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“He was able to track you down in the states. Interesting,” Jordan mused. “When do you return to duty?”
“Four weeks, and I want in on this,” he stated, his voice cold. “If he’s Orion, then Risa is in more trouble than you thought, Malone. The guys he went in with on that mission say he’s bad damned news. They were all scared as hell of him, and they were some tough-assed mothers.”
Jordan grunted at that. “Give me stats. I’ll contact my source and see if I can get an ID on him.”
“Last time I saw him, I’d guess forty or older, probably closer to forty-five. Stocky but muscular. A mustache and goatee sprinkled with gray. Shaven head. Broad face. His eyes were a little narrow, a little longer than normal. He gives off a very professorial air. Studied bastard.”
Jordan nodded as he made notes. “His cover was Paul Blade?” he verified.
“Definitely a cover,” Mac said firmly. “He’s deep cover, too. I knew his handler for a while before he was killed. I mentioned Paul to him once and his expression was very uneasy. Told me to steer well damned clear of him.”
“And did you?”
“Hell, Malone, I steer well damned clear of everyone. You know where I’m stationed. All I see are the teams going out or coming in. Not a lot of chances to get into trouble there.”
No truer words were ever said. And what a stroke of fucking luck. “Get over here,” Jordan decided. “I’m not going to risk tipping him off. We have pictures taken of every figure that’s passed the apartment building or entered it. We have stacks of the damned things here as well as pictures of everyone Risa associates with or will associate with. Let’s see if you can ID him for us.”
“On my way,” Mac promised.
“Use the stairs, not the elevator,” Jordan warned him. “We know there’s a security camera there that’s been wirelessly hijacked several times. We’re trying to get a GPS on the signal, but he haven’t managed it. We have more intel coming in and might have to move fast.”
The line disconnected as Jordan lifted his head and grinned at Tehya where she watched the monitors trained on Risa’s apartment door.
“Bingo.” He grinned with a show of teeth. “He contacted Knight wanting intel on Micah. Knight’s done drinks with him, talked to him. He’s in the bag.”
Tehya’s brow lifted. “Counting your chickens, Jordan?” she asked cynically.
He couldn’t help but laugh at her reply. “Praying the chickens are laying is more li
ke it.” He pushed his fingers through his hair and repeated the prayer that the eggs all dropped in one place and that he was there to crack them.
“Call in backup. Let’s get a game plan together. Whoever he is, he’s CIA. That explains the leak in Russia. It also explains his employer’s ability to track investigations against him. A sweet little network, don’t you think?”
“Very sweet,” she agreed, her chin propped in her hand as she continued to watch the monitors.
Jordan glanced at them, then back at her. “Call in the backup, Tehya.”
She rolled her eyes, pulled out her cell phone, and made the call, all without taking her eyes off the door to Risa’s apartment.
“What the hell do you see?” He frowned at the monitors, then back at her.
“A casualty,” she sighed, and shook her head before turning her gaze to Jordan. “Are you going to tell him he doesn’t have to leave her?”
Jordan stilled and stared back at her. “He has no choice but to leave,” he told her, his voice turning cold. “You know the rules. He’s dead. His life is property of the Elite Ops.”
“Noah has a wife, a child,” she said softly. “Morale is going to seriously suck around here if Micah has to leave her.”
“He’s a dead man,” Jordan reminded her. “He knew what he was doing when he signed those papers. Noah’s case is different. It always was and they’ve always known that.”
She shook her head. “Big mistake, boss. Very, very big mistake.”
He waited until she rose from her chair and turned her back on him before he let a grin twitch at his lips. They’d see whose mistake it was, and Jordan was betting it wasn’t his.
CHAPTER 23
RISA STARED AT the gown laid out on the bed, then lifted her gaze to Micah.
“You should have warned me,” she said carefully. She was furious. He had sprung the information that she had to attend the ball on her. Micah had merely stated they were going; he hadn’t given her the option of refusing.
