Page 91 of Shadow of Doubt

CHAPTER 48

EZE

WEDNESDAY

The fastest high-speed train from Nice to Paris made the journey in about five and a half hours. A private jet could do it in forty-four minutes. Harvath had chosen the jet.

After some additional back-and-forth with Grechko, he had gotten Holidae Hayes on a secure call and gave her the rundown of everything he wanted. This wasn’t going to be a CIA op. It wasn’t, technically, even going to be a Carlton Group operation. This was a personal undertaking, but he couldn’t do it without the quiet help of both organizations.

Once Hayes had confirmed his list of requests, he disconnected the call, dragged himself up to his room, and fell into bed with Sølvi.

The next morning, after checking his emails, he came downstairs to find Nicholas and Preisler cooking breakfast. Someone must have made a run to the village because there were all sorts of fresh baked goods. With a notebook tucked under his arm and a pencil behind his ear, Harvath said good morning to everyone, grabbed a cup of coffee, and stepped out onto the terrace.

Haney and Staelin, their own coffee cups in hand, were sitting at the glass table and he joined them.

“You should have stuck around last night,” said Staelin. “Once we got back, we opened several more bottles of champagne.”

“I appreciate you guys driving the Ukrainians back to the airport,” he replied. “Sorry I didn’t stay up to celebrate.”

“You missed out,” Haney added. “Did you know there’s a tabac down in the village that sells Cubans? Johnson bought two boxes.”

“You deserve it. The op was very well done.” Then, changing the subject, he asked, “What’s the latest from Ashby and Palmer? How are things down in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat?”

“They sat on Tsybulsky’s estate until just before dawn. After the news broke about the boat being blown up, security was increased on the house, a couple more guys were added at the gate, but that was it.”

“And this morning?”

“Gage and Morrison went down to relieve them. Doesn’t look like anything has changed. According to Nicholas, the private jet back to Russia hasn’t been canceled.”

That didn’t surprise Harvath. Tsybulsky’s security guys were likely in serious disarray. With their client missing and presumed dead, next steps would be difficult to manage. Unless they had reliable law enforcement sources within Monaco, which they probably didn’t, the only information flowing their direction was what they could pull from the internet. Hopefully, Inessa had done as Grechko had instructed and had dug in her heels and was refusing to even consider leaving France under the circumstances.

Pulling out his phone, Harvath sent Eva a text, asking her to update him with any information regarding Inessa. Then he turned his attention back to his teammates.

“As long as Inessa plays her cards right, she’ll be fine.”

Staelin took a sip of his coffee and asked, “What about Sølvi? Any clue when she and Grechko are going to be able to go back to Norway?”

Harvath shook his head. “NIS gave her an ultimatum. They want her back ASAP. She’s not ready to do that, though. Not until they’ve nailed the mole inside her organization. For now, she’s going to remain off the radar.”

“That seems like a smart move,” stated Haney. “Does that mean we’re staying? Because I can think of worse places to have to be a babysitter.”

“It’s up to you,” Harvath replied, flipping open his notebook and taking the pencil from behind his ear. “I’ve got one more job. The CIA’sstation chief up in Paris is offering me some of his guys, but I don’t want his guys. I wantmyguys.”

“What’s the job?” asked Staelin.

“One of the Russians responsible for Lara’s death managed to get away and—”

“I’m in,” the man said, not even waiting for Harvath to finish his sentence.

“Me too,” said Haney.

This was one of the biggest reasons why Harvath did what he did. The loyalty of his teammates meant the world to him. All they needed to know was that he was going after one of his wife’s killers. That was it. They didn’t need to know where, or how many of the enemy would be there when they arrived. Harvath was going and so would they.

Stepping out of the villa carrying plates of food, Preisler and Johnson walked over to the table and set them down.

“What are we talking about?” asked Preisler.

“Harvath’s got a lead on an additional person involved in Lara’s murder,” said Haney.

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