Page 47 of Shadow of Doubt

Another voice in the meeting spoke up. This time it was Kenneth Johnson. “Why not just kill Tsybulsky? Hard for him to come looking for Inessa if he’s dead.”

The man wasn’t wrong. Harvath had to give him that. And even though Johnson could be a bit overzealous at times in how he responded to threats, there was a simplicity to his logic.

At the same time, it was possible that if Tsybulsky were killed and Inessa vanished, it might appear as if she had been involved. Peshkov could decide that he wanted one of his intelligence agencies to dig into it and they might attempt to hunt her down. That would completely negate Sølvi’s deal with Grechko. The Russian defector had been clear. He wanted things handled in such a way that no one would ever come looking for Inessa.

That meant that Harvath was back to square one. Without a woman’s burned body, he was out of luck. They needed to keep thinking.

After twenty minutes of going around in circles, the subject of alligators came back up, and Harvath adjourned the meeting. Designing an operation by committee wasn’t getting them anywhere. That said, something had begun tapping at the back of his mind.

Once everyone had filed out of the library, Nicholas waved Harvath over to his desk.

“What have you got?”

Turning his ruggedized laptop around, the little man showed him. “You were right. Nikolai Nekrasov’s wife, Eva, is friends with Inessa on Facebook and Instagram.”

“So now we’ve got a cutout we can use. We just need to decide on the right message.”

“Are you sure Eva will cooperate?” Nicholas asked.

“I spared her husband’s life.”

“Which she asked you to do for the sake of their children. She also letyou keep half of the hundred-million-dollar bounty he’d placed on your head. I imagine both Mr. and Mrs. Nekrasov would like you to remain in their review mirror.”

Harvath smiled. “Believe it or not, Eva has a soft spot for me. I was very clear to her shitbag husband that if he ever mistreated her again, or mistreated one of the kids, I’d be back. I’m kind of their guardian angel. We’ll consider my unannounced visit a welfare check.”

“You’re going to go see her in person?”

“I need to get the full download on what she knows about Inessa, as well as Tsybulsky. At this point, she may be the best source of information we have.”

Nicholas let out a long, slow exhalation of air. “Since I’m not going to be able to change your mind, who do you want to take with you?”

“Nobody,” Harvath replied. “I’m going alone.”

“If Nekrasov gets the chance, he’ll kill you.”

“Then I better make sure he doesn’t get the chance.”

The little man shook his head. “What do you need from me?”

“I need one of the cars and an encrypted cell phone.”

“Anything else?”

Harvath put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Keep an eye on Sølvi while I’m gone. And make sure everyone is ready to roll by the time I get back.”

“Roll where? We don’t even have a plan yet.”

“Are the Brits still training some of the Ukrainian commando units at Poole?”

“Yes, the Special Boat Service is. Why?”

“I’ve got an idea,” he replied, tapping his temple with his index finger. “If I’m right, there may be a way out of this. And, believe it or not, we may have Johnson to thank for it.”

After providing Harvath an encrypted phone and a set of keys to the black Range Rover Palmer and Ashby had been using, he wished his friend good luck. He had no idea what Harvath was about to do, but he had a bad feeling it was going to be very dangerous.

CHAPTER 22

Harvath knew two things about Eva Nekrasova. One, she would be traveling with a security detail, and two, she would know how to get rid of them.

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