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

south. His security system is piss poor compared to the Roc’s. There are always six security guards on duty, four on patrol and two in a building adjacent to the house watching the security cams. Everything, map and all, is in the files I just sent.’

Megan spat the information out clearly, but quickly, as if she were fearful the call might be interrupted at any moment.

‘Got it,’ Gonzalez replied.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask. A second, more critical look at her face showed him that not all signs of mistreatment were gone. There was still some swelling visible, and her lips slurred her words ever so slightly. He wanted to know what had happened. He desperately needed to reassure himself that she was fine, but he knew it was wishful thinking. She wasn’t fine, and she most certainly wasn’t safe. She was in the hands of a dangerous psychopath who had clearly done his best to beat the utter crap out of her over the last few days and was still using her as his sex toy. And who knew what was under the eye patch.

‘Is the connection secure?’ he asked instead. He had to stay professional for Megan’s sake.

‘Yes, sir,’ she said instantly. ‘Wagner and Bellefeuille are out and no one else has a clue.’ Her voice wavered, and suddenly she looked even more tired. Her body had held on long enough for her to report, and now that it was done, it was trying to shut down on her.

She inhaled sharply, and Gonzalez heard a faint sniffle, but chose to pretend otherwise.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ Megan began, her voice a little stronger, and he had to suppress a sudden urge to shout at her for apologising. ‘I couldn’t contact you before. Things got… rough after you left. Even after I gave him that file from your computer, even after he had your head on a silver platter, he didn’t trust me. He…’ Her voice wavered again, and she took another deep breath to compose herself. The memory of how she had pointed Wagner’s attention to the file she had planted was haunting her. ‘Marco is dead. It wasn’t pretty.’

She looked like she wanted to scream that she had killed him, to berate herself for it, but she couldn’t allow herself to think like that. There was no putting those demons back in the box if she let them out. Gonzalez understood it well. There was a time for guilt, and there was a time to ignore it.

‘You did what you had to do,’ he said firmly. He had lost track of how many times he had said those words to his subordinates or heard his COs say them to him. They didn’t miraculously make things better, but they did help some.

‘I tried not to. I… I could have taken it all, sir, but he wouldn’t trust me. I had to make him trust me. I had a file, a fake video, showing Marco and you…’ Her voice trailed off. Part of her felt uneasy telling Gonzalez what she had concocted, but mainly she felt ashamed of what she had done, and saying it out loud was making it worse. ‘It really wasn’t pretty. Wagner went berserk. He totally forgot I even existed. Marco had no clue what was going on, of course, but it wasn’t long before he admitted to everything. Anything to end it. I—’ Her voice broke again, and she took a deep breath.

Focus, woman, she admonished herself. For fuck’s sake, focus!

‘What’s the situation at the 4th now?’ Gonzalez asked, and she nodded with thanks, glad to have something else to think about.

‘All the reports are in the files I sent you, sir.’

She’d had days to compile a report, including everything she had managed to find, even providing annotations. But that wasn’t the same as actually talking face to face, hearing the words out loud and bouncing suggestions off one another. Quickly she decided to start with the information she had confirmed so that she could finish with the suppositions.

‘There is a bounty for your capture. Wagner shared it with all the police stations in the Alliance. It’s huge; it will secure a Leech gendarme a hundred times over for life—even an Elite officer won’t pass up such a tempting amount of money.

‘Military Command is letting the MIS handle this on our end. The MIS officially refused to comment, pending your debrief, and demanded that you will be turned over to them if taken by the police. From what I’ve seen of Wagner, he wouldn’t hesitate to forget to report to the MIS that you have been captured. His friends are powerful enough to cover for him if he does so. I also think he has official backing from the Central Police Inspectorate. High Commissioner Brau-Hastings is definitely supporting Wagner, but she isn’t the only one.

‘He also has support in the military, probably in Military Command. I’ve overheard a number of names over the last couple of days—they’re all in my report—though I have no evidence to tie them to anything.’ She paused briefly, watching for any response from Gonzalez, but got none. ‘I haven’t risked any contact with the MIS, but what I’ve heard is that Lieutenant Rivas apparently disappeared before being debriefed. They suspect someone helped him out, so there is a witch hunt on for your secret supporters. And I heard he only just made it out—the suspiciously good timing is what has set people on edge.

‘Sergeant Ingram’s XST has been investigated and analysed down to every grain of ash. They confirmed that the VRP was destroyed, which is keeping Wagner relatively calm for now. He planned—He was ordered to place Ms Moretti and the VRP on board the same XST for disposal. Sir, she is the one who actually wrote the VRP, and Wagner knew that from the start.’

Gonzalez nodded quickly, indicating it wasn’t news to him and prompting the woman to continue.

‘He is now keeping an eye on the