Wintersfall

CHAPTER FOUR

Three days later

First Intelligence Office

Haven City, Sziveria

Despite a strong urge to reach for Kat's hand, Sean resisted. Anxiety flowed from her in waves, crashing into him and setting him further on edge. She kept fisting and unfisting her hands at her sides, exhibiting the nerves the rest of them were too proud to show. The moment they'd set foot onto Sziverian soil, a member of the FIO had been waiting for them.

While Mason and Kevin had returned to their homeland in the past three years, Sean and Kat had not. This wasn't exactly the homecoming he'd been expecting. Then again, he wasn't sure what he'd ever anticipated of a city that held nothing except bad memories.

One more certainly wouldn't matter.

Ryan Voklane's office door was partially open. After a quick knock of warning, the team stepped inside. Two chairs sat before his desk, and he motioned towards them. Sean gave a nod for Kat to sit and he took the chair beside her. Mason and Kevin lingered closer to the door.

Perhaps it was just a show of power, but Ryan ignored their presence, continuing to work on a document in silence. When he was done, he folded his hands over the paper and looked at each of them before speaking. "I'm sure I don't need to say why you're here."

"One failed mission and suddenly we're at the bottom?" Sean couldn't help ask.

"You don't fail."

"We aren't given misinformation, either."

Voklane tilted his head. "Misinformation?"

"We were told to handle the situation the day of, no sooner."

"Those orders had been delivered three days before."

Sean furrowed his brow. "We didn't get them."

Ryan sighed and shuffled through a stack of papers on the corner of his desk. He removed a pale green folder and flipped it open. "Sent on the sixth to Wilhelm, Gaula. Delivered on the ninth for execution. I have all the signatures here."

Sean accepted the folder and looked it over. "Who is Kenneth Linray?"
Ryan shrugged. "A courier we hired."

Handing it back, Sean said, "Well, he didn't do his job. He lied."

"I'll look into it," Ryan said as he accepted the closed folder. "In the meantime, you're home until further notice. I'm sure you already know, but the diplomat did indeed have HRS. He killed every person in the meeting. They aren't dead yet, but they might as well be. Cairo is understandably upset. We'd promised to take care of it."

"And we would have."

"Yes, well, would have doesn't work for them," Ryan sighed. "I'll look into this failure of assignment notification and try to talk to Arch Guardian Synintel. As you said, one failed mission in three years is more than acceptable. You all set an impossibly high standard for yourselves."

"So just go home?" Mason asked from the doorway.

Ryan nodded. "Yes, go home. Sean and Kat, you need to maintain your cover nation-side, so I'm sure you'll understand if you keep your marriage up for appearances' sake."

Sean's heart skipped a beat. Their what? "Excuse me?"

"Your marriage. Don't worry about the logistics, we put an announcement in the paper yesterday upon expectation of your arrival."

Sean glanced at Kat, who'd gone ashen. "So... we're expected to be on an assignment in Haven City as husband and wife?"

"No, you are husband and wife, just as you have been for three years. Come on, you two, nothing has changed just because you're home. Your government contract work isn't over yet, so neither is the marriage."