Blood and Bone: (Royal Blood #6) Read Online Free PDF

were led into a private office and closed inside with the agent, the din was muffled through the walls lined with television screens showing much of the same footage playing outside.
    “Blood, Reid.” The agent nodded at us before undoing the button on his suit jacket and leaning against the edge of the desk. “I’m Agent Alexander Folsom. I’m head of MI6’s International Anti-terrorism Taskforce, codenamed Black Heart…and I’m your handler.”
    “You knew about Section Seven all this time?” I asked.
    “Section Seven isn’t so secret anymore, Agent,” he replied. “Not since its director turned the entire building into matchsticks, but yes. In the event of a breach of operations, I’m the appointed contact at MI6 to handle the transition.”
    “Those matchsticks were two hundred people,” I snarled.
    His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t falter. “Two hundred valuable, honorable, irreplaceable British citizens.”
    Mercy’s hand found mine, and she pulled me down into the chair next to her. I hadn’t even noticed she’d sat. I’d been so intent on holding in my rage my world view had narrowed to what was right in front of me…and that was the path to blowing Moltke’s head right from his shoulders for murdering all those people. And Mei. Fucking Mei .
    “The Prime Minister is declaring the bombing an act of terrorism,” Folsom said, watching my mannerisms carefully.
    “And how does that affect our response?” I asked.
    “It doesn’t. We want Moltke to be held accountable for what he’s done, but we also want to know his end game. There may be more to this than just destroying Section Seven.” Agent Folsom leaned over and pressed a key on the tablet beside him. A surveillance image flashed onto the screen next to one that displayed Moltke’s personnel file. “How much do you know about Moltke’s past?”
    “Not a great deal,” I replied. “It wasn’t required knowledge to get the job done.”
    “We know he was dark for a few years before MI6 brought him back in,” Mercy added. “Also, he’s a mean son of a bitch. Tough and deadly. Not someone you want to piss off.”
    Folsom inclined his head. “All correct in their own way, but we do know his motives for going dark may have something to do with the bombing.”
    I narrowed my eyes. “Which are?”
    A photo of a woman appeared on the screen. She was willowy with delicate features and honey-blonde hair that fell around her jaw in a perfect bob hairstyle, her cheeks dusted with fine freckles, her lips pink with lipstick. She looked like any one of the women who paraded their riches around the wealthy areas of London, but something about her stood out. She was a woman who would get a second glance, her shoulders strong and commanding.
    “This is Vesper Cunningham,” Folsom said. “She was Moltke’s wife.”
    I glanced at Mercy, already seeing where this was going. Lorelei had told me he’d been trying to recreate something with her while he’d held her captive. She’d been beaten, drugged, and starved… Had the same thing happened to Vesper?
    “Ten years ago,” Folsom went on, “Moltke was undercover with a human trafficking cartel in France. You may know their leader as the late Jaques Lafayette, though another man operated it at the time, Jonathan Tatau, who is also deceased. Tatau’s men discovered Moltke was a double and made an assassination attempt on Vesper, which ultimately failed but landed her in hospital.”
    “Did she know about Moltke?” Mercy asked. “That he was MI6?”
    “We don’t know for sure, but we believe he may have told her after the attempt on her life. The day after she was admitted to hospital, there was a power surge in the ward where she was being treated.”
    “They got to her anyway,” I muttered, shaking my head.
    “They didn’t just get to her,” Folsom said. “They took her from right under our noses. Moltke himself was there, but that still wasn’t enough to stop them.