Malcomb and everyone else in the room heard Cross say, “You don’t think Malcomb’s listening to us right now, do you?”
Stone said, “He sure could be, Alex.”
Cross tapped his phone and said, “Well, if he is … if you are M, Mr. Malcomb, and you are listening, here’s a heads-up: We are going to come for you and everyone else in Maestro. You will face justice for what you’ve done.”
Malcomb’s features hardened. He felt the attention of everyone in the room on him and knew he was now facing the biggest threat of his life and theirs.
He smiled at his comrades and said, “No worries, Maestro. We’ve prepared for this moment, haven’t we?”
Edith Walton, Malcomb’s longtime deep ops director, nodded. “We have, M,” she said. “In fine detail.”
Malcomb looked over at his partner, Steve Vance, who’d gone ashen and grim.
“Your call,” Vance said.
The founder of Paladin took a long, deep breath, let it out, and said, “Initiate bugout procedures, Maestro. Erase everything. Take this op to the ground where no one can find it.”
Without hesitation, Vance, Walton, and the other people in the deep ops center turned to their consoles and keyboards and began typing.
Malcomb waited until the feed on the big screen died and turned his wheelchair toward the door. “I have things to attend to in my office, Edith.”
“Go to it, M,” Walton said.
Malcomb wheeled himself through the door and let it shut behind him before stopping to lock the chair in place. Then he pushed himself to his feet and strode confidently toward the elevator and a new and more dangerous life.