Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

Nineteen

Central Park, Manhattan, New York. February 3, 2021, 7:12 a.m.

The sky was just beginning to lighten as I passed beneath a stone archway near West 77th Street. It was the third time I'd jogged beneath it but this time, as I appeared on the other side, another body fell into step beside me.

Dressed similar to me in a sweatshirt with the hood drawn up over the head, obscuring the facial features beneath, dark pants, sturdy shoes, and gloves.

"Thank you," Daniel said. He matched my stride exactly. "For getting Ivy."

We could have been any two people meeting up for an early morning run before heading to work for the day. It was easy to blend in here, even without the thick crowds of people to hide us. There were other joggers out, people clad in the same hoodies and exercise pants that we were.

Just in case, I'd tucked my hair up and out of sight beneath a toque and applied some of the makeup that I'd been wearing when we'd met with the CIA agents four days earlier. Fake freckles, pronounced cheekbones, high arching brows. Not unrecognizable but in the time it took for someone to do a double-take, I'd be long gone.

"Are you okay?" I asked. This was the first we'd been able to meet since Max and I had broken into their hotel room, grabbed Ivy and the laptop, and ran.

Four days of scheming and planning. Four days of gleaning all of the information we could from Ivy Deering. Four days of watching Lia, waiting for her to realize that Tasha had spilled her secrets.

If I was being honest, it wasn't just Lia I was watching. But Max. Ivy. Tasha.

The only one I trusted was Cedric and even that trust only went so far. I found myself questioning him, too. Especially with our operation so close. I had half a mind to go in alone, to rely on myself and no one else.

But Carmichael had arrived back in the city. He'd taken to camping out around the Shadow Lawn Mansion. Scouting, he'd told me, on the brief phone call we'd shared. Paranoia in his voice. He reported anything that seemed suspicious to me. He'd even managed to sneak inside the house once. He'd confirmed the information on the floorplans we'd found on the laptop Ivy had taken from Emilio and Pietro Esposito.

The laptop had been a valuable resource. More than valuable. Not only did it contain the floorplans to the entire mansion but maps of the grounds, strike teams who were to be watching the entrances and exits.

All of it sent to Helena who promised that a backup team was on their way. Ready to be debriefed and prepared for hell to break loose.

There was still information we needed. Intel so critical that Daniel and I had risked meeting again, in spite of the threat to both of us. His team was on high alert. With Carmichael leaving and Ivy escaping, they were growing cautious. Lucky for us, they still needed food so Daniel had been sent on a trip to restock.

I hadn't even lied when I'd informed Cedric where I was going. Though I didn't tell him the location, he knew that Daniel and I were to be meeting for intel. If any of the others asked, it was Carmichael – not Daniel – that I had gone to see.

"So?" I asked again when he didn't answer. A glance at his face was good for showing only the tension lining his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Define okay."

"Safe," I amended.

Daniel exhaled, a puff of air passing through his lips. "We're lying low. Moved locations again. Emilio thinks that Hawke came back for Ivy. He's pretty confident that there's no other way she could have escaped. I didn't see any reason to contradict him."