He allowed his attention to return to Mark as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Hey, you two have your heads together in the bullpen a lot. He didn’t say anything to you? I know I can be a hardass, but this? This is crazy.” He shook his head in wonder and lowered his voice. “He took the Councilor’s fucking Tesla. Requisition already has a report going up the damn chain. Got any idea what’s going on with him?”
Alex wanted to be sure the problem was limited to Lucas. If he had a larger problem, it would be better to root it out now. It sucked to be detached about the loss of life, but he had too much riding on his success to be sentimental. There was too much riding on Lena, too. Separate issues, but both had huge repercussions. If he failed, the loss of life that could follow would be devastating—to Sparks first and then to humanity. No more limping away from the brink of collapse; they would all be sucked right down, courtesy of the Council of Nine.
If it was in his power to end the cycle of clinging to the old ways, old technology, and old corruption, he’d make it happen no matter what it took. The oligarchy masquerading as a confederacy needed to end. With Lena, they could stop it. The power they could gain from her to change the order of everything promised to shatter the Council.
He scanned Mark’s face, but the younger agent’s only agenda seemed to be distancing himself from Lucas’s fall.
Mark shook his head. “No. He was working hard on something. But he always did.” Mark gestured to the doorknob, a symbol of the transgression. “But this—no. I got nothing to explain this.”
Alex sighed and shook his head in regret. “Damn,” he murmured to himself, loudly enough for them both to hear. “The kid had potential.” He stared out the window in disgust for a beat and then turned to them. “You got this?” he asked Salas. At his nod, Alex told them, “I’m gonna head out, then. See if I can salvage this.” A little bit of honesty always made the lie sweeter to the ears.
He left them in his office, working out the details of Lucas’s mistake. He wore the mask of concerned partner as he made his way through the building, but his teeth were grinding. He’d been so close to being done. Councilor Three departed for the annual Council Meet in three short months. The Councilor would travel cross country with his lackeys, security, and Zone trading partners to meet the other eight Councilors. They’d set mutual policy and deal with any disputes. Alex had positioned himself as the only choice as the Zone’s agent liaison to the delegation, a position affording him the luxury of bringing in his own small support team. He’d quietly done favors for and tolerated time spent with men he would have preferred to arrest or bury. He included Councilor Three on that list. Even the suggestion of a scandal could scuttle all of Alex’s work.
Alex’s mind worked the problem. If he could bury what Lucas had done by planting key pieces of incriminating evidence that suggested Lucas was part of a splinter group, he could pull it off. Not only would he discredit even the memory of the steaming pile of Sparklet crap, but he’d also cement his own position.
As his mind ticked through and created a list of upcoming activity, he almost missed the conversation ahead of him down the short hall.
“I’m sorry, Miss. Agent Reyes may not even be in the building.” Margie, the Council receptionist, used her best ice queen voice. “I can schedule an appointment for later in the week—”
“I need to see Agent Reyes now.” Lena said, quiet and determined, but with a little edge of fury.
In spite of the anger in her voice, he grinned at the sound of it. She’d made her choice. She had come to him. If he could get her out of the building before Lucas returned, she’d be safe.
“You need to go get him.” Lena had replaced quiet and determined with scorn.
He winced. Margie wouldn’t like that at all. He moved to step forward as Margie responded, her voice having sunk to frostbite level chill.
“I don’t know where he is, Miss.”
“I do.” Lucas spoke from the hall that emptied into the lobby from the rear of the building. He meandered out to Lena and Margie, hands in his pockets. “Agent Reyes is sitting in his office,” Lucas lied. “Waiting for me to let him know how best to hunt you down. Do you know how it is I’m supposed to find out?”
The heat and loathing in Lena’s voice increased. “I imagine you’ll use my family,” she said. “But it’s not necessary. I’m here to turn myself in. You can leave them alone.”
“Oh, I don’t know that I can convince Agent Reyes to do that. We’ve already picked up your sister. And your little nephew Joseph, too. I spent the morning catching up with them.” In the beat of silence, Alex imagined Lucas was smiling. “And there’s no telling what a man like Agent Reyes will do. Or which room he’ll start with.”
“You’re pretty brave,” she snapped, “to say that to my face after what I did to you yesterday. If I’ve got nothing to lose, what’s to keep me from hurting you again?”
“Because, Lena Gracey, I will make sure your family suffers for every moment you resist us.”