Page 14 of Concerto of Crows and Cowards

Atticus took a seat at the head of the table and everyone else grabbed a chair to pull up. He passed out a manila file folder to everyone.

“Senator Henry is screaming from the rooftops about the breach of his security tonight,” Atticus said. “Henry doesn’t know who broke into his office and tampered with his computer, but he suspects Martin Vassin.”

Nate let out a long whistle and Max leaned forward in his chair and said, “I thought Martin Vassin was killed in that explosion at the Kremlin last year.”

“Martin needed a little time to regroup after he found himself short of liquid assets when an arms deal went bad with a Turkish terrorist cell,” Atticus said. “The weapons were intercepted by the authorities and the Turks were screaming for Martin to make good on his promise by sending someone to enforce the deal. Martin took the easy way out and chose to die for a little while instead of facing the iron crowbar of the Turkish enforcer.”

“So now Vassin is alive and well and his coffers are full?” Max asked. “What’s the connection with Senator Henry?”

Atticus leaned back in his chair and steepled his hands across his stomach. Max knew he’d already committed to memory every piece of information that was in the closed file in front of him. Atticus’s mind was a machine.

“Vassin is one of the more intelligent arms and information brokers. And he’s tapped into Senator Henry. He’s got deep pockets and his position on the defense committee is well placed.”

“I don’t like where I think you’re going with this,” Max said.

“Wherever you think I’m going just took a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn,” Atticus said. “It’s a sticky situation. We knew Henry was involved in the high-level security leaks, and this all started about six months ago. Since then we can place the loss of the Iranian military convoy last month and the bombing at the US Consulate in London that killed Senator Ryan at Vassin’s feet. Gabe Brennan and his ISF agents are investigating and hunting the parties responsible since Vassin didn’t do the dirty work himself. Vassin is just the facilitator.”

Max raised his brows at the mention of Gabe Brennan. If both Gabe and Atticus were involved in this, it was big. They’d always been closer than brothers and there was no competition between the agencies. The six of them had been a unit—a deadly force of men who were proud to get the job done and who knew the risks. He could trust his brothers.

“Then Henry’s a traitor, plain and simple,” Nate said. “And he should pay just like Vassin is going to pay.”

“Not so simple.” Atticus shook his head. “That’s what we found on the flash drive from Henry’s personal computer. His nineteen-year-old daughter is a sophomore at Harvard and was studying late one night at the library when Vassin and his men kidnapped her.”

“Hell,” Max said.

“I started the ball rolling as soon as Eden gave me the information. We don’t know where Vassin is keeping her, but he has homes all over the world. My gut says she’ll be close though.”

“And the senator would do anything to protect his daughter. Even betray his country.”

“Bingo,” Atticus said.

“Am I to assume you’re going to need the Devlin name for this mission?” Max asked.

Atticus’s lips twitched. “Why do you think we keep you around? That blue blood comes in handy on occasion. And your cover as the disenchanted agent doesn’t hurt either. The word has been put out that you’ve got sensitive information from your days at the CIA, and that you’re willing to part with it for a price.”

“Wow, I’m a real jerk,” Max said, deadpan.

“This time more than normal,” Nate said, making everyone laugh.

“Your mission is to lure Vassin into the open. He never negotiates deals one-on-one. It’s how he’s stayed alive so long. He’ll want to send someone in his stead to make the transaction. You’ve got to convince him that you’ll only work with him directly. We need to take out Vassin and we need to find the senator’s daughter. Cal and Evangeline are coming in early from their honeymoon, and Gabe’s agents are at our disposal.”

“Even his wife?” Nate asked, brow arched. “I thought she’d turned mercenary, but the last I’d heard he’d brought her back into the fold.”

“Gabe says she’s back,” Atticus said, shrugging. “He knows his people, and I trust him. We’re shorthanded on this and need everyone we can get.”

“What kind of information am I supposed to have that Vassin will want?” Max asked. “I don’t have security clearance anymore.”

“No, but you have the drop and destroy locations for all of the confiscated weapons. We have to make it real or Vassin will know it’s a setup.”

Max raised his brows and ran his hand over the top of his head in agitation. The DEA confiscated ridiculous amounts of contraband weapons in its day-to-day activities. Weapons that not even the military had access to. Arms dealers were more prevalent in the United States than one might think, and the successful ones had a network set up so they could ship contraband weapons all over the world.

Once the DEA got word of a deal and confiscated the shipment, the weapons were taken to a warehouse on one of the military bases where they were highly guarded until the warehouse was full. Then the weapons were taken by convoy to a secured location where they were melted down to scrap. Once the weapons made it to the meltdown location, there was no danger, but the convoy transporting the weapons to the base was vulnerable, even though they were carefully guarded.

“Are you sure?” Max asked. “It could backfire on us if Vassin did happen to get the routes.” What Max really meant was that if Vassin somehow captured Max, there was a possibility the location could be tortured from him anyway.

“It’ll be fine,” Atticus said. “You’ll have your bodyguard there as backup. Max Devlin never goes anywhere without a bodyguard. Even the newspapers have remarked on that more than once.”

Atticus had started building him a solid cover while he’d been lying unconscious in the hospital, and he’d kept layering on top of it for the three years after. Max was a reckless playboy. A man who skated the line between former hero and current criminal. His friends, associates, and morals were considered questionable. Max was the bad boy everyone in polite society was too afraid of offending. They wouldn’t dare turn their backs on him because he wielded too much power over the companies and stockholders that were part of the Devlin fortune.

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