The box—Boston, a short time later
“ISIS is taking credit for the attack on the Russian ship,” Johansen told Massina. He’d just sent the order. “A bit of misdirection.”
“Will the Russians believe it?”
“Probably just enough to prevent them from looking too thoroughly for our friends,” said the CIA officer. “In the meantime, we’ll continue looking for the butcher. They can’t have taken him far.”
“They could have flown him back to Russia,” said Massina. “What then?”
“I can’t rule it out,” admitted Johansen. “If that’s what happened, then we pull the plug. We get everyone across the border to Kiev, as planned, and they come home. I doubt that’s the story, though. More than likely he is in Donetsk somewhere. Just a question of finding him. These sorts of things are to be expected. They happen. No covert operation ever goes the way you plan. It’s not a computer program.”
“Those don’t always go the way you plan either,” said Massina. “How long do we wait?”
“A few days. There’s no rush that we know of.”
“The fact that they moved the prisoner doesn’t mean anything to you?”
“There’s nothing we can do about it at this point. We just keep plugging away. Don’t worry, Dan’s one of the best.”
“And Tolevi?”
“He’s very good at what he does,” allowed Johansen. “As long as his own agenda isn’t in conflict with ours, things should go well.”