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His reply came a minute later.

That doesn’t make me feel any better. He will make another move soon. You’ve put my family in jeopardy. Their protection was supposed to be part of the deal with the Department of Justice, which you sabotaged.

Slash had been right. Ethan Sinclair had suspected someone in the NSA, and now his only question had to be whether he believed she was working with that person or not. That would drive how much he would bring them into the situation. The ball was totally in his court.

She typed a response quickly.

Who will make a move soon? Who is he? I need you to name names. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me who you suspect is working against you. And I didn’t sabotage the deal at the DOJ. That was out of my hands. I’m working to revive that, a lot more quietly this time around. What can I do to restore your trust?

He didn’t respond right away, which she hoped meant he was weighing the sincerity of her words.

Investigate J. P. Lando’s death. Make it a singular effort (just you), bring me your findings, and then we’ll talk. You have twenty-four hours.

He provided an anonymous email address where she could contact him, an address she knew he’d be monitoring for suspicious activity. But, thank God, at least their communication was back on.

It was a huge risk moving this out of the NSA, but if there were dishonest cells in the agency, she didn’t want to put him at further risk. She wasn’t going to do anything that would cause him to mistrust her, so she’d do exactly what she said she’d do—investigate on her own and get back to him as soon as possible.

She responded immediately.

I’m on it. It’s a priority, and so are you. I mean it.

He didn’t respond.

Chapter Twelve

ISAAC REMINGTON

The traffic on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway had all but slowed to a crawl when the burner phone in his coat pocket rang. He fished it out and answered it.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. The bird has landed. Went off without a hitch.”

“Excellent.” Isaac’s spirits soared. The endgame was so close. “Now, we wait for our friend to contact us.”

“Have you figured that out? How will he know what’s happened?”

“The daughter will alert him.”

“The youngest one? How will she do that?”

“I presume she has a way to contact him. If she doesn’t, once she discovers her mom is missing, she’ll find a way. She’s proven to be quite resourceful at that.”

“I hope you’re right and that she acts quickly. It’s not comfortable sitting on a hot package. I’m still not sure why didn’t we just trash the place and make it apparent that she was kidnapped. If it was in the news, Sinclair would know who had her.”

Isaac sighed inwardly. He didn’t think he had to spell out everything for Sampson, but apparently he did.

“Think about it,” he said patiently. “We don’t want the extra attention that the police, and possibly an FBI investigation, would bring. Officials would start asking questions about why she was kidnapped, and they might connect the dots with the kidnapping attempt on her daughter. That would lead people directly to the NSA and, potentially, us. Add that to the fact that her husband went missing mysteriously, and that’s a story we don’t want to surface. However, once we have our hands on Sinclair, we can release his wife unharmed near her apartment. Since she won’t have seen anyone, she can report the kidnapping, but there won’t be a case because she was returned unharmed, and there will be no readily apparent motive or ransom. Her case will fade into obscurity, while Ethan Sinclair, who’s been missing for fourteen years, will simply disappear for good.”

“But what if the girl goes to the police first?”

“The girl is academically bright and a computer savant like her father. While she’s a bit clueless, she isn’t stupid. First, she won’t be sure her mother has been kidnapped. It’s reasonable to assume she might wonder if her mother disappeared just like her father. Secondly, before she calls the police, I hope she’ll try to contact her dad for fatherly guidance. Once she contacts him, the message will be sent, and Sinclair will know that if she goes to the police, his wife dies.”

“I just hope it doesn’t take too long.”

Things that are worth having are often the most challenging to obtain.

He thought of sharing the phrase with Sampson but feared he wouldn’t understand its significance. Instead he took a different approach. “Have faith. The girl is headed home later tonight because they’re closing UTOP for a week of asbestos remediation. It’s only a matter of hours before things get moving.”