Page 26 of Explosive Vengeance

Megan went on to explain about how she and Ty had been recruited along with three other former Valkyries several months ago to find the person responsible for having Valkyries killed. And that the target had turned out to be her older sister, who had eliminated fellow female operatives on her kill list because they’d betrayed her and left her to die.

“To sever our bond completely, they told Amber I was dead soon after we were separated. Of course she believed them. She was too young to ever think they would lie about something like that.”

“Wow.” Chloe shook her head. “I knew the Program blurred the lines when it came to the law, but I never considered something like that.”

“Yeah, it was a hard thing to hear, and we’re still learning more things every day. Part of me always knew I was a tool to them. A weapon.” She shrugged. “I guess I told myself otherwise because I wanted to believe we were more than that.”

“I used to believe that too, until everything was shut down and they left us to rot, cut off and alone.” Chloe hated that they had all been used, then discarded.

“I know. But I never would have found Amber otherwise.” Her smile returned. “It’s been a bit of a process, getting to know each other again and building trust after everything that’s happened, but she’s awesome. Her hacking skills and financial brain have been a huge help to the team already,” Megan said with pride. “You’ll love her.”

“And what’s the team doing?”

“We’re trying to find and bring in any other Valkyries out there before it’s too late, because someone’s hunting us. Once the others are brought in, we’re going to set everyone up with our own WITSEC-like program. We’ve got various funds socked away from previous ops that Amber invested for us. She and Trinity—she’s the eldest of us, and kind of Rycroft’s right-hand in all this—are working on it. Kiyomi and I’ve been helping too.”

The implications of all that made Chloe’s head spin. Someone was actively hunting them… “Do you know who’s targeting us?”

“Not yet. Amber and Rycroft’s handpicked analysts back in the States are working on it. But from what we can gather, it has to be someone who was involved with the Program.”

Chloe frowned. “You think maybe someone from the inside leaked intel on me to Guillaume Dubois’ network? Because it had to be him. The cops in Strasbourg—if they really were cops—found me way too fast.” For all she knew, that team had been sent to kill her, not capture her.

“Maybe. Amber’s searching for any chatter about it.”

Something worse occurred to her. “Do you think he knows what I am?”

“It’s possible. Amber and the others are on it, so if that’s what happened, we’ll find out and deal with it.”

She hoped so. “How many of us are left?”

“Besides us and Amber, there’s Trinity, Georgia, Briar, Kiyomi, and possibly four or five others out there. Once we locate the missing ones, we move to intercept and bring them to our base in the UK. After everyone’s accounted for and safe, we each enter our specialized identity program and start new lives without having targets on our backs.”

“But to do that, you’ll need to find out who’s been targeting us from the inside and end them.”

“Exactly.”

It was a bold mission, and Chloe approved. “I might have a potential lead on another Valkyrie.”

Megan’s expression sharpened with interest. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know her real name. I was last in contact with her online about a group of women being smuggled from Algiers to southern France, about a month ago. She apparently got a tip about it and reached out to a friend of mine, who helps rescue female human trafficking victims. That’s how we got in touch, and the way she handled everything was so slick, I wondered if she was one of us. But I can’t prove it, and I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

“Can you reach out to her?”

“Sure, but no guarantee she’ll respond. You know how it goes.”

Megan grinned. “I do. But we’re not operating alone anymore.” She reached for Chloe’s hand, curled her fingers around Chloe’s. “I’m so damn glad to see you,” she whispered, voice rough and her eyes a little shiny.

The back of Chloe’s throat ached. “Me too, Itch.” After a second she pulled her hand free and changed the subject. She craved the friendship so much it scared her a little. She didn’t want to get hurt if things wound up not working out. “So, tell me more about this Heath guy you sent after me.”

“Ty says he’s the best. They did security contracting jobs together all over the place, and went through tight situations together. Ty loves him like a brother.”

Another complication for her to worry about. “And since he’s been linked to me, now he’s likely under threat too.”

Megan nodded with a sigh. “I know. Ty’s talking to him about everything right now.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. Ty trusts Heath with his life, and that tells me everything I need to know about the guy. He deserves to know everything now that we’ve dragged him into this, and Ty wants to bring him on board our team anyway.” She patted Chloe’s knee. “We should go see them. We’ll catch up more later.”

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