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Julia drew circles on her notepad. “RING is after a unique and highly valuable asset. Lydia was investigating and trying to draw the terrorist group into a situation where we could arrest them. She appears to have succeeded in a wrong-time, wrong-place state of affairs, but we need to act since this has fallen into our lap.”
Flynn studied the painting they’d discussed. “Unfortunately, not only is the mission taking place now, rather than when and where it was expected, her operation may be at risk because of your intervention.”
Beatrice sifted through the layers of what wasnotsaid, wishing she had her own pen and pad. Doodling helped her think. “Lydia is yours, but you don’t want her rescued?”
Flynn pushed off, joining them at the conference table. He sat at the opposite end. “While she’s an operational contact helping us gather intelligence on and evidence against RING, she’s not the asset who needs protection. There’s another. The ultimate one RING is after.”
Everything inside her froze, her logical, strategical brain jumping to conclusions. Parker? Moe? Jeb? How would the terrorists know who she would send on a rescue mission? She rejected each of their names until she got to the final one. “Cal?”
Flynn sat forward, his face serious. “No, not him. Sorry, I should’ve led with that.”
She swallowed hard.Yes, you fucking should have. At least her husband wasn’t working for the CIA. “Who, then?”
Before he could answer, the name popped into her head. Flynn must have seen it when she tensed. “Emit Petit,” he confirmed.
Julia stopped drawing. “Several enemy states have been sniffing around, gathering intel on him. After Ghost Fox met in London last year, Lydia contacted us. One of her former assets told her RING planned to make a move and snatch him.”
“Our plan is to shut them down once and for all,” Flynn continued, picking up the thread. They worked as a team, a unit, like she and Cal did. “We cannot now, nor ever, allow our enemies to get hold of Mr. Petit. You imagine what might be the outcome if his technology was in the hands of China or North Korea.”
Beatrice shoved down the sick feeling turning her guts to mush. “You believe RING kidnapped Lydia to get to Emit.”
Julia crossed her legs. “He’s the prize. We don’t know how Romalov and his team managed to get inside our borders, and we didn’t anticipate they knew anything about this meeting at Emit’s ranch.”
She fought the urge to stand and pace, the old version of her that had worked in the intelligence community for Command and Control clicked into place. She didn’t particularly like that version of herself, but it was the only way to keep her emotions from clouding her judgment. “Howdidthey find out about the meeting?”
Flynn tapped a thumb against the table. She had the feeling she wasn’t going to like his answer, and she was right. “Someone has betrayed you and Petit. We believe they leaked the information to RING as well as snuck the group across the border.”
Under the table, she clasped the edge of her chair, digging her nails into the padded leather. “Kidnapping Lydia is a diversion.”
A solemn nod from the Director. “Your team needs to stand down from rescuing her. They need to protect Petit instead.”
“You waited until this morning to inform us of this?”
“When we were apprised of the situation, there were hoops we had to jump through regarding chain of command,” Flynn said.
Julia nodded. “Just coming here to share this with you required permission from the upper levels of National Intelligence.”
“Our world doesn’t move as quickly as yours,” Flynn continued. “We assume Petit will be safe as long as he remains at his place. Originally, Lydia’s role was to resist interrogation for twenty-four hours before caving and leading them to him. Our timeline and setting has changed, but the mission remains the same. Once RING believes she’s at the end of her rope, she’ll agree to help them abduct him. At that time, we’ll have a unit in place to capture the group.”
The end of her rope? “You’re letting them torture her?”
“It was her idea,” Julia said quietly.
Flynn rocked back in his chair. “There are times when we have to allow our field operatives to make those decisions.”
Silence hung for a moment. “From what we’ve gathered,” Julia said, “holding a meeting in the U.S. was only decided upon last week. Most likely RING’s state sponsor decided this was an opportunity not to pass up.”
“They could kill her. You can’t know for sure that she’ll be able to pull this off. If you weren’t expecting them to snatch her on her way to the ranch, how would she know that you’re aware the mission is going down now?”
“Because she left us a message,” Flynn said.
Rory had pointed out the word someone, presumably Lydia, had scratched on the wine bottle’s label. That piece of glass had been the largest chunk left after she’d smashed it over someone’s head.Ghost.
“Get a hold of your people,” Flynn told her, rising from his seat. “Get them ready. The CIA is taking down this group, and when we’re finished, they won’t be getting back up.”
THIRTEEN
Moe eased through the trees, moving with as much speed as he dared without creating noise that might alert the captors to his presence. They had no observable camera or motion detectors, but there was always the chance that Big and Ugly at the trailer was only a decoy to make it appear as though security was lax.
