Page 66 of Under Fire in Big Sky

He pulled up his top and showed her the burns on his body.

“Oh, Sean.” The agony he must have endured as he healed. She clasped his shoulder and glimpsed his gun.

He lowered his Henley over the weapon. “They’re only scars.”

“But I don’t understand. Why didn’t you come in? Why did you let us believe you were dead?”

“While I was healing, I thought a lot about my life. My purpose. Have you questioned any of the things we did at Aegis? The types of clients we served?”

She lowered her head. There were so many times she had to force herself not to think about it.

He grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and raised her head, meeting her eyes. “Think about our last mission together. What we were asked to do and for whom.”

Corporate espionage. On behalf of OmniSight, a data decision-making company that leveraged artificial intelligence.

The CIA was considering investing in OmniSight or Nexus Informatics, two small companies both bursting with potential. A significant amount from the CIA’s venture capital arm would’ve anointed one, guaranteeing its success.

Their first mission was to evaluate the rival company from the inside. When OmniSight didn’t like the report, their second mission, her final one with Sean, was to cripple Nexus. Olivia, along with Sean and the other agent, believed the assignment was about more than money. They were told Nexus intended to use their AI platform without any moral guardrails or ethical considerations.

OmniSight was awarded the multimillion-dollar investment. At first, they had an exclusive contract with the CIA, but now OmniSight’s software, particularly the Gateway platform, their game-changing and controversial technology, gained traction within the US intelligence community.

“Everything we were told about Nexus was a lie. The true villain was OmniSight and we helped them win by destroying their competition,” Sean said. “Their mass surveillance, the data mining, their powerful AI and analytics isn’t only used in counterterrorism and warfare, but also to infringe on privacy rights and civil liberties, and other incalculable ways. We enabled that.”

He was right and it shamed her. They had no way of knowing at the time, but the mission itself had felt wrong. “If it hadn’t been us, some other firm would’ve done it.”

“Only Aegis is willing to go so low in the mud, getting filthy for a high enough price. As I recovered, I wondered whether we were the good guys. The answer I came to didn’t sit well. With my supposed death, I saw a golden opportunity to atone for the awful things we’ve done.”

They’d both done things for Aegis that they wished they hadn’t. Questionable things. But she tried to make it right by only taking assignments that didn’t require her to get her hands dirty anymore. Missions that protected people and saved lives. Not that it was nearly enough.

But Sean was going down a dark path.

“Atonement?” she asked, not hiding incredulity from her voice as she dropped her hand from his shoulder. “Is that what you’re calling cold-blooded murder and terrorism?”

Leaning back in his chair, Sean crossed his legs. “Dempsey never should’ve died, and you shouldn’t have been hurt. I gave explicit instructions that whoever Aegis sent should’ve only been contained. When I learned it was you, I was horrified by what happened. That you were hospitalized. Audrey sealed her own death the second she tried to kill you. As for Maben, he shouldn’t have talked to the cops. There’s a code that must be respected. Even law enforcement has it. They call it the blue wall of silence. Aegis has it and protects it with a nondisclosure agreement.”

“And you protect it with the threat of murder.” A tremor ran through her hands. She balled them into fists to hide it. “How do you justify terrorism?”

“You label the direct action I’ve taken against the investors of the resort and Horizon Energy as terrorism. What do you call the things they’ve done?” His gaze drilled into hers. “An endangered species was wiped out to build that resort. The lives of every resident of Cedar Breaks are in danger because of the carbon capture facility. Horizon Energy is capitalizing on well-intentioned but poorly implemented tax incentives. Those government incentives and the fees they charge are lucrative, but the pipeline will increase the rate of Montana’s shrinking snowpacks, intensifying wildfires and dwindling summertime stream flows. The people there are terrified that their water supply and soil are going to be polluted. And if a rupture of the pipeline happens while the plant is fully operational, who knows how many would be killed or poisoned.”

“The bombs you planned to set off could’ve had the same effect.”

“Do you think I want to hurt innocent people?” Sitting forward, he pressed his knees to hers and grasped her hands. “You know me better than that. Don’t you? I made sure the carbon dioxide was shut down at the plant hours before you got there to prevent anyone in Cedar Breaks from being impacted by the explosion. It’s true the solvent continued flowing to trigger a chain reaction with the bomb. But the only ones who would’ve been hurt, who were hurt by what I did, was Horizon Energy.”

There was an insider at the plant who helped Sean. “I could’ve died if not for Eli disarming the bomb.”

“You shouldn’t have been there in the first place and after I made the phone call, warning everyone to get out, you should’ve left.” He sighed, his face softening, but his eyes remained hard. “Chip Whitney and his greedy investor buddies. Horizon Energy. They’re all clients of Aegis. Don’t you see? By protecting them, you’re serving the devil. The corruption must stop. I’m starting here. At home, with a grassroots movement. I’ve got one more target in Big Sky to complete my objective.”

“And what’s the next target?”

“Not a what but a who.”

Tempted to push him for more insight on the target, she resisted. Too soon. “You’re going to murder another person in the name of activism?”

His brow furrowed. “I’m not the bad guy,” Sean snapped.

“No one ever thinks they’re the bad guy.” Debating his philosophy wasn’t the goal. It was getting any information possible, no matter how small. “What are you going to do after you kill someone else for the sake of your cause?”

“Branch out. My movement is just beginning, getting stronger, more powerful every day, and I want you to be a part of it.”