Page 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

C allan found Gavin in the hallway near the expansive foyer, speaking to Robert.

“Your preferred room is available,” the club employee said.

Callan didn’t know how much Gavin knew, but the time for pretenses was past. “A different room, please.”

Gavin gave him a squint-eyed glare, but Callan ignored it.

Robert waited until Gavin gave a quick nod.

“The library, then.”

The library lived up to its name with books stacked from the floor to a fifteen-foot ceiling on dark mahogany shelves, complete with rolling ladders. Deep, plush armchairs and sofas were arranged around coffee tables.

All it needed were men in smoking jackets, puffing on pipes.

The place was empty except for a woman wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt reclined in a reading nook. A nice, normal-looking woman, clearly welcome in this very masculine space.

Robert, the manager/valet, led them to a door at the back that opened to a tiny room housing a partners’ desk with rolling leather chairs on each side. A large window gave Callan a view of the ocean and jetty.

He spotted his daughter outside kneeling on one of the rocks, her tiny hand reaching for something.

Levi was with her. They seemed to have made fast friends as the babysitter looked on. The guard was a few feet back, head on a swivel as if threats could come from any direction.

Alyssa and her sisters meandered along a narrow stretch of sand separating the building from the rocky shore. Talking. Laughing. Perfectly at ease.

Callan saw nobody else. No terrorists moving in. No boats getting too close. They were safe. For now.

“I trust this will work?” Robert asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Gavin closed the door behind him, then got in Callan’s face. “What are you playing at?”

“I don’t know what you mean, sir. Unless you expected me to ask you for Alyssa’s hand, but she’s?—”

“Cut the act, Caleb. ”

No doubt the man knew that wasn’t his name, but how? And, more importantly, how much more did he know?

Rather than ask, Callan sealed his lips and waited.

Another standoff, while Peri was out there, surrounded by danger. He didn’t like it, but an idea had been niggling at the back of his mind since the first moment he’d met Gavin Wright.

Callan had to know, but he couldn’t risk asking.

“It’s one thing for you to pretend to be dating my daughter, but to pretend you’re engaged? That kiss was out of bounds. You’d better watch yourself. You’ll have me to answer to.”

Callan crossed his arms, lifted his eyebrows.

They were closing in on the truth now.

“Who do you think got you involved in all of this?”

And there it was. The phone call Callan had received, the odd tip sending him to that restaurant the other night. The person who’d worked so hard to disguise his voice.

Alyssa’s father.

“Up until we got here, I didn’t have a clue. Why me?”

“Because you and she went to college together. Because I thought you were smart and quick on your feet. I thought you’d protect her.”

“That’s what I’ve done. That’s what I’m still trying to do.”

“Let me rephrase.” Gavin hadn’t so much as leaned away. “Protect all of her. From evil. From terrorists. That’s what I expected. Not for you to take advantage of her.”

“I didn’t.” He worked hard to keep his voice from rising. “I wouldn’t. And considering you’re the one who got us into this?—”

“Not me. I’m the one trying to get you out of it. Without getting my daughter’s heart trampled to pieces in the process.”

“It’s all for show.”

Now, it was Gavin’s turn to press his lips closed.

And okay, fine. It hadn’t all been for show. He didn’t know about Alyssa, but his heart was definitely involved.

“Inasmuch as I’m enjoying our little showdown, sir, a woman and a child are out there—my daughter and yours—and they need protection.” Callan settled in the leather chair where he could keep one eye on Alyssa and Peri, nodding to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. “It’s time for you to tell me everything.”

The man glared a few more seconds, then plopped himself down. “You first.”

“Uh-uh. You started this circus. I want to know how you knew Alyssa was meeting with Ghazi. I want to know why you sucked me into it. I want to know everything you know.” He made a show of looking at his watch—a fairly decent brand that looked cheap compared to the one on the other man’s wrist. “And try to make it quick.”

He was pushing it, but he couldn’t let Gavin intimidate him. Start how you mean to go on . That was what Dad always told him. If he backed down now, he’d be cowering forever.

Not that it mattered. It wasn’t as if Gavin was going to be his father-in-law. But he needed the man’s respect.

He expected Gavin’s face to flush with anger, so the smile surprised him. “I’m trying to like you, Callan. I didn’t know about the kid. She’s your daughter?”

“She is. My parents were taking care of her, but my father really did have a heart attack. I was in a bind. I’d have done anything to protect her from this, but we didn’t have time to make arrangements. I ran out of options.”

“If you’d called me, I’d have found a suitable babysitter.”

“If I’d known who you were when you got me involved, I might have considered it. Why didn’t you identify yourself?”

Gavin lowered his elbows to the desk and tented his fingers. “Dariush Ghazi is a very dangerous man. I needed to make sure Alyssa was safe.”

Not an answer, but Callan didn’t push it. “How did you know they were meeting?”

“I got a tip from an old friend at another agency gathering intel on Ghazi. She told me Alyssa’s name had come up in a conversation and related the date and time of their meeting.”

“Why not just call Alyssa and tell her not to go?”

“I wasn’t supposed to know about it.”

“She’s your daughter. You think she’d turn you in?”

“I heard you were a decent agent, Templeton. If you were Ghazi, working with the daughter of a spy—and make no mistake, he targeted her for a reason—don’t you think you'd have found a way to tap her phone? I had exactly one hour before the meeting, not enough time to get to the city and protect her myself. Not another way to reach her without trusting someone else, and I had no idea who I could trust.”

“So you sent me.”

“I sent an old friend of hers who I thought would protect her.”

Callan didn’t defend himself. Alyssa was alive and well, thanks to him, and Gavin knew that. “Tell me everything your NSA contact told you about what Ghazi is up to.”

He’d guessed the agency and was rewarded when the man’s lips hardened at the corners. He was good, keeping his eyes from widening, but surprise was nearly impossible to mask completely.

“Not much.” Gavin laced his fingers, tapping the pointers together. “I know he’s been in the country since at least March. I know he rented a place in Brookline, where a number of questionable people work and reside. I know the Agency has tried to listen in using long-range listening devices, but nothing actionable has come of it. They hear everyday conversations, but nothing helpful.”

“They work in the basement,” Callan said.

Now, Gavin didn’t bother hiding his surprise, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening. “Explain how you know that.”

“When you’re finished.”

“That’s all I know.” Gavin must’ve read his skepticism because he added, “We’re on the same side, Templeton.”

“It sure doesn’t feel like it.”

Gavin sat back. “What does Ghazi want from Alyssa?”

This was where it got dicey. Malcolm had explicitly told Callan that Gavin might not be trustworthy. But Malcolm hadn’t been able to dig up squat about the bombing in Kirkuk—information that should have been easy to get via military records.

Callan had been too busy to gather the intel himself, what with Dad’s heart attack and Peri, but Malcolm had been around longer and had a lot more sources than he did. If the information was out there, he should have been able to find it.

Meaning someone had gone to a lot of trouble to hide something.

There was a reason the Wright family had been targeted. Callan knew this man was the reason, and maybe that bombing was the connection.

Maybe not, but it was worth a shot.

He took a leap and prayed it wasn’t a mistake. But first…

“How long has Robert worked here?”

The question startled him. “Years. Why?”

“You trust him?”

“As much as I trust anybody. You don’t, though. That’s why you didn’t want to use my regular room.”

“If this is about you, then Ghazi could have people watching you. Robert stood out to me. He doesn’t fit the part. And at the party?—”

“The bartender.”

A man didn’t become an old spy without knowing a thing or two.

“I’ve got security,” Gavin said. “Nobody’s going to touch your daughter or Alyssa.”

“But how much did they hear? How much did they know? I assume Ghazi has people here, which is why we did the whole engagement-and-ring show. This party was our excuse for getting out of the city. We’re trying to keep Ghazi from suspecting that she’s turned against him.”

Gavin took the information in. “I figured. That’s why I entertained your daughter. I assumed you didn’t want them to know about her. But then, when you announced your engagement?—”

“I couldn’t see another way to protect her from our lie.” He’d asked the guests not to tell Peri, and in doing so, revealed his connection to her. “Thank you for trying.”

Gavin lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I did get you into this.” The moment of kindness passed. “Now, explain what Ghazi wants from Alyssa.”

It occurred to Callan that Gavin could’ve just asked Alyssa. Odd that he hadn’t. Odd that he’d kept his part in this secret—and continued to keep it secret from Alyssa.

Another puzzle piece that needed to be placed somewhere.

“She’s done other jobs for him in the past. She’s turned over everything he hired her to do before—nothing worrisome. But on Wednesday night, he hired her to find the name of a Russian. He only had an IP address and a vague idea of the man’s recent travel. Even without her tools…” Which reminded Callan. “Did you know her apartment was broken into?”

A frown. “I haven’t talked to her.”

“If it was Ghazi, then he’s a very good liar.”

“Who do you suspect?”

“Either rivals of his or an agency trying to make it look like a burglary.”

“I’ll find out if it was us. Go on.”

“Even without her high-tech equipment, she uncovered the Russian’s name that night.”

“Did she give it to Ghazi?”

“She told him she’s still looking, and he seems satisfied with that answer.”

“The name?”

“Yefim Lavrentiy.”

If Callan hadn’t been watching very closely, he might’ve missed the slight widening of Gavin’s eyes, a microsecond of his mouth opening.

“Who is he?” Gavin asked.

Callan sat back, resting his elbows on the armrests. “You tell me.”

Gavin schooled his features. After a moment, he smiled. “Sputnik.”

“The satellite?”

“It was his codename.”

Callan thought it through. “Because he’s always watching?”

That earned a quick grin. “Precisely. Sputnik was a low-level SVR agent in Iraq, tasked with discovering and relating the locations of American personnel to his higher-ups, who passed them on to enemy forces. But while he was serving his country, his wife got pneumonia. Easily cured, but the doctors near their country house where she was staying missed it. By the time he learned about it, it was too late. She was dead. I’d heard rumblings that he was furious, believing his country should’ve taken better care of her. It’s a long story, as these things tend to be, but we turned him.”

By we, Callan guessed Gavin meant I.

Impressive.

“Sputnik has remained with the SVR all these years, moving up in the ranks, passing intel to us. Good intel, mostly.”

“Mostly?”

He wagged his head. “A few times, he’s given us faulty intel, but he had to do it to throw off suspicion.”

“Any chance one of those times led to a bombing in Kirkuk?”

Gavin straightened. “How do you know about that?”

“That bombing killed Dariush Ghazi’s girlfriend.”

Gavin took that information in. Callan imagined the man flipping through file folders in his head, filling in blanks. Making connections.

Callan had heard a lot of stories about Gavin Wright. What he knew, and what he saw now, was that the man was very, very good at what he did. Hopefully, he was also trustworthy.

“How do you know?” Gavin asked.

“What else can you tell me about Lavrentiy?”

“Sputnik.” The reminder of the codename was a subtle chastisement. “I heard the SVR suspects him. There was a botched mission in Germany he was involved in. I was out of the loop, so I don’t know what happened, but I guess his higher-ups suspected he’d tipped somebody off.”

“Munich? Last fall?”

Eyes narrowed, Gavin nodded. “Sounds right.”

“A cache of weapons had been hidden in Bavaria.” Weapons of mass destruction. Biological, he’d heard. “Your friend Sputnik had nothing to do with the mission falling apart. Your nephew, Bryan, and his fiancée, Sophie, thwarted it. Well, and Michael and his team.”

“What are you saying? How did that?—?”

“Doesn’t matter. Michael filled me in. They confirmed that the Russian who’d been sent to buy the weapons was your former asset.”

Apparently, Michael had had the one man they’d taken into custody questioned. Mahmoud had confirmed that Lavrentiy—Sputnik—had been the buyer.

Maybe Sputnik had never planned to pass the WMDs along to Putin’s government. Callan hoped that was the case. Either way, he’d never had the chance. Michael’s team had secured the weapons and whisked them out of Germany.

“Why didn’t I know about that?” Gavin asked. “Why wouldn’t Michael fill me in himself? I can’t believe my nephews were involved. Is that who attacked Roger’s house last winter? Why didn’t they tell me? Michael knows I could’ve helped.”

Callan shrugged.

“Tell me, son.”

Son? Nice touch.

“Some at the Agency question your loyalty.”

“Why? Because I left?” For the first time, Callan heard anger—or maybe betrayal in Gavin’s voice. “Because I’d had it with being away from my family, with lying to people all the time? Because I’d put in my time and wanted out?”

“I think it’s more about the wealth you’ve amassed in such a short period of time.”

“I’m good at what I do.” When Callan didn’t react, he added, “I’m loyal to my country.”

“Okay.”

He squinted. “You’re not sure.”

“I’m telling you what I was told. I was directed not to share any of this with you. I’m putting my career on the line with this conversation.”

Gavin rubbed his lips together, looking out the window.

Callan followed his gaze.

Alyssa and her sisters were on the jetty now. Alyssa was crouched beside Peri, who pointed at something in the water.

Brooklynn was snapping pictures. It seemed she always had that camera in her hand. Based on the photos displayed in her apartment, she was very talented.

“They’re safe.” Was Gavin trying to reassure Callan, or himself?

“Why would Ghazi want Sputnik’s name?” Callan asked. “And what does it have to do with the bombing that killed his girlfriend?”

Gavin leaned forward and tented his fingers again. “Sputnik gave us—gave me— faulty information. I should’ve known…” He looked down, shaking his head. “He was the first person I’d ever turned. I didn’t have the experience yet to pick up the signs. Everything he’d told me before that had been spot-on, so I took his intel at face value. We’d heard there were Iraqi troops hiding in Kirkuk, and he confirmed with coordinates. We targeted the buildings. We were wrong. They were filled with…” He fell silent, then heaved a sigh. “This is why I got out. Because there’s only so much you can take knowing what your mistakes cost people. Nearly a hundred students, dead, because I’d trusted him.”

Gavin gazed out the window again. “I almost killed him. I wanted to, but…” Finally meeting Callan’s eyes, he shrugged. “It’s the job. He was trying to prove his loyalty to his higher-ups. If he’d passed on the Iraqi’s actual troop locations, he’d have been discovered. Over the years, he’s saved ten times the number of lives lost that day. He justified it—they hadn’t been American lives, after all.” Gavin scoffed. “As if that would help me sleep at night.”

“I’m sorry that happened.”

Gavin bristled. “I don’t need your sympathy. I’m just telling you what happened.”

“Are you still in contact with him?”

“Not in years. Not since I got out.”

“Any idea what he’s up to?” At the man’s quick head-shake, Callan asked, “Could you find out? And let me know.”

“I’ll make some calls. Now, it’s your turn. Tell me everything that’s happened.”

Callan did, starting with Alyssa’s meeting with Ghazi at the restaurant four days ago. Felt like a lifetime.

He gave Gavin the short version while the man studied him with an unwavering gaze.

At the mention of drones, his jaw tightened.

When he learned Callan and Alyssa had been taken to the Brookline house, his stoic facade disappeared. “How could you let that happen?”

“Please, tell me what I should’ve done differently.”

“Gotten her to a safe place, far away.”

“And left you and your family vulnerable?”

His mouth opened, then snapped shut.

“As you know, things aren’t always so cut-and-dried. I got her out of there.”

“You might not’ve.”

As if Callan hadn’t figured that out all by himself. As if Callan hadn’t experienced that race through the woods, nearly sacrificing his own life to ensure her escape.

“Our excuse for leaving was this party, so we had to come.”

“For leaving, but you went out the window.”

“She told Ghazi that it was my idea, that I got a bad feeling and insisted we sneak away, not alert the guards.”

“He bought that?”

“Alyssa is very, very good. I have no idea what kept her out of the CIA, but…”

His words trailed at the quick wince on Gavin’s face, not hidden quickly enough.

“It was you. You blocked her.”

“You know what this business is like. You think I want my daughter involved? I’ve given enough for this country. No way was I going to sacrifice my firstborn.”

“And you never told her?”

“She’d have been furious.”

“You might’ve trusted her with the truth. You might’ve told her exactly what you just told me. You might’ve indicated to her that you believed she was capable but loved her too much to let her risk her life.”

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business, Caleb , how I talk to my daughter.”

“Just saying, Gavin. It might help her to know you think she’s competent. That you’re proud of her.”

“Of course I am.”

Callan didn’t bother pressing his point. The man had heard, whether he cared or not.

“What happens now?” Gavin asked.

“We need a safe place so I can put the rest of these puzzle pieces together and Alyssa can create the false zero-day exploit to send to Ghazi, if it comes to that.”

“When he figures it out, he’ll kill her.”

“Which is why we have to stop him. But we need to know the target. We need to know what he’s attempting to do, and for whom.”

“Okay.” Gavin stood. “I’ll shake some branches, see what falls out. Meanwhile, you and Alyssa go somewhere away from here. Peri will come home with us.”

“I’m not comfortable with that.”

“My house has more security than you can offer. Plus, it lends credence to the idea that she’s a part of our family, not yours—assuming Ghazi didn’t pick up on the part of your announcement. I’ll ask Brooklynn to come home with us, too, since you arrived together. I promise, I’ll keep her safe.”

Callan didn’t like it, not one bit. But it was a good solution. If Ghazi tired of waiting and decided to send his goons after Alyssa, Callan didn’t want Peri anywhere close by.

He stood and reached across the table to grip the man’s hand. “I might not be your future son-in-law, but I’ve put everything on the line for Alyssa. I expect you to do the same for Peri.”

“Trust me, son. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Trust him. There was the rub.