more time, or at least throw them off track.
He located the rig of the man driving to Bakersfield, sealed the cell phone in a Ziplock bag, and duct-taped it underneath good and tight. Until the battery ran out or it was discovered, the phone would leave a digital trail of bread crumbs, which would hopefully take his pursuers in a completely different direction.
Back at his hotel in Winchester, Carlton spent the rest of the day and into the evening on the computer in the business center, once again link-walking. But instead of searching for details on his attack, he looked for any stories that might be about attacks or “accidents” involving his operators. He was devastated to find multiple references, including one about a deadly firefight in Paris, which, while not mentioning names, had to have been about Harvath and the Delta Force operative he’d been sent to meet, Riley Turner.
Everything Carlton had built was destroyed; the center of his operation, the very backbone, had been ripped out. He should have felt lucky to be alive, but he didn’t. He was beside himself at having lost so many good operators, many of whom were like family. He was also angry, and that anger was turning into rage. He was all too familiar with the feeling and knew that if he didn’t control it, it would not only control him, it would consume him. He was too old and too experienced to allow his emotions to run roughshod and dictate his course of action. He needed to be cold and calculating; as cold as he had ever been, if not more so.
Returning to his room, he took a shower, shaved, and then drew the blackout drapes and stretched out on his bed. He hadn’t slept since escaping the fire. He needed to rest.
He was exhausted, and it didn’t take him long to fall asleep. But even as he slept, his subconscious was still working, trying to find answers, trying to find a way forward.
It was just after four in the morning when he awoke. He felt more tired than when he had gone to sleep, but he had something he didn’t have when he lay down. He had a plan.
Looking over at the clock on the nightstand, he realized he’d have to move fast. There was a very narrow window for what he was about to do.
CHAPTER 18
TEXAS
Nicholas probably shouldn’t have brought her back to the ranch. In fact, he shouldn’t even have let her into his SUV, but the picture she had removed from her purse and pressed up against the window had changed everything.
It showed her hugging her older sister, Caroline, and the two of them laughing. But it wasn’t just the picture that had changed his mind, it was the look on her face. She was absolutely terrified. It wasn’t a show, it was genuine, and so he had unlocked the Denali’s door and let her in.
Nina had the same high cheekbones and deep green eyes as her sister, but her hair was jet black,
Exiting the garage, he began a long SDR to make sure they weren’t being followed. Right away, Nina began talking, but Nicholas stopped her. It wasn’t safe. Not yet.
He asked if she had any electronics with her. All she had was a cell phone; she took it out and showed it to him. As they passed the Donna Reservoir, he had her pull the battery and throw all the pieces out the window into the water. She did exactly as he asked while he continued to drive.
Just before the Rio Grande, he changed direction and headed west, and shortly afterward changed direction again and headed north up through Las Milpas and back toward the Three Peaks Ranch.
As they drove, they talked, or more specifically Nina talked, and Nicholas interrupted from time to time to ask questions.
She explained how a package from a D.C.-area lingerie shop had arrived and that in it were a couple of bra and panty sets, a tiny flash drive, and a recordable greeting card with a message from her sister.
The message warned Nina not to plug the drive into any computer but to wait until she found Nicholas, and then Caroline quickly explained how to contact him. There wasn’t a lot of recording space, so she had to be fast. She told Nina that she was in trouble and that she loved her. That was it.
Nina tried repeatedly to contact her sister after receiving the message, but to no avail. Very soon thereafter, she had a bad feeling that she was being watched, both at her apartment and at work, and so decided to go to ground.
After calling in sick, she had holed up at the home of a wealthy Mexican family for whom she pet-sat from time to time. They were back in Reynosa until at least Christmas and had left their Hide-A-Key in the usual spot. She knew from past experience that they never bothered to set the alarm.
She was a sharp woman with good instincts, and Nicholas was impressed. He was equally impressed when she glanced back again at the dogs and said, “Ovcharkas, right?”
“How did you know?”
“I’m a vet tech.”
“Do you see a lot of Caucasian Sheepdogs in south Texas?” he had asked.
Nina’s mood seem to brighten, if just for a moment, as her thoughts were distracted from her concern over her sister, and she smiled. “Not really,” she replied. “I just like dogs. Especially big ones.”
After ascertaining that she had burned the greeting card, per Caroline’s instructions, and watching as she pulled the flash drive from the left cup of her bra to show to him, he decided to keep their conversation light for the rest of the drive.
He asked personal questions in an effort to help keep her mind off her sister. It worked for a while, until he ran out of things to ask. He wasn’t as socially skilled as he would have liked and felt awkward not being able to come up with anything else to talk about.
They fell into an uncomfortable silence that lasted the rest of the way back to the ranch. He was relieved when they finally arrived at the property and suspected that she was too.
At the guesthouse, he gave Nina her pick of the remaining bedrooms and placed a call to Maggie Rose asking if she could bring over some additional women’s size 6 clothing.
Fifteen minutes later, Maggie dropped off a small bag, smiled, and left Nicholas alone. She didn’t ask who the clothes were for or who was in the far bathroom taking a shower. He appreciated her professionalism.
Nicholas placed the items in Nina’s room and then retreated to the kitchen. They tried to open the flash drive right away, but it was encrypted. Despite working with Nina for several hours trying to come up with the password, they had no luck. He needed a break.
? ? ?
Cooking was one of his greatest passions, providing a Zen-like experience in which he could lose himself. In fact, when Nina emerged from the guest room and entered the kitchen, he didn’t even notice she was there.
Standing on a stepstool with his eyes closed and his nose in a glass of recently opened chardonnay, he was like nothing she had ever seen. For several moments, she just watched him. Finally, she asked, “Blackberries, apricots, or green apple?”
“Excuse me?” Nicholas replied, surprised to find her standing there.
“Somebody once told me that if you wanted to sound like you knew about wine, all you had to do was say you found a
Nicholas smiled and set his glass down. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“Oh, yeah. Then you roll out the gardening terms.”
Nina thought for a moment and then gave him her list. “Grassy, oaky, mossy, or peaty.”
“I think those last two are for scotch.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Nicholas affirmed.
“I’m obviously not an expert.”
“Do you like wine?”
“Yes.”
