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She heard footsteps in the hallway, and her hand went to the weapon at her hip as she stepped to the side of the door. Logan came in and gave her an arch look when he saw where her hand was, but he stayed silent. Grace’s curiosity piqued every time she saw him. There was something about him that was different. She wanted to know how he got the scars that puckered across the back of his neck and seemed to go down even farther, but she wouldn’t ask Gabe, and she knew he wouldn’t volunteer the information about another of his agents.
He wore a long-sleeved gray T-shirt and worn jeans. Grace noticed he always wore long sleeves, leading her to believe that the scars were all over his body. His hair was pulled back in a leather thong and his face had two days’ worth of stubble.
“So how was Mexico?” Gabe asked.
“Interesting.” Logan sat back in one of the comfortable leather chairs and stretched out his legs. “The entire tribe was dead by the time I left.” Logan’s accent was thick with exhaustion and anger.
“But not by the time you got there?” Gabe persisted.
“No. Whatever the hell is in that formula is a sodding terrible way to die. It liquifies every organ. Slowly. I was there for eight hours, and all I could hear was the screams of the dying, begging to be put out of their misery. The WHO doctors who were trying to keep the site contained couldn’t even go into the tents without casting up their stomachs.”
“Were any of them able to tell you anything?” Gabe asked.
“Give it a rest, Gabe, they were all dying,” Ethan said angrily. “How could you even have him question them? ‘Rest in peace’ should mean something.”
Gabe ignored Ethan and kept his gaze steady on Logan. He could read the grief in Logan’s eyes. The job had been a hard one, but it had been necessary.
“The man our initial witness had seen turned out to be a missionary,” Logan said, “So it was a dead end there. But everyone I questioned, at least those who were able to talk, said they all heard the same thing. A loud hissing sound and then the vibrations from the aftershock as the missile hit its target. They didn’t recall anything else unusual about the day until they all started getting sick.”
“Did you find the shell casing for the missile?” Gabe asked.
A slight twitch at the corner of Logan’s mouth was the only way to tell he was smiling. “I brought it back with me. From what I could tell, and the location where I found the casing, it looks like it was released from the south. That’s guerilla territory. Any of those pilots could’ve been bought and done the deed. Most of them are used to running drugs and guns, so they wouldn’t have blinked at firing a missile over a peaceful village. The formula was released as an aerosol, and obviously found the DNA it was searching for. I found the casing buried in the sand almost a thousand yards away.”
“Good work, Logan.” Gabe went to stand in front of the wall screens where Ethan had information set up.
“You guys are a piece of work,” Ethan said, pushing back from his console. He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, his face colored with anger and frustration. “It’s like you’re all robots. Don’t you have any feelings? Sympathy? I shouldnotbe the voice of reason in this room.”
Gabe turned to face him and sighed tiredly. “We are who we are, Ethan. There is not one person in this room, one tribe, or even one country more important than the whole. None of us have any illusions as to what we do. We’re fighting a war that 99.9 percent of the population doesn’t even know exists. They’re happy and clueless in their homes and with their jobs. We will all do what it takes for the big picture. If that means the torture of a captive or questioning an innocent who is dying a terrible death, then that’s what we’ll do. It’s time to grow up or get out.”
Ethan’s breath grew ragged, and Gabe could tell the boy wanted nothing more than to plant his fist right in Gabe’s face. “Dammit!” Ethan said, scrubbing his hands over his eyes. “You should at least be sorry.”
“We’re all sorry,” Gabe said softly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the job has to be done.”
“So what now?” Jack asked, pulling the attention away from Ethan and onto himself.
“The mass killing should be halted for a while now that Allen Standridge is dead,” Gabe said. “It’s going to take some time for whoever is behind this to line up a new scientist and get a viable test product. We’ve got two goals to achieve. The first is to get the rest of the formula that’s still out there in Hitler’s paintings and destroy them. The second is to flush out this Shawn Kimball.”
Gabe turned and faced the picture and dossier of Shawn Kimball that popped up on the screen. “Kimball’s working for whoever is behind the Passover Project. He’s former military, and he’s got CIA connections. I also have a feeling that this is the man who killed Frank Bennett. If he did, then he had the opportunity to search the personal files Frank kept at home. He might know more about some of us than I’m comfortable with.”
Grace narrowed her eyes at Gabe as if trying to read between the lines. There was something deeper here than Kimball knowing about their private lives.
“How are we going to flush him out?” Ethan asked. “He obviously knows where we are since he’s sending thugs after Jack.”
“We won’t have to,” Gabe said. “He’ll come to us. He’s got us under surveillance. We’re going to have to get rid of most of his team before we can leave for Tehran and destroy the painting, but we’ll leave one of them alive to deliver a message.”
“We’ll be ready for him,” Jack said. “I’ve got a little something of my own to deliver to Mr. Kimball.” He rubbed at his sore ribs.
Ethan’s anger hadn’t dissipated, but he’d gotten control over it for the most part. Gabe knew he was asking a lot of the kid, but they’d all been young when they’d started, and they’d each had to make certain adjustments to be comfortable with the kind of people they’d become. The job wasn’t for everyone, and he still wasn’t sure Ethan would be able to cut it.
“So, great,” Ethan said. “We’re going to save the world and kill or torture everyone who deserves it. Just one question. How the hell are we all supposed to get into Iran? There’s no way we’re going to get in unnoticed with all the security checkpoints they have.”
Gabe decided to let Jack handle this one since he was already laughing at the kid’s naivety.
“Well, son, since you’ll be staying here, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it overmuch,” Jack said. “Leave the hard part to the big boys.”
“The hell I’m not going,” he said, launching himself at Jack and getting a quick punch in before Jack could block him.
Jack’s eyes narrowed, and he shoved Ethan back on the couch with barely any effort, dabbing at his split lip. “Don’t touch me again, kid,” Jack growled. “It’s the only warning you’ll get. If you want to be an adult, it’s time to start acting like one. We’re a team. And you can’t get past your own pride and immaturity to see that there are four other people whose lives count on the trust of each other, and they’re all waiting on you to grow up.”
