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Bracing his back against the frame, he divided his focus between the terrorist tied to the post on the porch, and the woman who had him wrapped in knots sitting at the table pumping Lori for information. Parker was damn good at interrogation, and she’d been trained by some of the best, both before and during her time with SFI. He knew that look in her eye, the calm and somewhat friendly demeanor she was showing Lori, when all he wanted to do was pin the woman against the wall and press the end of the gun to her head, demanding she answer his questions.
Which was why he wondered if he belonged here. Wondered if he belonged in this group of elite warriors, analysts, and even their therapist. Each of them faced extreme situations on a regular basis, and none lost their shit like he was about to.
He always tried to cover the roller coaster of feelings balled up inside his chest with humor, cheekiness, and all-out sarcasm, but seeing Parker get shot had twisted what control he had into something ugly. It had allowed chaos past his carefully constructed barrier.
He heard the incoming vehicles before he saw them, plumes of dust floating into the sky from their approach. While he and Parker were expecting Beatrice and the others, he wasn’t taking chances. He stepped out and closed the door behind him, taking a position behind the overgrowth next to the cabin.
As the first of the dusty SUVs came around the bend, his shoulders slumped, and he lowered his weapon. Not entirely, not until he saw Beatrice step out of the first one, heading for the porch, but the relief was like a smack to his chest. Rory exited on her heels, Cal and Emit emerging from the second car.
“Henley!” Beatrice used his code name. “Don’t shoot.”
He chuckled, stepping out from his hiding place. She knew he was watching, ready to take out anybody who wasn’t one of them. He dragged in a tight breath, propping a hand on the side of the porch, needing it to hold him up. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Rory looked him over, screwing up his face as if Moe was the ugliest thing he’d seen today. “You look like shit.” He cocked his chin at Romalov, who was still unconscious. “What’s he doing here?”
“We’ve had a few more surprises since you and I spoke.”
Beatrice paused in her approach, placing a hand on her hip as Cal marched up beside her, his full protective mode locked into place. “I’m getting sick of those,” she said to no one in particular. “Is Jett okay?”
The fading adrenaline caused his legs to wobble. He hadn’t slept since sometime yesterday, and hauling Parker through two different tunnels had taken its toll on his stamina. He lowered himself onto the bottom step and kicked the terrorist for good measure. “The bastard shot her in the calf.” When Beatrice straightened, face tensing even more than it already was, he raised a hand. “She’s all right. She’s in there interrogating a suspect.”
“Who? That guy with the bear?”
Moe ran a hand over his face. He was sweating like a bitch. He gave them the down-and-dirty about Lori and the watch as Rory returned to the SUV to pull out his laptop. “She’s not with RING, but she’s tied up in all this somehow.”
“You don’t believe the watch holds a detonator for that bomb?”
Moe shook his head. “Nah, but what do I know?”
Beatrice tapped a toe on the ground, impatient. “It’s not a detonator for the physical bomb, and by the way, the CIA has Lydia. Trace and Jeb are at the quarry keeping an eye on what the Agency is doing with her and the Ringers. But we now believe that the information hidden in that watch could blow up a different kind of bomb.”
He pulled the thing out and handed it to her. “It must be of considerable threat to national security.”
“It is,” Emit said. When they all glanced at him, he shrugged. “That’s mine—the watch and the flat drive inside it.”
They all stared, Rory returning with his gear. “Flat drive?” He frowned. “You got it to work?”
Emit tapped his own watch, a replica of what all the team members wore in the field and explained. “It’s similar to a thumb drive but it’s modeled after a SIM card—small, flat, easy to tuck into any device that has a battery and Wi-Fi capabilities. It contains GPS, RFID tags, the ability to record and disseminate information, and if compromised, can be remotely detonated to destroy itself and/or any others it’s connected to. It’s cloaked so even advanced bug scanners can’t pick up on it.”
“You never told us that,” Cal said.
“They’re prototypes.” He shrugged. “Intelligence in the field is becoming harder to glean and then keep safe. These flat drives are microscopic. They could be a new way to gain and protect more than written documents, along with tracking operatives and communicating with them. Totally encrypted and also easily destroyed if discovered. I’ve only given you a few,” he told Beatrice, “so I could analyze their effectiveness.”
“How did RING get one?” Moe asked. And holy shit, was it possible it had been recording while he and Parker were making out in the gas station?
“Outside of the five you have for the teams, there are only two earlier prototypes that I demonstrated to Ghost Fox last year. They’re at my research lab in California. At least…” He looked chagrined. “…they were.”
Cal and Emit had been friends a long time. Cal gave a short shake of his head. “You told them before us?”
“I had planned to do a grand reveal and give all SFI members a chance to test them once you guys were settled at the new compound.” He held out his hand to Beatrice, and she gave him the device. “None of the members knew the extent of what I just shared with you. Only a few of the basics, but this one?” He turned it over, scrutinizing it. “This is one of the first I designed. Someone stole it without me realizing it.”
“Yeah, like Lydia. She took it and used the drive to put something important on.” Rory tucked his laptop under his arm, staring at the terrorist. “Maybe she planned to sell the prototype to the highest bidder.”
Emit rubbed his thumb over the watch face. “She would never steal from me, and she certainly wouldn’t sell technology to our enemies.”
“Have you forgotten what we suspect her of?” Beatrice challenged.
“No,” he replied with a touch of sadness. “I haven’t, but I also have trouble believing it. However, if someone is after it, it may be for the technology. But more likely, they’ve hidden state secrets or other critical intelligence on it.”
