Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

bored Elite officer from making her and everything she knew disappear. Well, she could kill the sonofabitch herself, of course, but leaving a string of dead bodies behind was bad practice for an intelligence operative. Someone had mentioned that to her once or twice.

But that too was something she would have to deal with when the time came.

‘Are you making plans for your… tactical withdrawal?’ she asked instead, lightening the mood with her usual, almost mocking light-heartedness.

‘I’ll be out in time, don’t worry about me,’ he reassured her with a smile. ‘Get out and get to work!’

Somewhere deep down, a part of his brain wanted to apologise for the deep shit he was leaving her in, but that part of his brain, where humanity persisted in its truest form, had no access to his decision-making at that point. It couldn’t have. It was a blessing and a curse that Ingram understood everything he left unspoken. Some things were just impossible to put into words, but it seemed like a cowardly choice not to even try.

When the door closed, Gonzalez allowed himself a long, slow breath. The adrenaline was still buzzing high and he wanted to make the best of it. He was a master at planning and strategy. His brain could see dozens of different angles at the same time, compare them, modify them and choose the most effective option. He always knew which option came with what consequences. He always juggled the balance between getting the job done and any necessary sacrifices perfectly. But the key word was planning in advance; he was nowhere near as good at improvising as Toscano.

From day one, Sergeant Carlotta Ingram had been there to solidify his cover. Every day, he used her presence to boost his own position, to show his status. Every day, he made himself treat her like shit. She was too junior, too insignificant herself to be seen as a threat, but remained crucial to the operation nonetheless. Something, somewhere, somehow had gone terribly wrong, and yet she had the best chance of staying behind and watching Wagner while maintaining her cover.

Colonel Larsen was used to plans falling through; that was why he always had alternatives available. After all, no plan was ever known to have survived contact with the enemy. Right now, however, he didn’t know what the hell had gone wrong. Someone must have screwed up and the lack of knowledge of who and how made him more unnerved than he was willing to admit. But adrenaline was there to sharpen his instincts, and he was getting back in control.

Whatever Wagner, or Chief Commissioner Brau-Hastings, wanted with their elusive civilian could not be good. He needed to grab her and run. Nothing else mattered.

CHAPTER 3

Lyon’s 4th Police Station

South-Central Lyon

Afro-European Alliance

Monday 20 April 2725

DAY 1

‘Commissioner Wagner,’ Gonzalez said a couple of hours later, extending his hand.

‘DCI Gonzalez,’ Wagner replied, his handshake firm and seemingly courteous. ‘I would like to settle down to work as soon as possible, but some changes will be necessary first.’

At first glance, Commissioner Louis Wagner was no different than a standard Elite. Tall, healthy-looking and confident. Maybe even handsome in a way, if one wasn’t put off by his self-assured attitude, which promised an above-average level of cockiness. His bottle-green eyes, however, were a different story. They were that dangerous mix of coldness and extreme Elite superiority that never boded well for the people around him, especially those who were junior or of lower birth.

‘Of course, sir. We are ready to continue whenever you please.’ Gonzalez was distantly surprised by how even his voice sounded despite the whirlwind of activity inside his mind. A testimony to years of gruelling training, a lot of it self-imposed.

He briefly considered introducing the rest of his team, or what was left of it—Inspector Norah Bellefeuille, Sergeant Carlotta Ingram, Gendarmes Evan Bianco and Marco Schulze and his aide, Gendarme Megan O’Haress—but decided against it. DCI Gonzalez’s personality was supposed to be too self-serving for such altruism. He opened his mouth instead to invite Wagner into his office, but the commissioner cut him short.

‘Always awkward to be relieved as lead investigator, and it would be understandable if you wanted to request reassignment, but I can’t allow that. This has to be sorted out quickly, and I require you.’ His eyes flicked around the conference room, ignoring Gonzalez. ‘You may have been unsuccessful at tracing one single civilian for months, but it has finally been done. Breaking in another officer would be an unnecessary distraction right now. I would like to keep you as an adviser.’

It was hard to follow his gaze precisely, but Gonzalez had no doubt that Wagner was paying far more attention to the security features and cams than the case files scattered around the room. In a fashion similar to his conference room at MIS HQ, Gonzalez surrounded himself with a hard copy of every snippet of evidence belonging to the investigation.

‘Inspector Bellefeuille, I would like you to visit the VR expert, Eloise Moretti, at her home right now. Directions are already on your account. I need Ms Moretti to visit us at the 4th first thing tomorrow morning. I will need the rest of today to familiarise myself with the case and all the pertinent details. Please issue the invitation, give her nothing but the bare minimum information at this stage, and arrange to have her picked up for delivery.’

Wagner graced Bellefeuille with his eyes while speaking to her, a courtesy he didn’t extend to Gonzalez. It spoke volumes about how the power of dynamics was about to shift at the 4th.

But there was a silver lining in being ignored, and Gonzalez didn’t hesitate in taking advantage of it. The little attention Wagner gave him allowed Gonzalez ample opportunity to act unnoticed. A quick glance at Megan ordered her to break into Bellefeuille’s account, retrieve the directions to find the elusive Ms Moretti and send them to Lieutenant Rivas. He had no doubt Megan