Chapter 8
I took a deep breath, “Morgan, you got this.” My pep talk didn’t help much. The fact I-CAT was on lockdown, had everybody stressing. We had been trained to hide our emotions because it showed weakness. But, who wouldn’t be stressed and emotional. Especially, under the conditions we were dealing with. I knew I had to stay focused if we were going to come out on top. And, my only goal was to clear my parents from whatever part they had played in this little fiasco.
I grabbed a sharpie off the command station and started drawing a map of the last year. Just trying to connect the dots. As, I was looking at the dates I realized the date I was hired at Blue Face, coincided with phone records between Dr. Perez and Blue Face executives. “You’ve got to keep a low profile, so they don’t catch on to you,” Crysten told me when they gave the assignment. Little did I know, I had already been made.
At the time, I didn’t realize that my parents would come into play with the assignment. If I had, I would’ve come up with a backup plan.
“Hey, have you heard from Bryce? They should’ve been back by now?”
“No. Let me check the location on his van.”
“Alright, let me know what you find out.” Zeke walked out and buried his face back in his phone. But, there was this chemistry between us. It was no denying it.
I tended to shy away from relationships because, I wasn’t a “traditional” relationship person. I like what I liked. How I liked it. And, when I liked it. I learned a long time ago I wasn’t cool with being the good woman. Which my aunties described as cooking, cleaning, and making sure everything was just right for my man. I didn’t go to culinary school or get a degree in hospitality. And, the men I’ve met say they were cool with me not being traditional. They lied. I have the feeling Zeke is all about tradition. And, me, I’m totally selfish when it comes to me.
And, don’t tell me, “If you won’t do it, another woman will.” Good. Let her because if he’s my man then would know what to expect. My mom said that with my attitude she was pretty sure I was going to be single the rest of my life. “Fine with me,” I replied when we had this discussion a few weeks ago.
“You locate them,” Zeke asked as he sat down beside me. The stress of the last week was written all over his face.
“Yes. The locator shows him at your apartment. I’ll call him.” I grabbed the satellite phone that I found in one of the file cabinets. Normally, Bryce picked up immediately. And, when he didn’t, I had this sinking feeling in my gut. So, I did what I did best, hack into all the cameras surrounding Zeke’s place. The van was parked in the alley behind Zeke’s place, right beside the Serbs.
“Can you zoom in?"
I worked my magic. And, we quickly discovered why my phone calls were going unanswered. Bryce and the other two operatives we sent had been killed. “Any sign of the Serbs?"
I scanned the area. “Only one,” I told Zeke. He had a kill shot to the head.
“Damn. Roll back footage to see what happened.”
The Serbs had the answers that we needed to figure out what the hell was going on around us. I felt sick as I sent the cleaners to the scene to remove all signs of our operatives and the Serbs. The last thing we needed was the local police contaminating the scene and calling in the Feds.
“What the hell,” I heard Zeke say. I jumped up to head into the other room to see what was going on. I was surprised to Omar and the other Serb, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his stomach.
“I spotted the van heading towards your place. I parked around the corner and by the time I got there the whole team was dead. And, so was Vladimir. I managed to get Dragan back here.”
I called Tara to let her know that we needed a team to remove the bullet from Dragan. Within seconds, they whisked him out to do surgery. If he died, we were screwed. Once, the room was cleared, Omar finished telling us what his part was in everything. His story sounded convincing, but I didn’t trust him. Truthfully, I didn’t trust anyone. And, that’s the first rule of out in the field. Trust no one.
“Morgan.”
“Yes.”
“Bring up the footage to verify Omar’s story. Until then, put these on.” Zeke tossed him a pair of handcuffs as he pointed his gun at him.
I went back to my computer and did exactly what he asked. I discovered Omar was telling the truth, but I also discovered something that was much more devastating. The team that extracted Dr. Perez, was same team to that took out Bryce and the others. After a few phone calls we learned that the team sent to extract Dr. Perez had been killed on they’re way here. The team that killed Bryce belonged to Blue Face.
Zeke hit the button, for Tara. “What do you need,” she asked when she came.
“Get my sister here ASAP.”
“You know the rules. I can’t bring her here.”
“I don’t give a damn about the rules. Something is going own, and I need every piece of the puzzle here.”
“She’ll be here within the hour,” Tara replied.
“I want the team that took out the Rookie brought in ASAP,” he snapped. “They can’t be far.”
It felt like we were in the middle of war. The opponent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was acting as if Coronavirus had magically disappeared, WHILE we were trying to save the world from another deadly virus. The US was headed for destruction if we didn’t get together. Then it hit me, if Crysten was coming, my parents needed to be here as well. They held pieces to the puzzle as well. “Zeke,” he looked defeated as he was going over the footage of Bryce’s last moments. “I have a team bringing my parents here.”
“Why?”
“They know mor, than they’ve let on.”
“Talk to me.”
I explained that I had accessed my mother’s files and discovered that she was attempting to sale her research at the time I started working at Blue Face. “She and Dr. Perez were actually bidding against each other.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Hell none of this does.”
He was absolutely right. But, all we could do was wait for everyone to arrive. Three hours later all the pieces of the puzzles arrived at headquarters. Along with Zeke and Crysten’s mother. My parents had been hiding out at her home. And, to keep her safe I had them to bring her along.
“So, this is were you work,” she asked Zeke.
“Yes mam. How you doing?”
“I’ll be better when you put me on the payroll. I’m not the official hideout for you guys.” She smiled and turned to me, “You must be Morgan.”
“Yes mam.”
“Zeke you were right. She absolutely beautiful.” I could tell by Zeke’s expression that he didn’t mean for his mom to repeat that. On the other hand, I was trying not to blush. The fact he was talking about me, had me in a feelings just a little.
“Mom, Kenny is going to take you to the breakroom where you can get some rest.”
“Alright. It was nice meeting you Morgan.”
“It was nice meeting you too, Mrs. Jordan.”
A few minutes later we headed into the conference room where everyone was waiting for us. Crysten was hooked up to a drip IV, my parents looked surprised to be there, and Bernice was coming down off painkillers. The only one missing was the Serb who had just gotten out of surgery.
“Well, now that we’re all here, it’s time we get down to business,” Zeke stated.
“And, what’s that,” Crysten asked.
“I don’t know.” Zeke turned to my parents, “Can you tell me why the detail assigned to extract Dr. Perez, killed my men and one of the Serbs?"
“Who’s been killed,” Crysten interjected. Zeke didn’t say anything and kept focusing on my parents. “Who’s been killed,” she asked again.
“Bryce,” I told her.
“What?” She sat up. “How? When?” I could understand her outburst. Bryce was her protégé.
“Tell her why,” Zeke said to my parents. Normally, I would have jumped to my parents defense. But, not this time. They had been lying to everyone. People were losing their lives over this.
“I wasn’t the one against selling the formula, Carmen was.”
My heart sank because I knew whatever my mom was going to say next was going to change the course of everything.
She explained at the G8 Summit in 2012, she had the privilege to present her research to the most powerful leaders in the world. “My research was ahead of our time, they said. It was just one flaw. The removal of one component would turn it into a biological weapon.”All eyes were on my mom as she explained that she agreed to work to create a cure for the virus just incase someone figured it out that it could be used as a weapon. “It’s the modern-day bubonic plague.” No one said anything for a few minutes.
“Creating viruses in labs is going to be the death of us,” Omar stated. And, I totally agreed.
“And, that’s where I came in,” Bernice chimed in. “I was asked to watch Dr. Sinclair to make sure she wasn’t approached by anyone wanting to purchase the virus.”
“Bernice.” I could tell my father was completely shocked. “You were spying on us.”
“Not you. Just Doc. But, when you agreed to meet with Blue Face last year, I thought you were trying to sell the virus through other channels.”
“And, that’s where I come in,” Crysten stated. She explained that they felt sending me in was good thing because they weren’t aware of Dr. Perez’s connection to Blue Face. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together right before our eyes.
“What part did the Serbs play,” Zeke and I asked at the same time.
“I can help with that,” Crysten replied. “We sent them in to make a deal with Dr. Sinclair.”
“They work for I-CAT.” Zeke was in disbelief. And, I was too. “But, I arrested them.”
“Yes, I know. Bringing them on wasn’t my idea. It came from the higher ups. The Serbs informed us that Dr. Perez was never planning to sell her part of the virus. It was just to get Dr. Sinclair to agree to sell her part. That’s why you were going in .”
“Hold up. You knew all of this.” Zeke seemed furious. “Why?”
“I’m the boss,” she told him.
“Why bring me in?” I needed to break the tension between the two of them. Plus, I couldn’t figure out what part I played.
“You helped to build Blue Face’s technology,” Crysten told me.
“No, I didn’t.”
My dad looked at me, “Yes you did.” He explained that the project he had me working on a few years ago was for Blue Face.
“You used me. You both used me.” I looked at my parents. Trying to contain my anger went out the window. “I’m mixed up in this because of you two.”
Zeke put his hand on my shoulder. Tears filled my eyes. All of this was because my mom and her best friend were at war with each other. They were each trying to acquire the other part of the virus they didn’t have. That’s why my dad had me to work on the project for Blue Face.
“The team that killed Bryce, they must have been trying to get you two for collateral since we have Dr. Perez.” Zeke pointed at my parents. Then he turned to my mom, “Dr. Sinclair, I need all your information.”
“I thought you would.” She slide a flash drive across the table. “Here’s everything you need.”
“Tara, I need for you to get Dr. Perez here so I can talk with her.”
“You haven’t heard?” Everyone turned their attention to Tara. “Dr. Perez killed herself shortly after she was taken into custody at I-CAT.”
“A cyanide pill,” my mom stated.
“Yes. How did you know,” Tara asked.
“This is going to sound crazy, but Carmen was a spy.” This situation was getting crazier by the minute. Now, my mom was explaining that Dr. Perez was also working with the Venezuelan government. “They weren’t a superpower, but with the EV-20 they could be.”
The twist and turns just kept coming. With Dr. Perez dead, we didn’t know what she had done with her research. Crysten suggested that Omar and I work overtime to access Blue Face files. My mom agreed. “If it was anywhere, it would be there,” she said.
“Everyone knows what to do,” Zeke told us. We all agreed. Hopefully in 24 hours all of this would be over, and we would be back to a somewhat normal life.
