Page 3 of Disguised as Love

“Just landed and got checked into a hotel.”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear, Antonne. This is an urgent matter. She needs to be in the air in the next twelve hours. If you can’t do it, I’ll send someone else, and you will no longer be necessary.”

Every alarm in my body ramped up. There was desperation in Gennady’s voice that he tried to hide behind the command. It was as unusual as the bead of sweat he’d shown back in Denver. Goddamn, what was the deal with Raisa Leskov? I didn’t like going into anything blind. I liked having piles of data and paperwork to back up every single move I made. I liked walking into a gunfight not only with my weapons but with every card I could play to negotiate my way out unscathed.

“I’ve got it fucking under control,” I growled.

“Then get off your ass and get her onto the jet I’ve got waiting for her.”

He hung up.

I texted, using code names my team and I had established, to Nolan on my FBI line.

ME: Shit is going down that I don’t understand. Find out everything you can about Raisa Leskov and her connection to Gennady.

I looked around the understated elegance of the room I’d reserved. I’d thought I’d get one night. A night to make a plan…counteractants to be found. But it wasn’t going to happen, and my stomach flipped like it hadn’t since my very first op right out of the academy. I sighed, stored all my electronics back into the various pockets of my jacket, grabbed the go-bag I’d brought with me, and headed for the door. I knew I was unprepared, and I hated it even more than the scent of cigarette smoke that had followed me from The Roman.

Raisa

CONFIDENTLY LOST

“Thinking about where I’m from

If I belong there.”

Performed by Sabrina Claudio

Written by Evert / Tirheimer / Claudio / Fischer

My phone vibrating on my desk brought my head out of the numbers I’d been lost in on the computer. I glanced down to see my sister Georgie’s face on the screen. Her dark hair was almost black in the image, and it drew out the pale green of her eyes. The clock on the screen showed it was ten o’clock here in Stanford, which meant it was one o’clock in the morning in D.C.

“What are you doing awake?” I asked, picking up as concern wafted through me.

“Jules had a bad dream. Now he’s passed out in my spot next to Mac, and I can’t sleep, so I thought I’d make sure you weren’t still at the lab.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Please, I left hours ago.”

“Ha. Liar.”

“Would you like a selfie of me cuddled up in bed?”

“Now, I know you’re bluffing. Send away, oh sister of mine.”

I laughed. “How do you always know when I’m bluffing?”

“It’s in your tone.”

I hadn’t grown up with Georgie, so the fact she knew me better than anyone else in my family, except maybe my father, was telling. She was only my half sister who’d been raised in the United States by her grandmother, whereas I’d been raised in Russia by our mom and my dad. Since moving to the U.S. for college almost a decade ago, Georgie had become my lifeline. She, more than anyone, knew what it was like to want to escape the ties that bound you to your family while still loving them with all your heart.

“Fine. I’m leaving,” I said with a grouse I didn’t feel.

“You need something more than your work, malyshka,” Georgie said, the sweet endearment not at all offensive when someone else calling me baby might have been.

“Not everyone finds love like you did,” I said quietly. “I wouldn’t have time for a boyfriend anyway. And the last thing I need is one more person in my life trying to control what I do.”

“If it’s real love, it isn’t control. It’s caring.”

“Potato, potatoh.”

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