Page 34 of Heartless

“Turns out,” Ash was saying, “the business meeting in Colombia was being led by a woman who later became a state senator for Ohio, the late Nora Turner. She was part of this shadow organization.”

“How did you find out?”

“That’s where Kate comes in.”

Olivia told herself to be a grown-up and look at Kate. If she thought she would see remorse in the woman’s eyes, or even sympathy, she was wrong. The woman looked at her as coldly as anyone she’d ever known. What had happened? She and Kate had never been close, but they had been friendly at one time.

Olivia had understood the antipathy she’d received from the OZ team. They hadn’t been in on Hawke’s faked-death plan, but Kate had been involved from the beginning. They had worked closely together, ensuring everything went as intended. So why was she now looking at Olivia as if she really was a traitor?

“Yes,” Kate said coolly. “I had my own suspicions about Turner. I knew Jules from an earlier time. We worked together, along with Ash, to find out just where Turner’s allegiance lay.”

“And we found she was connected to this shadow organization,” Ash said.

“I know this is a lot to absorb, Liv,” Serena said.

Olivia glanced over at the young woman. She hadn’t yet talked to either her or her husband, Sean. From the expression on Serena’s face, she hadn’t had a restful night. She was pale, and her mouth had a pinched, sad look. Sean was sitting beside her with a similar expression. The secrets Serena had kept from her husband were obviously causing some marital strife. While Olivia could understand Sean’s anger, she didn’t like seeing Serena looking so sad. She and Jazz were the only two people who hadn’t lashed out at her after Hawke’s disappearance.

Serena pointed to a stack of pages on the credenza behind her. “Since we’re trying to stay old-school with this, I printed hard copies for you of all the intel we’ve been able to gather so far, including all the personal experiences we’ve encountered.” She sent Hawke a strained smile. “I have it stored in the cloud. I know you’re worried we’ll get hacked, but I promise it’s safe.”

“How can you be sure?” Hawke asked. “Ash said you were hacked last year.”

“Yes,” Ash said, “and for the past year, she’s been working on an impenetrable firewall, and she’s achieved one. No one is aware of its existence. We won’t get hacked again.” He looked at Olivia. “Olivia, you can get caught up on the background later. Let’s talk about where we go from here.”

“So let me see if I understand this correctly,” Olivia said. “There is some kind of shadowy entity working behind the scenes that coordinates and manipulates events and people for some sort of devious purpose?”

“Exactly,” Ash said. “From what we can tell, people can remain dormant for decades, living regular lives. Then when they’re called upon, they’ll do whatever they’re asked to do.”

“What’s in it for them?”

“Based on our personal experience, they’re rewarded in various ways.”

Aubrey sent Olivia a smile and said, “We’ve not met officially, but I feel like we know each other. Liam told me you were one of the OZ team members who helped try to find me. Thank you for that.”

Silly, emotional tears sprang to Olivia’s eyes. After all the upheaval and sadness over the last few days, to have someone say a simple thank-you was like a balm to her soul. “I’m so glad he found you.”

Aubrey looked up at her new husband, all the love in the world in her eyes. “I am, too.” Turning back to Olivia, she said, “My uncle, Syd Green, was one of these people. He was a well-known movie director.” Her voice thickened. “He died before he was able to tell us a lot, but from what we could discern, he received special perks and monetary gain.”

“How would a movie director be able to help this shadowy organization?”

“He told us he didn’t do a lot,” Liam added. “He hired certain people they recommended, took on certain projects, turned down others.”

“And you’re sure all of these…” She pointed to the stack of pages. “All of these people are working within this entity?”

“Yes, without a doubt,” Ash answered.

“And you believe the Gonzalez cartel is tied to the group as well?”

She didn’t look at Hawke when she asked that question, but he was the one who answered. “Yes, I do.”

Having no choice, she turned to him. “Why?”

Hawke kept his expression impassive, his tone businesslike. “When Gonzalez went to prison, remember what happened to the cartel?”

“Yes. It was destroyed.”

Moving his gaze off Olivia, Hawke let it roam the room. “Even though the op went sideways, we managed to destroy the cartel, which was our plan. Hector Gonzalez went to prison. His wife and son were left, but they only had a small portion of what Hector had built. Hector died in prison not long after his incarceration. It looked like nothing could resurrect their business.

“When we took Gonzalez down, he said something about having power behind him that we couldn’t begin to fathom. And he bragged the same thing to Ramirez.”

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