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I nodded. “With Luka Kovac. I understand.”
She nodded. “You’ll mainly work with me to prepare for the operation.” She smiled again. “For the meeting. And when you meet with him, you’ll be wearing one of our comms units so I can talk in your ear and guide you through how to move and react.”
“Giving subconscious signals that I’m trustworthy,” I said.
“Yes, and I think we’re going to work well together.” She sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. “Regarding the rescue, yes, I was there. My tactical team partner—the tall, dark-haired woman you also saw at the parties on the ship and at the embassy—ran point on the op to get you and the other hostages off the ship.”
“So, all those people there that day were from your agency?”
She frowned. “I’m authorized to say that HEAT, this agency, was there to rescue you.”
“HEAT.” I hadn’t run across that name in any of my research.
“Headquarters for the Elimination of Advanced Threats,” Kessler said. “You’ve never heard of us because on paper, we don’t exist. And I can’t tell you who authorized us to run the rescue operation.”
I turned over the new information in my mind. The subtext of her response was that HEAT was a covert group and she was not authorized to discuss what higher-level agency they supported, although CIA or NSA would be my educated guess. I could live with that mystery, at least for now. There was more important information I needed. “What about my kidnappers? They were from the Carbonados group, weren’t they?”
She nodded but didn’t look surprised that I knew that name. I recalled another line in the fine print of the preliminary contract TJ had had me sign. I’d given permission for HEAT to examine my tech devices and my electronic files. Of course, a super-spy agency would have found my private cloud storage.
I leaned forward, closer to Kessler. This was the most important question I would ask her, and I hoped to God she was authorized to answer it. “Why? Why did they do it? Why me?” I blinked back tears. “Why Aiden?”
She furrowed her brow. Sympathetic but wary. “You know Mr. Brooks was investigating the Carbonados. It’s probably that they found out, or at least suspected him. We know his invitation to the harbor cruise was for him and his husband.”
I nodded slowly, realizing that the motive behind kidnapping and terrorizing me had been nothing more than a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Was that whole cruise just a complicated ruse to get to Aiden?”
“Not exactly,” Kessler said. “You’re right, it was complicated. The man who orchestrated the whole thing was fairly low on the organizational chart and wanted to be promoted, so to speak. Putting corruption and organized crime reporters on a ship with scandal-ridden CEOs and trapping Mr. Brooks was part of their plan.”
I struggled to follow her. “And you? How did you and your friends get invited? The Wilder brothers are clean.”
She nodded. “They are. And they were not the target of our group.” She sighed. “I really cannot go into much detail, but I can tell you, they wanted to recruit my tactical partner, Mai Li, to work with the Carbonados. We have reason to believe they didn’t know she was working for an intelligence agency when they made the attempt. That’s all I can tell you about the entire operation, Ms. Armand.”
“I have one more question,” I said.
Kessler shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“This one is for the doctor.” I turned toward Dr. Bond, who looked up at me and waited. “Aiden’s husband said he had no symptoms of heart disease. He’d just had a full checkup and a clean bill of health. Why did the stress of the kidnapping result in a fatal heart attack?”
Bond looked away from me. “TJ?”
My stomach twisted in my gut. TJ was nearby, after all.
Bond nodded. “Okay.” She turned back to me. “You’re right, Ms. Armand. Your friend did not have a pre-existing condition. The autopsy proved there was no reason for him to have that heart attack.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“Meaning,” a smooth, calming voice came from the doorway, “Mr. Brooks was killed by the Carbonados.”
My breath caught in my throat. My friend had been killed, and not from negligence or circumstances. He had been murdered.
TJ tilted his head, and Bond and Kessler stood and left the room, closing the door behind them. TJ pulled his comms unit out of his ear and tapped it. “We’re alone, off the record for now.” He sat in the chair Kessler had just vacated. “Ashlee, I need you to listen very carefully and answer as truthfully as possible. It’s the only way I can keep you and your family safe.”
The only way to do that would be to follow through on what we’d already agreed to do, although I knew there was an out, and I had been seriously contemplating taking it. He took my hand. I wanted to pull away from him, but I wanted the comfort of his touch more.
“I need to know whether there’s any reason for the Carbonados to suspect you were working with Brooks on his story about them.”
I knew why he was asking. I’d interviewed whistle blowers. I understood the broad strokes of how WITSEC worked. TJ needed details about the threat the Carbonados posed to me in order to arrange my WITSEC deal.
“Only that I was with him on that cruise,” I said. “You’ve probably read the email exchange between us when Aiden invited me to be his plus one because his husband was sick.”
