Page 89 of Code Name: Typhon
Z and I have the realized who the woman was who’d just abducted O at the same time. She was a member of the UK task force, which meant the coalition had a double agent in their midst. I couldn’t all that entailed in terms of ramifications. I had to focus on was the scene playing out on the screen in front of me.
The man who’d exited from the rear of the vehicle opened the front passenger door, pulled an unconscious Oleander out, and carried her to a door leading into the warehouse.
“On my three,” I heard Poseidon say through the comms moments after we saw them pull up to the same warehouse. Seconds later, he and Ares stormed into the building, where we’d no longer have eyes, firing as they went.
I held my breath as multiple rounds of shots rang out.
“All suspects are down. O is safe. No apparent injuries other than the effects of being drugged,” Ares reported a minute later. “We’re gonna need a cleanup crew in here.”
I pulled off the comms set and walked out of the room. When Z came out, he found me pacing the hallway.
“Once I know where O is being transported, I’ll let you know,” he said. “You can see her in the morning. For now, Eliza is already on her way. A car is waiting downstairs to take you to her apartment. She should be there by the time you arrive.”
That had to mean she was being transported by helicopter. “Thank you, Z.”
“Try to remember to send my secretary flowers tomorrow.”
“I’ll take care of it on the way,” I said as I approached him. We embraced, then I rushed off in the direction of the lift.
As promised, Eliza was waiting for me when I arrived at her building. I raced inside and gathered her in my arms while she held onto me in the lift and continued to do so until we were inside her apartment.
“What can I do, Levi?”
“Exactly what you’ve been doing.”
As we lay in bed, I rested my head on her stomach while she stroked my back and ran her fingers through my hair. I’d never had anyone comfort me in the way she was, and realized how much I needed it. I also knew I could never, ever give it up.
The next day, we drove to Shere together. While I went to see Oleander, Eliza waited in town. I’d offered to take her to Brighton first, but she insisted she wanted to stay close by.
After my meeting ended, I was grateful El was here. What I’d learned from O had shaken me to my core. For the first time since I’d met her, I finally knew what had driven her to pursue AMPS the way she had. As I’d suspected, it was personal. Salvatore Rávdos, the man whose name I’d used to taunt her, was responsible for her parents’ deaths when she was still a teenager.
The person the coalition had been tracking since Mithras’ death, Pharaoh, had confessed Rávdos was dead shortly before she’d been killed in the shootout with Poseidon and Ares.
In a similar way to how much she’d changed after reuniting with Poseidon, this news was transformative for O. The fight had left her. While she’d agreed to continue assisting the coalition in their hunt for the remaining AMPS’ leaders, her perspective was night-and-day different. “I have the answers I sought. It’s no longer my battle, Typhon,” she said shortly before I left.
I couldn’t begin to describe the relief I felt. In the last couple of years especially, I’d almost lost her more than once. Knowing Poseidon would keep her safe both from harm and from herself, I accepted her resignation from the unit. I expected to feel sad about it, but I didn’t. It was the right decision for her.
“What do you say we head straight to Algarve?” I asked El when I picked her up after checking in with Kima before leaving the command center compound.
“It’s an excellent idea. We could both use the visit.”
While she’d included herself, I knew what she really meant—what she saw—was how much I needed it, and I loved her for it.
I slept on the flight, and when we landed and I checked my mobile, there was an urgent message from Nemesis.
“What now?” I barked when she answered my return call, still angry over her intended interference with the Italian crime families.
“Typhon, when was the last time you spoke with Z?”
“Yesterday. I was with him at Vauxhall Cross during Oleander’s rescue. Why?”
“Were you aware of his intention to resign as chief?”
Z Alexander was one of my closest and most trusted friends. That Nemesis was questioning me about him sent my ire skyrocketing. “Whatever conversations Z and I have had are confidential.”
“Thanks for your help, Typhon,” she spat before abruptly ending the call.
If the woman, whose position with the coalition already seemed a grave error on the UN’s part, kept this attitude up with me, she’d soon learn how it really felt to go up against the commander of Unit 23.