Page 52 of Red Line

“And this has to do with Elena Savas?”

“Exactly. We need you to turn that whole honey pot thing around on her.”

Nomad didn’t respond.

“Elena presents as Poole’s girlfriend. In her messages, she mentioned she’d be in Damascus this week.”

Nomad sat stoically. Was Elena the reason why Poole risked going AWOL?

“We believe he’d planned to surprise her. Poole told Elena he’d been paid for the information he’d brought in from his base. She congratulated him. He said he wasn’t going back, and she tried to change his mind. She mentioned a group that was heading over the southern border of the U.S. and that the information he’d brought in was crucial for the success of that team—”

“Team?” T-Rex jutted forward.

Hasan’s gaze turned to t-Rex. “That was the English term she used, yes. This came from a text exchange. She textedthat the information he’d provided the team would make their infiltration and ultimate success possible. The mission would be a go very soon.”

Shit.

“From the discussion, we know that Poole agrees with the purpose of the event. He knows that the event will be taking place in the United States and is a terrorist event, but he doesn’t know who, what, or where. That’s why we need Elena.”

“And she’ll be at the ball,” Nomad said. Yup. This was big. Innocent lives would be on the line.

“A ball in Vienna will be the perfect place to meet her in public and make contact. Perhaps, make a move toward some kind of romantic connection. If not making a move, at least place bugs and trackers on everything she has with her, her phone especially, then we can follow along until we have a better opportunity. That night, we need to know with whom she’s interacting. Whatever happens, time is of the essence. We need Elena’s information fast to stay three steps ahead of the event.”

“Yes, sir. But why the ball, sir? Is there a connection?”

“From the texts, going to the ball sounds like it will result in a big payday. It came up in her texts just a couple of days ago that she’d made contact with the buyer who wants to meet her there to look at the ring.”

“Ring. So, a piece of high-dollar jewelry?” Nomad asked.

“We believe so—could be code for something else. The DIA knows that Elena Savas has been dealing with sales of specialized items—cultural artifacts, for example—to European elites since the Civil War began in Syria and that business models in that region include a hefty cut of the profits going to ISIS. Further than a basic file, the DIA hasn’t been involved. Up until now, she’s outside the scope of our directives.”

“Is Interpol prepared to pick her up for questioning?” Nomad asked.

“I have nothing to do with that. I will be sending you a file with your plan of action. It will include some of Elena's pictures that we found on Poole’s phone. Enough that you can identify her. We discovered through the FBI that Elena Savas is on the attendance list as the guest of Joel Brighton, an American citizen living mostly in Dubai. We’ll have his images available as well.”

“You had mentioned making a romantic connection, sir?” Nomad asked.

“We need to ask Elena some pointed questions, and we need to do it in such a way that we are not tipping off the group that she’s targeted so they scatter to reorganize later like some damned murmuration of starlings.”

Nomad suppressed a smile. “Poetic, sir.”

“I liked that image.” He held up a finger. “Here’s the challenge, we want to ask Elena our questions. To do that, we need to get her into international waters. And she needs to go there willingly. Or maybe, quasi willingly.”

“Drugging her would be illegal,” T-Rex said.

“Alcohol, freely consumed, is not,” Hasan countered. “Romanceis not.”

Nomad leaned back in his chair. “I see.” Surreal. This fell under private life skills he’d never considered applying to his soldiering career.

“Be creative. We can provide you with a yacht, for example—maybe she and her friends, if that made her feel safe—would enjoy that. You could, for example, ask, ‘Would you all like to go out onto the water to see the stars or the sunrise?’Be creative. We could have a helicopter available. Would she like to fly and see the lights? And that helicopter could move to a ship in—"

“International waters.” Yeah, he got it.

“Correct. Son, I’m not saying this is going to be easy. I’m also not saying it has to be done the night of the ball. If we can get trackers on her and her things, that would be a step forward.”

“Do you think she’s in an actual relationship with Poole?” T-Rex asked.

“He does.”

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