“That’s really not a surprise,” Doc said after a heavy sigh. “Again, why are we talking about this now?”
“She set me up first, and then Alegria. You add them together, and you get revenge.”
“Let me ask you the only question that matters.”
“Go ahead, Doc.”
“Do you believe that’s who Malin is?”
—:—
Malin watched Dutch walk away, knowing three things. First, he may never forgive her for what she told him she’d done. Second, she hadn’t had any choice. If they had any chance at all at having a relationship, they couldn’t go into it without honesty on both their parts. And finally, the worst part was, she wasn’t finished.
There was another thing she’d done that she needed him to know. As a condition of Ghafor giving her the information she needed about where the money had come from and why it had been paid out to him, she had to arrange and execute the kidnapping of Alegria Mondreau.
That alone, though, hadn’t been enough for the leader of the Islamic State. He’d also demanded that Malin be the one to hold the K19 pilot hostage until his demand of a ransom in the amount of a hundred million dollars was paid.
At the time, Malin thought the amount was ludicrous and told him it would never happen, but Ghafor knew something she hadn’t. Alegria’s father was a billionaire.
That Ghafor was with Striker now, told her that he was likely trying to negotiate the exchange of the same information she’d been waiting for, but had never gotten.
There were two reasons why she prayed Striker hadn’t been able to convince Ghafor to give it to him. First, if the former agent was on the inside of the whole conspiracy, he’d know everything she knew and more, essentially signing her death warrant.
If Striker wasn’t on the inside, once he knew everything Malin did, it would be his own death warrant he’d be signing.
/> On top of all of that, there was one more significant bit of information she didn’t have, and it hadn’t been coming from Ghafor. It had been up to Orlov to determine whether United Russia had been behind the money coming into the US in the first place. Dutch had killed him before she had a chance to find out.
If that was the case, it would be impossible for her to prove now. She shuddered to think what it would mean if UR had been. The ramifications were widespread enough that it could threaten democracy in a way that may be irrevocable.
She sat on the sand and looked out at the water. The mission she’d undertaken was the most important of her life, but not her career. In fact, it was a career-killer.
Right or wrong, she’d risked everything in order to complete the mission. If she was ever able to get her hands on those last two pieces of information and what she’d uncovered came to light, there would be ramifications as far-reaching as the White House.
—:—
Dutch didn’t know how to answer Doc’s question. Before they hung up, his friend and mentor told him to think about whether he believed that was who Malin was.
There was one person who could give him an account of the other things Malin had done—Alegria. However, he couldn’t talk to her now. It would be too risky. The fewer people knew what Malin was caught up in, the better, at least until they could find out how bad it really was.
And there, he had his answer.
11
“Hi,” Malin said when Dutch walked in the back door of the house and found her sitting at the kitchen counter.
“Hi.” He walked over and stood in front of her.
“Dutch, I—”
“Before you say anything, we need to talk about Alegria.”
“That’s exactly what I was going to say.”
“Go ahead,” he said, sitting on the stool next to her.
Dutch listened as she explained that Ghafor had made Malin’s involvement in Alegria’s kidnapping a condition of turning over the information she needed.
“I wouldn’t have let him kill her,” she added, and the bottom line was, he believed her. If it had come down to it, Malin would’ve sacrificed the mission if Alegria’s life depended on it.