Page 77 of Fire and Ice

"One more thing: you will be hooded and searched again when you arrive."

Shit.

"You will be taken to another location that is five minutes away. My employer will personally meet with you to do the handover."

Rick decided to push to find out what they knew.

"I must say you are very thorough. Is there a reason for this? Should I worry about the Feds sniffing this out?"

"I assure you the FBI know nothing. They are too embroiled in whatever is happening in New Park to be a nuisance."

Ha, not the DEA, buddy.

"Anymore questions, concerns?"

"I'm good," Rick said as he shut down his computer and got up.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Redmond."

***

"When I put your name on the registration form, I did not expect everyone to come after you," Viktor said.

Maia did not go back to her hotel room immediately as she decided to make a detour and walk along the Inner Harbor. Whatever this was involved Volynksy, Viktor and herself. No DEA, no AGS and especially no Jack.

"It's a phone number I need to call at midnight. The number is in Germany but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a relay. I need a comm van. Though my smartphone is secure, MDI wired my room and I for one do not want Jack nosing around this."

"That boyfriend of yours is a pain in the ass."

"Tell me about it."

"I'm glad he's taking care of you though."

"Viktor, can we skip the mushy stuff? How about the comm van?"

"Hold on ..."

A few minutes passed and then Maia's call waiting started flashing. It was Jack. Damn, he was probably wondering what route she had taken to the hotel.

Viktor came back on the phone. "Alright: 11:50 pm, Grand Harbor underground parking."

"Got it."

Jack started calling again so Maia picked up.

"Where the fuck are you?"

"Uh, I had to take care of something. I'm on my way back."

"ETA?"

"Jack, you're worse than a jail warden."

"Don't exaggerate. You're forgetting that you may have an assassin after you. What did you have to do?"

"Sorry Jack, it's classified."

Jack sighed in irritation. "You had to make a call to Viktor."

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