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Kaiya came out of the bathroom, a towel around her. “What’s wrong,” she asked, immediately picking up on his tension.
“Ferguson and Campbell are going to assassinate your prime minister and my president.”
From that moment on, Kaiya and Kodiak were all business. They alerted NBS Sydney, the Secret Service, and the AFP and rushed to the base. Kodiak found the head Secret Service agent, and they agreed the team would surround the area where the president and the prime minister were going to televise and sign the renewal of the contract.
Skull’s eagle eye found Heath Ferguson. He was strapped with explosives. Rather than give up, he blew the vest. As for Louis Campbell, he was discovered by the super of the apartment where he was holed up. Drug overdose. He never even made it to the base.
* * *
After the takedownof the final two NSH assassins, there was nothing left to do but the paperwork, so Kaiya found herself back at headquarters for one final briefing. Kodiak and his team would be flying out of Sydney in a matter of hours.
They were all leaving…he wasleaving.
That had already been established, and although she wanted to tell him so much, he was right. It was best if she kept it locked up, so the heartache between them could be minimized. Then she huffed a soft, painful laugh. There was no minimizing this, and she was devastated. She was going to feel it for a long, long time—maybe forever.
She shifted in her seat while Anna finished up the briefing. “That’s about it. We would like to thank the AFP for their hospitality and their excellent expertise, especially Agent Kaiya Pawar. We couldn’t have done this without you.”
There was a round of applause, and Kaiya stood and accepted Anna’s praise. “You’re all right, mates…even though you’re a bunch of unruly, know-it-all yanks.”
Everyone laughed. With a hollowness around her heart, she thought about going home tonight, knowing that Kodiak would be on his way back to Virginia Beach thousands of miles away from her. She tried to bolster herself with the opportunity that had come her way…the assignment with Europol. The job fulfilled something deep inside her that she hadn’t been aware was there. So, she might have had an inkling of it with how much she’d enjoyed her work in Afghanistan. She was about justice and enforcement of the law, and she wanted to do that on an international level.
She didn’t have to ask Kodiak how he felt about his own job. After all that Navy SEALs went through, it wasn’t a shallow commitment. Everything about him was geared toward the team, and she’d come to realize that they were all in this together, Kodiak’s team and Kaiya’s entire country. Men who worked relentlessly with their teammates facing incredible odds to accomplish their mission. He was all about neutralizing his country’s enemies. And, like him, she wanted to eliminate her city’s enemies, the lawbreakers who unbalanced and threatened her society. She’d had the same mindset in Afghanistan, stoked to help the people there overthrow the debilitating and oppressive yoke of the Taliban. But sometimes circumstances were out of anyone’s control. She knew that now.
Now she wanted to keep the peace on a global basis. The best part about the assignment was that it was clear to her Kodiak was proud of her for getting assigned, and she knew he thought she would do an excellent job. But they each had to sacrifice the other for their own principles and duty. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but that was the reality. No matter how much it hurt, she would have to let him go, just as he would have to let her go.
She turned her head to discover a commotion in the hall. Tessa was heading toward them, and was that…the prime minister and the president of the United States?
The conference door opened, and the Secret Service entered along with her prime minister’s Australian Protective Service contingent.
“Everyone, let me introduce you to our prime minister, Liam Kelly, and I think you know the president,” her boss Tessa said. She was beaming, and as she should. They didn’t often get a personal visit from their ruling leader.
There was an amused murmur throughout the room.
“This is CIA Officer Anna Graham, who is leading this team. She and her team have been crucial in the search for and apprehension of the NSH cell here in Sydney.”
The president and prime minister shook Anna’s hand, and Kaiya could tell she was so honored.
“Kaiya and Kodiak. Could you please step forward?”
Her heart started pounding, but she rose and walked to the front of the room along with Kodiak. He gave her a look full of pride, and that’s what she felt bubbling up in her. Pride for the way she had conducted herself during this investigation, pride for her country, and gratitude for their liaison with the Americans. If it hadn’t been for this assignment, her discontent and sorrow might have morphed into bitterness that would have eaten her from the inside out.
“Sir, let me present to you Agent Kaiya Pawar, one of this department’s best and brightest, and very competent and a driving force behind the investigation, and Petty Officer Jayesh Lyta, one of your Navy SEALs. Without their insight and quick thinking, this attack may have ended differently.”
Kaiya shook their hands and accepted their grateful words, and said it was an honor not only to serve the prime minister but to be part of such a strong and competent team of Americans.
After a few more words of encouragement from both leaders, they departed. The room was very quiet, subdued. She knew what each of them was thinking. They wanted an opportunity to cut the head off the snake. NSH had just taken a hard body blow, but the mastermind was still out there.
It put a bit of a damper on the celebration.
Into that silence, every single one of the Americans’ cells chimed. They reached for their phones. Kaiya stood there and watched Kodiak’s face. At first, he read the text, then his expression went blank for a moment with disbelief, then anger as it churned in his eyes and tightened his mouth. Suddenly the room was filled with curses and scoffing disbelief.
“He’s been in plain sight all along,” Kodiak said, looking at Anna.
She turned to Tessa and Kaiya. “We’ve just received a text from one of Kodiak’s sources, a very reliable source. She says that the mastermind of the No Safe Haven terrorism group is none other than Aaron Trasker, the hotel magnet.” She smiled and looked at the guys. “She says she got this information directly from Dr. Celeste Potter, who’s being held, along with CIA Officer Rose Snow and CIA Shadowguard, code name Karasu, against their will. We’ve also received coordinates as to where they are being held.”
“That’s great news.”
“It is, but the most amazing news is that Aaron Trasker is here in Sydney at his hotel office in the Trasker Gold Hotel.”
