Page 33 of Code Name: Admiral

I sat up, knowing that whatever came next, we’d face it together. The woman I’d slept beside wasn’t a victim to protect. She was a partner, an ally, and maybe something more. Something I wasn’t ready to name yet, but could feel growing stronger with each passing moment.

I stood and led her toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get to work.” I had my hand on the doorknob but didn’t open it. Instead, I turned to face her. “Whatever happens, whatever we uncover—I’ve got you, Alice. Always.”

Her answering smile was small but real, the first I’d seen since the cemetery. “I know,” she said softly. “I’ve got you too.”

“What do you say we make some Matcha for you and industrial-strength coffee for me?”

“Sounds perfect.”

13

ALICE

My head should be reeling, and in a way, it was, mainly about Admiral. I couldn’t explain the connection I felt with him, but it was the strongest of my life. I would’ve said outside of my sister, but if that was the case, wouldn’t I have suspected she was living a life I knew nothing about? Wouldn’t I have called her out on it? Worse, wouldn’t I have exposed her secrets like I’d told Admiral and Tank was what I did best?

Part of me wondered if there were signs I’d intentionally—or subconsciously—ignored. Except it didn’t matter. There was no way to bring Sarah back.

The weight of her absence pressed against my chest. Even when I woke a little while ago and the sun was up, one of the first things I thought was that I should text her. It wasn’t the only time when, in the initial seconds after I opened my eyes, I forgot she was gone.

My world felt off-kilter without her steadying presence, her quiet understanding, and her way of seeing through my defenses. Even now, planning further retaliation against the Castellanos, I could almost hear her voice warning me to be careful, to think things through.

That we were fighting back against them gave me a renewed sense of purpose. What I hadn’t told Admiral yet was that I had plenty of dirt on them from my last tech-giant takedown. I also had ideas about how to cut them off at the knees. What I didn’t know was how he and Grit, the guy he said was his boss at the FBI, would feel about my methodologies. For me, it was about exposing the bad guys for the greater good. For them, it was different.

My techniques weren’t exactly subtle. When I exposed criminal practices at tech companies, I didn’t just find evidence; I blasted it across every platform I could access. Corporate servers, internal communications, even their own websites suddenly displayed proof of their wrongdoing. The Castellanos would require similar treatment, but with higher stakes.

As Admiral had said when I told him Bobby had killed my sister, “You know as well as I do that, without sufficient evidence, arresting him will do more harm to the case than good.”

I didn’t play by the same rules, and he well knew it, especially after I’d gone rogue.

With Atticus’ and Blackjack’s help I got one of my systems up and was ready to work on the next when I overheard Tank say Grit was thirty minutes out.

“Copy that,” Admiral responded.

I raised my eyes when I sensed him studying me. Did he somehow know what I was thinking? Whether he did or not, the sooner we talked about the so-called elephant in the room, the better. Especially with his boss due to arrive. I had no intention of changing the way I operated. If he couldn’t live with it, that was his problem.

Except it wasn’t. It would be mine too if I meant what I’d said about always having his back the way he had mine. That meantno secrets. No more going rogue. No more running from him when I thought it was too hard to be honest.

“Come with me,” he said, taking my hand and leading me out to the deck.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” I muttered.

In response, he put his arms around me. “There’s something you need to know.”

“Okay. What?”

“Grit wanted me to leave the investigation. I told him he’d have to fire me.”

“Uh, wow. Why? Because of Bobby?”

He shook his head. “Because of you. From the beginning, even before I met you, it was personal, Alice. I felt it immediately, and Grit sensed it.”

“You’re still on the case, though, right?” I asked.

He smiled. “Diesel showed up and reminded him that K19 Security Solutions would hire me in a heartbeat if I left the bureau. I already knew that. I mean, they made several offers.”

“Why didn’t you take them up on one?”

He tightened his arms around me. “If I had, I might never have met you.”

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