Page 19 of A Touch of Treachery
General Percy studied the sparkling stones.“Please tell me you didn’t take theactualnecklace on your doomed mission.”
“Of course not,” Gia replied in a smooth voice.“This is just a copy.The real Grunglass Necklace is safely locked away in the armory.”
I blinked at her lie.This wasn’t a copy—it was therealnecklace.Henrika would have told the thieves to be on the lookout for a fake, which was why I’d lobbied to take the genuine necklace on the mission.Gia had agreed, although the cleaner leader had insisted that we add a tracker to the necklace in the shape of a small extra diamond just in case the thieves snatched it after all.But I didn’t blame Gia for claiming the necklace was a fake.She was just trying to cover her ass and save mine in the process.
“Well, at least you showed a modicum of common sense about that,” Percy said.
Desmond remained stone-faced, but Evelyn, Gia, Diego, and Joan all winced at his harsh tone.I shut the briefcase lid with far more force than was necessary.
Gia cleared her throat.“In addition to stealing the necklace from Charlotte, the thieves were also told to break into a storage locker, although we don’t know exactly what they were looking for.”
Desmond and I both tensed.We couldn’t reveal that the thieves had been after the vials of Redburn from the Tannenbaum mission.I hated lying to Gia and Evelyn, but if they knew Desmond and I had samples of the explosive, they might one day be forced to turn them over to General Percy, something Desmond vehemently opposed.Me too, especially after meeting the General.
Percy waved his hand.“The necklace and the storage locker were just smokescreens.Bryce was the one with the true objective.How did he escape?”
Diego hit some more buttons on his laptop, and photos of the open manhole appeared.
“Bryce accessed a manhole in the garden section of the lobby,” Gia said.“From there, he dropped into the sewer system.By the time the strike team checked the area for booby traps, he was gone.”
“Bryce had to come out of the sewers somewhere,” Joan chimed in.“As soon as we pinpoint his exit location, we can start tracking him.”
Diego nodded, his fingers flexing over his laptop.“I’ve already started scrubbing traffic cameras from the surrounding area.”
“But you haven’t found him yet, so you’ve gotnothing,” Percy growled, that disgusted note creeping into his voice again.“No leads on Bryce and no idea what information he accessed.”
Diego’s fingers plummeted to the keyboard.He shrank down into his seat like a turtle pulling its tender body back inside its protective shell, but Joan lifted her chin and met the General’s cold gaze with a steady stare of her own.Despite our uneasy relationship, I admired the liaison for standing her ground.
“Not yet,” Joan replied.“But it’s just a matter of time.Diego has several programs running to determine what Bryce was after—”
Percy waved his hand again, cutting her off.“Spare me the technobabble.Just figure out what he accessed and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Joan and Diego both nodded.“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, although Joan’s voice was louder and harsher than Diego’s soft, apologetic murmur.
General Percy rocked back in his seat, and his fingers drummed on the tabletop in an ominous chorus of impending doom.His gaze skimmed right over Evelyn, who was still taking notes.He glanced at Joan and Diego, then turned his attention to Gia, Desmond, and me, studying the three of us with obvious displeasure.
“Let me recap today’s events,” General Percy said in an icy tone.“You three hatched a harebrained scheme and leaked information that Ms.Locke was transporting the Grunglass Necklace to the Vault storage facility in hopes of catching some unimportant, low-level thieves.Only the thieves were a diversion for someone smarter to come along and break into our system, putting valuable information at risk.Is that right?”
Everyone at the table froze.
“Is that right?”Percy repeated, his tone louder and sharper than before.
“Yes, sir,” Gia admitted in a low, reluctant voice.
“Today’s mission is just the latest in a string of failures.Starting with the night when not one buttwomoles were discovered here.Moles who had been feeding information to Henrika Hyde for who knows how long.”General Percy shook his head.“Maestro isn’t doing a very good job of overseeing the D.C.station.It’s been one disaster after another over the last few months.”
Evelyn’s face remained calm, but the tip of her pen dug into her notepad hard enough to rip the top piece of paper.Joan also noticed the motion, and her gaze lingered on the other woman.
“Then again, I suppose it’s easy to get away with failing when no one holds you accountable,” Percy continued.
“Sir, you know the identities of station chiefs are often classified, even kept from you and the other members of the board of directors, for security reasons,” Gia said.
The General sliced his hand through the air.“Bah!An antiquated, useless tactic.As if I and the other board members couldn’t find out such information if we really wanted to.It’s long past time for Section chiefs like Maestro to step out into the light and face the consequences of their actions.”
As the head of the board of directors, Jethro Percy was one of the few public faces of Section 47, and he often liaised with mortal authorities and smoothed things over so that regular paramortals could stay under the radar and spies like us could keep operating in the shadows.Legacy families also chipped in to help cover Section’s budget, with the Percy family being one of the organization’s main benefactors.
“But really, Maestro and their secret identity isn’t the problem.We are talking about yet another failure because of one person: Charlotte Locke.”Percy stabbed his finger at me.“Becauseshethought this mission was a good use of Section time, resources, and manpower.”
I bristled.I’d been expecting the personal attack, especially given the General’s obvious, immediate dislike of me, but I hadn’t thought he would be quite so blunt.Percy was looking for someone to blame, though, and that someone was going to be me.
