While Rawls’s head was turned away, Faith stealthily forked three slices of bacon on top of his plate.
Mac watched her fork an egg over as well and considered ratting her out on general principle. But hell, his lieutenant had to know she couldn’t eat that mountain of food. And from the way he’d demolished half his plate within seconds, maybe he’d planned on using her leftovers as a second course anyway.
With a grumpy yawn, he scrubbed a hand down his face and grimaced. “We need to recover that damn prototype of Dr. Ansell’s. It’s too dangerous to leave in enemy hands.” He paused to scowl. “And I’m getting damn tired of coming up empty-handed.”
He didn’t glance at Amy, but he could clearly imagine her tight, haunted expression. This moratorium on progress hadn’t just bit them squarely in the ass. It had bit Amy and her kids as well. As it stood, based on the doc’s latest round of tests on Brendan and Benji, Amy’s kids were well and truly fucked. That shit they’d been injected with wasn’t coming out anytime soon.
The combined pressure of frustration and fury pushed against his chest, threatening to smother him.
“At least we know who has it and who’s behind all this, which is more than we knew a couple days ago.” Cosky straightened, shooting him an undefinable look. “We’ve got actual names now.”
Rawls shot his buddy a surprised look. Mac knew just how he felt.
“Yeah, we got names”—he reminded Cosky sourly—“from a ghost.”
Cosky shrugged. “Rawls says the names are legit. Wolf says they’re legit. The lab, with the missing scientists, was exactly where they said it would be. That’s good enough for me.”
“James Link is our best bet,” Amy suddenly said from beside him. “Manheim will be harder to reach. He’s got the security to go with all that money. Link’s smaller potatoes. He’s accessible.”
He was also the current CEO of Dynamic Solutions. If anyone had a shot at helping Amy’s kids, it would be that tech-savvy company. Mac could hardly blame her for fixing her sights on the opportunity with the best odds of curing her kids.
Zane straddled the aluminum bench next to Mac and took a sip of his coffee only to blanch and gag. “Son of a bitch.”
What the hell? Mac watched his lieutenant commander’s face turn green.
“Beth tossing her cookies again?” Cosky asked with dry amusement.
With a grimace, Zane stood back up. “I need something to settle her stomach. Coffee seems to be her biggest trigger.” He paused to scowl, a world of frustration on his face.
No surprise there considering how much Zane liked coffee. Beth’s pregnancy and Zane’s mirroring her symptoms was really fucking with his LC.
Mac hid a smile behind the swipe of his hand.
“Get her some crackers. Saltines, or as close as you can find,” Marion advised, leaning forward so she could see Zane around Cosky’s massive shoulders. “She’s what? Four months along?”
“Four and a half,” Zane said, blowing out a hard breath. He frowned, worry lines wrinkling his forehead. “The doc said the nausea would improve by the end of the first trimester. She’s six weeks past that now.”
Marion sat back and swung her legs over the bench seat. Standing, she bustled over to pat Zane’s arm. “I’m sure she’s fine, dear. Every woman reacts differently. I was sick well into my second trimester. Why don’t Kait, Faith, and I drop by for a visit? She might enjoy some girl talk.”
“You better pick up double the rations on those crackers,” Rawls told Zane with a wicked grin. “Beth’s not gonna be happy if you munch on hers.” He glanced toward Faith, who was watching Zane with sympathetic eyes, and he slid an egg and a couple of slices of bacon back onto her plate.
If Mac wasn’t mistaken, it was the same egg and bacon that Faith had offloaded earlier.
“I’m going to set up a meeting with Wolf and his COs for later today, so make yourselves available. We need to track down that damn prototype of Faith’s and take it out of play,” Mac said.
With luck, their very well-equipped and tapped-in hosts would have a starting place in mind. If they didn’t, then James Link would have to do.
“Let’s hope they haven’t discovered its nifty little side benefit yet,” Cosky said, grimness hard on his face.
A shadow darkening his eyes, Rawls stopped eating long enough to glance at Faith. He caught her trying to sneak the egg back onto his plate. With a couple of quick slices he quartered it and lifted the morsel to her mouth. “Eat.”
She rolled her eyes and glowered, but opened her lips, accepting the offering.
“At least we have allies now,” Amy said quietly when the grim silence went on too long.
She was right. Mac relaxed slightly, taking another sip from his mug. They did have allies. Powerful ones too.
But even more importantly, they knew who their enemies were.
Assuming you could trust a ghost.
* * *
Epilogue
* * *