Page 26 of Code Name: Admiral

“Alice!”Pershing Kane’s roar came too late—I’d already squeezed the trigger. But before I could see if I’d hit my target, he slammed into me from behind. The impact drove me face-first into the snow, pushing the air from my lungs. His massive body pressed me down, pinning me as the deafening sound of gunfire exploded around us.

“Man down!”someone yelled.

I twisted my head just enough to see Bobby’s body sprawled in the snow, crimson spreading beneath him like the spilled wine I’d seen on the floor of my sister’s bedroom.

While I didn’t know for sure, something told me it wasn’t my bullet that had found him—someone else had beaten me to it. Someone else had stolen even this from me. First, Sarah. Now, my opportunity to avenge her death.

The rage and grief I’d been holding back erupted. “You fucking bastard!” I screamed into the snow, my voice breaking as sobs tore through my chest. The man on top of me had ruined everything. My one chance at justice for Sarah, gone.

When Agent Kane finally lifted his weight off me, I tried to fight. My fists struck uselessly against his solid frame as he pulled me up, keeping my arms pinned to my sides. Through mytears, I saw another man retrieve my weapon from where it had fallen.

“Give me my fucking gun!” I demanded, though I knew there was no point now. Bobby was dead, but not by my hand.

“I’ll handle it,” Agent Kane said to his men, his grip on me unwavering. His voice was deep, authoritative—the kind used to being obeyed. Under other circumstances, I might have been intimidated. But I was beyond fear now. What else could they take from me?

He didn’t understand. No one could. Sarah wasn’t just my sister. She was my protector. My best friend. The one who’d helped me get through the grief of my parents’ death. The one who’d always been there for me. The one who always got me back on the right track when I strayed too far from it. Now, there was no one. No other siblings, no grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins.Cousins.My God, that’s who Bobby was to Pershing Kane, and he’d witnessed his death.

I couldn’t look at him. If I saw his grief over the death of a murderer, I’d never get over it. I’d hate him the same way I hated Bobby.

The snow soaked through my jeans as he held me, waiting for something or someone. Each icy crystal melting against my skin reminded me of Sarah’s laugh—like winter sunlight, warm despite the cold. I’d never hear that laugh again. And now, I didn’t even have vengeance to keep me warm.

“We need to move,” Pershing said, his voice pitched low enough that only I could hear. His grip on my arm shifted, becoming less restraining and more guiding. “More players are about to enter the game, and you don’t want to be here when they arrive.”

I tried to wrench away. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” But even as I said it, I saw dark vehicles pulling into thecemetery’s winding drive. The emerging men wore expensive suits that didn’t quite hide their weapons.

“Those men aren’t coming to pay their respects,” he said. “They’re here to clean up loose ends. You’re a loose end, Alice.”

With the other men I’d seen hovering around me covering us, he lifted me in his arms and ran to a black SUV idling behind a cluster of snow-draped pines.

“We need to get you somewhere safe,” he said, resting me on the rear bench seat when someone opened the door for him. He climbed in behind me, and I wanted to argue, to demand answers, to scream that I didn’t need his protection. But something Sarah had once said whispered inside my head. “Sometimes, the smartest thing you can do is run, baby sister.”

It was a motto I’d lived by every day since she’d uttered the words. I ran. I escaped. I ghosted.

I raised my head and watched men sweep through the cemetery with deadly purpose, knowing I should be grateful I was safe inside the SUV. I couldn’t be, though. Anger seeped from every pore in my body.

I looked down at the bag sitting in my lap, studying Sarah’s quirky stitching through my tears that turned into sobs.

Pershing’s arms were around me, holding me as the pain of loss racked my body. I’d cried for Sarah before, but not like this. It was as though she was really, truly gone now. Like my parents were. Leaving me all alone in the world.

We drove for hours.Out of the city, through small towns that gradually gave way to wilderness. Snow-covered mountains rose around us, and signs for the Adirondacks flashed past. I should have been afraid, being taken God-knows-where by a man I barely knew. Instead, I felt hollow. Empty.

“Where are you taking me?” My question broke the silence as we turned onto a narrow road.

“A place called Canada Lake,” Pershing said. “My camp’s secure. You’ll be safe here while we sort this out.”

“Sort what out?” I asked, my voice hoarse. “Why are you helping me?”

He was quiet for so long that I thought he wouldn’t answer. Then he uttered two simple words. “For Sarah.”

The sob that tore from my throat was unexpected. Raw. I didn’t know exactly what his words meant, but if she was here, she’d want someone to protect me, to keep me safe.

“We’re here,”he said when the SUV came to a stop and the driver cut the engine.

I raised my head from where it was buried into his shoulder and surveyed the surroundings. The camp, as I knew they were referred to in this area, looked more like a fortress than a wilderness retreat. I glimpsed cameras hidden in the trees and sensor arrays disguised as birdhouses. Two more SUVs were parked in the cleared drive, which I assumed meant more FBI agents were already inside.

“This is yours?” I asked as he led me up the porch steps to the front door. The cabin’s great room, with exposed beams and walls of windows overlooking the frozen lake, opened before us when he ushered me inside. A fire already blazed in the massive stone fireplace, and the smell of coffee filled the air.

Four men looked up as we entered. I recognized two from the cemetery—the one who’d called out “man down” and the one who’d taken my gun. The first stood near the fireplace, speaking quietly into a phone. The second was checking what looked like surveillance feeds on multiple tablets spread across the dining table.

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