Chapter 27

27

At the same time the evening was winding down at the rooftop bar in Venice, Rick La Rose was heading home to his Paris apartment thinking of calling it an early night, too, when his phone rang.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Scramble,” a female voice said.

“Scramble,” Rick said as he initiated the extra layer of security that would make their call impossible to decipher. “Who is this?”

“Danielle Verde.”

Rick became instantly alert. Not only was Danielle a well-respected senior agent, she’d been part of the Golden Hour mission.

“I’m listening,” he said.

“Someone tried to kidnap me…or kill me. I’m not sure which.”

“When?”

“Forty-five minutes ago.”

“You’re somewhere safe now?”

“For the moment.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Car bomb.”

“Your car?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds more like they were trying to kill you than kidnap?”

“Not the exploding type of bomb. This one released some kind of gas. Lucky for me, I use an app to remotely start my vehicle, so I wasn’t inside as it fogged up.”

“That was a smart move.”

“I always do it now. I’ve seen too many people die in the driver’s seat.”

“Does whoever did this know they didn’t get you?”

“They do. Maybe thirty seconds after the gas went off, four men approached the vehicle and broke in. When they realized I wasn’t inside, they started looking around to see if I was nearby.”

“They didn’t spot you?”

“I was watching from a window across the street and ducked out of sight. When I looked back, they were gone.”

“You didn’t happen to get photos of them, did you?”

“I’m a trained CIA agent. What do you think?”

“Any idea who they were?” Rick thought he knew the answer, but wanted to make sure she wasn’t involved in something else that could explain what happened.

“Specifically, no idea. But I’m not stupid. I know someone is coming after all of us who were part of Golden Hour. Unless I’m wrong about that.”

“You’re not.”

“Shit. Please tell me Director Cabot is doing something about this.”

“He is.”

“Not fast enough, if you ask me.”

“He’s sent a specialist to root out who’s behind this.”

“Is this specialist any good?”

“Lance wouldn’t send someone he didn’t trust to handle the job.”

“If Lance says he’s okay, then I guess he is,” she said and then fell quiet for a moment. “I may have some information that can help him.”

“Tell me. I’ll pass it on.”

“No way. I’m not saying anything over the telephone.”

“The line is secure.”

“That may be, but it’s clear that the people doing this have inside information. That means the Agency has a mole.”

“You’re not wrong. Lance is looking into that, too.”

“Until he’s plugged the leak, the only way I’ll pass on what I know is in person.”

“Okay. I’ll contact the specialist and see if I can set up a meeting between the two of you.”

“Make it quick, or I’ll disappear.”

Teddy had been back in Mark Weldon’s suite for ten minutes when Rick La Rose called.

“Another one of our agents was just targeted,” Rick said.

“Dead?”

“No, she got away. But she says she has information that could help your investigation.”

“What is it?”

“I asked, but she said she’ll only pass it on in person. She’s worried about the mole.”

“Rightfully,” Teddy said.

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Has Lance made any progress on that front?”

“If he has, he hasn’t told me.”

“So, standard Lance behavior.”

“You said it, not me.”

“Who’s the agent?” Teddy asked.

“Danielle Verde.”

Teddy’s memory of Danielle was that she was a tough-as-nails operative, who did her job well.

“I’ll meet with her,” Teddy said.

“I was hoping you’d say that. She’s currently in Romania and needs to be careful about moving around. I would think she could be in Italy by tomorrow.”

“Not Italy, Budapest. I’ll be there in the morning.”

“That should be even easier.”

“Have her leave word with Billy Barnett. He’ll be staying at the Ritz-Carlton.”

“I’ll contact Danielle and send her your way,” Rick said and hung up.

From the hotel hallway came the sounds of someone pounding on a door. Not to Mark’s suite, but somewhere close by.

After a moment, a stern male voice began yelling, “Mr. Barnett! Open this door right now!”

Teddy headed to the door of his room, ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind.

“Bianca, I know you’re in there!”

Teddy stopped in his tracks. The voice was that of Bianca’s ex-husband, Eduardo. Teddy went into his bedroom, where he used his cell phone to call Bianca’s room.

“Pronto,” she answered.

Making the appropriate adjustments to his voice, Teddy said, “Bianca, it’s Billy Barnett.”

“Billy! I was hoping you’d call. Are you in your room now? I can be there in minutes.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be coming back to the hotel. Something’s come up, and I’ve had to go out of town. But you’re probably going to want to come up to my room anyway.”

“If you are not there, why would I go?”

“I received a call from Mark Weldon. Apparently, Eduardo is outside my door, demanding you come out and talk to him.”

“ Oddio! I am so sorry. I will take care of the problem.”

“Thank you, Bianca. I appreciate it.”

“Do not worry about a thing. And, Billy?”

“Yes?”

“The next time you are coming to Italy, be sure to let me know. I’ll make sure you see all the sights.”

“I’ll do that.”

Three minutes later, Bianca’s voice boomed down the hallway, drowning out her ex’s pounding. “Eduardo!” The rest was spoken in rapid-fire Italian, of which no sane person would want to be the recipient.

Soon, the hallway fell blessedly silent.