was there to investigate the
'Yes.'
'Do you have any proof of that?'
'Enough, I believe. I can let you see Ilyas's field reports and the dossier on the operation.' The woman paused. 'When you're ready.'
'Do you know if Ilyas knew Taburova?'
'No.'
Ajza forced herself to take a deep breath. 'You realize that if I take this assignment, my gender is going to prove to be a problem.'
'I know that women have no real rights in Chechen society. We also think that your brother's gender may have been a problem. Women can get overlooked. Your brother may have attracted attention. Someone might have made him.'
Ajza shook her head. 'No. Ilyas was good at role-playing. No one would have known who he was.'
A brief moment of feeling foolish passed through Ajza. She couldn't let her hero worship of her younger brother impede her processing of this terrible event. 'Something else happened,' she said. Even though that was partially stated out of pride, she also knew it felt right.
The woman remained silent for a time. 'Even if you accept this assignment, Ajza, you might never find out what happened to your brother.'
I will find out, Ajza told herself. She willed her passions to turn ice cold. There would be no pain, no fear and no anticipation until she allowed it. She turned back to the woman and knew that the difference she'd just made within her heart probably showed.
'You said you only wanted exploratory surgery done here,' Ajza said.
'Yes.'
'I'm going to be honest with you.' Ajza knew she didn't have to be so forthright. In fact, what she was about to admit could work against her. However, playing the card also allowed her to see more of what the woman and her organization wanted.
'I wouldn't have it any other way,' the woman said.
Ajza almost smiled bitterly at that. Both of them were holding secrets and she knew it. 'If I find out what happened to my brother — if Taburova was involved in Ilyas's murder — I won't leave him in place. I will kill him.'
* * *
'You know,' Jake said laconically, 'I'm liking her more and more.'
Kate stared at the scene in the tea room. Ajza remained unflinching as she faced Samantha.
'She could be a loose cannon,' Kate commented.
'At least she's working on our side,' Jake said.
'She could get herself killed.'
Jake leaned back and laced his hands behind his head. 'She's not going to let this get to her, Kate. If her brother's murder was going to seriously jack with her, the Brits would have pulled her from undercover work.'
A line of text formed at the bottom of Kate's monitor. At the other end of the connections routed into her office from the tableau in England, Samantha tapped out a Morse-code message against the pressure-sensitive sheet.
RESPONSE?
'Tell her she's in,' Kate said. 'We'll have a man in place in Moscow to run damage control. But she has us over a barrel here. We can't get someone else in such short time who would fit in over there. She also knows Mustafa's organization. If there's another connect between Istanbul and Taburova, she'll probably see it before any of us do.'
'And she knows her brother,' Jake said. 'Now that she knows where he was killed, she'll try to pick up the trail. At this point, even if we didn't bankroll her, she'd go.'
Kate knew that was true. 'All right, Samantha, let's clear her and find out what she can do. Tell her you'll be in touch.'
Onscreen they watched as Samantha did that.
'Then, if there's nothing more,' Ajza said, 'I need to go. I'm certain my parents are worried about me. I didn't have time to say a proper goodbye when I left last night.'
'Of course.' Samantha stood and took the sheet of plastic from the table.
'How will I contact you?' Ajza asked.
'We'll be in touch with you, Ms. Manaev.'
'How long should I expect to wait?'
'Will you be ready to go in…'
Kate consulted the timeline she'd constructed for Ajza ManaeVs insertion into Moscow. 'Five hours twenty- seven minutes.'
'…five hours twenty-seven minutes?' Samantha asked.
'All right,' Ajza answered.
'You'll be flying out of Heathrow to Prague. Once you're there, you'll get further instructions.'
'I'll be ready. Will I see you again?'
'No,' Samantha said. 'Unless something goes badly wrong. I'd rather we never see each other again.'
27
Since they had walked to the tea shop, Ajza felt certain the woman would leave the same way. Only two blocks down, Ajza took shelter in the doorway of a Chinese laundry and watched the shop. She was aware of the two young Chinese girls staring at her back as they tried to make sense of what she was doing there.
Ajza knew the woman had deliberately waited to leave. And she expected the woman would know Ajza might try to follow her.
In the end, though, Ajza had to do it. The woman knew too much and she'd left Ajza knowing next to nothing. The information about Ilyas's death might be an elaborate hoax, though Ajza couldn't see what the woman would get out of that.
But they had promised a lot. Getting out of the country on such short notice wasn't going to be easy. Then again, manipulating Crayle and MI-6 wasn't a simple thing to do, either.
The ease with which the woman and her organization seemed able to do things concerned Ajza most of all. That kind of power tended to corrupt everything it touched. If Ilyas hadn't been involved — and believing that gave her hope she might find answers about his death — she wouldn't have let the woman finish her spiel. She would have gone directly to MI-6.
At the same time she wondered if being discovered trying to tail the woman would be a deal breaker. If the story about Ilyas was true, she needed these people to put her close to Taburova. She might be able to do it alone, given time, but even if she quit MI-6 today, it would be months before she could get to Moscow.
Just then, the woman emerged from the tea shop and strode briskly to the street.
Ajza shifted and readied herself to follow. The woman stopped at the street as a black sedan cruised to a stop. She was inside in a heartbeat and the car continued on its way almost as if it had never stopped.
Before the car disappeared from sight, Ajza's cell phone rang. She plucked it from her pocket, feeling certain it was the woman.
'Hello?'
'Can't blame you for trying,' a polite male voice with a definite American accent said, 'but you're wasting time we don't have. Good hunting out there, and good luck, Ms. Manaev.'
The phone clicked dead in Ajza's hand. She cursed, folded the phone and pocketed it. Then she walked to the street and flagged a cab.
