Game of Secrets and Shadows (Book One in the Covert Operations series)

Twenty-One

I wasn't quite sure how we'd ended up seated in the small kitchen of the Vögelchen Hotel, but that's exactly where we were. Giulia, Daniel, and I were sitting around a wooden square table that was hardly big enough for the three of us, cups of warm tea and a plate of biscuits in front of us. The older woman kept sneaking glances at me out the corner of her eye whenever she thought I wasn't looking.

I'd explained briefly as Giulia had made the tea how we'd come to find her hotel and that we'd tracked my parents' movements eighteen-years prior to this hotel on a variety of occasions. She'd nodded, accepting that, and had said nothing on the subject. Daniel and I had been waiting in quietude for her to begin speaking ever since.

"So," I said after the silence had become too much. "You knew my parents?"

Giulia regarded me with a cool look. "Yes. And I must confess, I am surprised to see you. I knew that Jack and Elizabeth had a daughter but they were always adamant that you were never to be a part of this world."

"I don't think anything they could have done would have prevented Scorpion from tracking me down."

Giulia nodded, accepting this, and then took a sip of her tea. "You're probably right."

"How did you meet them?"

"I knew your mother. We worked together at the Global Centre for Covert Operatives. I was her handler while she was undercover working with your father. She reported back to me and I kept records of their time together. We met up several times throughout her time in Scorpion. Then," she continued and her voice took on a harsh tone as shadows darkened her eyes, "I was made. Scorpion didn't know who was leaking the intel but they knew that I was receiving it. To this day, I still don't know how they knew it was me."

Daniel and I shared a look as Giulia glared into her tea cup. We stayed silent, waiting for her to continue and, after a moment, she did.

"I had to go into hiding for protection so I changed my name and moved up here. I opened this hotel and I've been here ever since."

My fingers drummed against the table. "My parents came here. To see you."

She pursed her lips. "Yes. Your parents came here many times."

"How did they keep Scorpion in the dark?" Daniel cut in. "They had to have kept them from finding you and since you're still here, I'm assuming they succeeded in that regard."

"They never used their own names. To people who didn't know your parents, the names they chose would've seemed random. I always knew they were coming, though, because they always reserved a room ahead of time using the names of characters from their favourite books. Your mother loved to read. I'm assuming that's how your contact who tracked their movements here found them. Let me guess, you're working with Grace Montgomery? They were always good friends."

Daniel tensed beside me. Montgomery was his mother's maiden name. I could tell that he didn't like the idea that some strange woman knew who she was for, if Giulia knew Grace's identity, then it was plausible that his mother, and father for that matter, were only too visible in Scorpion's all-seeing eyes.

I nodded once, a tight movement. "Yes. She was close with my mother. She's been looking out for me for a long time."

"But you weren't taken in by her after your parents left you, correct?"

"Yes. I was raised by my uncle and his wife until I went to Oaks when I was fourteen. Scorpion murdered the both of them and my kidnapped my brother, um cousin, all within the past few weeks."

"And you're trying to take on the largest, most lethal terrorist group in the entire world to save the life of your brother who's probably already dead? Is that right?"