Chapter Twenty-Three

"Now that the room is cleared," Nutsbe said. "Amanda Bradshaw was arrested? Why the heck was Amanda Bradshaw in Moscow, to begin with?"

"You haven't read the paper today?" Thorn asked.

"Been a might busy. How about you catch me up?" Nutsbe asked.

"You had left for Estonia," Thorn said, "so you missed this part. Amanda decided that since Helsinki was so close, she'd pop over to Russia to visit her grandmother."

"But Moscow?" Nutsbe shook his head. "In this atmosphere?"

"We strenuously discouraged her from going. Free will," Titus said.

Nutsbe turned to Thorn. "The university didn't weigh in?"

"They didn't offer guidance. Bradshaw seemed to think that only Americans with high name recognition were getting picked up. She was a student. I pointed out that other students came to some very bad ends at the hands of governments where America had little to no diplomatic presence."

"Let me guess," Nutsbe frowned, "she said they were foreigners, and she had family."

"Grandmother, to be exact. And that's where they arrested her, at her grandmother's apartment."

"That's what's in the paper?" Nutsbe asked. "When was the arrest?"

"Two weeks ago," Titus said. "It looks like she spent one night with Grandma and the second night at the prison. Word is just now getting out to the public."

Nutsbe leaned back and focused on the ceiling. "Well, shit. Kennedy is probably right, then."

"What did you land on?" Titus asked.

"When I was in Tallinn, Estonia, Amanda Bradshaw contacted me via the switchboard. She asked me if I could check a website to see if it was safe for her to open on her computer. Bradshaw mentioned something about research for the university. She said she didn't want to mess up her new security clearance. And since we do that for her university's contract, I followed through, no big deal."

"You opened it and decided it was fine?" Thorn said.

"I did because it was."

"But you swiped through while she was on the phone with you?" Titus said.

"I did."

Titus's nod was grave. "You have that information in a report?"

"I logged it and reported on it. We can hand the info to our cyber team and get them to take a look."

"I'll bring it up with Command first," Titus said. "See how they want to handle this. Off the top of your head, this was in the last two weeks, so after her arrest?"

"It fits Kennedy's timeline. I flew back to D.C. from Estonia for a few days to attend meetings and pick up K9 Max for Halo. And that's why I can pinpoint this exactly. It was the day I came back to join the team in Estonia. It was the night of the Tallinn fire. You all were downstairs having dinner, and I was doing reports in my room."

"What was on the site?" Thorn asked.

"A nothing burger site. I remember thinking that it wasn't worth her while." Nutsbe shook his head. "Russian prison. That's no damned joke. This situation with Amanda is out of our hands, right?" Nutsbe turned back to Titus. "The State Department is negotiating her release?"

"She's on their radar. We warned her about this very situation." Titus didn't look up from his phone, where he was searching through a file. "State Department wants us to butt out. They have the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs involved."

"Honey?" Nutsbe knew that Honey Honig had been rerouted and hadn't returned with the rest of Panther Force. He often worked alone when he was negotiating a hostage release. And Nutsbe hadn't had time since the Panther Force wheels landed to move through the roster and account for everyone's workload.

"At this point, there's nothing we can do. There's no way to get in and grab her out. If she was sent to her grandmother's to await trial, that would be one thing. This … Nothing to be done except stick our nose in and complicate the situation." Titus seemed to have found what he needed and sent it on to the person who needed it. His focus returned to Nutsbe. "But based on other Americans being held on trumped-up espionage charges, she's never coming home."

"I think I have the photo that Kennedy told us about." Nutsbe opened his phone. "Our protectee took it and sent a copy to both of us because it isn't every day that a Russian president walks through the room." Nutsbe held his phone out. "Do you think that guy with the black case carries the Russian equivalent of the nuclear football?"

Titus looked at the picture, and his face brightened with a rare grin. "That, my friend, is paranoia in action. When the Russian president takes a shit, this poor guy," Titus tapped the screen, "has to fish the turd out of the pot and carry it in that case."

"It's a shitcase?" Nutsbe pulled his chin back, pulling his lips thin with disgust. "Are you pulling my leg?"

"I shit you not," Titus said. "He's afraid that a foreign government could get his fecal matter and test it to gain his DNA and other information about his health."

"Disgusting." Nutsbe put his phone back in his pocket.

"Exactly," Thorn said.

"Titus, what do you think about the FBI's theory for how my name showed up? I think we're throwing darts blindfolded." Yeah, Nutsbe would admit it; today, his nerves had been mightily taxed. "Why not throw that one more dart out there, too, and see if it hits a bullseye."

"I can't say that I disagree. Fingerprint swipes, I imagine we're about to get protocol saying that if we're doing anything with an external site, we'll need to use a stylus. Another security hoop to jump." Titus stood. "For now, I need to give Margot a call. Thorn, you need to get home and spend some time with Arya. Nutsbe, I'm sure you'd like to get out of that suit. You smell like a goat turd floating in a punch bowl. Go relax. Court tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure yet. But I'm on my way to pick up Beowolf and take him home with me, so things are smooth in the morning if the trial is a go."

"Are you staying at the barracks? It might be good for you to be on campus until things shake out a bit."

"I promised to pick up Olivia's car from the courthouse. And then I'll stay at my house. We don't know who the target is: Random Joe Public, Olivia, or me—"

"Could be all three," Thorn said.

"Until that's cleared up, I want to be around and ensure Olivia is safe."

***

Nutsbe sat shotgun as Thorn drove him to the Cerberus campus to get the car Automotive had left for him when he picked up Beowolf.

"From the sound of things, you and Olivia are getting pretty tight," Thorn said as he drove past the training fields.

"Tight," Nutsbe tried that word on. That word sounded like "tied." He didn't feel like that was entirely right. "It would be nice to take her on a date once things settle. I enjoy her company."

"Companionship, not relationship?" Thorn rolled his window down and stuck his arm out, letting his hand ride the warm end of summer air. "I mean, you two seemed to have forged some kind of a bond."

"In the trenches, that happens." Nutsbe would much prefer this conversation weren't happening. "I'm just not cut from the relationship cloth."

"I hear you, brother. I spouted the same shit before I saw the picture of Arya, and my whole world shifted."

"Nothing's shifted for me. This is what friendship looks like."

"Right." Thorn sent him a grin. "You're staying in harm's way at your house because of your good neighbor policy."

"Always nice to be on the good side of a federal prosecutor." Nutsbe looked out his window. Bob had Beowolf on a lead and was wiping the ubiquitous drool from his mouth.

Thorn pulled into a parking space. "Especially one that shows up with food."

"Sexist much?" Nutsbe released his belt.

"Food isn't sexist," Thorn pointed out. "Everyone eats."

"Yeah, man, I hear you. Thanks for the ride." He climbed from the car, then turned and leaned in. "Give Arya a hug for me."

"Will do. Stay safe, brother."