Page 59 of Centurion

Her father caught her change of topic and went with it. “Jason suggested I send her shopping with Anya. Malice has overwatch on both of them, and half our security team is overwatching him.”

“So, Malice knows who Mom is?”

“No. Absolutely not. He knows she’s a high-value protection mission and that she has private security.”

As they walked into the library, her dad took command immediately. “Archangel has briefed me. Show me the video.”

Con pulled up the video and played it again. Gabby watched the film, looking for anything she’d missed on the first pass.

Her father leaned in. “Stop the video, please.” Con did as he said. “Is there any way this video has been altered to put those people in it?”

Con shook his head. “I’ll run it through my system, but even with AI, merging two people into a dated video of this nature would be hard, and you should be able to tell.” He turned to his computer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. He turned back around. “It’s running now. We should have an answer by the time you finish looking at the rest of the video.”

Gabby stood by her father as he watched. His eyes narrowed at Eisenberger’s words. When the video was over, he turned and walked into his node. “Con, get everyone except Archangel on a conference call. Both he and I will join you when we’re done talking.”

“Yes, sir.” Con turned and started the call.

“What?” Fury snapped.

“Dude, Saint wants you on the call. Don’t bite my head off,” Con snapped back at her Uncle Joseph. Gabby smiled and winked at her uncle when Con wasn’t looking. The man’s face softened, and he gave her an almost-there smile. The rest of the executive crew joined the conference.

Jewell popped on. “I see you’re running a program on the video. I already did; it’s legit, but it doesn’t hurt to double-check.”

“Too right,” Con agreed as her father walked back toward them.

Her dad was strategic about staying out of the camera’s view; even though he didn’t need to hide on the secure link, he wasn’t disclosing his likeness unnecessarily. Her father was the king of caution. “Rundown of personnel on the line,” he said.

“CCS, Brando, Ethan, Alpha, Fury, and now Archangel.” Con moved the mouse around. “Sir, the connection is secure.”

Her father crossed his arms. “Fury, what’s the status of the Shadows going to the sites?”

“They are en route. None have entered Russia as of yet.”

“Coordinate their entry. I want those launchpads destroyed.” Her father stared at the floor as he talked. “I want all five to go at the exact same time.”

“Roger that, sir,” Fury acknowledged.

“The safe houses Eisenberger talked about; how many are there?”

“Six, sir. Two in London, one in DC, one in Madrid, one in Paris, and one in Canberra.”

Her father nodded. “The same goes for these locations. I want a Shadow at each location. We’ll coordinate the entry to the safe houses at the same time as the missile pads blow.”

“And anyone inside the safe houses?” Fury asked.

Her father didn’t hesitate. “Assume they’re hostile and coded.”

“We have one asset available in London. The other asset is in question,” Fury said, not giving shit away.

Gabriel looked at Con and made a slicing motion across his throat. Con tapped on the keyboard. “You are muted, and the screen is blank, sir.”

Her dad looked at her. “You told your mother and I you were inclined to leave the Shadows.”

Con’s eyes widened, and he whipped his gaze to her but didn’t say anything. She nodded. “I did. I realized when I was helping Con with the data he’d gotten I could do other things to support catching these bastards.” She rubbed her arms with her hands.

“I can fly another Shadow in.” Her father offered her an out.

She shook her head. “No. I want to finish this. I killed four men this morning to get that information to you and the others. This will be the last time. After this mission, you can retire mecompletely, and if Con will train me, I can help him when he needs it.”

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