Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Alisa was still thinking about Jason's words as he ushered her into the hospital and up to the sixth floor. But seeing Dr. Grayson come out of her mother's room pushed all thoughts of Henry and Tatiana out of her mind.

"Good morning," the doctor said with a cheerful smile. "I just examined your mother. She's doing well. Her lab numbers are still slightly elevated but improving."

A rush of relief ran through her. "That's great news."

"It is. But she's still fragile. Her immune system is weak, and any infection could spiral out of control, so I would like to keep her here for another day, possibly two." He turned to Jason. "I assume you can provide the same security resources for that time period?"

"Yes. We'll take care of that."

"I'll check in on her again this evening and tomorrow morning. If all is well, she should be able to leave on Sunday. But you'll need to make sure she's going into another controlled environment."

"I will," she promised, not at all sure how she could accomplish that, but she had a few days to figure it out.

"Your mother is concerned about her level of fatigue. I reassured her that her body needs the rest to repair itself. Sleep is good. Keeping stress down would also be helpful. Pamela tells me your father is out of town. I hope you'll relay that message to him as well."

She wished she could relay that message. She wanted to have a full-on conversation with her father, maybe even a full-on fight because she had a lot of things to get off her chest.

"I'll let you visit with her now," Dr. Grayson said.

"Thank you for taking such good care of her and sorting this out," she said gratefully.

"So, good news," Jason said as the doctor left.

"I'm very relieved and also happy she can stay here for a few more days. I feel better knowing she's protected, and everything is being carefully controlled going into her room."

The guard opened the door for them, and she was prepared to give her mother a happy smile, but she was asleep again. Dr. Grayson's reassuring words echoed through her head. She was glad he had mentioned not being worried about her mother's extreme fatigue because it would have concerned her.

"I guess I'll just sit with her," she said to Jason. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to check in with my team. You can turn on your phone now. In fact, why don't you do that? We can see if there are any messages from your father."

She took her phone out of her bag and powered it on. She had messages from friends but nothing from her dad. "He didn't reach out again," she murmured, showing him her phone. "I'll let you know if he does."

"Thank you. And stay in this room. It might be boring, but I'll feel better knowing you're here and someone is watching over you."

She was touched by his concern. "I'll stay here," she promised as she walked him to the door.

"I know you don't want to risk your mother's health with stressful questions, Alisa, but if you find an opportunity to ask her about your father, take it. We need all the information we can get. Nothing may have happened in the past twenty-four hours. But make no mistake—this isn't over."

Goose bumps ran down her arms at his words. "I understand."

He stared at her for a long minute.

"Is there something else?" she asked.

He leaned forward and gave her a shockingly sweet and hot kiss. "Stay safe," he said. "And don't ask me why I did that. Because I don't have an answer."

She stared at the door as it closed behind him. She didn't know why he'd kissed her, but she knew why she'd kissed him back, because she was starting to really like him, and that was probably a terrible idea.

He couldn't believe he'd kissed Alisa. He'd promised himself he wouldn't do that again. But she'd looked so damned sexy and sweet, he hadn't been able to resist.

It was good they were taking a break from each other because he was getting too tangled up in her. He needed to get some space and get his head together.

When he got into his car, he received another message from Stephanie asking if he could meet her for coffee, that she needed to speak to him. It was urgent. That didn't sound good. As much as he wanted to avoid her, he knew her well, and once she got a thought stuck in her head, she couldn't let go of it. The longer he went without talking to her, the more she would wonder what was going on, so he might as well have a conversation now before she got more worked up.

He sent her a text saying he was free for the next half hour if she wanted to talk now. She came back with an immediate yes and the name of the coffee shop they'd often visited when they were working together .

He started the car and pulled out of his parking spot, calling Savannah as he did so. "I've got a possible new lead," he said. "I just spoke to Henry Cavendish, Dan Hunt's good friend. He runs a medical research lab next to the hospital. As Alisa and I were leaving, he got a phone call from someone named Tatiana."

"Tatiana Guseva?"

"It seems likely. But Henry's lab specializes in oncology research, and they're running several clinical trials, so she could be in contact with him because of that. The fact that he's Dan Hunt's best friend makes it more suspicious, however. And the lab could also be a potential target for someone wanting to steal hazardous toxins."

"I'll start looking into him."

"Check out Lauren Silenski, too. She's a senior lab manager. She seemed to be on a first- name basis with Tatiana, as if they'd exchanged prior phone calls. And Alisa said Lauren has gotten romantically involved with the much-older Henry since his wife died. It could all be innocent, but we might as well check it out."

"It shouldn't be difficult to find more information about them. How's Pamela Hunt doing?"

"Much better. They may discharge her on Sunday if her recovery continues."

"That's good news. And Alisa?"

"She's fine for the moment. All was quiet last night. But I doubt it will last. Novikov doesn't just give up."

"Unless he doesn't need Alisa or her mother anymore," Savannah suggested. "Maybe he already has her father."

He'd wondered that, too. But why would Novikov need Dan Hunt? That was a question he still couldn't answer.

"Are you coming in?" Savannah asked.

"Soon. I have to meet with my ex-partner first."

"Is this the ex-partner who was hurt in the explosion three years ago?"

"Yes."

"I thought you were keeping the circle tight," Savannah said .

"She contacted me, and with Novikov's reappearance, I need to find out if she knows something. I'll be in the office after that." He ended the call, his thoughts turning from Tatiana to Stephanie.

He hoped she wasn't going to ask him about Novikov. Maybe she just needed to vent again. She'd done that a few months ago when she'd been frustrated by the job that kept her tied to a desk. Hopefully, he could just offer support and friendship and not have to discuss Novikov.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at Fiero's coffee shop in Venice Beach. Stephanie was sitting at a table in the back with two coffees in front of her. He smiled, thinking of all the times they'd met here, sometimes coming in together during a break or meeting up in the morning before they headed into work. For eighteen months, they had worked closely together and had become very good friends. But things had changed after she'd been shot, mostly because she'd had a difficult time accepting her limitations.

Despite some lingering physical ailments, she was still an attractive blonde with short, curly hair, but the cane against the wall by her chair reminded him that at thirty-two years old, Stephanie had a long life of disability to deal with.

She was lucky to be alive, and he was grateful for that, but her dream career had come to a crushing end three years ago, and he couldn't shake the guilt of whatever part he might have played in that.

When he got to her table, he leaned down to give her a hug. Then he took the seat across from her. "It's good to see you, Steph. How are you?"

"I'm doing okay," she said, a strain in her gaze that belied her words. "I got you your cold brew."

"Thanks." He took a sip, then set his cup down. "What did you want to talk about? Is Neil still driving you crazy at work?" he asked, referring to her micromanaging boss.

"Always. I can't write a report without him wanting to add a comma. But I want to talk to you about Novikov. I heard he's in LA. Is that true?"

"Who told you that?" he asked, stalling.

"My former CI."

"Which one?"

"That doesn't matter. I have a right to know if he's here, Jason." She grabbed her cane and tapped the ground with it. "He's the reason I need this to walk."

"I don't have confirmation Novikov is here." He chose his words carefully. He was comfortable lying on the job, but not with friends, not with people he cared about.

"But you know something," she persisted. "And whatever you know, you're keeping out of the LA office. Neil told me he heard you're on a special undercover assignment. I think that assignment is Arseni Novikov. He's here, and you don't want anyone in the office to know because you think there's a mole."

"You thought the same thing three years ago," he reminded her.

"And I still do. But you can trust me. I was with your father when he was killed, and I almost died next to him. If Novikov is in town, I want in. Let me help. No one has to know. I work in white-collar crime now. I'm chained to a desk, and no one pays attention to what I'm doing because it isn't very important."

"Everything is important."

"Not as important as Novikov. I need this, Jason. I need to get that man off the street."

Her impassioned plea moved him. If the situation had been reversed, he'd be doing the same thing. In fact, he probably wouldn't have even asked if he could help. He would have investigated on his own. "I understand where you're coming from, Steph."

"I don't think you do. This has been so rough on me, Jason. I fought like hell to get into the FBI. I wasn't like you. I didn't have an automatic entry into Quantico because of my father and grandfather. I didn't have people in high places looking out for me. I had to fight for every opportunity, and I was damn good," she said fiercely. "I'd still be good if it wasn't for Novikov. Being an agent was all I ever wanted to be. It was my life."

"You're still an agent."

"I'm an analyst. And I hate sitting at a desk, but it's all I'm allowed to do. Come on, Jason, let me help. I still have contacts."

"What exactly did your CI tell you?"

"That Novikov is in town, that he's planning something huge."

"That's vague." He picked up his coffee and took another sip. "Does your informant know where Novikov is?"

"No. But he told me that Dominic Ilyin has a room at the Viceroy Hotel in West Hollywood under the name of Constantine Figueroa. I don't believe Novikov is staying there, but if they're both in town, they're going to meet at some point. You need to get eyes on Dominic."

His pulse leapt. Dominic was the person who had been in contact with Tatiana. He was also a sniper and a high-level associate of Novikov.

"If Dominic is in town, they could be planning an assassination attempt at the global tech conference. The vice president is scheduled to speak on Monday, and he won't be the only one of importance there. The CEOs of four of the biggest tech companies in the world will also be there. It's a target-rich field."

"There will also be a ton of security."

"Novikov has proven he can get through security," she reminded him. "What about the old girlfriend—Tatiana? Have you talked to her? Are you monitoring her communications?"

He realized that he'd basically confirmed he was looking for Novikov. "I'm monitoring her," he admitted. "But I don't know where Novikov is, and I can't confirm he's in LA."

"I'm going to see what I can find out."

"You can't be involved in this, Stephanie. "

"I'm sorry, Jason, but you can't stop me. I won't get in the way, but I'm going to do some digging."

He realized she wasn't asking; she was telling him, and he couldn't blame her. But he also couldn't let her screw anything up. "Have you spoken to anyone else in the office about this? It sounds like you said something to Neil."

"I didn't mention Novikov to him. I just said I hadn't seen you in a while and wondered if he knew what you were working on. He knows we're friends. I'm not stupid, Jason. I'm not going to blow this. I want Novikov to go to jail." She leaned forward, lowering her voice as she said, "Actually, I want him to die."

"Which is why you can't be involved."

"You want the same thing I do," she said, challenging him with her eyes. "You lost your dad. I'm surprised you were allowed to take on this case."

He ignored that, not wanting to get into an argument with her, because the one thing they had always clashed on was what she perceived to be the favoritism he received because of his father and grandfather. "Whatever you learn, bring it to me. You can't talk to anyone else."

"Fine," she said. "What about Mick Hadley? Have you talked to him? He worked closely with your dad when it came to Novikov. He always seems to know what's going on."

"He doesn't know this time. And I can't answer any more questions. Let me do this, Stephanie. I know that won't be easy, but the bottom line is that we both want Novikov off the most wanted list, right?"

"Right. Will you at least give me an update at some point?"

"I'll try." He got up and leaned over to give her another hug. "Thanks for the tip."

"I hope it's a good one."