Lies(41)

“It’s safe. It cannot be traced to me.” Her chin rises. “Believe me, young man, I fully realize the gravity of this situation. I’ve been involved in this business longer than you’ve been alive.”

Thom turns in his seat, assessing the woman with his serious eyes.

“Secret or not, many enemies have been made by the members of the committee over the years. I was not blind to the eventuality of just such an attempt on my life.”

He nods. “We’ll go to the estate.”

Helene rattles off the address.

“You know who that was up there who got away?” asks Bear.

“I know.” Thom’s voice is hard with anger. “Scorpion’s still alive.”

“You recognized her even with the balaclava?” I ask.

“She spoke just before you came in. Wanted us to know it was her. Guess she was only wearing the balaclava for the sake of any cameras. Now we just have to figure out who the hell she’s working with.”

“At least Badger’s appearance upstairs confirms why comms were down,” says Helene. “I’ve been trying to contact you for days.”

“Nice to know you hadn’t abandoned us.”

“Abandoned you? After all the money we’ve poured into each of you and this venture? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Speaking of which, someone’s got to be funding this bullshit,” says Bear.

“That would be the late Lord Blackmead’s son, Archer. Lord Blackmead is…was on the director’s board with me.” Helene takes a deep, steadying breath. “Archie approached me several weeks ago with a proposition to make assets available to the private sector…for the right price. I tried to warn his lordship about his heir apparent, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Thom turns in his seat. “Archie wants to sell our services on the open market?”

“Oh yes,” says Helene. “Has all sorts of grand plans for turning you into his own private army for hire, and making a good deal of money while he’ss at it. None of which were in keeping with the organization’s original objective.”

“So he had shares already or just inherited them?”

Helen shakes her head. “There are no actual shares. This is more in the way of a philanthropic venture,” she says. “But he’s now inherited his father’s place and obviously plans to undermine us and all we’ve done.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I said no, of course. This morning I offered to buy his newly inherited seat at the table. Recompense him for the sum total of his father’s financial involvement in the organization over the years. He didn’t take it well.”

“What about Charles Adisa?”

“So you know about him too, hmm? You have been busy. Nice to know all my money has been well-spent. Yes, Charles is the third and final member of the committee that runs the organization you’re both employed by.” Helene crosses her legs, smoothing down the skirt of her black dress. She seems way more together than I am. Perhaps she’s been in the middle of a shootout before. Looked death in the eye and lived to see another day.

“Charles was no more receptive to that little shit’s nonsense than I was. We are not here to turn a profit. This organization was started by our families not long after World War II. All three of the founding members had lost children on the battlefield. So they strove to monitor hostile situations on an international level and hopefully deal with them before they escalated beyond control. We’re not always successful, but that will never stop us from trying.”

No one says anything.

“Then what?” asks Thom, jaw gritted. “He approached the operatives most likely to go along with him or willing to sell out, and then set about killing the rest?”

Bear exhales. “Sure sounds that way. Asshole.”

“Scorpion’s morals have always been flexible, but I never thought she’d screw us over like this.”

“I’m not.”

Thom’s brows rise ever so slightly.

“It’s the truth,” says Bear. “You two might have gotten along once upon a time. But there was never any loyalty there. And Badger was always a dubious little shit. Can’t entirely blame them. I mean, sometimes it’s nice to save the world. But it can be even nicer to get paid lots of money.”

Thom grunts. “Yeah? So why are you here?”

“Me?” Bear laughs. “I try not to be a raging asshole whenever possible. It’s a lifestyle choice. Besides, I like to think of us as friends…sort of.”

“Right. Would have thought Spider’d be up for selling us out.”

“Guess he said no, otherwise he wouldn’t be deceased, same as Hawk. Nice to know people can still surprise us.”

“Think I’ve had about enough surprises for now.” Thom pulls out his cell. No doubt seeing he’s missed about fifty calls and text messages from me, along with other updates. Though the stiffness in his shoulders eases some at whatever news he’s reading. “Crow is cleared.”

“Makes sense, or he would have been in on this hit with Scorpion. We’re going to need all the backup we can get.”

“Roger that. Sending them coordinates.”

“Locating Archie won’t be easy,” says Helene. “Now that he’s taking control of his father’s estate, his resources will be innumerable. We need to reel him in, however, and the sooner the better.”