Page 41 of A Touch of Treachery
“You wanted to see me?”
The General finally tore his gaze away from the monitor.“I have no interest in capturing Henrika.I want her eliminated.”
I hesitated.“Does Gia know this?”
Back in the conference room, Gia had ordered Charlotte and me to gather intelligence about the other auction guests and to figure out if Henrika had a biomagical lab on the resort grounds where she might be storing samples of Redburn and other weapons.But our primary objective was to recover the UC list, then capture Henrika so a Section strike team could swoop in and abduct her.With Henrika out of the way, the threat of her selling the Redburn formula would be neutralized.Although no one had any idea how we might accomplish those goals, given the legions of guards Henrika was sure to have at her disposal.
My father waved his hand, brushing off my concern.“Gia Chan might oversee the cleaners, but I’m the head of the board of directors, which means I outrank her.Gia might not like it, but there’s nothing she can do about it.You are to eliminate Henrika as soon as possible.That’s an order, Desmond.”
The General speared me with a hard gaze, his eyes glittering like chips of ice.My father was primarily a political animal, always weighing and measuring actions and reactions.Such maneuvers had enabled him to climb to the top of the Section ranks, but for once, he didn’t seem to care about any fallout from his orders.Odd.
“Is there a problem?”the General asked.“I thought you would relish this opportunity.After all, your being so desperate to kill Henrika Hyde and Adrian Anatoly is what got us into this mess in the first place.”
I stiffened at the verbal barbs.“No.I don’t have any problem eliminating Henrika.”
And I didn’t.My personal hatred and vendetta aside, I had killed people who had committed far fewer and much less atrocious crimes than Henrika and not thought twice about it.In some ways, Henrika Hyde was the most dangerous, vicious enemy I’d ever encountered, and it would be a pleasure to finally make her pay for everything she’d done.All the undercover agents she was currently threatening, all the lives she had already taken, all the pain, misery, and suffering she had visited upon the families of the Section agents who’d been killed on the Blacksea mission.
The only thing that made me hesitate was Charlotte.Henrika couldn’t answer questions if she was dead, and Charlotte deserved to know what had really happened to her father all those years ago.
The General nodded, mistaking my silence for obedience.“Good.I’m also giving you another objective.”
I bit back a tired sigh.Of course he was.The General never just asked for one thing when he could ask for two, or three, or a dozen.“What?”
He pulled a photo out of a folder and slid it across the desk.The image showed a glass vial with a thick red liquid inside.
In an instant, the office melted away, and I was back on the beach in Australia, my body burning with agony, even as I watched the light die in Graham’s eyes and took his remaining energy, his life, to save myself like the bloody coward I truly was ...
“I’m sure you can guess what that is.”The General’s eager voice snapped me back to the here and now.
“Redburn,” I muttered.“How did you get a picture of it?”
A sly smile curved his lips.“Given the D.C.station’s lack of progress over the past few months, I planted a few of my own spies in Henrika’s organization.One of them sent me this photo earlier today, which they took in a secret lab at the resort.I was plotting the best course of action to find and retrieve the vial when I received the video.”
My gaze snapped up to his.“You’ve confirmed Henrika has a weapons labandsamples of Redburn at the resort?”
The General nodded, leaned back, and steepled his fingers together.“Yes.Obviously, the threat of unleashing Redburn is one of her contingency plans to keep Section agents at bay, so Henrikahasto be storing a supply of the explosive at the resort, although my spy hasn’t been able to pinpoint the exact location yet.”
A sick, sinking sensation flooded my stomach.“What do you want me to do?”
My father stared at me, his eyes even colder than before.“We can’t allow any samples of Redburn to fall into enemy hands.”
I nodded, working hard to hide the relief crashing through my body.“So you want me to find Henrika’s lab and destroy any samples?”
The General let out a deep, hearty chuckle, as though I’d just made a marvelous joke.“Of course not.I want you to bring me all the samples of Redburn, along with any other weapons Henrika might have on-site.”
Back in Germany, when I’d confiscated the vials of Redburn the mercenaries were going to use to blow up Tannenbaum Castle, I’d told Charlotte that the Section leaders, including my father—especiallymy father—would want to reverse engineer the explosive for their own purposes.And now the General was confirming my worst fears.
As a cleaner, I could see why he wanted Redburn so badly.Paramortals could be difficult to kill, and a weapon like that would give Section 47 a huge tactical advantage.But I didn’t want anyone to suffer the way Graham and I had suffered on the beach.The force, fire, and fury of the explosions blasting over me was something I would never, ever forget.I still woke up sweating and screaming in the middle of the night, clawing at the phantom burning sensation in my skin as though I had been doused in boiling honey.In my own way, I could be as ruthless as the General, but I wouldn’t wish that searing, unending agony on my worst enemy—except for Henrika, for creating such a horrid weapon.
Section 47 might keep the public safe from rogue paramortals, but not everyone in the spy organization had pure, good, noble intentions.It wouldn’t be long before Redburn was used in a personal vendetta rather than in a strategic mission, and innocent people might get caught in the crossfire, subjected to horrible pain and certain death just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, son?”the General asked, once again jerking me back to the here and now.
Son.My father only called me that when he wanted to drive home a point—and remind me exactly who was in charge.
I nodded again, even though every fiber in my body rebelled at the small, acquiescing motion.“Yes, sir.I’m to bring in as many samples of Redburn as possible and eliminate the rest, along with Henrika.”
