Page 28 of Red Line

“That’s the thing. I’ve been reaching out. She’s not answering.”

“Shit.” Black drew a hand over his face as icicles formed along his nervous system.

Silently, Grey nodded and then, after a prolonged pause, added, “Exactly.”

“All right, let’s talk this out.”

“I’m going to share my screen with you. Here’s what I have. These are pictures of the exterior of the hotel.” Grey slowly moved through the four photographs.

Black took in the six-story building. While it remained standing, the whole front looked like the structure was carved out, blackened from fire. It was a rat’s nest of construction material and furniture. There were random detached body parts. A lot of bodies … alotof bodies. And they, like Red, were wearing sand-colored tactical wear. Black leaned forward and found himself searching the debris for some sign that one of those bodies was Red.

Grey moved to a photo of a map. “Red sent me this pin. I’m not sure why. But from what I can tell, it corresponds with the time of the explosion.”

“She has the rooms at that hotel as a cover. She has rooms at the hotel down the road, right? When we talked to her, she was going to hand the bag over and walk out,right?” Black was having trouble getting air in. Red washis. He discovered her at The Farm, trained and mentored her, and brought her on his team. They had been together for over a decade. Setting his work with her aside, he had an avuncular attachment. “Did you try calling the front office of that second hotel?”

“No one answered the phone. She missed her check-in call. I’m thinking someone needs to go in and get eyes on Red. If she’s in the hospital and muttering State secrets under her breath, things can go very badly—methods and procedures, andover a decade of service with an extensive list of assets and contacts.”

Black rubbed a hand over his chin. “And if she’s in the morgue, we need to get her body for repatriation.”

There was a long pause.

“Yeah,” Grey finally said. “That too. We can’t have her buried there when no one claims her. And claiming her would lead to all kinds of uncomfortable questions. One way or another, we’ve got to get to her and get her out of there. And it’s got to be someone that can finesse any situation.”

“You?”

“I already looked into that. I’m in Istanbul,” Grey explained. “We need someone closer. It’ll take me too long. The first flight out is nine-twenty hours here. We can’t send anyone from the embassy, not even their security. She’s not an American citizen on paper, so that would bring up red flags, no play on words intended. They’re good at what they do, but I’m not willing to risk Red’s cover if she’s caught up in events. She could be delayed getting in touch, or phone lines and cell towers might be impacted by the explosion or the rescue efforts. We need someone with more than just training at The Farm on field methods in their rearview. It has to be someone with experience getting tough jobs done.”

“Agreed. It might work in our favor that Delta Force Team Echo went into Syria to gather up Poole. By now, they should be boots on the ground. If I’m guessing at timing.”

“They’re following the broad strokes mission I outlined,” Grey said. “They’ll jump when the sky goes dark. If all goes well, they’ll have Poole on the beach by astronomical twilight before local fishermen launch their boats, and they still have the cover of dark. If we turn, say, two or three members of Echo around, they could possibly make it to the village by the time the village gets moving.”

“Right. I’m looking at the map. Boots on the ground in Syria, to Poole, to the sea, to Red’s town—the whole thing is only six hours and twenty minutes of drive time. Not operational time, that’s just road time. But we don’t want the team driving into the town during pre-dawn hours, anyway. That would call security’s attention. They need to blend with the local activity.”

“I’ll work the phone and see if JSOC will lend a hand.” Grey paused. “Thinking this through—Echo is working without identification. No passports, so getting out again would become complicated. Once we know if they can go and which operators they’re sending, I can wake up the good people at the embassy and get them involved in creating the proper documentation. Echo can sneak in where the border is porous. I know where. I need to ensure they have money to grease some palms if required.” Grey looked away from the camera while he scribbled notes. Without looking up, he asked, “You were calling me about Red, and it wasn’t about the explosion. What did you want?”

“You said you’re in Istanbul? Do you have a full roster?”

Grey squared himself to the camera and put his pen down.

“We’ve had something come up.”

Grey pulled his brows together. “About Red?”

“One of her assets couldn’t get in touch with Red either. She had intelligence that needed our attention at an event this Saturday, and that event will require plenty of prep time, so she brought the problem to me.”

“Listening.”

“Does the name Elena Savas mean something to you?” Black asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“You’ve met her?” Black asked.

“Name on the bad guy list.” Grey leaned forward. “What’s going on?”

Black moved through the information that Sophia had shared with him. “I need you to go over the border to Vienna. As a matter of fact, if we can find Red alive—"

Grey’s nostrils flared. “That’s grim as hell.”

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