Page 87 of Between Love and Honor

“She’s safe,” the secretary assured him.

Quinn emerged from the crowd. “I’m here.”

He quickly pulled her into his arms and glanced around again.

“What is it?” both Quinn and the secretary asked at the same time.

“Have either of you seen a man with an umbrella?”

CHAPTER 18

“RONOFF’S DEAD.”

Adam delivered the news to the group assembled on the back deck of the Seas the Day. Thirty minutes had passed since they’d pulled Ben from the gondola. He’d been checked by the EMTs and the military team summoned by the secretary, but thankfully there were no traces of whatever killed Alexi.

Quinn wasn’t sure how to feel about Adam’s announcement. She was glad the Russian could do no harm to her mother or anyone else on the list. But she was frustrated they had lost their only connection to the traitor.

A traitor who could now sell out Ben to the many enemies he’d made throughout his tenure as the Mariner.

“Cause of death?” the secretary demanded.

“They’re running with cardiac arrest for now,” Adam replied.

“Did they check for puncture wounds?” Ben paused in his pacing of the deck where he was still looking for some mysterious man with an umbrella.

The secretary pulled her phone to her ear. “Have the body sent to the medical examiner at Walter Reed. I’ll let them know to suit up.” She nodded at Ben. “And to follow up on your theory, Agent Segar.”

“You’re certain this man poisoned Alexi?” she asked him.

“No.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “We can’t be sure until we figure out the exact cause of death. But it had all the earmarks of a poisonous chemical attack. And since no one else is affected, we have to assume he ingested it somehow. Or someone injected him with it.”

She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. The small act seemed to refocus him. He ceased his pacing and pulled her into his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against her hair. “I honestly thought this would work. We’ll find the traitor. I promise.”

Leaning into his chest she took some solace in the strong heartbeat beneath her ear. They were both still alive and together. But for how long? Even if she spent the rest of her life pretending to be dead, Ben’s future was now in grave danger.

“I want to listen to that audio again,” the secretary insisted.

Ben stepped out of their embrace. “Me, too. I’m sure Ronoff used the word she when he referred to the traitor.”

“Dude, it was hard to understand anything he said those last few minutes.” Adam pulled up the audio on a tablet and handed the secretary a pair of earbuds. Several minutes later, she shook her head and handed the earbuds to Ben. He swore as he listened.

“It’s all garbled because he was gasping for air.” His face was resolute, however, when he turned back to his boss. “I swear I heard what I heard.”

The secretary’s nod wasn’t exactly patronizing, but she didn’t give the impression she fully believed his account of what Ronoff said in the gondola. Or his fixation on a man carrying an umbrella.

“The president wants a briefing back at the White House,” she announced.

Ben groaned quietly.

“Relax, Agent Segar,” she said. “I’ll take the heat on this one. No one was injured. Property wasn’t damaged and we prevented a likely cryptocurrency attack. All in all, the night wasn’t a total loss.”

Since they hadn’t accomplished their primary goal of outing the traitor, Quinn was reluctant to agree with the other woman.

“I want to see you first thing tomorrow.” The secretary looked directly at her. “Both of you.”

Agent Caracas handed her on to the dock. He glanced back at Quinn. “Pleasure working with you, Agent Darby,” he said. “If Inspector Gadget here fails to treat you right, you let me know.”

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