Page 46 of Crossfire

Daniel sat at the same conference table we’d used for our debrief, the same fluorescent lights giving off an unnatural hue to his normally silver hair. Honestly, couldn’t they invest in better lighting at this safe house? If they skimped on something as basic as light bulbs, what other corners might the CIA have cut? In our line of work, even the smallest oversight could lead to a catastrophic intelligence leak.

He studied me. “Why?”

“Because I don’t think Ivy is in cahoots with Vosch or the buyer he was supposed to meet. She certainly doesn’t strike me as an assassin.”

“You told me she incapacitated the driver in a matter of seconds, breaking multiple bones.”

I’d have to ask herwhyshe was that highly skilled in fighting. Sure, it was possible fighting was merely a passion of hers, but her mastery of it required years of complex training, which hinted at something deeper in my opinion. But that didn’t change the point.

“Look, I told you before, but now, I’m fairly certain—I think she’s an innocent civilian.”

Daniel didn’t even try to hide his skepticism; it washed all over his features before he scrubbed his face with his hands.

“Fairly certain?” he repeated with an arched brow. “We don’t have time for this, Grayson. We need to focus on the reason I called you here.”

“Someone told her to meet him at that location,” I pressed on, ignoring his impatience.

Daniel glowered at me. “At the exact time and location of Vosch’s meeting? Who?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Maybe a rival arms dealer, intending to screw up his meeting. Or maybe Vosch organized her coming there. Maybe she means something to the man he was intending to do business with and wanted to hold her hostage during the negotiation.”

“A hostage. Why would Vosch do that?”

“Who knows? Maybe they were in a dispute over price or timing.”

Daniel said nothing.

“Someone who knew intimate details of her lifeandknew about that meeting lured her there.”

Daniel’s lips thinned. “We have a more pressing matter to discuss.”

“Look.” I sat down across from him. “One rule of a mission is to contain all variables. We don’t have this contained. Someone showed up unexpectedly at this meeting, and if we don’t figure out how that happened or why, something else could go wrong in the next attempt. We need to get our arms around what the hell is happening.”

He sighed. “Your theory that this woman is innocent has a hole in it,” Daniel reasoned. “If Vosch was going to use her as collateral, why did his driver try to kill her?”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I don’t know all the answers, but the one thing I do know is that something isn’t adding up.”

“Enough,” Daniel asserted. “We have something more urgent to discuss.”

It was strange because in this moment, nothing felt more urgent or important than solving who tried to kill Ivy. The intensity of my concern was absurd, really. How could I care this much, this quickly? Yet there it was, an overwhelming compulsion to press Daniel for answers he clearly didn’t have, to demand a thorough investigation.

But I knew Daniel. He was afollow orders, ask no questionskind of guy. No amount of prodding from me would change that. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the bombshell he was about to drop.

21

GRAYSON

“While we wait for the dust to settle with Vosch, we need to move on to that other assignment.” Daniel shifted.

“This one is related to Vosch, isn’t it?” I pressed.

“Don’t know. It’s one of those need-to-know-basis assignments.”

“It has to be related to him. There’s no way there’ll be a second target right here in Chicago.” Certainly not this quickly. “When is this happening?”

“Tomorrow night. And this one needs to be quick and clean. We can’t afford another miss.”

Another. I could tell by his soft tone he hadn’t meant for it to be an insult, but that word grated against my nerves and sent an electric charge of offense through me. I had ended the lives of some of the most dangerous men in the world, risking my own to achieve it. Trust me, no one was angrier that Vosch was still alive than me.

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