Langley, Virginia – Twenty Years Later
The red flash was blinking on the private line but he dared not touch it. It could only bring bad news. Nothing good had ever come through the ear piece of that telephone.
“Chief Supervisor, the phone.”
He looked up at the woman standing before him, his mouth becoming a fine line of anger.
“Agent Lipinski, what is your rank in this agency?” he asked coldly. The young woman stared at him uncomprehendingly.
“I am a junior special agent, sir,” she replied slowly.
“Do you know what my title is in this agency?”
Her face grew pale as if she realized her mistake in pointing out such an obvious thing as a ringing phone.
“Yes, sir, Chief Supervisor, sir.”
“Then I suggest you remember where you are on the food chain the next time you choose to speak without being spoken to.”
Special Agent Lipinski stared at her matte pumps, humiliation coloring her cheeks and Drake turned toward the bright red stationary telephone.
To his chagrin, the light continued to blink.
“Yes?” he growled, snatching the receiver into his hand. His face remained locked in an expression of stone as he listened.
Without a word, he replaced the earpiece in its cradle and sat back in his high-back leather chair.
“Sir? Is there something I should know?”
Slowly, Drake raised his eyes to stare at Lipinski, his expression laced in ice.
“Get out.”
The woman’s face went pale and she visibly swallowed, turning to flee the room as if the two words he had spoken would send her crumbling into a pile of broken masonry.
As she disappeared out the door, Drake twisted the chair to stare at the red phone, the voice on the line echoing endlessly in his ears.
It has been sixteen years, he thought. Sixteen years since their last contact and now they have decided to resurface. Why? Why now?
He had no way of knowing. Drake had nothing they could want. He had forsaken his vendetta against them for Shirley’s death, knowing that it could only lead to more pain for his family. If he continued the fight against Oculus, he would never see the boys again.
They are not boys anymore. They are men now. Four grown men. And I have no idea where they are because Oculus had murdered Vance too.
“Chief Supervisor?”
Ryan Angles poked his head inside the office.
“What is it?” he asked the Senior Supervisor.
“Are you all right? Lipinski said the red phone rang.”
Drake studied his second-in-command.
“Sir?” Angles prompted.
“Get rid of her.”
The senior supervisor stared at him, his mouth agape.
“Get rid of her?” he repeated. “As in- “
“She is not Central Intelligence Agency material. Get rid of her.”
“Chief Supervisor, with all due respect, Lipinski – “
“Is fired. Give her an adequate severance package. Any agent who cannot keep their mouth shut for two minutes has no business in this agency.”
Angle’s face registered consternation but he clamped his mouth closed, backing away. Drake watched as he tried not to storm from the second-tier office but he could easily read the ire in the man’s face.
He was angry, but Drake didn’t care. In fact, he wanted that reaction.
Drake remembered the voice on the phone.
It was better that they all loathed him.
Anyone who got too close to him wound up dead or in hiding for the rest of their lives.
Oculus is back and I cannot afford to lose anyone else.
He still needed to find his boys.
The five of us must reunite. Drake realized that Oculus had to be stopped – once and for all.
It is the only way we can take on Oculus and win.