Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(19)

“I don’t just deliver all the contact protocols for our agents, I deliver the ones for our assets, too. Without those contact protocols, if we don’t reach out in the right way, we’ll lose all of our informants across Asia. Decades of covert contacts lost.”

“How long do we have?”

“Maybe two weeks. Some of them, days.” Her voice broke and her eyes were so wide, what little light there was reflected off them.

Rand stared at Sarah. The implication of what was happening was so large he couldn’t wrap his head around it. She wasn’t just delivering sensitive documents, she was the connection point for all of the informants who couldn’t reveal their true identities, the people who needed help, the ones giving them the best intel—and if they lost this briefcase it was all gone.

Two weeks. That wasn’t a lot of time to put it all to rights.

“Your codes were just changed,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“I have five more drops, then I was taking the rest to Charlie.” She said the name as though he should know who the fuck that was.

“Charlie?”

Sarah nodded.

“Who is that?”

“He’s the agent who coordinates all of our assets in Asia. I work with him and my handler, Irene. Charlie is the primary point of contact for our assets. If anything heeds to be picked up, dropped off, whatever, Charlie’s the one who organizes it. He doesn’t know who the assets are, some of them no one can identify. He’s the back-up plan if anything goes wrong.”

“And you were supposed to, what? If all you do is take that briefcase from point A to point B, why do they want you?” He was missing crucial pieces of the picture.

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Explain it to me.”

“I carry packages for different contacts. You. The Asian coordinator. Others. At each drop site, I open the case and follow the instructions for dropping whatever it is I’m handing off.”

“I see.” She knew habits, which meant she was a living, breathing cipher. If someone followed Sarah and waited, they could pick up all the assets coming to retrieve their dead-dropped packages. Some people would be extra cautious and send a proxy in their place, but even that was a lead, someone to follow back to the asset.

“I had a meet scheduled with him for tonight. I should have been there to give him the updated codes. If they have the contents of the briefcase, they know who everyone is. Where they are. How to communicate with them and not set off any alarms. They could wipe out everyone.” She covered her mouth with her hand.

“Why do you know so much about what’s in the case?” He stared at her, trying to read deeper.

“Because…I’ve assisted the Asian coordinator. Not officially, and not often, but if my work schedule allows it, I help.”

“Okay.” Now he was getting it. She was an unofficial agent in the field, and this situation had far reaching implications. “My asset might be dead?”

She nodded.

“Goddamn it.” Not only would Rand’s asset be dead, but his family. The family who’d hidden him. Lied for him. Who were ready to divulge all of North Korea’s dirty secrets. And they were blown. Dead. Unless he’d missed something.

The mole hadn’t just given up Sarah. Whoever the mole was, they’d just killed dozens of agents and assets across the Asian block if what he feared was correct. Good people would be dead. And it was his fault for falling down on the job.





Chapter Five


Sarah settled into her second—or third?—plane seat, her body weary, mind racing. Time was beginning to do funny things. She’d been in the air too long. She no longer knew what day it was, and the only reason she knew she was leaving Paris was because of the signs she’d passed on her way to make her final connection back to the U.S. Where she would see Rand again.

Her mind kept circling that fact, but she had no idea what to do with it.

She’d seen him again.

Touched him.

Kissed him.

They’d…what? Had sex? Fucked? It wasn’t making love, though the way he’d held her after spoke of some feeling. Where Rand was concerned, her emotions were complicated. She loved the man she’d known, but they weren’t the same anymore. She cared for him, still felt something, but she couldn’t name it.

She didn’t know what they were or what to call what’d happened between them. Maybe in debriefing, she’d get a handle for what was going on. If she saw him at all. She’d just assumed that she would. For all she knew, Rand was already gone and out of her life permanently.

What would Matt say?

She couldn’t tell Matt she’d seen Rand.

Sarah chewed her nail and stared out of the window. The plane slowly taxied out to the runway.

Maybe this time she’d sleep. And maybe pigs would fly—she hardly ever slept on planes.

Fuck.

This whole mess was all her fault, somehow.

She took a motion sickness bag from the seat pocket in front of her and a pen she’d taken from the flight counter. She’d never understood Rand’s use for lists until after he was out of her life. The first time she’d made one, she’d felt silly, and in desperate need for his shoulder to lean on. But he’d already left. So she’d jotted down everything she needed to do to keep the family going, and that was it. Now, lists helped put everything into perspective.