Chapter 64

sixty-four

ALEX

This visit to Washington, D.C. was one of the hardest I’d ever made. For the last four days, I’d struggled to keep focused and add value to what the rest of the team was doing. I kept thinking about Dylan and the changes I wanted to make in my life. The thought of him filled my mind like a constant, bittersweet ache.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one having difficulty concentrating. Anthony’s kidnapping had made the entire EMP team wary of everything. We’d all taken extra precautions with our safety. Two of the team had moved their families away from Washington, D.C., and others were in the process of hiring bodyguards. The atmosphere was heavy with fear and uncertainty.

The FBI and the CIA were working tirelessly to identify more members of the Haqani Army. Whether they could completely eradicate the terrorist cell was anyone’s guess, but we all felt a sense of helplessness.

The unplanned meeting I was about to have with my boss worried me. Our team only had a week together, so each day ran to a tight schedule. Spur-of-the-moment meetings didn’t happen, and when they did, it was because something serious had occurred.

I knocked on Richard’s office door, my heart pounding.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and stepped inside my boss’s office. Dylan had been right. The terrorists had threatened Richard’s daughters. And now, with round-the-clock protection from the FBI, his family was having a hard time rebuilding their lives.

“I got your message. Is everything all right?”

Richard stood and shook my hand. “It could be better. The FBI has given me an update on what’s happening with the terrorists. I thought you’d appreciate knowing what’s going on.”

I sat opposite my boss, my stomach churning. “You’re not telling the whole team?”

“Not yet. It’s not because I don’t want to. It’s because I don’t know who I can trust.”

“Has there been another information leak?”

“This one was planned.” Richard leaned forward in his chair. “I’ve been working with the FBI. We planted false information about the project. This morning, a person was arrested and charged with a number of serious offenses.”

That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. “Did they work for the Department of Defense?”

“It was worse. They were an FBI Special Agent. It’ll take a few months to get to the bottom of how much information they stole, but it’s not looking good.”

“Is that how the terrorists knew where I was living?”

Richard nodded. “All our personnel files, our schedules, our family details, every scrap of information the FBI had about us and the project was at the agent’s disposal. We were lucky no one was killed. ”

The things that hadn’t made sense began to fall into place. The special agent would have known how close we were to making the EMP program work. Kidnapping Anthony, threatening my brother and Richard’s daughters—it was all planned to put the most pressure on us.

“Can you tell me who leaked the information?”

“No, but it isn’t any of the agents you’ve met.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least we weren’t betrayed by someone working alongside us. “Is the project still going ahead?”

Richard nodded. “The special agent didn’t have access to the latest version of the program. With the previous versions destroyed, the project’s still a vital factor in our national security. There is some good news.” Richard handed me a folder. “Through their intelligence services, two governments heard about what we’re doing. They’re interested in collaborating in an international roll-out of the software. If their proposal is as good as it seems, we could have the first commercial prototype running within six months. To make that happen, I’ll need people on the negotiating team who I can trust. Would you be interested?”

A year ago, I would have given anything to be part of the team. I’d worked with Richard on other negotiations. He was a good man, but every minute of every day would be focused on the program. There would be no time for family or friends.

I looked around Richard’s office. There were certificates on the walls, photos with Senators and Presidents—a lifetime’s worth of memories—the kind that used to matter to me. But I didn’t want that life. Not anymore.

I took a deep breath, knowing this would be my first step in a new direction. One that I hoped led straight to Dylan. “I appreciate your offer, but I can’t join your negotiating team. After what’s happened, I need to spend more time with the people I love.”

Richard sighed. “I understand.” He picked up a framed photograph and handed it to me. “These are my girls.”

The photo was taken a few years ago. Stacey, Richard’s ex-wife, was cuddling their daughters and laughing at the camera. You could see the joy and happiness on their faces, the contentment that comes from knowing they were loved. When I looked back at Richard, there were tears in his eyes.

“That was five years ago. We were happy and in love but, even then, I put my job first. Stacey wanted to spend more time together, but I kept working seventy-hour weeks. I was hardly home and when I was, I was still thinking about work. Stacey was lonely, but I was too caught up in my career to notice. It wasn’t until she left that I realized how selfish I’d been.”

“Have you told Stacey how you feel?”

Richard shook his head. “It’s too late. She fell in love with someone else.”

I handed Richard the photo. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Nothing’s worth more than the people you love.”

Seeing the sadness on Richard’s face made me realize one thing. I didn’t belong here. I needed to go back to Boulder, spend time with Dylan and, hopefully, build a new kind of normal with him.