Chapter 19
“Carson? You’re not taking the subway today,are you? Did something happen to your car?”
Carson was one of the last people I thoughtI’d ever see going into the subway. I waited for his answer.“Actually, no. I mean, my car is fine and no, I don’t intend totake the subway. I wanted to talk to you.” He looked around andthen took my arm and led me to the platform. “Let’s talk down here,though.”
“I looked for you at lunch.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I had some things I had todo.” Once on the platform, he took me to a bench, and we sat. “Iwanted to finish telling you about Viktor. He’s not what he seems.”My heartbeat quickened at the thought of getting some insideinformation on Viktor and his family.
“You mean he’s not a self-centered,egotistical boy?”
He chuckled. “No. He is that. But hisfamily—they aren’t the best of people. And it seems that people whoget caught up with him end up either disappearing or turning intosullen, mean, angry people.”
I turned quickly to him. “You’re notsuggesting that he’s some kind of sociopath are you?”
He leaned closer to me and licked his lips.“Maybe. I don’t know. I only know that people who get tangled upwith him come out with problems or never come out.”
“And you? How have you avoided hisinfluence?”
He swallowed hard. “I haven’t.”
Chills ran up my arms, but I had to play itcool. “Ah, Carson. You’re the nicest boy I’ve met at school. Ifyou’re a product of his friendship, then I have nothing to worryabout.”
“I’m serious. I wish I could tell you more,but I can’t. Please. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Hisshoulders curled, and his eyes appeared wet.
I could hear the train coming. Why waseveryone always trying to save me? I wanted to scream at him andtell him I was a very capable girl and could take care of myself.Instead, I held my anger inside and spit, “Thank you for thewarning, but I can take care of myself.” Did every great guy on theplanet see me as some weak thing who needed his protection?Ugh.
He looked as if he wanted to argue more, butI cut him off, not wanting to lose it right there.
“I think my train is coming. Really, Carson.You don’t have to worry about me.”
We stood, and he hugged me goodbye.
I was dying to find out if he worked forViktor in some capacity. I would find out. It would be difficult ifI didn’t get an assignment that put me working with him directly,but I would find out.
***
Back at the brownstone, I told the teamabout Carson’s warning, and my suspicion that he was somehowinvolved with the bratva. Jeremy pulled up Carson’s file to seewhat we knew about him. Discovering it wasn’t much, he sent Halluisto comb through the audio recordings from the school and Ace tofind out anything he could on Carson’s family.
“We need to know exactly what he knows—orthinks he knows.”
The two agents disappeared upstairs, and Ilooked expectantly at Jeremy.
“You, study up on the felony you’re about tocommit.”
“Isn’t there something more useful I couldbe doing?”
“The best thing you can do is make animpression tonight, so even though you might think you know thisstuff, you’d better put a little more study time in.”
I bit back an argument, nodded, and pulledout one of the team’s laptops, hunkering down to study hotwiring,the docks and container ships. Jeremy disappeared into the kitchenand, I assumed, out the back door.
The sensation of waiting—for moreinformation on Carson, for Viktor to call, for Jeremy to comeback—was enough to drive me insane. I couldn’t concentrate at allon the videos I was watching, and my mind kept drifting, andstrangely enough it kept landing on Jeremy.
A few hours later, Jeremy returned with alarge pizza, and we ate in near silence. Halluis and Ace hadn’tfound anything to connect Carson with the bratva, and Jeremy saidnothing about where he’d been. The only thing to disturb the tensequiet of the evening was a brief argument about trackers. Halluisthought I should carry some with me tonight and place them on thecars I would be stealing. Jeremy disagreed.
“They’ve been able to find and disable everytracker we’ve attempted to place. If Christy puts trackers on hercars, and they find them, they’ll have reason to suspect her.”
“But if they don’t find them, the trackerswill lead us right to the cars. Voilà, missionaccomplie.”
“If it were that easy, we’d have done it bynow. The trackers are no use to us. Whatever tech the bratva isusing to detect them, it’s nothing we’ve seen before. They’veoutsmarted us in that arena. We have to find the cars through othermeans.”
“But your FBI friend—what was his name,Karloff?”
“Kozlov.”
“Kozlov, then. He said himself that theywould never reveal the whereabouts of the shipping yard to alow-level member. If we don’t risk the tracker, we may not find thecar before it is too late.”
Jeremy said nothing, just stared back atHalluis.
Before the argument could escalate, it wasinterrupted by the chime of my cell phone, announcing a textmessage.
It was time. I was to be at a particularrestaurant at nine sharp to lift a very nice vintage Mercedes. Ithad been retrofitted with the latest security advances. The bratvamust have a very specific buyer who wouldn’t be showing it aboutfor a long time. There were only three of this car left on theplanet.
“I’ve got to leave now if I’m going to makeit on time,” I said apologetically, not sure to whom I wasapologizing.
Halluis pursed his lips. “Very well, notrackers, then. Off you go, mademoiselle. Know that I will bethere—in the shadows.”
***
I met Mikado at a small park near therestaurant. He looked upset to see me coming toward him.
“I thought I told you to avoid dinner.” Heonly looked at me for a second then looked past me.
“You did. And your words only made me thatmuch more curious.” I fingered the charm on my necklace, and Istomped on some dirty, crunchy snow.
He gave me an exasperated look. “You’llregret it.”
“Maybe. But it’s hard to tell just yet.” Ibent my knees and then straightened them, looking out at the frozenpark and wishing spring
