“Stalker is on the move,” Neil said. “Pasquale waited until our bunch got outside and then headed for the door, himself. He should be stepping out right about—now!”
Noah opened his door and stepped out, looking toward the door of the restaurant. Morabito and another man were standing there, and Morabito seemed to be watching Molly, but his eyes locked on Noah’s face instantly when Noah stood erect. The two men looked each other in the eyes for the seconds it took for Molly to slide into the backseat between Moose and Neil, and then Morabito and his companion turned and walked toward a car that was parked near the entrance.
Noah got back inside as Sarah started the car, and they were moving only a couple of seconds later.
“Turn right,” Noah said. Sarah did as he instructed, which took them past the restaurant’s driveway entrance as Morabito was pulling out. He fell in behind them but drove slowly, so that another car got between them only a few moments later.
“Fish took the bait, Boss,” Neil said. “They’re in the second car back.”
“I see him,” Noah said, looking into the mirror on his side of the car. “One of them is on the phone, so everyone stay alert.”
“Okay, Noah, it’s time to tell me what’s going on. Who is it you’re using me as bait for? And don’t give me any of that security clearance crap, I’m cleared for Top Secret, Restricted Access. It don’t get any higher, Hotshot.”
Noah turned in the seat to look at her. “His name is Nicolaich Andropov. He’s a former official of the SVR in Russia, the guy who handled sanctioning assassinations. He and I had a little run-in a few weeks back, and he seems to be the kind of guy who carries a grudge.”
Molly was nodding. “Nicolaich Andropov,” she said. “He headed up the ‘Eraser’ division at SVR. He went rogue about two months or so back, had his rank and his entire operation stripped from him because he used agency assets on a personal vendetta mission. The way we got it, he was going after what he believed to be an American agent who killed his son during an operation to rescue the daughter of the president of Mauritania. I’m gonna go out on a limb, here, and guess that you are that agent?”
Sarah glanced at Noah. “Crap, she’s good.”
“I’m the agent,” Noah said. “How do you know so much about it?”
“DR gets called in on a lot of national security issues, and apparently the NSA was scared to death you were going to end up leaving us exposed in Moscow. They didn’t tell us who you were, just gave us a codename and the background information on the CIA rescue mission. On the other hand, rumors up on Capitol Hill say that it wasn’t CIA at all, but E & E. Now that I know it was you, I think I believe the rumors.”
Neil let out a low whistle. “Boss, she must have one hell of a clearance.”
“What do you know about E & E?” Noah asked. “That’s generally limited to need-to-know.”
Molly grinned. “Up until today, all I knew was that they exist. Rumor says you guys might have been involved in that big explosion in Missouri last week. Any truth to that?”
“Need-to-know,” Noah said. “I’ll concede you have enough clearance to know what we’re up to, but I’m not going to give you any other information. I wasn’t even planning on letting you know I was here until you called Sarah out in the bathroom. I had sent her in there to strike up a conversation and try to get some idea why you seemed so tense when you were sitting in your booth, but you beat her to the punch. At that point, I just figured it was best to bring you in on it.”
“Well, I...” Molly began, but Sarah cut her off.
“Noah, two more cars just fell in with our friend back there, one behind him and one right beside. I get the feeling they’re working together and waiting for something. The last time I saw a maneuver like this, it was some undercover cops trying to catch me and my dad in a pincer move. If I’m right, somebody’s going to be cutting us off up ahead any second now.”
“Then get us out of here,” Noah said. “Let’s shake them up.”
Sarah grinned evilly, and pushed down slightly on her accelerator. The car moved ahead quickly, leaving the three followers behind for several seconds, before they caught on. All three of them suddenly floored their own gas pedals, and a second later they were rapidly gaining on the Chrysler.