Free Administrative Control (Immortal Ops) by Mandy M. Roth

twisted and mentally unstable. None of them wanted to think Weston met that same fate.
    “Because no matter what, I knew you’d take this bad. It gets worse,” said Asher.
    “Meaning?” Lukian’s eyes fluttered shut momentarily.
    “Preliminary reports on the Seattle bloodshed are pointing in the direction of some Outcasts,” said Asher. He didn’t want to be the bearer of the news. No one in their right mind would. This wasn’t information anyone wanted to hear, let alone a man whose DNA had been used.
    Wilson lowered his head, his temper coming through. “You mean the brave men who signed on for this but ended up dead because of the fuck-ups of the scientists? They end up slaughter on a pier and we find out how many days later?”
    “Hey,” injected Green. “Colonel wasn’t here for any of that. You know as well as I do that he wasn’t part of the organization when we were created. He came on after. And, they weren’t the slaughtered, Wilson. From what we’ve been able to gather, they might very well have been the ones doing the killing.”
    Wilson gasped.
    “I don’t know what I know anymore,” said Roi, thumbing through the files. “Missy once asked me if I was I-Ops Team One or Two. I thought she was nuts. But she was right.”
    Asher nodded. “She is the reason I asked Jinx to put an ear to the ground to start with. I started digging for more information after Missy’s intel came past my desk. I didn’t find anything, but that was the problem,” Asher admitted. “I should have found something. The very fact there was nothing, no mention of the Outcasts, no anything, it made me wonder who was doing what to try to clean up everything to do with the Ops teams.”
    “This has to go high and deep,” said Lukian. “And no, I don’t blame you.”
    “We should call Jon back in,” said Wilson. “He was close to Weston. He’ll want to know he’s still alive.”  
    Asher put his hands on the back of the chair before him and looked at his men. Jon had finally called in, letting them all know he was fine but that he needed more personal time. Asher couldn’t have agreed more. “Jon is where he needs to be. His head isn’t in the game. He could get himself killed. None of us want that. Besides, you all need to go to the last page of the files before you. I think you’ll understand why we can’t recall Jon right now.”
    Lukian flipped to the last page and gasped. “He’s alive?”
    “Who?” asked Wilson, looking as well. He leapt back in his seat. “We buried him. We were all there.”  
    “We buried what we thought was Lance’s body,” said Asher, his tone solemn. He couldn’t let the rage inside him out. He knew as much but his anger burned deep.  
    “Our government did this?” asked Roi. “They fucking switched bodies and did what with Lance?”  
    “Not our government,” said Green. “Read more. Krauss and Molyneux were behind it. This is one thing we can’t pin on the men in charge.”
    “Christ, you’re telling me Krauss has had Lance all this time?” asked Roi, his skin pale as he looked as though he were about to be sick.
    “I’m telling you that information before you is all I have. I’m done keeping secrets from you,” returned Asher. “You know what I know.”
    “Are we going through the proper channels to get him back?” asked Lukian, an edge to his voice.  
    “Fuck no,” answered Asher. “Not until we know who in those channels can be trusted. From this point on, we’re on the same lockdown that PSI is. We keep our friends close and we bring in people we trust fully. No one else. Got it?”  
    The men nodded. “Yes, sir,” they said.
    “Now, let’s get out there and meet with contacts and informants. General Newman and I are going to pool resources and see what else we can find out. I’m tired of being on the defensive. It’s time we formulated a plan and got ahead of this all.”
    His men stood and each saluted him before exiting the room.