Page 98 of Crossover

“Did you find out why he did all this?”

“From what I’ve gathered about Vosch so far, he likes to have inside men within the organizations that threaten his livelihood. How he obtains them varies, but in this case, it appears he went with old-fashioned threats. Daniel kept some evidence of those threats on file, probably back when he was trying to fight against it, but at some point, Daniel must have become too scared to resist anymore.”

“Daniel said something about Vosch going after his son,” Ivy said. “Maybe that was the turning point.”

Barry nodded. “With a little more time, I can likely confirm that’s it. And once Daniel gave him a little intel, Vosch could blackmail him further into submission.”

Jesus.It made sense—the charges and repercussions Daniel would face would be huge.

“We need to be precise about how we bring this to the CIA,” I said. “Barry, you still have leadership contacts there?”

He nodded. “Many.”

“Would it be possible for you to bring this information to several of them at the same time?” I asked.

“I have seven in mind,” Barry said.

“Good. Seth, you bring this to your old handler at the same time Barry does that. If we time the information being delivered, even if one or more of those people have been compromised, all we need is one to run this information up the chain and put Daniel to a stop. But this has to drop at the same time for it to be effective.”

“When?”

“As soon as possible. But first, we have to come up with a safe location for Ivy and my family. Someplace where Daniel can’t locate them.”

I knew confronting the CIA would put us all at risk, but it was a risk we had to take. The truth had to come out, and justice had to be served.

I turned to face the window, my gaze drawn to the darkening sky. Somewhere out there, Daniel was plotting his next move, unaware that we were closing in on him. The game was about to change, and I was ready to play my hand.

54

GRAYSON

“We could stay here while you meet with the CIA,” Hunter suggested.

After phone calls had been made to set up a meeting with the agency, we’d returned to his office to debate the best location for everyone else to lay low while I worked with the CIA to take my former mentor down.

I eyed my brother, an unspoken question about a secret location he’d kept in his past. But he shook his head, silently confirming what I thought—it was closed off.

“Leaving you here last time didn’t work out so well,” I said a little harsher than I intended. “We probably shouldn’t even be here right now.”

Hunter’s jaw clenched. “Last time, they took us by surprise. This time, my security team has the place surrounded. Besides, you’re the one walking into the CIA nest, not us.”

“No,” I said. “If they breached the security one time, they could breach it a second.”

“What about a boat?” Jace suggested. “On the open water, it would be virtually impossible to track us down.”

“But not impossible. If they found you, you’d get hypothermic in Lake Michigan water before help could arrive.”

“We could take the private jet,” Bryson offered. “To South America or Europe.”

“We don’t have time for that. The head of the CIA wants me to be there within the hour, and I can’t go unless I know you guys are safe.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and softened my tone. “I’m sorry. And I’m so sorry I put you all in danger. Daniel…he’s already hurt so many people. I can’t let him hurt you too.”

Silence fell over the room, like dread itself infected the oxygen.

“This isn’t your fault, Grayson,” Hunter assured. “And for all we know, Daniel might never come after us. But I like the better-safe-than-sorry approach.”

We debated and shot down a bunch of other options, including my penthouse, a cabin, splitting up to different locations, and a safe house, until, finally, Ivy’s soft voice appeared in the doorway.

“How about a police station?”

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