9. Savior

9

SAVIOR

I ’d lied to Sullivan—many times, actually—but this time, it was about the necessity of me staying at Glenshadow with her. I didn’t doubt Tag’s ability to keep her safe, but the idea of not being able to see her bothered me far more than it should.

Based on the looks on my friends’ faces, they’d heard our conversation.

“Shut it,” I said before either of them spoke. I turned to Tag. “I appreciate this, mate.”

“I’m beginning to regret not asking the lovely Miss Sullivan to stay with me,” Con said barely above a whisper.

I glared at him, and he laughed.

“Let me help you with that,” said Tag, looking over my shoulder, then brushing past me in the hallway.

“I’ve got it,” I said too late.

“Thanks,” Sullivan said, her eyes meeting mine since Tag’s back was to her.

“Always,” I said under my breath. Had we been alone, had she remembered me, had any number of circumstances been different, I would take her in my arms and promise that whatever she needed, whatever she wanted, I’d do everything I could to make it happen.

“Let’s be off, shall we?” said Con, motioning to the door.

The drive from Ashcroft to Glenshadow was quick, but I didn’t miss the way Sullivan took in her surroundings.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said once we were inside the estate’s gates.

“Tag raises Highland cattle,” I mentioned as we drove past two that were near the fence lining the road.

“They’re adorable. I love coos.” Her voice was wistful, even childlike, much as I remembered it being.

Maybe whichever of my friends had suggested I come clean with Sullivan about knowing her when we were children was right. Except now that I’d lied about not recalling meeting her previously, I’d have to own up to it. I tapped her arm and pointed to my side of the vehicle.

“Oh!” She gasped. “A baby coo. They’re even sweeter.” Her smile took my breath away, making me want to reach over and touch her hand with mine. I knew I should look away before she caught me staring, but I couldn’t.

Her wide-eyed innocence at times like these belied the dogged determination that played out on her face with her endless stream of questions. I closed my eyes, imagining how her expression would change when I pulled her into my arms and kissed her for the first time.

“David?” she whispered.

There was no way for me to mask my desire with someone as perceptive as Sullivan. Instead, I eased my hand closer to hers and brushed her finger with mine.

I pulled away when Tag parked near the entrance to Glenshadow. “We’re here.”

Sullivan looked surprised when she raised her head. “That was quick.”

“As Tag said, his land borders mine, err, you know, where I live.” I couldn’t look at her to see if she’d noticed the slip. It would only make her more suspicious.

I got out and went around to get her door.

“It’s lovely.”

“Perhaps after you’re settled, Ash, err, David can show you around the place,” said Tag.

While Sullivan appeared lost in thought, I doubted she’d missed this slip. It was the second in under a minute. How could three trained SIS agents, two of whom were assassins, no less, make such blunders? It was unfathomable.

“David? A moment?” said Con when Tag invited us inside.

“Go on. I’ll catch up,” I said, watching them walk away.

“You need to tell Sullivan you’re the Duke of Ashcroft. Her situation is precarious at best, and her intuition is razor-sharp. She’s already started to doubt if she can trust you, and it’s for all the wrong reasons.”

I respected Con’s opinion above most others. Some of his personal dealings bordered on nefarious, but as far as being a true friend, there were few better.

“I will.”

“When?” he pressed.

“Soon. I can’t say precisely.”

He smirked. “The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be. Now, on to another subject. Have you heard anything more from Typhon?”

“Only that you all suspect Periscope, and honestly, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Troubling as it is.”

“Have the two of you ever…?”

I looked at him with wide eyes. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’ve taken a deeper look.”

Based on his tone, he’d found something concerning enough to warrant this conversation. “And?” I asked, following him when he walked farther away from where Tag had parked.

“She’s too efficient. Never a misstep.”

“Gus mentioned your recommendation that she be misled into thinking she’s in the clear.”

He nodded. “Precisely. The idea is to keep her on as your handler, albeit without any pending assignments. Instead, make the Weber investigation her focus.”

“As he also said.”

“I’ve already set tracking up.”

“Upon whose authority?”

Con looked away, which wasn’t like him.

“Whose?” I repeated.

“Both Viper’s and Typhon’s.”

“Without consulting me? Dammit, Blackmoor.”

“As a reminder, I do not work for you, Ashcroft .” It was typically only in anger that the three of us made use of our titles as lords.

“Considering I am responsible for Sullivan’s protection in this instance, I would be first in your chain of command.”

He raised a brow but didn’t challenge my statement even though it was inaccurate. The way he’d handled it was according to protocol.

“Apologies,” I muttered.

“Accepted. This isn’t to usurp your authority, Ash. It’s about monitoring Periscope, who has raised concern for all of us.”

“You’re right.”

“Look. I’ll say again that the best course of action is for you to be honest with Sullivan. Not only for her sake, but for yours too. You’re wound tighter than I’ve ever seen, Ash.”

He wasn’t wrong, but before I could say anything else, we heard the door open and saw Tag approach. He appeared agitated in contrast to his usual unflappable demeanor, making my anxiety increase.

“What’s happened?” I asked.

He handed me his mobile. On the screen was an alert about a tracking device, something his security picked up and mine had not.

“Let me see that,” said Con, grabbing the phone from my hand. “This is one of mine.” He looked between Tag and me.

“My first question is, was it intentional?” Tag asked.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Con responded in a raised voice. “If it had been, it would’ve been by consensus.”

“What are you thinking?” I asked when he continued studying the screen.

“The only person who makes any sense whatsoever—again—is Periscope. She could’ve placed it with Sullivan’s things after you took her from the parking lot.”

I concurred and said so. “But how did she get her hands on one of your devices?”

“Damned good question, and one I intend to get answers to. I’ll meet up with the two of you later,” he said when Gus pulled up behind Tag’s SUV. “Perfect timing,” he muttered, getting in the passenger side and motioning for our friend to turn around.

“I’ve put the two of you in the east wing, and Sullivan is set up on the network,” said Tag once they’d driven away.

“Which Con and Gus will monitor?”

“Affirmative.”

“Were you aware Con is tracking Periscope?” I asked.

“I was not. However, I’m not surprised, and based on this”—he held up the mobile Con had returned to him—“its implementation is timely.”

“Too timely?” I wondered out loud, hating that my instincts were questioning a man who was like a brother to me. “What’s he up to, Tag?”

He looked off in the distance. “I wish I knew.”

Once we were inside, I excused myself to the east wing and went in search of Sullivan. On the way to our rooms, I noticed her in the library.

“How goes it?” I asked when she raised her head.

“Not much new with Tower-Meridian. I feel as though I’ve been away from the investigation for days rather than hours.”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” My suggestion was to gauge whether Con was right about Sullivan’s lack of trust in me. She hesitated, which I’d anticipated.

“How much do you know about Eric Weber?” she asked.

“Admittedly, not much outside of his public persona.”

“Enlighten me.”

I grinned. She was testing me, and rightly so. “He runs a global shipping and logistics company, which is well known for its philanthropic endeavors.”

“Such as?” she prompted.

“Humanitarian aid and medical supply distribution as well as emergency response services and refugee support. They’re also big in agricultural equipment and infrastructure development.”

“All of what you’ve said is true, at least according to their well-publicized mission statement.” It was several seconds before she spoke again. No doubt she was carefully weighing what she could or would divulge. Finally, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly as her eyes met mine. “Let me give you some insight as to how everything you mentioned provides a plethora of smokescreens to hide what he’s really up to.”

I was fascinated. “Go on.”

She reached into her computer bag, rummaged around in it, and extracted a notebook that looked as though it had gone through the wash and dry cycles of a laundry machine. I studied her as she flipped through the pages, each of which were full of scribbled notes.

“Let’s start with medical supplies…”

According to her research—and well-placed sources, I suspected—Sullivan had noted manifests showing full containers of the aforementioned supplies. She turned her laptop so I could see the two documents she’d pulled up on the screen.

“The arrival weights are significantly different from those taken at departure. This is also true of shipments containing humanitarian aid in the way of food supplies. Those were off by as much as thirty percent. Not to mention ‘lost’ containers and suspicious detours. At first, I just thought they were selling both on the black market.”

“But then?”

“Temperature logs for sensitive medications were incomplete, inventory reports on the manifests don’t match, there’s so much missing documentation, and then this.” She replaced the images on the screen with others.

I studied what appeared as much to figure out what they meant as to determine where they’d come from. Sullivan had sources in very high places.

“I won’t divulge where I got this.”

I looked from the screen to her. “I would expect not. Based on this alone, Tower-Meridian experienced not just communications blackouts but managed to block satellite tracking. At least on this particular shipment.”

Sullivan shook her head. “All the manifests I’ve looked at are the same.”

Something else occurred to me. “Can you go back to the previous one?” When she did, I leaned in for a closer look. “This vessel’s home port is Tees.” Most larger shipping companies in the UK were registered in Felixstowe, the largest port, by far.

“I could do an extensive exposé on corruption out of Tees alone.”

I rested against the chair and looked at Sullivan rather than at her computer. “What’s your theory?”

“At first, I was convinced Weber’s primary business was trafficking in humans.”

“Now?”

“Weber’s patterns suggest sophisticated coordination between Tees and Felixstowe. They appear to be exploiting the chaos inherent from traveling between two such different ports. Not to mention, the manifests are signed off on at the smaller of the two and spot-checked at the larger. Which, without the blackouts and dead spots, removes all suspicion.”

There was something I was missing. “Your hypothesis is that they’re loading weapons in Tees, then traveling to Felixstowe to pick up the aid-related supplies.”

Sullivan shook her head.

“What, then?”

“There are no aid-related supplies.”

“Meaning it’s all designed as camouflage?” How in the bloody hell would that work? Even the most simplistic of manual checks would detect metal. “A single, well-timed raid would put them out of business and land Weber in prison for the rest of his life.” I rested my crossed arms on the table. Someone like Con could’ve pieced this together in a fraction of the time it had taken Sullivan. Which meant he had done. The question now was, when? In the last few hours, or had he known far longer? I rolled my shoulders, knowing that sometime very soon, I’d be forced to have one of the hardest conversations of my life with a man who’d been my friend for the entirety of it.

“Have you been to your room?” she asked.

“I was on my way when I noticed you in here.”

“Tag said mine wasn’t ready yet, but it should be by now.”

“Shall we go up together?” I asked as I watched her cram everything that sat on the table into her bag. “Perhaps a work area can be set up for the duration of our stay here.”

She hesitated. While she’d trusted me enough to share her theories with me, it wasn’t enough for her to leave her research unattended.

“We should talk,” I blurted right before one of Tag’s staff members walked past the library. “Privately.”