“It’s an option then,” Jordan suggested. “You could oversee it.”
Micah shook his head. He couldn’t oversee it. It just simply wasn’t in him at this point.
“She’s the last of my family, Jordan,” he told the other man roughly. “There’s not a chance in hell I could do that to her.”
“Were you there during the testing?” Jordan asked, his eyes narrowed.
Micah nodded. “I walked out halfway through it. Even Garren couldn’t stay for the full session. She’s like a sister. I won’t cause her to suffer in the ways it would take to break her and extract the information when I’m almost certain that what she’s hiding, she’s hiding so she can take down the doctor first.”
“What if she’s a liability?” Travis stepped forward, his brooding expression darker than ever as his blue-gray eyes flicked to the closed bedroom door.
“The CIA will control her until this is finished,” Micah stated. “Her director can determine after that what she is. I won’t be a party to her torture to find out one way or the other. Hold her until we’re done.”
“She knows more, Micah,” John argued. “You said it yourself: She kept the focus of the questioning off the doctor. What if she knows who Orion’s employer is? What if she’s in league with them?”
“Travis.” Jordan addressed the former MI6 operative though he kept his gaze on Micah. “Take her to our secondary location and get the information we need.”
“Jordan.” Micah stepped forward warningly.
“Is Risa’s life worth this risk, Micah?” Jordan asked, bringing him to a full stop. “Travis won’t kill your cousin, but he can and will get that information. It’s too important.”
Micah’s jaw clenched. Was it worth Risa’s life to let this go? It wasn’t. Risa’s life was everything to him, but Bailey was the last of the family of Serborne. Her parents were dead. Micah’s parents were dead. They were all gone but Bailey and Micah, and he could never claim that relationship again.
“Travis, John. Go,” Jordan ordered them. “Transport her to the secondary location and see what you can find out.”
“Travis.” Micah stepped forward, then stopped. His jaw clenched because he knew he was about to go against every iota of training he had ever been given with the Mossad. He was going to ask for mercy.
And he couldn’t.
“When this is finished,” he said instead, “if she carries more nightmares than she carries now, then I’ll know who to blame.”
Travis shook his head. “If she carries more nightmares, then it will be her own fault, Micah. She’s an agent. She knows what we need. I’ll make certain she’s given every chance to understand we’re on the same side. After that, whatever comes down on her is on her head, not mine.”
Jordan continued to stare back at him. Micah was the interrogation specialist. He knew the drugs needed. He knew her breaking point. What was more, he knew the drug required to break her.
He inhaled roughly.
“Now is the time to speak, Micah,” Jordan warned him.
“Traditional drugs won’t work,” he told Travis quietly before giving him the name of the hallucinogenic guaranteed to break her. She couldn’t fight its effects. She was particularly susceptible to the drug. It was her weakness.
Travis stared at him for long moments. “It’s a hard one,” he finally said. “Are you sure?”
Micah nodded. “Mossad doctors are damned good. It took them a week to come up with the drug that would break her the fastest. As I said, it took less than an hour.”
Travis nodded.
“John, call her director. They can pick her up when you’re finished at a location of your choosing. Get what you can as fast as you can.” Jordan turned to Micah. “You’re going out tomorrow. Risa has an invitation to a ball being thrown to raise money for area hospitals. She and her grandmother have yet to attend one of these parties because of Risa’s reticence. The two of you will be there. See if she recognizes anyone.”
Micah nodded. He dreaded it, but he realized the importance of it. There was no way to shield Risa from this, as much as he needed to for his own sake. When this was over, his time with her would be over.
“Micah.” He turned back to Jordan as the other man continued. “You’re getting personally involved here.” Jordan glanced at a silent Noah. “I thought we all agreed the rest of you were going to keep that from happening?”
Micah glanced at Noah as he watched Jordan silently. The commander’s nephew was no one’s fool, and he was one of the few men who had a chance of influencing Jordan.
“Dead men don’t have a weakness,” Micah said tonelessly. “But even dead men have a conscience, Jordan.”
With that, he left the apartment. There was no argument here, just as there was no denying the guilt Micah knew would lie against his soul for what Bailey would endure.