Page 121 of Secret Weapon

“So, what’s the target?”

Bradley bustled in with a tray.“Drinks?Snacks?I went to the new patisserie and picked up cannoli, but don’t tell Toby.”Toby was my nutritionist.“What target?”

Darya narrowed her eyes.“Should he be here?”

“It’s fine.”

Bradley beamed at her, utterly oblivious to the daggers shooting in his direction.“Chill out; I’m excellent at keeping secrets.Confess your sins, yada yada yada.I’m like a priest, except better dressed, obviously.”He turned to Ana.“Is she always this uptight?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll pick up some essential oils this afternoon.Lavender, sandalwood, and clary sage.”He patted Darya on the shoulder, then took a hasty step back when she snarled at him.“Those’ll help you to relax in no time.”

Alex was trying to suppress a smile, and she focused that sharp gaze on him.

“It’s not funny.”

“Maybe a massage would help?”

“From who?”

“Alex is a qualified sports massage therapist,” I told her.“He can help you to work out the kinks later, but for now, can we get back to the slightly more pressing issue?”

Ah, now I got the glare.

“Look for an event on this side of the country with both a Russian and US presence,” Darya said.“Probably not political because nobody’s going to get upset if there are a few less politicians in the world, are they?”

“Like a movie premiere?Timonenko’s hobnobbing with the Hollywood set.”

“Or an awards ceremony.Those also have cameras everywhere.”

“What about a soccer match?”Bradley suggested.“Russia and the US are playing at the stadium in Exposition Park to raise money for penguins.It’s been all over the TV, which you’d know if you ever took any time off.”

On the rare occasions I did take time off, I still didn’t watch TV, but a soccer match… Yeah, that was another possibility.

“Penguins?”

“They’re building a joint nature preserve in the Antarctic.James told us about it over dinner one time, remember?Or it might be the Arctic.Let me check…” Bradley pulled out his phone.“It’s definitely the Antarctic.”

Darya raised an eyebrow.“James?”

“President Harrison.”

“I went to school with him,” Black added, fixing Bradley with a stare before he managed to tell Darya that I used to date James too.Bradley actually was good at keeping important secrets from strangers, but he’d run his mouth amongst the Blackwood team, and Darya only had one foot in the camp at the moment.Until she made up her mind about her future, she didn’t need to know everything.

“We’ll research possible targets, but ideally, we want to retrieve the weapon before it gets that far.And if they’re lining up targets, they’ll need the thing to work.Which means that either they’ll have another try for Ottie, or they’ve found an alternative way to get the code they need.”An alternative way… I thought back to the missing software technician.Had he shown up yet?I needed to speak with James.“When’s the soccer match?”

Again, Bradley consulted his phone.“March ninth.”

“So if that’s the target, they have over a month to get ready.Let’s look into showbiz events as well.”

“No further out than March,” Darya said.“Ilya won’t need that much time to prepare.And you should move Marquette.If Ilya decides to visit her himself, he won’t make the same mistakes as Fedorov’s lackeys.”

“Okay, so we have action points.”I moved over to the nearest empty whiteboard.“Number one: warn the team with Ottie of a potential new threat.Number two: confirm Ilya’s identity.We’ll need you or Ana to do that.”

I wrote notes on the board as the two of them looked at each other.Neither of them volunteered right away, but finally, Darya nodded.

“It should be me.I’ve spent more time with him in recent years.”

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