Page 24 of Poison Evidence

She replied quickly to the first one:I’m safe. Writing up a more detailed reply now.

That would ease Mara’s fears and buy time for Ivy to construct a carefully worded message.

“You’re going to have to lie to explain the delay in contacting her,” Dimitri said. He’d positioned himself next to Ivy on the bench seat, with just a hair’s breadth between their shoulders and thighs. He was keeping to the deal and not touching her while still monitoring her every keystroke. “Tell her you had a problem with the satellite uplink.”

She nodded. It was the only viable excuse.

Her email was short and to the point. They’d left port last night to ensure her safety in case the two attackers who’d escaped from the mangrove swamp knew which boat was Jack’s. She’d been exhausted to the point of passing out last night and feared she’d enter the wrong codes and accidently initiate the lockdown program, so she slept a few hours, then had trouble with the uplink this morning.

She finished with:

Someone needs to warn my seaplane pilot, Ulai Umetaro, that PH’s cronies could target him. I didn’t think to warn him last night and am worried.

Through the wonders of technology in the new millennium, Mara’s reply came from halfway around the world mere minutes later:

We received word this morning that Ulai Umetaro’s hangar and his living quarters were broken into, but neither Ulai nor his seaplane were there. He took off for Kayangel an hour before dawn. He phoned in to say Jack Keaton woke him last night before you departed and told Ulai that he was taking you out to sea for your protection. Once we had that information, the SEAL team in Guam was told to stand down, but we’ve been monitoring your location, just in case. Surprised Keaton didn’t tell you.

Ivy felt the blood drain from her face, making her dizzy. He’d known Ulai was safe all along, and even that Mara was likely to presume Ivy was safe as well. There’d been little chance of a team of SEALs swooping in to save her.

“You manipulative bastard,” she said through a clenched jaw.

“You said I couldn’t threaten you. So I made you worry about Ulai.”

With shaking fingers, she typed yet another lie to her boss, the woman who’d given her a chance when so many believed she was complicit with her ex-husband.

I was in bad shape last night and didn’t think to ask him this morning—too busy trying to get the uplink to work. It’s been…stressful.

Mara’s reply was swift.

Believe me, I understand. You’ve been through an ordeal. Take a few days off. Right now, I’m hearing from the brass that they want you to stay and complete the project. Would Keaton be willing to provide your security? He’s being lauded as a hero after last night.

She rubbed her temples. Was Dimitri working with the men who’d attacked the party? Was it all an elaborate ruse to ingratiate himself to her and NHHC?

“If I were part of the group, I never would have told you my real name. Plus I hadeverything, including your complete trust. Why would I fuck with that by bringing you out to sea, if I were one of them?”

His words were proof he was good at reading her, or at least knew which avenues her thoughts would take. But wasn’t that what a good spy did? Weren’t they excellent at reading people and anticipating their actions and choices? Or rather, according to a coworker’s boyfriend, that was what a covert case officer—someone who ran spies—did. And Ian Boyd would know, as he’d been a case officer for the CIA when he helped take down Patrick.

Was Dimitri the equivalent of a case officer in the GRU? That would mean he recruited spies—convincing people to betray their country and provide intelligence to the enemy. The only person here he could be recruiting was Ivy, and the minute she gave him access to the mapping database, she would be committing treason. Ian had told her the spies he’d recruited had been willing. Several were volunteers. Ivy was neither.

She sighed. Her every response to Mara was just buying time. Time to figure out what Dimitri’s game was. Time to find an escape, because she had no intention of betraying her country. She began typing.

Dimitri is eager to provide security and has already offered his services.

“Change the name to Jack.”

“Sorry. That was unconscious on my part.” She corrected—or rather, edited—the name. He’d seemed affected by her tears earlier, and it wasn’t hard to produce another one as she told her boss she’d accepted “Jack’s” offer.

Before she hit send, she flicked the keys so the computer’s camera snapped a picture of her and Dimitri. The sound was off, so there was no telltale snick, and his gaze had shifted to her wet cheek.

A few more keystrokes and the photo attached. The no-frills program didn’t have a mouse interface, and attachments didn’t appear as icons. Unless he was familiar with the system, he wouldn’t know to look at the bottom of the screen for the attachment log. Her heart pounded at the risk she was taking. She made it look like she struggled with the last line of the email and typed, deleted, then finally signed off and hit send.

Her heart pulsed erratically, and her face flushed. She wasn’t cut out for spy work, but she managed to show him a defiant gaze, passing off her wild heartbeat as anger at being forced to lie to her boss.

He reached out to wipe the tear from her cheek, but she flinched backward and gave him a stern look.

He dropped his hand. “Give me two days, Ivy. Just two days, and either you can tell your boss everything, or you’ll realize I mean you and the US government no harm. I love America, probably as much as you do. It’s the home I wish I could have.”

“Yet you’re making me betray my country.”

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