Poison Evidence

by Rachel Grant

  He never should have befriended the man. He should have realized that even being a casual acquaintance was a risk.

  And Ivy. What had he done to Ivy?

  He cupped her face. “I don’t deserve you.”

  “Yes. You do. What you haven’t deserved is how you’ve been used your whole life. We’re going to change that. Together. You won’t be alone anymore.” Her smile warmed him as much as her words.

  She kissed him, a deep, hungry kiss that did more than simply warm him.

  He pulled back before the kiss got out of control. “What’s our plan? Do I call the FBI agent now?”

  “We’ll rendezvous with Luke and Ian at dusk on Angaur,” she said, naming the southernmost of Palau’s two hundred and fifty-plus islands.

  “You were that confident I’d change my mind?”

  “No, but I suggested the rendezvous just in case. I need to call and tell them you’re in. You’ll need to call Curt too.”

  “And if I hadn’t agreed?”

  “Then I had no plan beyond going back to Koror without you.” She cupped his cheek with her right hand, the hard cast on her left arm pressed against his side—a painful reminder of how he’d failed her already. “We can do this, Dimitri. We can save your family and cut your ties with the GRU.”

  He furrowed his brow. No more lies or omissions going forward. “I’ve killed for them, Ivy. I am—was—the Hammer. I had to be, but still, I did it.”

  Her fingers stroked the stubble on his chin. “You killed Bratva. Child traffickers, arms dealers, and rapists. And I understand you had no choice.”

  “My orders were always men I could dispose of without guilt—except at the end, when I had orders to kill Luke.” He gripped Ivy tighter against him. “Days ago, I was told if I didn’t kill Luke, you would die.”

  Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull back. That she didn’t fear him with that admission meant everything to him.

  “You didn’t kill Luke, and you’d never hurt me.”

  “Never. For either of you.”

  “It sounds like the GRU knew your limits and chose not to push you too far lest you’d balk. Until now.”

  He thought of the one time he’d balked, and the results—when he’d beaten the hell out of his handler with the same hockey stick used to beat Sophia, and later, how he’d exacted his revenge after the man raped his sister a second time. Yeah, the GRU knew not to test his limits. He’d made it clear he could be pushed only so far.

  He pressed his lips to Ivy’s forehead. “So. We call the others, then we have hours before the rendezvous?”

  “It’s middle of the night in DC. You can probably wait a few hours to call Curt.”

  “And Luke?”

  Ivy picked up a satellite phone, which rested on the helm. She dialed a number and a moment later said, “Luke? Dimitri’s in. See you at dusk.” Then she hit the End button and dropped the phone on the padded captain’s chair.

  She smiled at Dimitri and pushed him toward the open hatch with both hands, unimpeded by the cast. “And now,” she said, “I have plans for you.”

  He crossed his arms, blocking her path. “You expect me to make love to you inside when we have the whole ocean to ourselves?” He took a step toward her, nudging her back toward the padded bench seat. “Since that first morning when you sunbathed topless in front of me, I’ve fantasized about making love to you in the sun.”

  She bit her bottom lip and smiled. “I had the same fantasy—and felt so guilty for wanting you.”

  “So we’re going to live that fantasy—guilt free.” He slipped an arm around her waist and backed her toward the bench. “You’ve given me hope and a reason to live, Ivy. Starting now, I’m never going to let you go again.”

  Ian watched Rudy Fredrickson’s face as the DIA analyst spoke with ASAC Palea on the other side of the conference room they’d taken over as their base of operations in the new hotel where all the trouble had begun.

  Yesterday, Fredrickson had roused and recovered quickly after the blow to his temple. Ivy, thankfully, had used a light touch that got the job done with no apparent lasting damage, which would go a long way toward saving all their asses if it turned out Fredrickson was innocent.

  Ian’s vote was still out on that; however, an eyewitness on the dock had seen a kayak glide into Ulai’s hanger—likely Dimitri—before Fredrickson entered Ulai’s attached apartment, followed a minute later by Ivy, who entered the hangar directly from the dock. It didn’t look good for the Russian spy.

  Ivy had been adamant that Dimitri wouldn’t have harmed Ulai Umetaro, and Luke, surprisingly, had backed her up.

  Ian didn’t know what to think.

  Palea made no effort to lower his voice as he questioned Fredrickson, which gave a hint as to how the FBI agent leaned. “I’m just saying I find it hard to understand why you didn’t tip off Curt about your trip, or check in with me upon arrival, knowing I’m heading this investigation thanks to the DIA’s screwup.”

  “I didn’t tip off Dominick for the same reason I went straight from the airport to the marina. Because I wanted to question Umetaro before Veselov—or one of you—stopped him from talking to me.”

  The DIA agent glanced at Luke then Ian. “I have reason to believe the private contractors here are in league with the assassin. In fact, I believe they let him escape along with Ms. MacLeod.” He touched the bruise on his temple. “Which brings us to MacLeod. Everything the woman has said is suspect. She was in league with the assassin before she ever arrived in Palau. Phone records prove it.”

  Mara had adequately rebutted that argument, which Palea knew. The fact that he didn’t answer the charge and merely nodded to Fredrickson said a lot about the Fed’s take on the DIA analyst.

  The DIA had sent Fredrickson to Palau to aid in the hunt for Veselov, meaning the FBI agent couldn’t shut him out of the investigation—not without tipping off the DIA that they might have a mole in their midst. Such a warning would only make it harder to flush out the guilty party. For that reason, Palea, Luke, and Ian had to keep Fredrickson in the loop. But he was a suspect, not an ally.

  Back in DC, Curt had FBI agents digging into the DIA analyst’s background, looking for clues to his loyalties. But Ian knew those kinds of investigations took months, while the handoff would happen in just a few days. It would make the exchange that much trickier, given that they’d have to keep an eye on the analyst, another on the Russians, all while protecting Sophia and Yulian Veselov—if mother and son were actually delivered for the handoff.

  In two short hours, they would rendezvous—Luke, Palea, Ivy, Dimitri, and Ian—and formulate a plan. Then Dimitri would make his demands to his handlers.

  It would take at least a day for Sophia and Yulian Veselov to travel to Palau. This would be all over in two days—three maximum—and he could go home to Cressida.

  The one loose end was Zack Barrow. Ian didn’t know if he could leave while Zack remained free.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  At last, Ivy had the AUUV wired to her computer. She’d ensured the tracking system was disabled, and a scan had confirmed it emitted no radio or satellite signals. Now it was time to get the hardware to reveal its secrets. The interface built into the AUUV was in Russian, which Dimitri translated for her until she had it connected to her computer, and then she was in the code, a language she could speak.

  In the middle of the night, they’d retrieved the device from a house on Peleliu. Ivy had marveled at the number of fallback positions Dimitri had outfitted; even Ian was impressed. AUUV acquired, they’d returned, just the two of them, to open sea for safety. Zack Barrow and his allies were still in the islands and hunting for both the AUUV and Ivy. The vast open ocean was the safest hiding place.

  Ivy had initiated lockdown on CAM, and it and RON had been sent to the US military base on Guam, giving them one less item to guard, which was a relief. Luke, Dimitri, and Ian had all wanted to send Ivy to Guam as well, but she refused because she was the onl
y person with the technical expertise to hack into the AUUV. If they were going to turn the device over to the Russians, they would damn well have a copy of the data and programing for the US to sift through. To that end, Luke had given Ivy her laptop when they rendezvoused the night before.

  Another advantage of having her computer; she’d exported copies of the detailed map layers created from the flyovers of Peleliu she’d done with Ulai during her first week in Palau. She and Dimitri would pore over that data and pick the site for the handoff. Once they settled on a location, they’d rendezvous with Luke, Ian, and Palea again and plant the AUUV in the jungle of Peleliu and prepare for the handoff.

  The time for the exchange had yet to be set—but they expected it to be the following day. Everything was coming together. Now she just needed the AUUV to spill its guts and give them yet another advantage in this proxy war of spies.

  She found the data files, hidden and encrypted, but she dispatched with the layers of security easily enough. A little easy, but what she’d expected for the first-tier security. The real data would be much harder to breach. The AUUV had several cameras. Most of the data would be either photos or videos. She’d bet anything that embedded within massive video files was the real data.

  She’d have to break apart the videos—she’d be a miner, smashing through rock to find hidden gemstones. Like gems in their natural state, the data would be rough, flawed, and need precision cutting to bring the true value to light. She didn’t have time for that, but she could look for the markers that told her the gems were there. She’d make copies of everything, and CIA hackers could play to their hearts’ content.

  Behind her, Dimitri leaned down and kissed her neck. “I love watching you at the computer. How absorbed you get. You could be anywhere in the world—a palace or a closet—and you’d never know it because your focus is razor-sharp on one thing.”

  She arced her neck back to look up at him and made a face—surprised and amused. “Most people find my absorption irritating.”

  “Not me. I get off on it. It’s like you’re fully being you without filters or lenses that we all present to the world on a regular basis. And I see the same intensity in your eyes when you touch me, when we make love. It’s potent to be the recipient of that kind of attention.”

  His mouth dropped to hers for a deep, intense kiss. She gripped her seat as she leaned back, enjoying the slide of his tongue against hers.

  This heat and intensity could be an everyday thing if they succeeded. Curt had warned her witness protection would be necessary if the GRU didn’t believe Dimitri was dead.

  Could she—would she—give up her family to be with Dimitri?

  The idea made her ill. She touched her belly with her left hand, the cast hard and abrasive even through her cotton tank top. It was still too soon to know if she’d conceived, but the idea of being able to raise their baby together—then choosing not to because she didn’t want to go into hiding—also made her ill.

  He had to be successful tomorrow. It was a simple imperative.

  He lifted his head, ending the kiss. He touched her cheek, where a tear had spilled. “I’m scared too, Ivy.”

  She loved that she didn’t have to explain her torn emotions to him. He understood her in ways no one ever had.

  “I love you,” she said, taking strength from the simple words. Love had given him a reason to fight, a reason to hope. It was a powerful force, and she would harness it for all the fuel it would give them. She pulled his head down for a last quick kiss, then she stroked the stubble along his jaw. “Now stop distracting me. I’ve got hacking to do.”

  He laughed. “I’ll do something useful and make lunch.”

  She smiled and faced the computer screen again, slipping back into the cyber world, forgetting for the moment all the reasons she was afraid.

  Ian supplied night vision goggles to everyone, and Dimitri was grateful Raptor had seen fit to fully stock the private jet before it left DC for Palau. They had enough gadgets to make Q in a James Bond movie giddy.

  All Dimitri cared about was that they were armed and he wouldn’t be alone in protecting Sophia and Yulian as he faced down his handlers.

  Ivy, at least, would not be anywhere near the site during the exchange. She’d used her expertise to find the perfect hiding spot for the AUUV, and she’d managed to copy the entire hard disk and started parsing data, but after tonight, she’d be safely tucked away. She was injured and was not and had never been trained for this sort of op, unlike Luke, a former Navy SEAL, Ian, who’d been Delta Force before he was CIA, FBI Agent Palea, and Dimitri.

  Even Rudy Fredrickson had been a field agent for the DIA prior to taking on the analyst position. Fredrickson knew nothing about the current plans, just in case he was indeed the DIA mole.

  Tomorrow, an hour before the handoff, the DIA would be informed of the deal Dimitri had struck with the head of the Justice Department. The DIA would insist on their man being present for the exchange, and frankly, they all wanted him where they could keep an eye on him. If he was a traitor, they might be able to use him against his Russian allies.

  Fredrickson would witness the exchange, but Luke and Ian would make certain he didn’t have the opportunity to warn accomplices that Dimitri wasn’t alone in the jungle.

  “Another twenty meters north-northwest, and you’ll be on top of the semi-subterranean Japanese bomb shelter,” Ivy said.

  “Isn’t inside the shelter too obvious?” Palea asked.

  “Exactly. But near it is an aluminum Japanese seaplane float. It’s large enough to tuck the AUUV underneath. The shelter is a red herring. The meet point will be a concrete Japanese gun emplacement. It’s a bowl shape—twelve meters in diameter, two meters deep. Dimitri and I chose the southernmost of three emplacements due to the proximity to the bomb shelter, and there’s a good vantage point above the shelter, north of the seaplane float, west of the emplacement, for Agent Palea to watch over the exchange with a sniper rifle.” She cocked her head. “I understand you’ve had sniper training?”

  He nodded. “In the Army.”

  She gave a sharp nod. “The data on the suitability for this as the location for the exchange was drawn from my survey with CAM, but I never had a chance to ground-truth Peleliu as I did the Rock Island survey. CAM was calibrated but not refined.” She met each man’s gaze. “The data combined with Dimitri’s tactical training led us to choose this area, but it’s up to you to decide if it works on the ground.”

  For the next hour, they explored the jungle. A slow process given that they needed to leave no mark of their passage, no hint they’d been here to scout the location and hide the prize.

  “I don’t like the way the ground slopes south of the float,” Palea said from his position above the bomb shelter. “I’ll have a blind spot. But otherwise I’ve got good coverage from here.”

  “I’ll conceal myself southwest of the emplacement and cover the slope,” Ian said. “We’ll put Fredrickson to my right, so I can cover him as well.”

  “Good plan,” Luke said. “I’ll take northeast of the emplacement, keeping Fredrickson to my left.”

  With the location selected, Ivy oversaw the hiding of the AUUV under the aluminum seaplane float. “This is violating so many rules of historic preservation,” she griped. “Messing with wreckage as we are.”

  “It’s garbage,” Luke said. “Abandoned by troops when they abandoned Peleliu.”

  “Historic garbage, nonetheless.”

  “You and Cressida can start a support group,” Ian said with a snicker, “for archaeologists who have to disturb sites for the greater good.”

  “Are you rolling your eyes behind those NVGs, Boyd?” Ivy asked, humor in her voice.

  Luke laughed. “Badass covert operators don’t roll their eyes. But then, Ian doesn’t even share a zip code with badass.”

  Ian chuckled. “Luke is bitter because he knew he’d never get into Delta and had to settle for the Navy.”

  Dimitri
’s alter ego, Lt. Parker Reeves, and Lt. Luke Sevick had been somewhere between acquaintances and friends—as much of a friendship as Parker had allowed. Now Dimitri found himself embarrassingly jealous watching the easy banter between Luke and Ian. Palea had also developed a rapport with the others, and his Army background meant he’d taken Ian’s side.

  “Hey, big tough guys,” Ivy said, interrupting both the teasing and Dimitri’s thoughts. “One-armed woman here trying to lift an airplane. Little help maybe?”

  Luke and Ian lifted one side of the large float, and Ivy peered underneath. “Sonofabitch. That’s fricking TNT.”

  As one, they all tilted their heads to look under the raised corroded metal. Sure enough, there was a pile of World War II explosives pressed into the earth. The molded bricks looked like square candles—three inches long, an inch thick, and an inch wide, with a hole in the middle—he’d seen photos of similar finds and this resembled a cache that had been found by archaeologists several years before.

  Old TNT would explode on contact with open flame. After seventy years, a spark could still set it off.

  “It’s well-documented that there’s a lot of unexploded ordnance in these woods,” Ivy said. “We knew this was possible.” She met Dimitri’s gaze. “What do we do?”

  “We use it. The AUUV is already packed with C-4. TNT will just make a bigger statement.” He collected two dozen explosive bricks from the pile and carefully set them aside.

  Together, he and Palea positioned the AUUV under the float, resting it on top of the remaining TNT. Then he took the bricks he’d set aside and placed them around and in front of the Russian device. He stepped back and nodded to Luke and Ian, who lowered the float, fully hiding the modern spy equipment and explosives under rusted aluminum.