Page 56 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

Oblak’s rugged mouth broke into a thin smile. “I was hoping you might shed some light on the subject. Who, indeed, would have a motive to want to see her dead, a woman on the verge of filing charges against the man she claimed attacked her?”

“Jack Ryan had nothing to do with this, I assure you,” Dom said. Jack was one of the best guys he knew, and not just because they were cousins.

“Ms. Sherman asked me why anyone would want to kill her. The term of art is ‘motive,’ and right now, the only person on the planet I’m aware of that might have any motive whatsoever is Jack Ryan.”

“You don’t really believe Jack Ryan tried to hurt that woman.”

“Highly unlikely. But that’s what we were investigating”—Oblak glanced at Elena’s corpse—“until this happened.” Heturned back to Dom. “So tell me, why is an FBI agent getting involved in this case?”

“Officially, this isn’t an FBI case. I just happen to work for them. Jack is a close friend, and he works for another friend of mine, Gerry Hendley. So does Ms. Sherman.”

“Yes, Gerry Hendley. The former senator. Jack Ryan has many good friends, some in very high places.”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“And for whatever reason, Elena Iliescu allegedly attacked him, and now she is dead.” Oblak’s eyes bore into Dom’s. “Where does that leave me?”

Up shit creek,Dom thought.Just like me.He’d come all this way to try to find out Elena Iliescu’s connection to the Iron Syndicate, if any, and why they wanted to kill Jack. He was prepared to cajole or bribe her with offers of protection or even cash to get answers, but now she was gone. His only hope at the moment was Oblak.

“Sometimes cases don’t get solved. It’s part of the business.”

“True, but the case isn’t closed yet, is it?” He glanced back down at the corpse. “Such a shame. A beautiful young woman, dead for no apparent reason.”

Dom wasn’t sure how much to confide in the Slovenian detective, particularly in regard to the Iron Syndicate—what little Dom actually knew. But there was something about the way Oblak presented himself. He was definitely not happy that the two of them were standing here with no apparent authority over a corpse that used to be his primary suspect and/or witness to an attempted murder.

Oblak might just be a local cop who resented the hell out of the arrival of an American FBI agent into his jurisdiction. God knows he got that kind of reaction when he encounteredinsecure or incompetent law enforcement back home, which fortunately wasn’t too often.

Oblak didn’t strike him as either insecure or incompetent, but then again, it was too early to tell. If he wasn’t either of those things, then why did he resent their presence? Was he hiding something? Dom just couldn’t be sure, and a silent exchange with Adara confirmed his own hesitation to divulge Iliescu’s Iron Syndicate connection. Better not tip their hand just yet.

“You said that there was no one you could think of with a motive other than Jack. I can think of two more,” Dom said.

“Enlighten me.”

Dom pointed at the corpse. “The first person is her.”

“You think she killed herself?”

“It’s possible.”

“With what motive?”

“The same as the other suspect.”

“And who might that be?”

“I believe Jack when he said that this woman tried to kill him. Either she was doing it for herself or she was instructed to do so by somebody else.”

“Instructed, or hired,” Adara added.

“So your other suspect is Iliescu’s unknown employer?”

“Logically, those are your only two choices.”

“But I still don’t have a motive for why she would kill herself, or why her employer would order her to kill herself or have someone else kill her.”

“Sure you do. It’s Jack. Or, technically, her failure to kill Jack. If her employer is anything like the Mexican cartels or the Russian Mafia, her failure to execute her mission would result in a far more gruesome death than one she might inflictupon herself. That, or her employer had her killed because she was in your custody and they were afraid she might betray them.” Dom grinned. “But you already thought of all that, didn’t you?”

“We may be a small country of villages, but we don’t raise idiots, Mr. Caruso.”