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

Twenty-Six

It was a nice room. Long and rectangular with a large dark wooden table that ran almost the entire span of the room. Chairs were littered around the table at evenly-spaced intervals. Three of the walls were painted deep crimson red. The fourth was formed entirely of windows and looked out of Bristol. On the other side of the room opposite from where we entered, I could see a large ornate door. Behind this, I assumed, was Max patiently waiting for the moment we would need his assistance.

It was the sort of room I could envision a super top-secret terrorist group having meetings in. There was just a dark, somber atmosphere about the room. There wasn't anything specific about it. All I knew was that the moment I crossed the threshold from the hallway into the room, a chill ran up my spine.

Two men stood on the opposite side of the room from where Patrick and I entered. They were both dressed in fine suits with expensive looking shoes. One was larger, tall and plump, with a receding hairline and small beady eyes that looked out of place on his wide face. The other was thinner, not quite scrawny for I was certain that there was sinewy muscle hidden beneath the folds of his clothing, but that was the appearance. His face was angular and unkind. The eyes were dark and narrowed and just slightly too far apart. His nose was sharp and beak-like.

I disliked him immediately.

Patrick shut the door behind us, kicking it closed with his foot. The two men were watching us with rapt attention. Neither said anything but I noticed their eyes flit down to our guns. The larger man seemed oddly disconcerted. I watched as sweat began to bead on his forehead.

The other man just cocked his head to the side and smiled as he stared at us in what I could only describe as a look that was a mixture of contempt and humour. I knew immediately that I was looking into the face of Randall Walker.

"Well," he said. His voice wasn't as I expected it to be. I'd been waiting for dark and sinister. His was nasally and high. "Miss Briar. We meet at last."

"You know who I am." Not a question. Just an observation.

Beside me, Patrick raised his gun. I saw it out the corner of my eye. He had it trained not on Walker, but on the other man. My gun; however, was focused dead-centre on Walker's chest.

"Of course. You're the spitting image of your mother. Did you know that?"

My fingers twitched on my gun. "I did, as a matter of fact.

Walker made a little sound in the back of his throat. "Humph. I assume your father told you? After you broke him out of my prison of course. Excellent feat, by the way. Few people have ever attempted such a thing. Far fewer actually succeeded. I was very impressed."

I wasn't surprised that he knew about the breakout. "I've got to be honest. Never thought I'd impress the leader of a terrorist organization. It was never really something on my bucket list."

"Well, I was impressed. You've got quite a talent, Miss Briar. You're more skilled than even Jack was at your age. I should know. I knew him the best out of everyone. I'm sure he told you that we were friends." Walker's dark eyes narrowed on me and his thin lips quirked into a sinister smile.

"Jack told me a lot of things. Like how you ordered the hits on my mother and aunt and uncle. And I already know that you kidnapped my brother."

I could feel Patrick still beside me in shock. This was his first time hearing the information I'd withheld. My true last name. The deaths of my parents and biological mother. The kidnapping of my brother.

I was certain that he had a million questions. I still wasn't sure that I could trust him. But right now, whether I wanted him to know or not, he would find out the truth. Henri, too, who was connected to us via the communications units, would also be hearing this story for the first time.