Calculated Reaction, page 19
Alexis leaned in. “This isn’t a matter of intellect. I work undercover for a living. Being smart and getting fooled by these guys aren’t mutually exclusive. No one is immune. The only defense is being one step ahead of them. To do that, it’s taken an entire team. And my team needs your help.”
Lindsay touched Alexis’s badge. “Do you mind? I mean, if I call? I’d like to verify your story.”
“Not at all. Can you use the house phone, though?” Alexis wasn’t quite willing to hand over her own phone to Lindsay, and the house had a landline they never used but should work.
“Does anyone still have those?”
Alexis chuckled. “Yes. I don’t want you using your phone in case someone is spying on you.”
Lindsay’s eyes narrowed. “Besides you guys?”
“Fair point.” Alexis pulled up the FBI website and showed Lindsay the number. A few short minutes later, Lindsay returned to the table.
“I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Alexis waved away the apology. “No need to be sorry. What you’re feeling is extremely normal.”
Lindsay’s smile was rueful. “Normal for someone getting played by a spy?”
Alexis exchanged a look with Matt. “Let’s just say that you’re not the first person I’ve had this conversation with. Let’s get down to business. How did you get involved with Kurt?”
“He contacted me after I was fired from IRT. Kurt said the CIA had heard through the grapevine that there might be some trouble at the Future Energy Laboratory, and a friend from college recommended me as someone who might be able to help. He pointed me to the FEL job board, where there were several openings. I needed a job, and I said I’d give it a shot, but I didn’t know if I’d get it. I applied for everything I was qualified for. While I waited to hear back, he and I had several phone calls, talking generally about my background and experience, and how I might be able to help the CIA. Kurt said he would be one of my references since we’d started working together. I can only assume he said nice things since I got the job.”
“How did you verify his story?”
Lindsay looked at her hands. “He had a ton of information about me. I reached out to the friend from college who had given him my name. He vouched for the guy. It never occurred to me that I could just call the CIA and check his story.”
Alexis pulled out a pen. “Who was the friend?”
Lindsay twisted her hands together. “Listen, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”
Matt crossed his arms. “Neither do we. What if your old friend is in trouble, and has no idea?”
Lindsay closed her eyes. “His name is Keith Brooks.”
* * *
Alexis kept her expression even but had to write slowly to keep her fingers from shaking. There was more than one Keith Brooks in the world. Maybe it wasn’t the same guy who had helped Andrei kidnap Dani, then fled to Russia with Dmitri’s help before they could arrest him. If it was the same person, Lindsay was considerably luckier than she probably felt right now. “Where is your old friend based out of?”
“Minnesota. He develops vaccines at a not-for-profit. Works for someone we both went to college with, Dani Christensen. I don’t really know her, but Keith and I had a few labs together.” Alexis put a hand to her forehead. The world seemed huge, but it just kept getting smaller. Lindsay leaned in towards Alexis. “You’ll make sure they’re both okay, right?”
Alexis placed the pen on the table. Cam had personally checked to make sure Dani was okay when he recently attended her marriage to his best friend, Tyler. However, Keith was still hiding out in Russia, well away from any possibility of extradition. “Are you still in contact with Keith?”
Lindsay shook her head. “I only exchanged a few emails with him to get set up with Kurt. I tried to thank him, but the last one bounced back. I assumed he had landed some sort of intelligence job at the CIA and was just out of contact.”
“What did Kurt want from you?”
Lindsay blew out a breath. “Not much. He wanted to know if anyone was acting suspicious around Dr. Fritz’s equipment. He said they believed someone was trying to undermine the test, and they needed me to keep an eye out for trouble. Pretty mundane stuff someone could probably get from lurking around the cafeteria. I’m nobody. Why would he set me up?”
Matt hadn’t said much while Alexis was questioning Lindsay, but his inner professor began to show. “Perhaps you’re more important than you’re giving yourself credit for. Dmitri must have realized how close you were to the rocket code and wanted to make sure you didn’t know you’d been played, even after he got you fired. Then, he realized you could continue to be an asset here in the States. And to make sure he didn’t expose his true identity, Dmitri began to use AI.”
Lindsay lowered her head into her hands. “Is Keith going to be okay?”
Alexis kept her tone gentle. “Lindsay, Keith was working for the same Russian spy ring as Hannah. We nearly apprehended him, but he left the country. We believe he’s currently in Russia.”
“So, where is Kurt from? And why would he robocall me?”
Alexis tapped her pen on the table. A theory had been forming in her head for the past several minutes. “I think Keith and Kurt are one and the same. Keith plugged your information into their AI and used it to turn you into someone who works for them. Without you realizing it.”
Lindsay laid her head on the table. Her voice was muffled. “So, what do we do?”
“Now that you know you’re being played, and they don’t know you’re working with us, we turn the tables. I need some time to put a plan together. For now, I think you should head back home and act naturally. If you have any questions, call me right away.” Alexis scribbled a number on a piece of paper. “A new phone will be in your mailbox when you arrive. We’ll get a team to keep an eye on the place. We need you to keep our true identities secret. We will reach out to you as soon as we have a plan.”
Lindsay looked between them. “Okay. I can do that.” Waffle pushed his nose into her hand, and she gave him another rub on the head.
Alexis rose from the table. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
Matt pulled out a photo from the file the CIA had provided. It was a zoomed-in photo of Andrei. “And if you see this guy, get indoors, away from the windows. Then, call us immediately.”
Lindsay swallowed. “Who is that?”
“Dmitri’s hit man. He shouldn’t suspect you this quickly, but I don’t want you to be in danger because we didn’t tell you he was out there.”
Lindsay nodded. “Okay. I’ll keep a lookout.”
Once Lindsay pulled out of the driveway, Alexis rubbed her hands together. Matt narrowed his eyes. “I don’t trust that look. You have a sparkle in your eye again. What are you planning?”
Alexis grinned. “Ah, see, now we really are starting to act like a married couple.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the buzzing of their phones in tandem. Alexis reached hers first. “Quinn and Cam want to meet.”
“Where?”
“They’ve got a place in town they’re using. We’ll head over there in a few minutes.”
Matt nodded. “Good. I have some ideas.”
“We can talk about all options, but I think I already know what we need to do to keep Lindsay out of trouble and put Dmitri out of play.”
“See, there’s that look again. Out with it, so we can be on the same page when we get there.”
“We’re going to lure Andrei here and then get him to talk to us.”
Matt crossed his arms. “You want to lure the sniper, who shot you in the arm, here? On purpose?”
Alexis put her hands in the air, palms facing Matt. “You’re not going to get Dmitri to come. Next best is Dmitri’s hit man. Not to mention, we take away Dmitri’s single most effective weapon in one fell swoop. Then, said weapon can testify that Dmitri has ordered him to kill Americans on our soil.”
“Including you.”
“Exactly. We’ll get him to America and make him realize his best option is to work with us.”
“And what, exactly, are you planning to use to lure him here?”
Alexis put her hands on her hips. “Not what. Who. There is one person who multiple witnesses saw Lindsay talk to before she ran into that building. Me.”
Matt’s easy smile disappeared. “No. Absolutely not.”
Alexis shrugged. “I get it. If you suggested it, I’d probably tell you the same thing. But look at the problem from all angles, and tell me you have a better solution.”
Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “We better get moving. Guess I have a few minutes to think of something that doesn’t involve dangling you in front of a sniper who’s already shot you once.”
“Dmitri is going to finish this if we don’t. I have two badass CIA officers and a former Navy SEAL on my team, not to mention a few others in the FBI toolkit who have been keeping watch and are ready to jump in. And, we just flipped one of Dmitri’s assets to our side. The odds are finally in our favor.” She grinned. “Let’s go talk to Cam and Quinn.”
Their car ride was spent in silence while they both contemplated their options. Every once in a while, Matt would glance over then shake his head. If he had a better idea, she was open to it, but she was hard-pressed to find a more effective way of taking Dmitri down and putting his hit man out of play for good. They pulled into the driveway of another nondescript house several miles away. The garage door opened. It had room for three cars and the other two spots were full, including one black van. Matt pulled into the empty slot, and the door closed behind them. Alexis breathed a sigh of relief. As wonderful as it was to work with Matt, there was a strange current between them that made it just a little trickier to navigate. Meeting with her team from the FBI felt like a family reunion of sorts, even though it hadn’t been more than two weeks since they’d been together at the wedding.
Before they could knock on the door, Ree opened it. Once they were inside, she reached out to give Alexis a hug. “Hey, friend! I’ve been so worried about you guys!”
Alexis smiled. “Good to see you! I like the tan – how was Hawaii?”
Ree sighed. “Amazing. Incredible. Perfect. Warm.”
Parker joined them and put an arm around Ree. “I had to drag her away from the beach before she burned to such a crisp that no amount of aloe could touch it. Safe to say, my land-locked Indiana wife is secretly a beach girl. I had no idea.” He shook both of their hands. “It’s good to see you’re still in one piece. Sorry I couldn’t tell you about Matt. Had no idea Cam was planning to get you guys hitched.”
Ree looked down at Alexis’s left hand, and Alexis fought the urge to whip the hand around her back. Inexplicably, heat began to flood her cheeks. Ree’s eyebrows lifted and her lips quirked. Alexis shook her head, just a fraction. She would happily talk to Ree about the hilarity of her situation later. But not in front of Matt. Ree quipped, “Yeah, it was even faster than Parker and I. On that note, come on in. We’ve been trying to put a plan together.”
Matt blew out a breath. “Good. Alexis was offering to use herself as bait.”
Ree laughed. “That’s…believable. Let’s see if we can come up with something that’s a little less dicey.” Ree shepherded them both into the living room, where Quinn was sitting on the couch.
Quinn looked up from a laptop with a satisfied smile. “You were right, Alex. Dmitri is using a robocall software to deliver messages to Lindsay. We’ve cross-checked Lindsay’s call history with the information she gave you this afternoon. Her story checks out. Once she got hooked by Keith, they switched over to artificial intelligence. Then, voila! Hands-off, remote spy management. Innovative and effective. Underhanded and awful, of course. But effective.”
Alexis crossed her arms. “I knew there was something off about Kurt. You haven’t shut down the calls originating from the call center yet, have you?”
Quinn raised her eyebrows. “Nope. How do you want to use it against him?”
Alexis tapped a finger against her mouth. “I’d like for Lindsay to call him and trigger Dmitri to send someone after me. They were already curious about us, we just have to fan the flames a little. Then, we can capture them and see what they know.”
Matt jaw tightened. “Not just someone. Andrei. Alex would like Dmitri’s sniper to come hunt her down in person.”
Cam entered the room, late to the conversation. “Hey, welcome back.”
Quinn turned her computer around so Matt and Alexis could see the screen. “Just got good news about Dr. Fritz too. Dan peeked into his call history. Fritz was contacted by someone outside the building using the same call center network as Lindsay. So, her version of the story is holding up.”
Alexis nodded. “That’s a relief. You think we’ve sufficiently disassembled Dmitri’s spy ring over here, then?”
Cam shook his head. “No. But Dan wants us to pack up and get out of here, chase the rest of our leads from D.C. It’s not ideal, but I don’t see a lot of risk/benefit to keeping you guys here. Unless you have any better ideas?”
Alexis rubbed her hands together.
Cam winced. “Please tell me this doesn’t risk you getting shot again.”
21
“Kurt. It’s me. I did what you asked, and the test went well, just like you said it would. But there’s a problem. Alexis Phillips seemed really suspicious of what I was doing when I left. Asked me all kinds of questions about what I was doing and why. It was exactly what you warned me about. I did my best to answer her without giving away that I’m working with you, but I need your help following up. I’m sending you her address and information. I’d feel better if you could check and make sure she’s not going to try anything else.”
Lindsay ended the call and looked into the eyes of the woman she now knew was an FBI agent. Maybe her real name was Alexis, maybe it wasn’t. In either case, she was glad to have met her. Despite the improbability of her circumstances, it was the first time in a long time that she genuinely believed things were finally going to be okay. “That was perfect, Lindsay. Great job.” There was a knock on her back door, and Alexis put a hand on Lindsay’s arm. “Stay here.”
A man Lindsay had never seen before entered, and Matt checked his credentials, eyeing him up and down once for good measure. “One minute. Let me get our witness.”
Lindsay swallowed and eyed her small duffel bag. “This is so quick. I left your place this morning, and you just showed up five minutes ago to tell me I have to leave.”
Alexis placed a hand on her arm. “I know everything must feel hard and overwhelming right now, but your help may be just the break we needed. I’m sorry it's so sudden, but we just set off a time bomb, and until it goes off, we need you away from it. When we’re sure you’re going to be safe, you can return to your normal job. For now, you need to disappear for a while.”
“Will you be staying here?”
Alexis shook her head. “No. We’re hoping Dmitri will send someone to the address you provided to him.”
“Then what?”
Alexis gently led her to the door, where the serious-looking stranger was waiting. “Then we’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back. What you’ve done was extraordinarily brave and very helpful. I’m certain you have a bright future. I will do my best to let you get back to it as quick as I can, okay?”
Lindsay nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. She picked up her duffel bag, and the man at the door shook his head. “It’ll be here when you get back, ma’am.” She left it next to the table. Someday, she would come back. Hopefully, it would be soon.
* * *
Alexis and Matt left Lindsay’s house discreetly with Waffle in tow. Between telling Lindsay the plan and leaving her house, about ten minutes had passed. The situation was as controlled as it could possibly be and much less controlled than either Matt or Alexis would prefer.
Once back in the car, Alexis drove to an address on a dead-end street with a large open field behind it and no easy shots from nearby rooftops. Alexis raised an eyebrow. “Ready for a stakeout?”
Matt chuckled. “I better be. What’s the travel time from Russia?”
“If Dmitri comes personally, he’ll take a day or two to get here at the earliest. He won’t, though. Which means it really depends on if Andrei’s social calendar is already full and where he is right now. Let’s get into our new house and call a friend of mine from the FBI. I’ve got another trick up my sleeve.”
Alexis parked the rental car conspicuously in the driveway. Once inside, she pulled up the surveillance feeds on her phone. Parker and Ree had been busy before they left town. They’d loaded up the house and street with cameras and set up a mission control in the living room, complete with blackout curtains and a layer of bullet-resistant Plexiglas over each window. Alexis slipped out of her bulletproof vest once Matt locked the door. She looked at Matt. “Do you want me to announce your presence when I call my colleague?”
Matt nodded. “Sure. Just don’t mention my name.”
Alexis dialed a number and put the call on speaker. Jordan answered on the first ring. “Alex! How are you and your furry elephant?”
“We’re…good.”
“I’m not interrupting your lunch, am I?” Jordan didn’t modulate his voice when he delivered their agreed-upon code phrase.
“No, I’m not having lunch right now.” Matt raised his eyebrows and Alexis winked. He knew exactly what had just happened and was watching her with unconcealed interest. “I could use some help with a little project.”
“You got it. What do you need?”
“I need you to watch a helluva lot of traffic cameras.”
“How many?”
“All of them?”
There was a long sigh at the other end of the phone line. “I think I need the full story.”
“I’ve just set a little trap for Andrei. I’d like to have a talk with him. I'm here with someone else who is listening in. We’re working out in Colorado, near Denver. We’re staying in an empty house, and a couple more of our friends may join us soon. We’ve got surveillance on the perimeter, but I’d like more advanced warning from traffic cameras if Andrei takes the bait. Know anyone who can help me with that?”
