Parker walked over to a small conference room and opened the door. Waffle stood and stretched, then dutifully followed his mistress through the open door. Once it was closed, Parker sat in a chair. “Okay, what’s in the report? Also, it’s only been in your inbox for less than half an hour. Did you read the whole thing already?”
“Yeah. Joey mentioned an unusual phone call to a research facility in San Francisco that may have come from Dmitri.” Alexis sat across from Parker, then rose to pace the room. “He’s supposed to be in a town called Dubna to lick his wounds and not cause trouble. I ran a search using the new keywords in the report and found nothing to refute that assumption. But something’s not right.” She smacked her forehead. “That’s it. That’s the problem. We should be hearing something. Complaints to his former superiors, requests to get back in the game, anything.”
Parker tilted his head. “That’s fair. Something tells me that’s not everything on your mind.”
“Correct. When I arrested Dmitri’s hitman, he gave us the names of two sleeper agents. The CIA wanted to leave them in place to see what they did. One moved to a small town. He has exchanged some coded emails with one of Dmitri’s minions and we think he wants to cut ties and skip the country. His boss isn’t happy his guy is more focused on self-preservation than loyalty. The other operative we could never pin down. All we had was a code name and an email. This guy disappeared like vapor.”
Parker leaned in. “Have the CIA or NSA found anything else?”
Waffle rose to lick Alexis’s hand. She sat down to give him a pet. “Just the occasional coded email into an account they don’t know we’ve hacked. Every month, one email arrives, like clockwork. I just re-ran that search too, and there isn’t anything new. But, see, that’s just it, P. Something should have changed. The emails read like high-level chit-chat. Dmitri doesn’t chit-chat. I think our guy is doing work for Dmitri and the emails are coded. Oh! Of course! That’s it. The emails.” Alexis bent over her computer and began typing furiously.
Parker looked over her shoulder. “So you think the phone call–”
“One sec.” Alexis held up a finger. “Ah, the mysterious phone call that passed through Dmitri’s apartment in Moscow was received in the same suburb in San Francisco as where our sleeper agent last checked his email. Gotcha.” She looked up with a victorious grin. “It’s an assumption on top of a big pile of circumstantial evidence, but it’s the closest thing we’ve had to a lead in months.”
Parker pulled out his phone. “What was the name of the research facility?”
Alexis pulled up the report on her laptop and resumed tapping her fingers, this time with excitement instead of nervous energy. “Let me get the name. It’s a medium-sized company that does ocean research – I’d never heard of it before.”
Parker’s tone turned more serious. “What kind of ocean research?”
Alexis leaned into the screen, talking more to it than Parker. “They get samples and measure a bunch of stuff in the shallow and deep ocean. Ah, here it is. The company name is the…Oceanic Exploration Group. They’re not particularly well known outside of their field, but they’re well-respected within it.” She finally leaned back and gestured to the website on her laptop. “Their website is pretty high level…”
Parker pinched his nose with two fingers and closed his eyes. He didn’t look anywhere near her computer.
“Did I miss something?” Alexis gave him a curious look.
Parker shook his head. “No, but I’m going to have a big problem with my wife. Her sister, Stefanie, just took a job there. She’s talked to Ree about it at least a dozen times. Now, I have to warn her that she happened to land in a place with a sleeper agent from one of the FBI’s operations. Stefanie has been trying to get in with them for about two years and was over the moon to get the job.” Parker sighed. “And, Ree’s cleared for the operation, so I really have no excuse not to tell her. This conversation is not going to go well.”
Alexis winced. “Yeah, no way Ree is going to leave that alone. She might start throwing elbows and go to San Francisco to become Stefanie’s personal bodyguard. This is…not good.”
“Understatement of the year.” Parker rubbed the back of his neck.
Alexis tapped a finger against her lips. “You know, maybe we’re looking at this all wrong. Ree’s sister could finally be our big break. We’d have an instant, trustworthy source on the inside without making any big moves that could spook Dmitri’s guy. She could keep an ear to the ground or even plant some cameras or recording equipment for us. We won’t have trouble getting permission for that.”
Parker leaned back in the chair and rubbed his temples. “If the company is that big, we can send one of our own. I don’t see any reason to get Ree’s sister involved. We can monitor communications without putting anyone at risk.” He sat up. “Plus, if both Ree and her sister are involved in an FBI operation, I’m not sure they’ll forgive me for putting both of them in the middle of this.”
“Oh, my friend. You and I both know that’s not what you’re worried about.” Alexis gave him a knowing look. “The real problem is that if Stefanie is anything like Ree, you won’t be able to keep her from helping. Then, you’ll have one more family member to stress about.”
Parker eyed her. “Does the psychoanalysis come free when I volunteer to involve my family?”
“Buddy, you know all psychoanalysis comes free just for working with me.
