Rogue Commander. Leo J. Maloney
“Your mission,” she stressed, “was to contact Collins and find out whatever possible. You did that, and you’re done. We will call you as soon as we have a new assignment.”
“This isn’t right, Diana. You know it isn’t.”
“Finding those missing missiles are not our prerogative. We do what we are told. Nothing more.”
Morgan’s next words were quick but strong. He wanted to get them on the record. “The feds aren’t going to do jackshit about finding them. Not while they have the wrong damn guy, especially not if someone in the government is in on it. They’re wasting their time on him while—”
“Your trust in Collins is misplaced and misguided,” Paul Kirby interjected. “We used your familiarity with Collins to attempt extracting useful information from him. We have exhausted that approach. You’re too close to this. We cannot rely on you to keep your objectivity.”
Before Morgan could retort, Bloch cut in. “I have to agree with Kirby on this,” she said evenly. “You have strong personal feelings invested in this. You are dismissed.” With a short stab of her finger, she switched off the recorder.
Chapter Nine
Lincoln Shepard was not a field operative, so when someone grabbed his T-shirt and yanked him into a maintenance closet as he was hurrying to the War Room, he expected the worst. To his shame, his hands went up, and he opened his mouth to shriek, only to have fingers clamp his lips shut—fingers that were firm but also soft and smooth.
He stared into the blue eyes of Karen O’Neal, gleaming in the small enclosure’s darkness.
“Shhh, shh, shh,” she urged with a conspiratorial grin.
To his credit, Shepard got over his surprise almost immediately. “Well, hello there.”
But O’Neal had no time for niceties. Her hands were already on his pants’ zipper. “We have ten minutes until Bloch gets out of her meeting, and I intend to make them count!”
At first Shepard thought the beeping he heard was his heart, but when Karen’s fingers stopped dancing he realized it was someone hailing him on his vid-trans—a car-key-sized device in his pocket. He grinned apologetically. “I gotta get that.” He dug into his pocket as O’Neal stepped back, folding her arms grumpily.
“It better be important.”
It was Lily. “This better be important,” he said to her.
“It is,” the redhead announced. “Scott has it. He found the origin of the card!”
Shepard alerted Bloch, joined her and Karen in the War Room, and threw Lily’s image up on the big screen as if by digital magic.
“The card comes from an exclusive nightclub and casino in Seoul, South Korea,” Lily reported. “Probably VIP access. It’s for a specific date, too—tomorrow night.”
“Lukacs isn’t exactly the club type,” Shepard surmised. “He’s probably going for a meet.”
“And this kind of access is expensive,” Lily added. “Whoever it is, if this is worth the cost, he’s meeting a big fish—a very big fish.”
“But wouldn’t he change the date and place of the meet if he suspects we have the card?” Shepard wondered.
“Maybe not,” Lily answered. “Scott...Mr. Renard says that no one would have been able to decipher the card except him.”
“Not even Zeta?” Shepard retorted doubtfully.
“Not even Zeta,” Lily maintained. “Sorry, Linc.”
“If there’s a prize bigger than Lukacs,” Bloch interrupted, “it’s worth the risk. Lily, you take this one.”
Lily’s words caught in her throat, just before she said, “I was afraid you’d say that.” She had been truly enjoying her vacation.
“We’ll have a flight arranged by morning,” Bloch briskly continued. “We’ll send details shortly.”
She cut off the call and stood up, mind already on the next piece of business. “O’Neal, I want to go over your models of world arms sales in my office.”
Shepard grimaced, but Karen just shrugged and made the I’ll-call-you gesture behind Bloch’s back
Lincoln Shepard collected his things and sulked his way out of Zeta headquarters—driving home along the empty night streets. He arrived at his apartment and turned on the lights to find someone sitting in his living room.
“Sweet mother of Sam, Morgan, don’t do that!”
“Sorry. I need your help.”
“Those are, literally, my least favorite words.” Shepard threw his coat on the couch. “You couldn’t have called?”
“I didn’t want anyone to know I was here.”
“Oh, that makes me feel better.” He pulled a bowl from a cupboard. “Lucky Charms?”
“No thanks,” Morgan said. “Shepard, listen—”
“Should I bother to tell you to find me during office hours? That whatever I can do for you should be done through official Zeta channels rather than—”
“This can’t go through Zeta,” he said.
Shepard poured the milk into the cereal. “Of course it can’t.”
“I’m serious, Shepard. Can you keep this quiet?”
“I can’t promise without knowing what it is.”
“I can’t tell you what it is until you promise.”
“Well, that’s a real conundrum, isn’t it?” He spoke through a mouthful of sickly sweet cereal.
“It’s not a big deal. I promise. It won’t take long.”
Shepard looked at his associate with an expression that said “Does it look like I was born yesterday?” “Yes,” he clucked. “I’m sure that any favor that’s no big deal requires breaking and entering.”
Shepard put down his spoon. He couldn’t say no to Morgan. He had never been able to in all the time they worked together. He felt sure that if it was important enough for Morgan to ambush him this way, it was important enough for him to try accomplishing. It wasn’t as fun as Karen’s ambush, but still...
“What’s the nature of this favor?” he asked.
“I need to find someone,” Morgan said.
“Who?”
“I’ll tell you when you promise.”
“Damn it, Morgan, I don’t know. This is going to get me in deep shit with Bloch.”
“Nobody should know. Least of all Bloch.”
“Would she agree with that assessment, you think?”
“No, because she wouldn’t find out about it.”
The computer whiz couldn’t argue with that, and his quizzical expression encouraged Morgan to press his advantage.
“Shepard. This is important. You know I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m afraid of.” Shepard put the now-empty bowl in the sink. He wouldn’t even consider the request were it coming from anyone else. But Morgan was not just anyone. Shepard didn’t know anyone whose loyalties had been tested more harshly and had maintained his principles throughout. “Fine. I promise I won’t tell anyone, and if I can help you, I will.” He crossed the small living room to pick up one of his many laptops. “So who is it that I am looking for?”
“Alicia