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Alyona lifted the iPad between us, eyes still locked on mine, but she didn’t yet offer it. “Your company, all that you had left of your late wife, was lost earlier this summer. If you truly wanted it, you would’ve fought for it. I know that much.” She continued with her guess of my situation, and added, “Diana Mackenzie worked there and stayed on with the new owners. She’s the Secretary of State’s daughter. And based upon what I discovered, her mother ran in the same social circles as your late wife. Inherited twenty-five million when Rebecca died and used it to help climb the political ladder to where she is now.” Tipping up an eyebrow, she finished with, “And now you’re once again being accused of killing Rebecca the week her daughter goes missing.” She finally handed over the iPad. “How’d I do?”
I accepted the iPad and cocked my head. “You’ve yet to tell me why I want Diana for myself.”
She smiled. “Mmm. That’s easy. You believe Susan Mackenzie is setting you up, but you don’t know why. All of this can’t be a coincidence, that much you know. So, you’re after her daughter while you figure out what’s happening. Letting people know that if you fuck around, you find out. I always found that wildly sexy about you.” Her eyes skated down my body to my belt. A flick of her tongue between her lips before she added, “Among other things.”
Once we made eye contact again, I tipped my head, congratulating her on being right. She’d drawn the conclusion I’d hoped she would. And it was also one I hadn’t shared with Susan or the others, for obvious reasons. “You were always too good at solving mysteries. Takes the fun out of it,” I said casually, lowering the tablet to my side. “Do you know where I can find Diana? Who’s behind the lab hit?” I’d only given her a handful of details on our call yesterday, just enough to help her help me.
“Of course,” she mused, and relief filled my chest. “You have less than five hours before your chances of finding her become nearly impossible.” She pointed toward the iPad. “Once she’s smuggled onto the cargo ship, I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
Cargo ship? I gripped the iPad tighter, doing my best to hide my reaction. “What do you know?”
From the corner of my eye, I spied Griffin and Easton moving in closer at the news we had intel to go on.
Alyona turned to the side, staring at the fire while folding her arms. “You’ll be indebted to me after this. For more than three million. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” I hissed.
“And I’ll want to finish what we started here as well.”
There wasn’t a chance we’d ever have sex again, but I forced a nod.
She peeked at her wristwatch without uncrossing her arms. “A few hours ago, the Serbians who took her from the lab separated Diana from some of the other hostages. Those men run a lucrative smuggling operation out of Riga, Latvia. Based on the recon work I had my people do, they’ll be placing her on that ship just before nine a.m. Destination unknown.”
Human traffickers. I hung my head, chills racking over my skin, heating my body.
Trying to keep it together, I focused on what I knew and could control. Latvia was less than a two-hour flight away. We could get there in time.
“Since when do you associate with traffickers who smuggle people?” I’d never have fucked her had she been that particular brand of evil.
“I don’t,” she shot out, wrinkling her nose in offense. “Luckily for you, people I know do.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but as long as the intel was good, that was all that mattered.
“The details on where we think she’s being held, along with the number of possible enemy combatants, are on that iPad.”
“You know anything else?” I asked.
“Nothing aside from the men who took her are elite. The best of the best.” She unfolded her arms to grip my bicep. “Be careful.”
“When have I ever not been?” I let go of a deep breath, still uneasy. What was she holding back? It was the same bad gut feeling I’d had when the President refused to talk about the project Diana had really been working on. “If you learn anything else . . .”
She squeezed my arm, then let go of me. “Be seeing you around.”
I nodded my goodbye, then signaled to Griffin and Easton to move.
The second we were outside and far away from her guards, Easton dove right in to giving me shit. “Punish her? Really? You two used to hook up? I mean, I get it. She’s smoking hot, but she’s a criminal. Isn’t that a bit below the belt, even for you.”
“Redact that part of the conversation from your memory,” was all I could manage out, because I hated how right he was.
“Going after traffickers again, though,” Easton said, thankfully dropping the other conversation, “it’s like old times.”
My chest constricted at the thought. Something told me this wasn’t like anything we’d ever dealt with before. But we’d soon find out what we were truly up against, and smugglers would most likely be the least of our problems.
23
CARTER
RIGA, LATVIA
