Page 26 of Centurion

“He worked for the DoD in counterterrorism. He’s been briefed on almost everything we know about duping passports,” Jacob countered.

“And if he misses the things he’s unaware of?” Joseph shot back.

“Let him run them. If he doesn’t find anything, you and he can work together and see if he missed something. If he did, you’ll brief him on what you found and how you found it. You don’t need to be in that portion of the business any longer,” Jason answered. “What else do we have?”

“The one sentry on duty at the aircraft swears no one has exited the plane,” Tori said, looking at her tablet. “He was relieved by two guards because we stressed the importance of ensuring Abrasha wasn’t on the aircraft. The British government stated unless he was in the hold with the latrine waste, he wasn’t on the plane.”

Jewell’s stomach rolled. “Oh, man, don’t say things like that.” She covered her mouth and willed the excess saliva to stop forming.

“Damn, sorry, Jewell,” Tori apologized.

Jewell nodded and used her hand to tell her family to keep going as she tried to settle her stomach.

Joseph leaned in and spoke. “Berserker just reported in. The camera shop in Sydney sold Eisenberger an old Cannon film camera and film for it. Two rolls of film. He said the clerk let him look at the security footage, and he confirmed through the photos we sent him the man who purchased it was Eisenberger.”

“So, if what Ethan relayed is correct, Eisenberger was working for Abrasha but meeting Trueman behind Abrasha’s back, and someone at the US Embassy arranged it,” Jason stated. “Have we found out who at the embassy arranged the invitations?”

Jewell looked at the file for the embassy. “I don’t have anything on it. I can run that to ground after the call.”

“No, have Brando do it. You, Ethan, and Con need downtime. I need you sharp and on your game.” Jason countermanded her decision, and Jewell was more than fine with that. She typed Brando a message and got an immediate response that he was on it.

“He’s working it now.”

“Good. What else?”

“Eisenberger was paying for two apartments. One where his groceries were delivered, and the other, well, there are no indications of whether he used it or not.”

“Do you have the address?” Jason asked.

Jewell sent the address to him and closed her eyes again. Man, she wished Zane would hurry up with that nausea medicine.

“Magus is in London. I’ll send him to both places to see what information he can gain.”

“Do you want to send backup with him?” Jacob asked. “Abrasha is in England. There’s no way he isn’t. That aircraft couldn’t sustain an open door at the altitude it was flying, so he didn’t parachute out. He’s either still on the aircraft, or he left it when security wasn’t looking.”

“I can send Centurion to inspect the plane,” Joseph said.

“She’s on downtime, too,” Archangel reminded him.

Joseph growled, “In my day, assassins didn’t have downtime.”

“Yes, and how many scars do you have because of that policy? How many broken bones? Or perhaps you can tell me how many near misses you had from the lack of sleep?” Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “We have a different way of doing things now. It’s more effective and less hazardous to our people.”

“By definition, being an assassinisa hazardous job,” Joseph retorted.

“Which we won’t make more dangerous by not giving our people downtime when we can. The British government has assured us he’s not on the aircraft and has doubled the security on the plane. It’s Abrasha’s plane, and the British government has seized it because of sanctions against Molchalin for his participation in the events in Switzerland. Waiting until morning to send Centurion won’t make any difference. The plane isn’t going anywhere.”

“But Abrasha might,” Joseph argued.

“Do you think if he was on that plane, he isn’t already off of it?” Tori asked Joseph.

He looked at her and sighed. “I would be.”

“There you go,” Tori said.

“We’ll reconvene when Magus gets a look inside the residences. Jewell, you’re on downtime until I say otherwise.”

Jewell simply nodded. She wouldn’t argue with anyone unless they made the conference last longer than it should. Jason continued, “Due outs on embassy call logs, Abrasha’s way into the country, having Centurion inspect the aircraft, Magus to search Eisenberger’s two residences for any information. Having Con and Brando continue to sift through the passport information to include a complete background on all of the personnel detained by the British government, plus the embassy call logs and video feeds for that day. We have POTUS approval on this. He wants to know why Trueman was executed. The world is waiting for answers. Somehow, we need to find out what was in that film container. Let’s make it happen.”

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