Page 53 of Baby Take Me Home
“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. 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.”
Son of a bitch. 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 one of the co-chairs of the Subcommittee.”
“We have our mole,” Penn said.
“I knew it,” Kessler added.
They sounded pleased. I knew that was the wrong takeaway from this discussion.
“We know who the mole is, but we don’t have any evidence to tie him to Kovac’s criminal acts,” Samantha said, echoing my thoughts. “And if we don’t catch him by Monday when the Subcommittee reconvenes, HEAT will go down in flames.”
CHAPTER 22
TJ
The State Departmenthandlers arrived within fifteen minutes of Izak Kovac calling his embassy. The somber black sedan carried two even more somber, black-suited men who showed us their credentials, bundled us into the car, and remained silent for the half-hour drive to the meeting point. I didn’t bother asking where we were going. I knew the protocol, knew X would have been alerted immediately, and would have directed where they would take me to rendezvous with my team.
But I wasn’t alone and Ashlee looked terrified. I held her hand during the entire silent drive. I’d explain everything to her as soon as I could, the first minute I could be alone with her. Our escorts pulled into a deserted parking lot, beside another dark sedan with Penn leaning against it. I helped her out of the car and took her arm, intending to lead her a few feet away for a brief, comforting conversation. But as the State Department car pulled away, Penn called out to me.
“TJ, I have X and the board on speaker in the car.” Penn glanced at Ashlee. “I’ll wait out here with you, Ms. Armand, until your ride arrives.”
“My ride?” Ashlee gripped my hand tighter. “Can’t I stay with you?”
“Sorry,” Penn answered, and I wanted to punch my good friend and teammate in the face. “Our bosses want to talk, starting now.” He gave me a pointed stare indicating they wouldn’t take kindly to waiting much longer for me.
Another car, this one gray with tinted windows, pulled up behind us. When Sparks rolled down the driver’s side window, I saw Kessler in the passenger’s seat.
“Hi, Ashlee,” Kessler said. “Are you doing okay? Hop in the back and we’ll talk on the drive.”
Ashlee’s shoulders dropped an inch at seeing the familiar faces, but she still shot me a worried look. My own pounding heart and spiking adrenaline mirrored her concern.
“Drive to where?” I asked Penn since he was the ranking team member after me. My fuck-up had been huge but so had our haul of information to use against Kovac, and X and her FBI counterpart were meeting with a federal prosecutor late on Saturday to have a warrant issued for Kovac’s arrest. We could keep Ashlee safe until then.
But my bigger concern was the information we hadn’t found. We had obtained no evidence against Calder. If we determined that he posed a threat to Ashlee, WitSec would be back on the table. It had been the fear creeping up my spine and wrapping bony fingers around my throat for the past hour, and the reason I’d wanted a private word with her so I could be the one to break the bad news. I owed her that much and so much more.
“HQ for now,” Penn said as he pulled open the rear door of the gray sedan and motioned for Ashlee to climb in.
“I’ll see you shortly,” I said as I reluctantly untwined my fingers from hers.
She nodded and managed a small smile, her way of saying she trusted me. She dropped her voice to a whisper only I could hear. “There’s something important—”
“Ashlee,” Kessler called, “please, we’re on a ticking clock.”