The danger she’d put this innocent woman in! Even though she’d done it to keep Jude safe.
“How you doing, Allie?” Ella was proud her voice didn’t break.
The petite woman with white-blond hair shrugged and leaned back into her man. King McNally wrapped a hard arm around his woman’s midsection and pressed a kiss to that sunlit hair. They fit. Like pieces of a puzzle. Ella had seen the hint of it in Spain. It was even more apparent now.
Deep inside Ella, anger burned. She wanted her puzzle piece, but Jude had been gone for a day and a half with zero contact. Ella had begged Vivi to help her find him. Vivi had refused, and Ella knew why.
Her team didn’t trust her.
Ella didn’t give a shit. Her man was out there hunting a madman, and he was doing it alone. Dresden was dangerous. When he was cornered, hunted, he was insanely crafty. Ella didn’t doubt Jude’s ability, but Dresden was a monster. If he caught Jude before Jude caught him… Well, he’d make Jude suffer. And that would destroy Ella. Everybody had a reason—for living, breathing, putting one foot in front of the other. Jude was Ella’s.
She had to get to Dresden before Jude. That was proving impossible because her teammates, including Brody, were with her every single minute. Nobody called it guard duty, but that’s exactly what it was.
“I’m good,” Allie Redding said with a grin, pulling Ella back to the conversation.
Ella decided she had to take a new tack if she wanted to evade her team and get to Ukraine. She’d gone over every scenario she thought Dresden would engage in. He’d suffered losses in New Mexico. But men were a dime a dozen for Dresden. He seemed to have an unlimited supply. He’d hole up in Ukraine because he had oil to sell.
Allie cleared her throat. “Don’t know that I ever thanked you for the help in Spain.”
Ella snorted. “Considering I helped put you in the hot seat, it’s the least I could do.”
“You talked to Vivi yet?” King asked.
Ella narrowed her gaze on him. “Why?”
“Well, I think it’s time you gave us a debriefing, right? I mean, it’s been a year, Ella.” His voice communicated a vein of distrust, but Ella knew he wouldn’t let Allie anywhere near her if he thought she was a danger to the team.
She nodded, but her words belied the action. “Maybe.”
“Maybe, hell,” Rook said from the doorway. “Time is now.”
“Still pissed about Russia, Granger?” Ella asked, keeping her voice low.
Rook grinned. “Damn straight, Ella-Bella. Ain’t no chick gonna take me down and not suffer for it.”
Speaking of chicks, her cat, Chica, strolled into the room, jumping into Ella’s lap and nudging her nose against Ella’s chin. “Hey, baby,” she whispered, burying her hands in the cat’s soft fur.
The cat had taken to Endgame Ops like a cat to, well, milk. The team complained. Sometimes King fake sneezed, but for the most part, they’d accepted Ella’s surprise animal like they did everything else involved with the team—easily. Besides, Vivi had a cat too. Knight liked to feed him Twizzlers.
“It’s time, Ella,” Vivi said from the door, alarm in her voice.
Ella’s head snapped up, her gaze pinning Vivi.
“It’s not good,” Vivi responded. “I’ve got everything set up in the war room.”
Ella was up that quickly, following Vivi to the house’s former ballroom. It had been converted into a large communications room, similar in feel to Jude’s in New Mexico. His old one anyway. The entire house had been fortified with steel, the windows bulletproofed. It was a mini Fort Knox, each member having donated their specific skill set to ensuring it was as safe as any building could possibly be.
Ella had spent the last thirty-six hours searching for clues to where Jude had gone. She’d also searched for clues that Dresden was back in Ukraine. She’d researched Noah Caine and his daughters, along with Gabrielle Moeller, to the nth degree. And she’d begged Vivi for help. Ella wasn’t eating, was barely sleeping—because how could she sleep without Jude surrounding her? She was close to breaking.
King must have realized it and demanded they do this right now.
Ella walked into the room, noticing nothing had changed since she’d been here last. It would have felt like home if Jude had been there with her.
But he wasn’t, and it was time to go to work.
King, Allie, and Brody sat on the left side of the war table. Rook and Ella sat on the right side. Vivi stood at the head.
“Where are Black and Knight?” Ella asked no one in particular.
“Looking for Chase and Dr. Gabrielle Moeller in Burundi. Apparently, Abrafo Nadege took a liking to the lovely Dr. Moeller, and Chase has had a bitch of a time keeping her safe,” Brody informed her.
Gabrielle Moeller is just another pawn on the chessboard, Ella thought. She wondered what the woman’s role would be in the game. Her gaze sought the big, white boards behind Vivi. On one board were pictures of Moeller, Anna Beth, and Cameron Markov, and of course, their father, Noah Caine, the Piper. On a second board were pics of Dresden, the prime minister of Russia, and Anton Segorski. A map of Crimea was highlighted in yellow between Dresden and the prime minister, and a line went from one board to another, delineating the connection between Dresden and Anna Beth Caine. On the third board was a picture of the White House, several lines coming off it with a picture of Noah Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in the middle. Ella wondered who the other lines were for.
Vivi cleared her throat, and it was so quintessentially Vivi that Ella felt a smile almost curve her lips. Then Endgame’s chief analyst started talking, and the potential for a smile lessened significantly.
“Let’s start with Africa, shall we? Burundi is a hotbed of unrest, along with most of Africa. Dresden has cemented his foot right in
