Page 28 of Poison Evidence

“I’m not sure. Mara and Curt want to talk to us both. Something strange is going on, and I’m worried about Ivy.”

“You’re sure Ivy doesn’t have ties to Hill’s terrorist group?” What did this mean for Parker? Could Luke have been wrong about him?

“I’m sure. Mara’s sure. Curt’s sure. She went through massive vetting considering who she’d been married to and the technical work she does. Ivy’s crazy smart. I hear her mapping drone dabbles in artificial intelligence.”

Well, that could explain Parker’s involvement. What spy organization wouldn’t want an AI drone in their arsenal?

Damn. He’d hoped the card meant Parker wasn’t in the trade anymore. Letting him go might have been a massive mistake.

He kicked off his shoes and peeled off his jacket, then crossed the living room to the couch. He wanted to call Curt, but first he needed to get up to speed on the situation. “How well do you know Ivy MacLeod?”

Undine canted her head to the side, thinking. Finally, she said, “I met her at least a half-dozen times when the Underwater Archaeology Branch was doing that joint project with MacLeod-Hill. She’s Alec Ravissant’s cousin, which is why Hill did so much campaigning for Alec. Apparently her marriage fell apart during the election, but she didn’t tell Alec at the time because it was messy and Alec had bigger issues on his plate. I was diving in the Great Lakes that summer, so I missed most of the drama.

“Trina told me a while ago that Cressida and Ivy have grown close. They both started working at NHHC around the same time and have a shared dislike of Ivy’s ex. According to everyone, Ivy fits right in at the office. She works hard and knows GIS better than anyone. She’s got a freaky awesome brain. She does trigonometry for fun.” Worry clouded Undine’s green-brown eyes. “She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Possibly eventhesmartest.”

Luke rubbed a hand over his jaw. Parker had mailed the card before the party. Had he known the attack was coming? Had he suspected Ivy was in danger?

“Time to call Curt,” he said and reached for a phone. He set the volume to speaker before he dialed. The attorney general answered right away and didn’t waste time with pleasantries before turning on the speaker on his end as well, including Mara in the conversation.

“Before we get started, I’ve emailed you a photo,” Curt said. “I need you to take a look.”

Luke pulled his laptop from his satchel and opened the top, positioning it so Undine could see the screen. It took a moment for his email to load. He knew in his gut what he would see when he clicked on the attachment from Curt, but still, his breath left him in a rush. “Parker Reeves, you sonofabitch.”

“That’s him in the photo?” Curt asked.

“Yes. I take it the woman is Ivy.” She looked vaguely familiar, and he realized he’d seen her photo in various news stories about Hill. It was widely reported Ivy would testify against her ex in his upcoming trial. He frowned. “Could this be about the trial? Is Hill trying to keep her off the stand?”

“Unlikely,” Curt said. “The prosecution doesn’t need Ivy’s testimony to convict. She’ll be testifying on lesser charges, not treason or espionage.”

Relief rippled through him. The idea that Parker had sunk to kidnapping women to keep terrorists from conviction was…beyond distasteful. In his gut he believed Parker was one of the good guys, or he wouldn’t have handed him that parachute.

“What’s going on with Ivy MacLeod?” he asked.

“We aren’t certain yet,” Mara answered. “But there’s a chance Parker has her because he wants her mapping equipment, which is biometrically coded to her, not to mention that no one else would begin to know how to use it.”

“What would Parker want with it?” The technology was hardly useful as a spy tool if Ivy had to be part of the package.

Curt cleared his throat. “I finally received an honest briefing from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. You both were cleared to receive this level of information last fall, so I’m not violating the law in bringing you into the loop, and right now, Luke, you’re my best source for insight into Reeves—or Keaton—we honestly have no clue what his real name is.” He paused. “Is your phone secure?”

“Yes.” Luke had hired Lee Scott to secure all their phones when he found himself at the center of a media circus last fall. He had no idea if anyone had tried to hack his phone, but he wasn’t about to take that chance, especially given the number of calls like this one that had gone back and forth as the feds investigated everything that had led up to that cold November night.

“Good. You aren’t to repeat this to anyone or to discuss it in any public place where you might be overheard.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Agreed,” Undine said.

“According to intelligence sources, five months ago, a prototype Air/Underwater Unmanned Vehicle—AUUV—a drone that can seamlessly transform from flight to swim, which was in beta testing by Russian engineers was quote,lost, unquote, during a field test.”

Luke let out a snort of disbelief. “Right.”

“Exactly. Someone took it and headed for Hong Kong. The guy who’d nabbed the device was tracked. He disabled the tracking chip and continued south. GRU knows this because they managed to re-enable the tracker, and it pinged near Palau before tracking was destroyed. GRU—or someone—caught up with the man who stole the drone. He was tortured, but all he would say was he’d hidden it in the Rock Islands. One of the GRU guys was overzealous in his methods, and the guy slipped into a coma and died before he divulged the coordinates.

“Russians attempted a search, but given the Compact between Palau and the US…it got sticky. They disappeared, but periodically, Palauan patrol boats have caught unregistered boats in the islands. They only have eighteen marine officers to patrol over two hundred thousand square miles, and suddenly they’re seeing a rise in piracy and other nasty business. The Palauan government has been keeping it quiet because the Rock Islands are their primary tourist destination, and they’ve no idea why there’s been a sudden crime surge. No clue that there’s something important hidden in their territory. No one even knows if it’s on land or in the sea. Rumor has it the AUUV can last in salt water for up to six months.”

“Which means they’re running out of time to find it,” Luke said.

“Yes.”

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