Page 73 of Close Pursuit

The past few weeks were an anomaly, and the sooner he got back to his regularly scheduled life, the better.

“Alex? This is a pleasant surprise, son. Come on back.”

He looked up at his attorney and scowled. Disbelief at what he was here to do today coursed through him. And yet, he stood up and followed his attorney back to his office.

“What can I do for you?” Chester asked as he sat down behind his big desk.

He asked reluctantly, “What do you know about international adoption law?”

Katie was shown up to her uncle’s office by a highly intelligent looking and friendly young man in a suit. The guy smiled winningly and threw out interested signals at her, which she pretended to be oblivious to. He was the kind of guy she would’ve been attracted to a few weeks ago. Before she met a brilliant surgeon with a dark past and a darker soul.

“Hi, Uncle Charlie,” she said wryly as the door closed behind her.

“Hi, kiddo. Have a seat.”

“I gather this isn’t a social visit?” she wasted no time asking.

Her uncle leaned back in his desk chair and shifted into the master spy. “No. It isn’t.”

“What can I do for you?” she asked. She tried to keep her voice friendly. Open. But suspicion rattled around in her gut.

“I gather your trip to Zaghastan was rather eventful.”

“That’s a word for it.”

“I’d like to hear about your experience.”

She leaned back, studying her uncle. Piercing intelligence shone in his eyes. She said pleasantly, “You’re a busy man, and I’ve got places to go and things to do, today. Why don’t we just cut to the chase? What specifically do you want to know?”

Her uncle studied her in turn, and she had no doubt he was catching every microscopic hint she gave away of her thoughts and feelings “I always did think your family underestimated you.”

He was trying to soften her up. Get her on his side before he sprang whatever he was going to spring on her. She didn’t bother to respond to the compliment, even if it was gratifying.

“What did you see that last night in the Karshan valley? Who attacked the village?”

She answered bluntly, “It was soldiers for sure. Special Forces types, if I had to guess. They had high-tech gear and seemed focused on a target. Frankly, I thought it might be our guys.”

“Not ours,” Charles the Spy answered promptly and definitively.

“Then whose?”

“That’s what we’d like to know. What are the odds it was Russians looking for your friend?”

She frowned. “The Russians helped us get out of Zaghastan. Why would they try to kill us and then turn around and help us?” She shook her head. “I don’t think it was Russians in the Karshan Valley.”

“At least not Russian government,” her uncle replied thoughtfully.

“What other Russians could it be?” she asked quickly.

Charles smiled broadly at her. “Exactly. They all underestimated you.”

“You’re dodging the question.”

He nodded. “I am, indeed.”

“Well?”

He picked up a single sheet of paper from his desk. She saw typing on it. “This came across my desk early this morning.” He held it out to her.

---