Rules of Revenge by AJ Quinn

Author:AJ Quinn [Quinn, AJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626392786
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

*

Jessie pressed the phone tightly against her ear and swore she could feel the tension coming through the satellite connection to Langley before she heard the deputy director’s taut, low voice on the other end. But once she did, try as she might, she found it difficult to swallow.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. Her vision blurred and her throat tightened as guilt cloaked her.

She had known from the start they were working to a tight timeline. The Guild had confirmed it in their original media communiqué, indicating they were just getting started and warning that their next move was imminent. And every threat analyst Jessie knew had arrived at the same conclusion. Escalation would come swiftly. They would need to work fast if there was any hope of stopping the Guild before that happened.

But her call had just made it perfectly clear. They were too late. The next move had already been made.

She felt a knot of coldness deep within her. Maintaining a tight grip on the edge of the table, she ignored the pounding of her heart and struggled to put any personal feelings on hold while she listened. Just beyond the table, she could see Elle’s face had turned ghostly pale as she nodded and listened to someone—probably Adam—undoubtedly giving her the same news.

A quick glance farther into the room showed that Ben was no longer in her line of sight, but Darien seemed to be acting on some kind of prescient instinct. She had turned on the television and was quickly working her way through the available channels. And even though she’d left the television on mute, Jessie could see all the networks were carrying the same story.

The only problem with the live feed was that the images left nothing to the imagination. Still listening to her mother’s voice, Jessie watched smoke streaming from what had once been an upscale shopping mall. The aftermath of the explosion had left a gaping maw filled with rubble, smashed glass, and dangling wires. The feed managed to convey the silent screams of sirens as emergency vehicles converged on the scene, while the dazed and the injured were assisted from the wreckage of the building.

The information she was receiving from Grace indicated synchronized attacks had been carried out in three different countries. A shopping mall in Moscow. A courthouse in Ottawa. A school in Berlin. Simultaneous bomb blasts in three cities resulting in chaos, death, and destruction.

Jessie knew she had encountered worse in her career and would again as long as she stayed with the agency. But it would always be the loss of innocent lives, the children, that would tear her up. As she watched the images continue to unfold, all she could think was they never had a chance.

After she ended her call, she stared at the television no longer seeing the images, turning her head only when she felt Darien’s hand squeeze her shoulder and heard her murmur, “Are you all right?”

“Not really, no.” She blinked, feeling helpless and almost consumed by anger and grief.

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