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I gave him a weak smile and placed my hand on his arm. He placed his other hand tightly over mine and yanked me out of the room. With one of his men leading us and the other one following, he marched me down the hallway, toward TJ and the possible end of our last-hope plan.
* * *
TJ
“Boss, we have a problem, and you need to get out of there now,” Penn said in my ear.
I scowled. “Guards on their way?”
“Two of them with Kovac,” Penn said. “And Ashlee. They barged into the room, and they know you’re not with her.”
“Fuck me,” I muttered. “Is she okay?” There was one thing that could make me abandon this op, and protecting Ashlee was it.
“She’s fine, but they’re moving fast,” Alder said. “About a minute out from your location.”
“Pulling the plug, Jensen,” I said as I removed the clear disc from the hard drive.
I placed the device back in the safe, covered it with the papers I’d removed, and closed the safe. The red lights reengaged. I closed the closet door, glanced around the room to make sure everything appeared untouched, and stepped back out into the dark hallway. When the office door closed behind me, that security panel reengaged, as well.
I intentionally left on my gloves but pressed each clear disk I’d used to read Kovac’s hard drives to the inside waistband of my pants. I pulled a new-generation plastic decoder out of my pocket. It would open 90 percent of electronic door locks, but not Kovac’s, which was also intentional. Our cover was blown. The only thing we could do now was make it appear I’d used Ashlee to get into Kovac’s house, then had failed at my mission once inside.
“Mr. Russo,” Kovac called as soon as the entourage entered the hallway. “What an interesting place to find you.”
I slipped the useless device into my pocket as I stepped sideways, closer to the window at the end of the hall. I edged off my gloves and left them in my pants pockets to be discovered, then clasped my hands behind my back.
“Mr. Kovac. And Ashlee?” I let some of the concern I felt creep into my voice. She was unharmed but understandably unhappy. She must also be terrified, but she was hiding it well.
I stepped toward her. Kovac blocked me and shoved me backward by my shoulders. Ashlee angled between him and one of his goons and stood beside me.
“There’s no need for that,” she said. “All of this is ridiculous. I told you, he wanted to check the house, make sure nothing was wrong.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “Exactly.”
Kovac nodded to the goon closest to me. The man stepped between Ashlee and me and patted me down. He pulled the decoder and the nitrile gloves out of my pocket.
I glanced sheepishly at Ashlee. We’d practiced this scenario. Kessler and Li had insisted, and I had listened because it was their job to use their tactical experience to anticipate and prepare for all potential shitshows in the field. Later, I would have to deal with the fact that I’d ignored them when it mattered most, and now Ashlee was in danger.
Ashlee didn’t immediately respond to the revelation of evidence that I’d been trying to break into Kovac’s locked office. She looked distracted. I hoped Kessler was talking in her ear, reminding her of the rehearsed script.
“I’m sure there’s a good explanation, right, TJ?” she asked a beat later than I’d expected the question.
Kovac saved me from going on to the next line in the script. “I’m afraid your new boyfriend has been using you, draga, to get to me.” He tsked. “And not even for something fun.”
“Like I told your husband earlier,” I said, “my company is interested in doing business in Slovenia.”
“The good news is,” Luka tucked a strand of Ashlee’s hair behind her ear, and she flinched, “you will leave here tonight alive and well. I was reminded earlier that we can’t very well eliminate a journalist whose last-known whereabouts were my residence,” Kovac told Ashlee. “Besides, what would be the point with this paper tiger?” He grinned.
Ashlee clenched her fists, and I realized she hadn’t been distracted earlier. She’d been pissed. I caught her eye and gave her a pointed stare. Do not argue the point. Whether she caught my meaning or had already come to the conclusion on her own that his underestimation was to her benefit, she held her temper and her tongue.
“As for you, Mr. Russo, if you’re asking yourself why I would risk releasing you, it’s because you won’t be able to do any damage to me once you and your entire operation are exposed, then discredited for causing an international incident.”
He was still cocky as hell, which meant he didn’t suspect we’d obtained a warrant and were now in legal possession of information that would tumble his empire.
Kovac pulled out his phone and placed a call. He spoke quickly in Slovenian, then hung up. “There, it’s done. My husband is calling our embassy, who will call your State Department. As a favor, we will quietly send you with them and won’t share this outrage of a spy entering a diplomat’s home with the international community. After such a potential embarrassment, I’m sure your government will see the error of continuing to fund an organization that is so reckless. The blowback will be swift and harsh.”
Sonofabitch. I wasn’t shocked to learn he’d figured out I was with HEAT, but his presumptions about how the Senate subcommittee would respond kicked up my pulse a notch.
“He wasn’t bluffing about the calls,” Jensen said in my ear. “Two calls just went out from the house. One from Izak Kovac’s phone to the embassy. The other from Calder’s phone to the co-chair of the subcommittee.”
