Page 49 of Girl in the Water

Chapter Nine

Ian

In Washington, DC, Ian headed to Karin Kovacs’s office—his boss at the Civilian Personnel Recovery Unit, a new department at the DOD that dealt with recovering US citizens who’d gone missing abroad. He was back from nine weeks in Jordan and was about to be assigned a new case. He wondered where he was going next.

Maybe Brazil.

Four years ago, when he’d come back to DC with Daniela, returning to work as a bouncer at a bar wasn’t an option. He’d quit drinking. And he’d needed a paycheck that could support two people. CPRU seemed perfect. When he’d been hired, he asked to be considered for any Brazilian assignments. He wanted to get back down there, wanted to take another look at Finch’s murder.

He hadn’t given up on that. He hadn’t told Daniela, but he was working the case through the Internet and phone calls. The cell phone dropped by one of the men who’d attacked him and Daniela in Santana hadn’t panned out—a burner phone—but Ian was moving heaven and earth to find another clue. The bastard who’d taken out Finch was a dead bastard; he just didn’t know it yet.

But maybe he’d find out sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed for a Brazilian case.

Ian knocked on his boss’s office door, then opened it and stared at the woman sitting across the desk from Karin.

Professional black pumps. Sharp, professional gray suit. Hair in a sleek, perfect coil at her nape. Daniela lowered the manila folder she was holding to her lap as she turned to look at him.

He froze in the door. “What are you doing here?”

Last he’d seen her, this morning, she’d been eating cereal in her pajamas in the kitchen. Although, shehadacted weird. Preoccupied. He’d felt her staring at him, but every time he looked at her, she’d looked away.

“Ian, why don’t you sit, and we’ll catch you up.” Karin gestured to the empty chair.

Tall, pale, and blonde, the boss was Daniela’s opposite. She could have been aVoguemodel, but she would never do anything as frivolous as that. She was brisk, incredibly intelligent, a consummate professional, dedicated to assisting Americans around the world.

Ian lowered himself into the seat next to Daniela as carefully as if the seat cushion was stuffed with scorpions, his every instinct screaming that he wasn’t going to like what was about to happen.

His instincts didn’t fail him.

Karin said, “I just hired Miss Wintermann.”

Ian’s blood pressure shot into the two hundreds.

He gritted his teeth and flashed a we’ll-talk-about-this look to Daniela, and that was all he had the time to do before Karin landed the next punch.

“I’m teaming you two up for a recovery op in Brazil. Leaving immediately.”

Over his dead body.

He was going to take the case alone, like he always did. CPRU didn’t partner up its investigators anyway, except under the rarest circumstances.

“Who is the recovery target?” He fought to remain professional. He couldn’t exactly argue with the boss, but hecouldmake Daniela withdraw her application. They were going to discuss it as soon as they got home.

“Lila Heyerdahl, a six-month-old baby, stolen from US aid workers, Carmen and Phil Heyerdahl. Time is of the essence. She has to be recovered before she gets sold into the illegal adoption circuit, or…”

She didn’t finish the sentence and didn’t have to. Ian had worked a number of human trafficking cases since he’d come to CPRU, including sex trafficking. He knew damn well the industry had no lower age limit. He didn’t even want to think about that. The depravity of some of his fellow human beings made him sick to his fricking stomach.

Karin went on with “I was trying to decide what to do with the case when Miss Wintermann called me. She’s perfect for the job. We’re lucky to have her.”

Daniela called CPRU for a job? When?

“She hasn’t had her training.” Ian ground out the words, pain blooming to life behind his right eye, making him wonder if he was going to have an aneurysm before this meeting was over.

“Which is why she’s going with you as your partner. She requested you specifically. I understand you know each other fairly well.”

Did she know that, for the moment, they lived together? Maybe not. Karin had no reason to memorize Ian’s home address. Even if Daniela had put the same address on her application, probably nobody would make the connection.

He gave a curt nod. And he felt the need to punch something. He’d been so good about that. Barely beat up anyone lately. Just the odd kidnapper.