“Tuck,” Cole said, a wealth of meaning in that one word.
Tucker looked at his friend and shrugged. They’d worked together for well over a decade, long before they’d joined the DEA together. They’d gone through boot camp in the Corps together. They practically read each other’s minds. Right now they were taking a huge risk. Too many things could go wrong. The encryption on the phone might not work or Karen could sell them out. She might not know exactly where they were, but she’d know how long they’d traveled and for all they knew she’d figured out the location. That last part was doubtful, but this call was still a risk. She could blurt out enough information to be dangerous. But not making the contact with Burkhart was a bigger risk. “We’ve gotta do this.”
He made the call and wasn’t surprised when Burkhart picked up on the first ring. “Karen?” His tone was cautious.
“I’m here,” she said, her eyes on Tucker. “I’m sitting with Tucker Pankov, Cole Erickson, Paxton Brooks, and Forest Kane.”
There was a beat of silence. “Are you hurt?” he asked, unable to hide the tremble of rage in his voice.
“No, I’m fine. They . . . approached me this morning about an issue concerning Max’s death. I just saw the news and, Wesley, I think there’s a possibility they’re being set up.”
“Whoever’s in charge, talk.” A sharp, deadly order from a man used to being in complete control.
Burkhart had to hate that he wasn’t in control at the moment and Tucker hated that he was the one who’d taken it away. It sure as hell wasn’t going to make the guy easier to work with. “This is Tucker Pankov. I sent you a message a couple days ago about Max’s murder.”
“Grisha.”
“Yeah.”
“You want to meet with me.”
“Yes. Or we can send you what we’ve got via messenger. Someone in the DEA is setting us up and we don’t know why. The day Max was killed, hitters were sent to each of our residences. Our very private residences.” Their real homes weren’t even listed with HR. Not that it would be difficult for someone in the agency to find if they tried hard enough. Clearly. “We don’t know why, but we have the fingerprints of the hitters.” He wasn’t going to come out and say the men were dead, but Burkhart must know what he meant. “Then our clearances were revoked. We don’t know by who, but our homes are being watched. After the shit on the news this morning, it’s clear someone wants to discredit us. Max trusted you, and at this point you’re our only resource.” And if he wouldn’t help they’d go deep into hiding, completely off the grid. But only as a last resort. Men like them didn’t run. Tucker wasn’t going to let some strangers steal his life.
“You think kidnapping one of my people is going to ingratiate you?”
“They didn’t kidnap me,” Karen said before he could respond.
All four of them looked at her in surprise. Wesley ignored her as he continued. “The four of you will meet with me and bring Karen. Unharmed. Bring all the documentation you have and we’ll try to help you. If she’s hurt in any way, you’ll regret being born.” A sincere promise.
“Wesley—” Karen started.
“Understood,” Tucker said, knowing that Burkhart wouldn’t believe anything she said right now. He would think she was under duress and he couldn’t blame the guy. “We can meet you in two hours.” He named a location that was public enough but difficult to set up an ambush at.
Burkhart snorted and named another location. An abandoned warehouse. Tucker knew he’d be walking into a trap but didn’t see another choice. He wasn’t going to play hardball with the only man who could help them. “We’ll come unarmed and send Karen in first. And you fucking owe me for Tasev. You owe me twice for him.” Because of the tip that stopped the poisoning of a water supply that could have killed tens of thousands and because of his help with the female agent. “And you know as well as I do that Max wasn’t murdered by some Shia group. Whatever the fuck you do to us, we want justice for his death. I know you do too.”
Burkhart was silent for a long moment. “Be there in two hours. Karen’s unharmed or you’re all dead.”
The line disconnected and he nodded at his guys. They were already packed and ready to go, so he didn’t need to order them to gear up. “The three of you will relocate to destination delta. Stay there until you receive orders from me.”
“Fuck that,” Cole snapped. “We’re not leaving you to—”
“You are and you will. In case things don’t play out the right way, there’s no sense in all of us going down. You three will go to ground until I check in. That’s an order,” he said quietly, looking at all of them.
Their expressions were mutinous, especially Cole’s, but in the end they all nodded and filed out of the room.
He glanced at Karen as he started packing up the computer. They needed to get going. “Why’d you lie for us?”
Her expression softened and she lifted her shoulder a fraction. “Maybe I’m stupid, but I believe you guys. You’re clearly walking into a trap and you’re going anyway. After the news it would make more sense for all of you to disappear. Or if you had some other nefarious plan, it would have made more sense to use me as a bargaining chip. I analyze bad situations every single day, and this whole thing just feels wrong.”
“Nefarious plan?” he asked, hiding a smile.
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“You’re not stupid, and I’m letting you go before I meet Burkhart.” He didn’t doubt the NSA would be careful in apprehending him, but things went wrong sometimes and he wouldn’t risk it with Karen. He’d give her enough time to contact Burkhart so the NSA knew she was safe and unharmed before they met with him.
Standing, she blinked in surprise. “You’re serious.”
“Yep.” Now that he had Burkhart’s attention, he was sending all the info they’d compiled to the man’s e-mail.
“So if I wanted to walk out the front door, I could.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t get far on that ankle, and I’m not letting you contact him before my team is long gone from this house, but yeah, you’re free. I’m going to bring you into D.C. and let you go, okay?”
Her lips curved up a fraction. “Okay.”
He wasn’t certain anything would ever be okay again, but he was going to do his best to find Max’s killer and clear his and his teammates’ names. If he couldn’t clear their names, he at least wanted his teammates out of the way and safe. They didn’t deserve to go to prison.
? ? ?
Wesley buzzed Elliott on his phone. “My office, now.” They hadn’t been able to run a trace on the call from Karen’s phone, which frustrated but didn’t surprise him.
Selene watched him from her seat across his desk, curiosity in her pale gaze. “You’re not calling the DEA about this?”
He was still undecided. He’d read Pankov’s real file and the guy was a patriot. Had a freaking salad bar of military medals and awards listed on his jacket. The other three were the same as Pankov. And Max had loved those four men. That held weight with Wesley. “We tell no one about this yet.”
“She sounded okay,” Selene said, clearly trying to make him feel better.
“She could have been under duress.” God, Wesley couldn’t even think about Karen being hurt. After the bombing at the Botanic Garden, all the intelligence agencies had been sent files on the four men. The four men apparently holding his analyst captive. Everyone was coordinating to get a lead on the men, to find their location. As of now he knew that the DEA and FBI were officially tearing apart the men’s houses.
“True.” She didn’t say more, but he guessed Selene was thinking about how Tucker Pankov, aka Grisha, had helped her during an important op. “What about that e-mail he sent you?”
Before he could respond, there was a knock on his office door. “Enter,” he said.
Elliott stepped inside, the tall, lanky man shoving his hands in his pockets. He nodded once at Selene as he hovered near the door.
“You can shut the door,” Wesley said quietly.