30 |

Off-the-books Operations Center
Outside Bethesda, Maryland

 

“Track that helicopter!”

Sonya’s fingers hovered over her keyboard. “I can’t.”

Leroux spun toward her. “What do you mean?”

“All we’ve got is the drone. It can’t keep up with a helicopter.”

Leroux cursed. “How much time do we have before the batteries die?”

“Maybe ten minutes.”

He sighed. “Fine, but monitor the feeds for anything on that helicopter.”

“Yes, sir.”

Leroux dropped into his seat. From the video they had managed to capture on their drone, it appeared someone in a helicopter had shot Boykov, and Minkin had escaped in a new vehicle. It made no sense. Why would they target Boykov? And why was Boykov even there? Were he and Minkin working together? That made no sense either. Minkin was a billionaire, and Boykov was a destitute pensioner. There was no way those two were working together. But Boykov was the shooter, and Minkin had given the briefing on the operation. It made sense that Minkin would know who Boykov was, even if no names had been used.

But why was Minkin being targeted? If he gave the briefing, didn’t that mean he was in charge? Wouldn’t he have the most to lose if the plot were to come to light? Killing Boykov made sense, and killing Minkin only would if he weren’t actually the one in charge.

His eyes widened slightly. If Minkin wasn’t in charge, then it had to be one of the other two men in the room. It made no sense why they were there, as they didn’t seem to have done anything. Minkin seemed to be directing things, Boykov was the shooter, West was responsible for commandeering the American frequencies, and the other unknown subject was in charge of getting Boykov into the building to take the shot.

What were the other two men doing? They had to be there for a reason, yet they appeared to have no assignment.

They had to be the brains behind it.

Perhaps not the brains, but the men in charge.

One of them has to be behind this.

His eyes widened at a thought. This woman was the right age to have had a father that was involved. They had managed to determine she had no uncle, but her father had been a major in the KGB. He could have been in the room that day, he could be one of the two unidentified men.

He rolled his chair closer to Tommy. “Send the files we have on Major Ivashin to Agent West. Let’s see if he recognizes the man.”