"Where's Celine?" Hunter asked immediately, struggling to work his way out of the fog of drugged sleep. "Where's my sister?"

One of Angelo's blond eyebrows lifted. "It's a miracle you're alive. Your doctors couldn't be sure of brain damage until you woke. The fact that you're talking and aware is a good sign. You'll survive."

"What happened?"

Angelo moved to the side of his bed. "The bomb Kovac's men dropped caught you. That's what happened. Our surgeons removed the largest pieces of shrapnel. There's a much smaller piece near the surface of your brain-it's touching on your memory center. Have you been experiencing a lot of flashbacks of memory?"

Warily, Hunter nodded.

"Removing it could cause damage, so they left it alone. It should come out on its own. They don't expect you to suffer any permanent damage, though they'll be monitoring you closely in the coming months to make sure you don't develop abscesses, epileptic seizures or other warning signs."

Hunter could see his superior wasn't willing to give any information that wasn't specifically asked for. "The mission was a trap," he said impatiently. "The trace residue and hard drive I recovered…"

"Planted."

Useless.

The heaviness settled in his chest again. He hadn't failed in so long. His foolishness had to be making his superiors rethink their decision to move him back into the Level 2 position Roan Emory had filled, vacated with a long-term undercover mission, filled again, and then permanently vacated with his death. "Who else is down?" he asked without looking Angelo in the eye.

"Ulrick and Barnett sustained very minor injuries because they were within the drop zone, but they were released from Medical the day after the mission. I'm sorry to say you got the worst of it, son."

Angelo had called him 'son' for years. Despite the fact that Angelo was only in his late thirties, through most of those years Hunter had felt his mentor viewed him as one.

"For my stupidity, I deserve it."

"You've got a blind spot where Kovac is concerned. You wanna finish what Roan Emory started."

Hunter turned back, not expecting understanding for his actions. "Look, I need to follow up on this. The trail's probably already cold-"

Angelo pushed him gently back on the bed, something in his green eyes penetrating Hunter's urgency and generating new concern. "Look, Hunter, the trap wasn't in the mission profile. The lock on Kovac's location wasn't the trap, nor were the residue and hard drive the lures. All of those things were diversions."

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he didn't want you. He wasn't even targeting the Network necessarily. He wanted something else."

"What? Tell me, Angelo."

"They took Celine. She requested to be on standby in the field for treatment and casualties. I agreed. Kovac's men took her from the perimeter while you were extracting your team. No one even saw it happen. One minute she was there, the next she disappeared."

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