Page 144 of One Minute Out

Riesling said, “I don’t really understand your reasoning.”

“He’ll be pissed we didn’t figure out the relationship, he’ll be more pissed than he already is that we didn’t bag Gentry in Venice or Croatia or Bosnia, and he won’t dispose of her until he’s done what he wants with her.”

“So... what do we do?”

“I prefer to see this new development as an opportunity.”

“To do what?”

Verdoorn pointed to his tablet computer. On it was the LinkedIn profile of Talyssa Corbu, including contact information and a photo of a waifishly thin smiling blonde in business attire. “For me to make contact with my enemy.”

Verdoorn grinned, and Riesling saw it as an especially sinister expression on the man’s normally cruel and hard face.

•••

I’ve caught a couple hours’ sleep on the CIA Falcon 50 as we cross the Atlantic, but I wake when my phone begins buzzing in my hand. I look around quickly; it’s daylight, and a quick check of the monitor at the front bulkhead tells me we’re forty minutes away from landing at Andrews in D.C.

I rub my eyes and snatch up my phone.

“Talyssa? You okay?”

Her voice is unsure. “I’m okay. I’m at the airport. I’ll be in Los Angeles in twelve hours.”

“I don’t want you flying to the—”

“Harry. Listen. Someone called me.”

This sounds bad. “Who?”

“He didn’t say... He wants to talk to someone called Gentry. Is that your last name, Harry?”

And now it sounds worse. I close my eyes and lean my head back. “Let me guess. He’s South African.”

“I believe that he is. I can transfer him from my phone to yours.”

“All right. Do it.”

I look around the cabin and see that Sharon is up and moving around, but everyone else is still racked out. Men and women in this line of work become experts at grabbing rest whenever and wherever they can. Hightower’s head is hanging back off the side of the couch and he’s snoring a snore I spent years listening to almost every night when I served under him in the Goon Squad.

I hear a few clicks over the satellite connection, and then a low, gravelly voice starts up in my ear.

“Well hello there, mate.”

“Hello, Jaco.” It was an educated guess, but the hesitation on the other end tips me off that I hit the nail on the head.

Finally he says, “Impressive. Bladdy impressive. Should have known you’d be doin’ your due diligence. Just like I am.”

“What do you want?”

“Two things. One, I wanted to introduce myself, but now I see introductions are unnecessary. And two, I’m just calling to let you know that we’ve figured out who your informant is.”

“My... informant?” I say, but the instant Talyssa told me Jaco was on the phone, I knew that he knew about Roxana.

“Yes, your informant. The lovely sister of your associate.”

I don’t speak. I knew it was always possible they could connect these dots, but I hoped they wouldn’t. I don’t know what this means for Roxana now, but it can’t be good.

“Don’t you worry,” Jaco says. “We haven’t touched a hair on her head. Yet.”

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