Chapter 21
“Word just in. Anton Levi was found dead in his Berlin apartment last night.” Mac’s expression was pissed as he paced impatiently.
Jon Regan, Alex Parker, Detective Granger, Agent Crabtree, and Jordan stared at one another with varying degrees of dismay. A new guy from WMD named Harry Marcus sat beside Lucy Aston. Daisy couldn’t read either of their expressions.
“German authorities are leaning toward erotic auto-asphyxiation as method of death. I think we might be able to suggest they take a closer look.”
“What was wrong with the window?” Jordan asked sarcastically.
“First floor apartment.”
“Figures.”
Daisy frowned. “Who is Anton Levi? Can you say?”
Mac shot her a look as if weighing the information versus her trustworthiness.
She’d be pissed except she knew how seriously these people took their rules.
“That’s the asset who collected the DNA sample that supposedly came from Bocharov. He swore he’d personally witnessed Bocharov’s death.”
“How did the Russians discover he was blown when we only figured it out last night?” asked Detective Granger.
“Good question.” Jordan stared hard at the guy. He’d been pissy ever since he’d gotten that phone call this morning. Or maybe it was how he acted post coitus. Like a jackass.
Granger glared back. “It wasn’t me—I didn’t even know the guy’s name.”
“You didn’t need to know his name. Just that the FBI had figured out Bocharov wasn’t dead.”
“I’m not on that bastard’s payroll”—the detective’s chair screeched across the floor as he surged to his feet—“and I’m sick of you suggesting otherwise.”
Jordan stared him down, all coiled muscle and deadly intent.
She wanted to reach out to soothe him, but Krychek had retreated from the thorough, considerate lover, back to the ice-cold operator she’d first met.
“Levi’s death warrant was signed the moment you spotted Bocharov in Mexico,” Lucy cut in.
“They’d know you’d chase down the lead. You said Bocharov was bleeding, so he knew he’d probably left DNA in Tremblay’s room.
Levi would have either been called to Moscow or, if he wasn’t deemed valuable enough, or if the Kremlin simply wanted to send us a message, they’d have ordered the hit. ”
“Levi knew what he was getting into when he started playing us against one another,” Jordan bit out.
“High-stakes poker with power-hungry murderers. Yup. He knew the risks.” Mac crossed his arms over his chest.
How matter-of-factly they all talked about death…
“I should inform the Director.” Crabtree started to rise.
Mac took a plastic bag out of his suit jacket pocket, full of the smashed component parts of small electronic devices. Tossed it across the table. “Here, you might want to give her those while you’re at it.”
Crabtree flushed scarlet and then swallowed tightly.
Daisy forced a grin. “If she wanted to hear Jordan and me fuck, she should have just asked. We might have let her watch.”
Jordan’s skin was ashen even though they were supposed to be pretending to be an item regardless of whatever was really happening between them. The fact he was so ashamed of what to her had been a perfect synchrony of physical needs being met made something inside her shrivel up.
“The director should be careful where she gets her tech. Any idiot could be listening in on that pile of shit.” Regan sounded quietly furious. “God knows where that came from. State probably. Tell her my interns build better bugs on day one of the program.”
“The Director denies any and all accusations of misconduct—”
“Can it.” Mac raised his voice over Crabtree’s denials. “If I find any more reason to suspect I can’t trust you to be a team player, you will be sidelined so hard you won’t even see the playing field. Understood?”
Crabtree nodded and sat. “Sir.”
“And the Director knows about Levi. Who the hell do you think told me?” Mac moved on. “Any progress on motive for killing Tremblay?”
Alex Parker scrubbed his hand through his short, light-brown hair.
He looked tired. Like he hadn’t slept. “Funny thing. This morning, I uncovered stories and media posts dating back six months of people accusing Tremblay of inappropriate relationships with students. And comments suggesting he threw himself off the balcony because a group of young women were about to go public with evidence that he used his position to obtain sexual favors.”
Shock and disappointment rushed through her. “Wow, I didn’t know him well, but I expected better of the man.”
“Yeah, well, these posts and comments didn’t exist yesterday.”
She caught her breath. What?
Those silver-gray eyes of Alex’s were intense as they met hers.
“Someone planted them overnight. It took that someone a little time to create the fake online identities of the women involved.” He used air quotes around the word “women.” “But they were sloppy. Minimal background and a lack of other social profiles and certainly no government ID. A lot of the comments coming from known Russian bots. You can bet your ass willing idiots will amplify the signals even more, believing the victims are genuine, and make the accusations appear legit enough to pass the initial round of public scrutiny.”
She shivered at the scale of the deception.
“Why bother?” Jordan demanded.
“To give the authorities reason to stop investigating Tremblay’s death as suspicious? To make suicide more of a possibility.” Alex leaned back in his chair.
“But we now know for certain Bocharov was there, so it won’t matter in terms of our investigation,” Jordan pointed out.
Agent Crabtree looked startled. “You proved it? Unequivocally?”
Mac frowned. “Yeah, after you left last night. Your boss didn’t tell you?”
Crabtree sipped coffee and then carefully wiped his mouth and shook his head.
“If I can be frank, the director asked me to assess Operator Krychek and Miss Montana’s interactions to ascertain whether or not they are genuinely in a relationship.
Considering the tension between them this morning, I now have no doubts. ”
Jordan gave her the side-eye as if it were her fault.
She crossed her arms and stared at the ceiling tiles.
“What else?” Mac demanded.
Crabtree shrugged. “To keep her informed of anything important that doesn’t appear in your reports, but as I seem to be the last to know anything important, that seems irrelevant.
I am simply following orders, ASAC McKenzie.
If you want me off this task force, you’ll have to take it up with the director.
Trust me,” he sounded bored, “I’d rather be in DC. ”
“We could lock him in a cage somewhere until this is all over,” Jordan suggested.
Daisy wasn’t sure he was joking.
Crabtree’s phone chirped and he swore softly as he checked the screen. “The director wants me at HQ for a meeting ASAP.”
“Saved by the bell,” Alex said dryly.
Crabtree shot him a look as he gathered his things, including the plastic bag of electronics, which he stuffed into his pocket. Crimson stained his cheeks. He left without another word.
“But why are the Russians chumming the water with Tremblay? Why do they care whether we think it’s suicide or murder?
” Lucy asked. “Bocharov is presumably long gone from the reach of the Mexican authorities, and based on Krychek’s sighting and Levi’s murder, the Russians have to assume we know Bocharov is alive.
Why go to the extra trouble of disgracing Tremblay’s legacy? ”
“Cleaning up loose ends,” Alex suggested.
“But why?” Lucy insisted.
“To muddy the waters.” Alex leaned forward, his forehead creased in thought.
“Always,” Lucy agreed, narrowed her gaze. “But once they’re safe from apprehension or consequences, they rarely bother to cover their trail, especially when they have plausible deniability.”
“Because they’re not done yet.” Daisy said what everyone was thinking. “Whatever their mission is, it’s not over, so they want to deflect attention away from the fact Francois might have been murdered.”
“As of yesterday, there was nothing in Tremblay’s background to suggest he was working with any bad guys or taking payments from anyone except the institution where he works.
The guy was definitely a womanizer, given the amount of sexting he did with various individuals.
” Alex grimaced. “If I ever see another dick pic, it’ll be too soon. ”
“Amen,” Daisy and Lucy said together.
“Everything I saw was legit if not necessarily ethical.” Alex’s lip curved wryly. “But what are the odds we find some money tucked away in some bank account soon. Maybe in Malta?”
Lucy huffed out a laugh. “I would not take that bet. The Russians are clearly trying to lead us in the direction that Tremblay was compromised in some way. They want him to be the focus of our investigation.”
Mac jerked his tie from his shirt collar and stuffed it in his jacket pocket.
“Assuming Tremblay was simply an innocent bystander who got caught up in this, we’re back to looking at who else the Russian might have been meeting on the fifth floor.
And who else might not want to be seen with Bocharov.
Cameras went down when most people were at the banquet.
Do you remember anyone leaving the dinner, Daisy? ”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t paying attention. The conference didn’t officially end until six-thirty p.m. and the dinner ran late. Everyone was hungry.”
“Analysts at SIOC worked through the night and got back to us with a pretty comprehensive list of people in the lobby between nine-fifty p.m. and ten-oh-six p.m., who we can assume weren’t meeting with the Russian on the fifth floor at the time of Tremblay’s death.
Which whittles the list down to only nineteen delegates who are unaccounted for, not including Daisy and Jordan. ”
“There was a free bar,” Daisy joked weakly.
“Explains it.” Regan grinned, bared his teeth.