Agent Fields sighed. “Nobody trusts Force, and even though we have Nari on the team, we figured having one more mole wouldn’t hurt. Brigid’s job is to report back on everyone, especially Force. You know he’s nuts, right?”

Raider took a step back from her, and her hand dropped to her side. Red hazed his vision, and he cleared it without changing his expression. “Why not just tell us the truth?”

Rutherford snorted. “Seriously? You’re the crappiest band of misfits ever seen, and as soon as Force figures out his ghost isn’t real, you’re being disbanded. The only reason you’re in place, Agent Tanaka, is because Force wanted you there. The juice you think you have at HDD isn’t there any longer.”

Raider swallowed. His ego was taking such a beating from every direction, he might have to rethink his vow to the damn agency.

Fields nodded. “Sleeping with the wrong woman can have worse consequences than you think. You have some seriously high-up enemies, my friend.”

“We’re supposed to fail,” Raider said slowly, losing any illusion of elite status. He was just another agent, a cog in the wheel. Oh, he might be good at his job, but apparently that didn’t mean shit. “Force is being appeased until we fail bad enough that even he won’t have enough friends to keep the Deep Ops unit open.”

“Yep,” Rutherford said cheerfully. “It was a shock when the unit actually prevented the bombings weeks ago. Who knew? But you’re one mission away from failure.”

Fields sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Agent Tanaka. But you have to see how desperate Force is to find a dead guy, how lost Malcolm West is after leaving the police force, how irritated Nari is at being in the unit, and how shit-assed crazy Clarence Wolfe is. How could you think this was anything other than temporary?” His voice held so much sympathy, Raider wanted to puke.

It hit him then. While the leaders in the HDD wanted them to fail, they didn’t have the power to make them stop. “Ah, hell. Lassiter really is alive.” Force was correct, or no way would the HDD be allowing such a group to exist. “You’re afraid Force will go public with that news, and that maybe, just maybe, people will believe him.” It was a risk, either way. But putting Force in place with a bungling group that was bound to fail made for a better government plan. Maybe Miss A had been wrong. Perhaps he should’ve gone the other route.

No. Miss A was never wrong.

Brigid faltered next to his side. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth.”

“How long?” Raider asked quietly, his chest aching more than the other injuries.

She blinked. “How long, what?”