Page 24 of Destroyer
Sydney waited, but the room had fallen silent.
“Excellent work, Fox Key,” Lorne said. “Thank you all for being here.”
At 4:20 pm, the debrief had officially ended.
Everyone filed out, leaving her alone with Lorne and his supervisor, Tracie. She’d been ass-in-the-chair for four hours. She wiggled her ankles, desperate to get outside and go for a full-tilt run through her Alexandria neighborhood.
“What do I need to know?” Tracie asked.
Sydney glanced at Lorne, who nodded once.
Hoping to keep this meeting to under an hour, she said, “The organization is a front for sex trafficking. The majority of clients are in the US, but there’re growing groups in the UK, Italy, Australia, and Canada. There may be more countries, but that’s what we’ve got for now.”
“I see,” Tracie said.
“It’s more like a cult,” Lorne explained. “These men are enticed with the promise of power. They learn how to manipulate, maybe even hypnotize, and lure women with financial opportunities.”
“It’s complicated,” Sydney added, “yet simple at the same time.”
“Explain,” Tracie said.
Thirty minutes later, Sydney had regurgitated a lot of information. She was done. She’d been done hours ago. Her foot was bobbing up and down, while her fingers tapped out a frenetic rhythm on the tabletop.
“Are we good?” Lorne asked.
“Yes, that was very thorough,” Tracie replied. “Fox Key, could there be any repercussions from taking out Todd Petersen?”
Of course there could be repercussions.
Lorne nodded. “Fox Key, lay low for a few.”
Lay low? I don’t think so…
She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get the words out, Lorne added, “Keep a go-bag at the ready.”
She smiled. “I can drop off the grid in ten.”
Tracie stood. “Impressive. What’s your background, Fox Key?”
“I’ve been at Langley since college, ma’am.”
“What did you study?” Tracie asked.
“Guns,” Sydney answered.
Tracie’s eyebrows crowded her forehead. “You majored in guns?”
Lorne chuckled. “Fox Key double majored in international relations and criminal justice.”
“Are we good?” Sydney asked, eager to leave.
Lorne extended his hand. As she shook it, he said, “Excellent job. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you, Fox Key,” Tracie said.
Sydney shook Tracie’s hand, shouldered her handbag, and left. Bypassing the elevator, she trotted down the stairs. Those meetings were like fingernails on a chalkboard. Instead of returning to her cubicle, she exited the building. Fully expecting Lorne to call her, she climbed into her Jeep, set her phone in the console tray, and drove out.
She knew that by taking out Petersen, she’d poked the bear. While King A would stay well hidden, he’d probably arranged for a group of henchmen to find her.
