Page 19 of Edge of Honor

Kennedy grinned and very subtly, not to mention very unprofessionally, gave him the finger.

Shaking his head, Carolan turned around and kept walking. Maybe the asshole in him wasn’t receding. Maybe it had just been taking a nap.

Kennedy took his time logging out from the crime scene. He kept his eyes on Carolan and Fields until they disappeared into the Norwegian ambassador’s residence.

Once they had, he returned to his car and removed a second cell phone—his burner—from beneath the passenger seat.

There were only a handful of numbers in the list of contacts. As he pulled out of his parking spot, he found the one he wanted and he pressed the call button.

When a voice answered on the other end, Kennedy said, “I think we may have a problem.”

CHAPTER 10

RESTON, VIRGINIA

Brendan Rogers exercised great caution to make sure he wasn’t followed. An hour and a half after leaving his motel, he arrived at a small café and bakery where he ordered a large black coffee and a breakfast sandwich, then took a seat at one of the tables outside.

The temperature was already in the low eighties and it was only going to get hotter. He had purposefully picked a spot that would remain shaded for at least the next couple of hours. There was no telling how long he would have to wait.

Another large coffee and a bottle of water later, he had his answer.

The blacked-out Mercedes Sprinter van came around the corner and headed toward the underground parking garage across the street. As it approached, the security bollards dropped and the heavy metal doors opened wide, like the mouth of an enormous whale about to gorge on a cloud of krill.

Rogers watched as the van was swallowed up and disappeared inside. Making himself comfortable, he waited fifteen minutes and then placed a call.

Somewhere high inside the glass and steel office tower across the street, a phone rang. When a receptionist answered and asked to whom he wished to be directed, Rogers only had a first name to provide her. He had no idea if the man he was calling even had a last name.

When asked for his own name, Rogers gave an alias—a name that he knew wouldn’t be appreciated, but which would instantly be recognized.

It was the shortest hold time in history.

“The only Colonel Josef Kozak I know,” a voice said, taking his call, “is dead. So you’ve got three seconds to tell me who this is before I hang up.”

“I’m the man who first identified Kozak to you. I need your help.”

Ten minutes later, the service entrance at the southwest corner of the building opened and two ex–special forces operatives in suits waved him inside.

They made sure that Rogers was alone and unarmed before walking him into a private elevator and accompanying him upstairs.

Avoiding the reception area, they escorted him down a back hall to a secure conference room where a very small man with two very large white dogs was waiting.

In his past life, the man, with primordial dwarfism, was known as “The Troll.” His friends and coworkers at the Carlton Group knew him as Nicholas.

“Ambassador Rogers,” Nicholas said, using the honorific that had been assigned to him as the Hostage Czar. “This is an honor.”

“Sorry to show up on your doorstep announced,” Rogers replied, pausing as he took in the enormous Caucasian Ovcharkas on either side of Nicholas. “Argos and Draco, right?”

“You have a good memory.”

“May I?” he asked, indicating that he wanted to approach the dogs.

“Of course. Just do it slowly.”

Nicholas then gave a quiet command and allowed the dogs to sniff the visitor’s hand.

Ovcharkas had an amazing ability to catalog and recall scent. They immediately remembered Rogers from the time they had spent at the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell. Nicholas remembered it as well. It was one of the most dangerous and stressful cases of his life. Even the former president had felt the need to make a personal appearance at the cell to reinforce to every single employee how important it was to rescue Scot Harvath and bring him home.

From start to finish, Rogers had done an amazing job. It was why, once Nicholas had confirmed that Rogers was indeed Rogers, he had sweptthe man into the building and up to the Carlton Group’s heavily secured offices.

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