“She’s shown up on a regular basis for the last eighteen months.” Madeline opened the bread and slid two slices in the toaster. “If she’s on the same schedule, she should be back either this week or next.”
“You’ve been working on the satellite project for longer than that,” Drake prompted.
“Yes. I’ve been working on it for almost four years,” she replied, getting the butter from the fridge. “But she didn’t show up until eighteen months ago. At least that was the first I heard of her, and I think I would have known. Nolan’s secretary can be gossipy. Everyone in the company thinks she’s either from the government or another corporation who wants to buy out Byrne—which is ridiculous. There’s not enough money in the world to make Nolan give up his company. It’s his everything. And some people think she’s a sex worker.”
“I doubt that very much.” Somehow he didn’t think sex workers came equipped with off-market tech that allowed them the freedom to move around without the cameras being able to capture their faces.
“And I doubt she’s with the government,” Drake added.
“How can you possibly know that?” Boomer asked. “I get that you’re connected, but you can’t know everything that’s going on. She could be Department of Defense or NASA.”
“I’m certain because if the Agency doesn’t have that tech, no one in the government does.” Drake sat down at the bar and studied the group for a moment. “I’m going to share classified information with you because I think you’re my best shot at identifying this woman. A few years ago I was made aware of a clandestine group of some of the world’s wealthiest business leaders who work together to maintain power. They’re a new version of a group McKay-Taggart took down ten years ago. We always knew they would come back in some form. I sent out two of my best operatives at the time. They worked their way into one of the lower levels of the group.”
Kyle frowned. “Me. He’s talking about me.”
MaeBe’s eyes widened. “Seriously? You’re doing this now?”
One big shoulder shrugged. “You know I worked for the Agency. Everyone suspects it. I’m trying to be a better Kyle, and that means admitting I was one of Drake’s operatives. It seems to be connected somehow to this case.”
“He’s right.” Boomer turned off the burner. “If I’m pretty sure of something, then everyone else knows. He’s got that Agency look about him.”
“There is no Agency look,” Kyle insisted. “Anyway, when I was in college I would come home for the summers, and one of the perks of working for very little money at my uncle’s business was reading the case files.”
Drake’s head shook. “Classified information was in those files.”
“Yeah, my uncle’s not big on that. Anyway, I had read a bit about the group called The Collective. When I started working for the CIA, I recognized some of the same methods and manipulations coming from a new group.”
“Kyle is the one who identified The Consortium, and he and his partner at the time began working to collect data on the group,” Drake continued.
“You never mentioned a partner.” MaeBe looked up at Kyle.
“I don’t talk about her. She’s not a good memory.” Kyle’s jaw went tight, and he didn’t meet MaeBe’s gaze. “She ended up turning and joining the very group we were trying to bring down.”
Drake took over. “The operative is now deceased, but the group is still working. I’ve sent a report with all the relevant information to Alex and Big Tag that they will be forwarding to all of you. This group likes to use female liaisons to negotiate with the corporations they work with. Many of these women were recruited from intelligence agencies across the globe.”
“What do these liaisons do?” Maddie had a concerned look on her face.
“Any number of different jobs,” Drake explained. “We’re certain they negotiate to buy emerging technology in order to keep it off the market in certain cases. They also engage in corporate espionage if they’re dealing with a company outside the network. We’re fairly certain they’ve assassinated three heads of corporations around the globe so they could install their own more friendly CEOs.”
Maddie paled. “That woman who visits Nolan has killed people?”
“It’s very likely.” Kyle had both hands palms down on the bar as though he needed the support to remain standing. “This woman is dangerous. It’s why we need to get that picture. We need to identify and track her.”
“Kyle, are you still working for the Agency?” Deke needed to know where Kyle’s loyalties lay.
His hands came up. “Absolutely not. I left all of that behind when I came to McKay-Taggart. The only reason I’m talking about this now is it came up on this case. I talked to my uncle and Alex a bit about what I know after Noelle’s case, but most of this stuff is highly classified and had to come from Drake. But there’s no question that I would go back in if I thought I could take that group down.”