Page 2 of Lethal Game

Mick entered the room, giving them both a brief smile. "Flynn, good to see you again."

"I hope it's good," Flynn said dryly. "But you and good don't always go together, Mick."

"We're on the same team," Mick said lightly, taking no offense. "Right, Jason?"

His father had never completely trusted Mick, and the few times he'd worked with the CIA agent, Jason had felt as if Mick had his own agenda. But in this circumstance, he felt like they were on the same team. "Right. Do you have additional information?"

"Novikov traveled to Belarus three times in the last two months. On one of those occasions, he met with Dominic Ilyin and Gregor Petron."

His gut tightened at that information. Ilyin was a notorious assassin, and Petron was an explosives expert and believed to be responsible for a bombing in France three months ago.

"There's been chatter that Novikov is assembling a team for a big project."

"Where are Ilyin and Petron now?"

"Petron has disappeared. He left his home a week ago. There's no evidence he's in the US, but we're looking for him. Dominic Ilyin was last seen in Zurich ten days ago, but he's also in the wind."

The conference door opened, and a young man asked to speak to Flynn. As Flynn stepped out of the room, he said, "Is there anything unofficial you want to share now that it's just the two of us, Mick?"

"I've told you everything I know, Jason. But I'm concerned about information getting compromised, as it did three years ago."

"None of the people who worked that case will be involved this time around," he assured Mick. "We're going to keep the information as tight as we can by using Flynn's team."

"But things have a way of leaking out, especially when the leaks are coming from the inside. I still wonder if your father had any idea who sold him out."

His lips tightened. That question had haunted him for three years, but he still had no answers. "I wonder the same thing, butit doesn't matter anymore. Leak or no leak, Novikov killed my father and many other people. He's not going to get away this time."

"You're going to finish what your father started," Mick said with a nod. "I think he'd like that. Drew was very proud of you for following in his footsteps. He told me you have his same dogged determination and willingness to put the job above everything else."

He didn’t want to think about his father’s legacy. Not now. Every time he did, the sense of unfinished business gnawed at him like a wound that refused to heal. "It's important work," he said, knowing he'd also used his work to keep himself too busy to think about the loss of his dad, about the fact that he was alone now, really alone…both parents gone, no siblings to remember the good old days. Not that they had all been good.

"I'm going to help you all I can," Mick said. "While I respect Flynn, I'd like to keep a private channel open with you because you're the one person I know I can trust."

"Of course."

"Good. I'll see you later."

He was almost to the door when Flynn returned. "You're leaving?" Flynn asked.

"Yes, but I'm sure we'll meet again soon," Mick replied as he slid past Flynn and left the room.

"Did he say anything else?" Flynn asked.

"Only that he was concerned about leaks."

"There won't be any from my team. I don't know how well you know Hadley, but it's wise to weigh anything he says against facts you already know. I'm not saying he's working against us, but in my experience, Hadley usually has his own agenda."

"I don't disagree, but so far, he's given us the biggest lead we have." Trust wasn’t something he could afford to give freely—not to Flynn, not to Mick. But right now, they were his best shot at taking down Novikov.

The conference room door reopened, and Savannah entered with a gleam in her eyes. "Good news. We picked up Novikov leaving the airport in a rideshare. The driver dropped him off in front of a fast-food restaurant in Torrance, but he didn't enter the restaurant. Instead, he got into a car parked in the lot. There was another individual behind the wheel. We've been tracking the license plate through traffic cams, and it was picked up ten minutes ago at a light in West LA. We couldn't tell if Novikov was still in the car, but it's worth checking out. The vehicle turned into the parking lot at the Wexford University Medical Center."

His pulse jumped at the speed in which they'd gotten another clue. "That's great, Savannah. Well done."

"We caught a break. Shall I drive?" she asked.

"As long as you drive fast."

"I always do."

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