough. But in the meantime, you keep her safe, Pierce.”
Black’s eyes seemed to bore a hole in his.
God, yes. “I have every intention of doing so, sir.”
“Black, out.” And his section of the monitor went blank.
Both Riley and Pierce let out a breath. They looked at each other and grinned.
“Quite a commanding personality,” Riley said.
“Yeah. I’m glad he’s on the side of the good guys. I’d hate to have him after me.”
“Uh, guys?” Hope’s soft voice interrupted. They turned back to the screen. “I’m reading from Summer that the USSCarl Vinsonis in the Strait of Taiwan and has just sent up six F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, protecting other Reaper drones. That’s not good news.”
“No, it isn’t,” Pierce agreed. This thing was escalating. Super Hornets were beasts. They had an internal 20-mm M61A2 rotary cannon, and carried air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and other weapons. They could refuel in-flight, and could stay in the air as long as the pilots could stay awake.
Riley leaned forward. “Is that Summer Redding? Is she starting her political blog Area8 up again?”
Hope smiled. “Summer Redding-Delvaux. And yes, she’s putting out her political blog again, once she heard from us what’s going on. She has amazing resources, too, and she’ll do a really good job.”
“I know she will. Tell her to contact me if she needs any technical consultation.”
“Will do.”
“And how’s Felicity?”
Hope grinned, and Pierce could see Emma grin at the edges of the screen. “About ready to pop from what Metal calls the longest pregnancy in history, or at least that’s what it feels like, he said.”
