Page 111 of Prodigal Son

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have three objectives tonight,” Phillip said. “The first, and the most important, is to get Cass out. The second, also the most important, is to prevent any civilian casualties. This operation won’t be a success if we get any innocent people killed. The third, and likely the most difficult, will be putting Pseudonym on its knees.

“Here’s what we know: everything we need is in that building. We’ll be going in in small teams. They know that we have some law enforcement contacts, and I’m betting that’s why they chose tonight: there’s a fashion show in the ballroom tonight, and they’re counting on all that traffic to make it difficult for us, and the cops or MI5, to get in and out.”

“They’re going to try to create chaos,” Morgan said. “And they’ll be trying to kill all of us.”

“This is a suicide mission,” Raven said, flatness of her voice belying the way her hands trembled on her cup.

“No,” Phil said. “It’ll be difficult, and dangerous, but they still have a reputation to protect with the company.”

“Then why draw us to their headquarters?” Vivian asked. “That’s asking for a public spectacle.”

“A very particular kind of spectacle,” Ian said. “A chance to show anyone in the underground who’s watching that they’re powerful enough to take out an entire chapter of one of the largest, most well-known criminal organizations in the world.”

“No one’s ever done anything like that before,” Mercy said, grimly. “Ghost doesn’t let things slide, but there’d be no way we could push back against something like this. London would just be gone.”

The weight of that hit hard.

“We have to play it very smart,” Phillip said. “Utilize our resources. These people have never seen Mr. Byron, Mercy, or Reese, so we can use them as covert agents. Now, everyone else has a part to play, too, so listen up…”

Thirty-One

“For the love of God, get some sleep,” Phillip ordered when the meeting closed and everyone filtered out of the room. It was a good idea. They had some time, and Fox’s weariness dragged at his bones like physical weight at this point.

But he sat now on the roof, in the shelter of the small pavilion that housed the AC units, smoking a cigarette and watching the smoke curl through the unhurried fall of rain that pattered on the tarmac all around him.

He heard the door open, and a few moments later Eden ducked under the pavilion, shaking raindrops out of her hair.

Just a week ago she would have stood above him, arms folded, mouth tight, and said something cutting. Now, she settled right down to sit beside him without a moment’s hesitation, crossed her legs, leaned her back against the electrical box. Close enough that their arms touched.

“Can’t sleep?” she asked, voice soft.

“Nah. You should, though.”

She snorted. “Do as I say, not as I do?”

She elbowed him, lightly, as she said it, and he wanted to push back, to chuckle. To glory in the fact that she was teasing him, with that old tender fondness she’d had when they were together, when there was a standing invitation for takeout and sex on the couch in front of bad nighttime TV. When he’d thought…

He swallowed hard. “You should stay here. When we go. Where it’s safe.”

“Yeah, fuck that,” she said without any heat. “Charlie.”

He tipped his head to the side, so he could look at her properly. It felt too-heavy on his neck, all his muscles protesting the slight movement. And then he laid eyes on her, and it was no longer memories pushing at old, unknown soft spots in his heart, but Eden in the flesh, her gaze sweet and fierce all at once.

“You’re so stupid,” she said.

He frowned.

“Are you really so mercenary that you think everyone around you is, too? That we’re all just looking to get ahead, or get dirt on somebody, or stay alive?”

He…stared at her.

“Charlie.” She said his name again, a desperate edge to it this time. “Maybe this is falling on deaf ears, because maybe you don’t give a shit, but people care about you. People love you. Not because of the skills you have, because of what you can do. But because of who you are. You lose sight of that.”

“Iamwhat I can do. That’s the only purpose I serve.”

She stared at him, lips pressed tight together. “Do you really believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

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