Page 60 of Shadow Break

“I thought Pallon initiated that.”

“He did. Well done to him.”

“So you’re saying she was a part of her own abduction? I was never meant to rescue her?”

“That’s what we believe. That would explain why Popov is now dead.”

“She said they didn’t know anything.”

“Did she?”

“So she’s been playing us the whole time? Is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s the line we’re taking, yes.”

“But why fake abduct her at all?”

“We believe it was to keep her innocence in all of this. Or maybe she was going to just disappear and take her research with her. Did she have it on her at the time?”

“I have no idea. But if this is true, then why would she tell me about the fungus?”

“Because things didn’t go as planned and she needed you on her side. She told you enough truth so that she could spin the story however she wanted. Come on, Aaron, you know all this. You’ve been trained for this. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d needed to tell you because I thought you would have gotten there a lot faster than you have. What is going on with you? You are really off your game.”

“But it’s locked up now.”

“Yeah. So now she has to come up with a new plan.”

“Although I don’t imagine it would be that hard for her to smuggle her own stuff out of the lab.”

“We’ve asked the guards to keep an eye on her.”

Aaron paced the room. He wasn’t ready to accept it. Not yet. “What proof do you have?”

Knightly pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “Aaron.”

“You’ve told me this much. I need to know everything.”

“Fine. But this stays in this office.” Knightly unlocked a drawer and pulled out a folder, tossing it across the desk to Aaron.

Aaron kept his eyes on his boss while he grabbed the folder. When he opened it, he studied the top photo that showed Sydney laughing with a man on the steps outside her old lab.

“Who’s that?”

“Leo Pasternak.”

“And?”

“And Sydney is in a relationship with him. Has been since college from what we gather.”

Aaron’s jaw flexed. “Pasternak? He’s Russian?”

“Yeah.”

Aaron swallowed down the grenade that was ready to explode. “So she has a Russian boyfriend. So what?”

“He has ties to the Russian Mafia. Do you ever remember seeing him while you’ve been with Sydney?”

Aaron focused on the wall. He never made mistakes like this. “What?”

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