Page 99 of Poison Evidence

He had to be successful tomorrow. It was a simple imperative.

He lifted his head, ending the kiss. He touched her cheek, where a tear had spilled. “I’m scared too, Ivy.”

She loved that she didn’t have to explain her torn emotions to him. He understood her in ways no one ever had.

“I love you,” she said, taking strength from the simple words. Love had given him a reason to fight, a reason to hope. It was a powerful force, and she would harness it for all the fuel it would give them. She pulled his head down for a last quick kiss, then she stroked the stubble along his jaw. “Now stop distracting me. I’ve got hacking to do.”

He laughed. “I’ll do something useful and make lunch.”

She smiled and faced the computer screen again, slipping back into the cyber world, forgetting for the moment all the reasons she was afraid.

Ian supplied night vision goggles to everyone, and Dimitri was grateful Raptor had seen fit to fully stock the private jet before it left DC for Palau. They had enough gadgets to make Q in a James Bond movie giddy.

All Dimitri cared about was that they were armed and he wouldn’t be alone in protecting Sophia and Yulian as he faced down his handlers.

Ivy, at least, would not be anywhere near the site during the exchange. She’d used her expertise to find the perfect hiding spot for the AUUV, and she’d managed to copy the entire hard disk and started parsing data, but after tonight, she’d be safely tucked away. She was injured and was not and had never been trained for this sort of op, unlike Luke, a former Navy SEAL, Ian, who’d been Delta Force before he was CIA, FBI Agent Palea, and Dimitri.

Even Rudy Fredrickson had been a field agent for the DIA prior to taking on the analyst position. Fredrickson knew nothing about the current plans, just in case he was indeed the DIA mole.

Tomorrow, an hour before the handoff, the DIA would be informed of the deal Dimitri had struck with the head of the Justice Department. The DIA would insist on their man being present for the exchange, and frankly, they all wanted him where they could keep an eye on him. If he was a traitor, they might be able to use him against his Russian allies.

Fredrickson would witness the exchange, but Luke and Ian would make certain he didn’t have the opportunity to warn accomplices that Dimitri wasn’t alone in the jungle.

“Another twenty meters north-northwest, and you’ll be on top of the semi-subterranean Japanese bomb shelter,” Ivy said.

“Isn’t inside the shelter too obvious?” Palea asked.

“Exactly. But near it is an aluminum Japanese seaplane float. It’s large enough to tuck the AUUV underneath. The shelter is a red herring. The meet point will be a concrete Japanese gun emplacement. It’s a bowl shape—twelve meters in diameter, two meters deep. Dimitri and I chose the southernmost of three emplacements due to the proximity to the bomb shelter, and there’s a good vantage point above the shelter, north of the seaplane float, west of the emplacement, for Agent Palea to watch over the exchange with a sniper rifle.” She cocked her head. “I understand you’ve had sniper training?”

He nodded. “In the Army.”

She gave a sharp nod. “The data on the suitability for this as the location for the exchange was drawn from my survey with CAM, but I never had a chance to ground-truth Peleliu as I did the Rock Island survey. CAM was calibrated but not refined.” She met each man’s gaze. “The data combined with Dimitri’s tactical training led us to choose this area, but it’s up to you to decide if it works on the ground.”

For the next hour, they explored the jungle. A slow process given that they needed to leave no mark of their passage, no hint they’d been here to scout the location and hide the prize.

“I don’t like the way the ground slopes south of the float,” Palea said from his position above the bomb shelter. “I’ll have a blind spot. But otherwise I’ve got good coverage from here.”

“I’ll conceal myself southwest of the emplacement and cover the slope,” Ian said. “We’ll put Fredrickson to my right, so I can cover him as well.”

“Good plan,” Luke said. “I’ll take northeast of the emplacement, keeping Fredrickson to my left.”

With the location selected, Ivy oversaw the hiding of the AUUV under the aluminum seaplane float. “This is violating so many rules of historic preservation,” she griped. “Messing with wreckage as we are.”

“It’s garbage,” Luke said. “Abandoned by troops when they abandoned Peleliu.”

“Historic garbage, nonetheless.”

“You and Cressida can start a support group,” Ian said with a snicker, “for archaeologists who have to disturb sites for the greater good.”

“Are you rolling your eyes behind those NVGs, Boyd?” Ivy asked, humor in her voice.

Luke laughed. “Badass covert operators don’t roll their eyes. But then, Ian doesn’t even share a zip code with badass.”

Ian chuckled. “Luke is bitter because he knew he’d never get into Delta and had to settle for the Navy.”

Dimitri’s alter ego, Lt. Parker Reeves, and Lt. Luke Sevick had been somewhere between acquaintances and friends—as much of a friendship as Parker had allowed. Now Dimitri found himself embarrassingly jealous watching the easy banter between Luke and Ian. Palea had also developed a rapport with the others, and his Army background meant he’d taken Ian’s side.

“Hey, big tough guys,” Ivy said, interrupting both the teasing and Dimitri’s thoughts. “One-armed woman here trying to lift an airplane. Little help maybe?”

---