Ghoster - A Mystery and Suspense Sci-Fi Thriller (Hold On! Universe Book 7) by Darley Peter

Author:Darley, Peter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Five

Light in the Dark

5:52 p.m.

“What did he say, Crane?”

Jed stood before Estefan, having just arrived back at his office. He lowered his gaze, unsure of how he should respond. The way he’d left it with Donovan was ambiguous by necessity. There was no way a man like that would be receptive to orders. “He didn’t say anything, Mr. Secretary. I left the ball in his court and invited him to call me. You can’t control this person. I saw it in his eyes.”

Estefan paced the room, fists clenched. “So, we’ve got to sit around, waiting for him to call us?”

“I think he will, Mr. Secretary.”

“Well, I’ve got better things to do than—”

The desk phone rang.

Jed looked up at him with a hopeful smirk. “Would you excuse me, Mr. Secretary?”

“Go right ahead,” he said in a tone laden with sarcasm.

Jed picked up the phone and put it to his ear. “Crane, here.”

“Mr. Crane. Luke Donovan. I figured you’d be back by now. I’m with my team, and they’re in agreement. We’re in.”

Jed’s mind reeled at what he’d just heard. He put his hand over the phone and eyed Estefan. “They’re in. It’s your call.”

The SecDef gave an eager nod. “Done.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that, Mr. Donovan. When can you get to D.C.?”

“I’m at the airfield right now. I have a private jet.”

“Airfield?”

“Yeah. I had to drive out to pick the team up. I just need to refuel. Taking pre-flight checks and taxi clearance into account, we should be with you in about four hours. Where, specifically, are we headed?”

“CIA Headquarters, Langley. I’ll arrange your clearance.”

“Holy shit!”

Jed was aware Donovan was playing up his ‘Chase Redborn’ act, and decided to go along with it. “Just get here, Luke. We need you.”

“Hang in there, Director. We’re on our way.”

The line ended. Jed turned to Estefan with a gleeful grin. “They’re coming.”

Estefan shot him a conceding, if somewhat embarrassed smile after showing he didn’t entirely trust his judgment.

However, Jed couldn’t stop questioning how this was going to help. “There are five of them, Mr. Secretary. Ghoster can strike anywhere in the country at any time. What exactly is it that you expect of Donovan’s team?”

“One step at a time. I’m pooling resources at the moment. Nothing more. Besides, Ghoster isn’t the primary reason I want these kids. I have plans for them. First, I need to see how they perform with something more challenging than street punks. I know what you and Bevan say you saw, but I wasn’t there.”

The line beeped before Jed could respond. A blinking red light on the desk phone showed the call was coming from operations. “Something’s going down.”

Jed and Estefan joined Carrie Wilson and Gianna Hamill in the data analysis lab.

“What have you got?” Jed said.

Carrie flashed him an enigmatic smile that reminded him of the Mona Lisa. “I’ve been working with all departments on this since the beginning. If we were looking at domestic VPN shielding, the FBI would’ve compelled the provider to disclose the user’s true IP.

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