Page 66 of Crosscurrent

EAT SOMETHING BEFORE YOU MAKE BAD DECISIONS.

Someone had underlined bad twice. She suspected Reagan.

The full team had come back together this morning without much ceremony. Tom and Piper had arrived first, Piper still in yesterday’s sweatshirt and carrying what appeared to be an emergency breakfast situation—a paper bag that smelled of the Grill’s breakfast biscuits.

Tom had gone straight to the Rig.

Piper had done one quick read of the room, clocked that it was serious, and settled at the corner workstation with her laptop open.

Reagan sat at the far end of the table with her own laptop and a legal pad. Gabe stood near the security monitors. Wade had claimed the chair closest to the door. Owen had arranged himself at the conference table with the cipher notebook open and a box of tissues relocated to his immediate right. Agent had materialized from somewhere and selected Owen’s elbow as a perch. Skye occupied the far workbench, one boot hooked on a lower rung, her wrapped hand resting on her knee.

Cara stood at the head of the table. “All right. Tom, let’s hear what we’ve got so far.”

“Neptune’s convinced Skye or Owen have the cipher. My guess is they also know one of them can decode it,” Tom concluded. “Owen because Ray taught him. Skye because Ray trusted her. Either way, they’ll keep coming at us until they get the decoded witness list.”

Owen had gone still at his end of the table.

“So we need to make our stand in Svalbard,” Cara said.

Gabe set his mug down with a soft click. “Agreed.”

She shook her head. “But that’s only the beginning. So what if we prevent them from stealing the cipher in Norway, what’s to stop them from trying again next week? Or next year? If they believe the cipher reveals the witness list, they’ll keep coming.”

Protecting Owen and Skye wasn’t a solution. Even protecting the cipher wasn’t a solution. At best, it was delay.

Wade folded his arms. “You’re not wrong. Neptune’s been chasing this thing for years.”

“Longer than that,” Skye said. “The people above Ortiz won’t quit because one operation fails.”

Gabe studied the map for a moment before speaking. “Then we stop thinking about Norway as the finish line.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“It isn’t?” Reagan asked.

“No.” He tapped the edge of the table. “Norway is where we force Neptune into the open. That’s all. We identify people. We gather intelligence. We learn things we don’t know now.”

“And then?” Cara asked.

Gabe’s gaze met hers. “Then we figure out how to make the thing they’re chasing worthless.”

For a moment nobody spoke.

Tom slowly sat back in his chair and tapped a pen against his teeth. “Yes. Okay. That’s a much more interesting problem.”

Owen frowned. “How exactly do we make this witness list worthless?”

“I have no idea,” Tom admitted. “But if your uncle spent twenty years staying ahead of Neptune, I refuse to believe his entire strategy depended on one notebook.”

Skye made eye contact with each of them, one by one. “Ray was careful. There’s another answer somewhere.”

Tom took off his glasses and squeezed the back of his neck. “We just have to find it in time.”

Skye looked dangerous now, her eyes narrowed, lips tight. “We need intel from Neptune operatives. Catching some can’t be that hard.”

Owen looked ready to argue, but Wade was already nodding enthusiastically. “Copy that, sister. Just give me five minutes and a couple stun grenades. I got this.”

“Sounds fun,” Skye added. “I’m in.”