“Okay, we’re secure. That’s a signal generator that can jam any transmitter within a hundred yards, so nobody’s going to be listening in on us. Let’s sit down, shall we?”
All three of the men got themselves a cup of coffee, but the girls declined. Once they were all seated, Noah began to explain to Molly how he had been railroaded by the Army’s justice system and then recruited by E & E. He told her about the mission that took him to Russia to rescue a kidnapped girl, and how Nicolaich had been stripped of his authority in Russia and gone rogue after trying to get revenge on Noah for the death of his son. She listened with rapt attention as he told her about the mission that had led to the situation they were in, and then about the attacks on Neverland.
Molly listened in silence until Noah was finished, then leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. “So Uncle Sam found a way to turn your problems into an asset. Not surprising. Noah Foster, super assassin: almost sounds like a movie.”
Noah shrugged. “Noah Foster is dead,” he said. “He died in the prison cell in Leavenworth, and I was resurrected. My name is Noah Wolf, now, and that’s partly because of you. You’re the one who showed me that I was a lot like a wolf, remember?”
She grinned. “Oh, I remember. We were at Mrs. Connors’ house.” She suddenly leaned forward and put her chin in her hand, her elbow on the table supporting it. “Now look at you. You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You look like one of us, you act like one of us, you move among us completely unnoticed—but all the time you’re simply waiting for the chance to strike.” She sat back again and shook her head. “Andropov—he’s after you personally, right?”
“It appears that way,” Noah said with a nod. “The thing I don’t understand in all this is why he attacked Neverland. According to everything we’ve been able to learn, he already got into the personnel files before that happened. He would have already found everything he needed to try to come after me.”
“You’re not looking at it the right way,” Molly said. “He’s not just after revenge, he wants to hurt you even worse than you hurt him. Look at the things he’s done up to now.” She pointed at Sarah. “He abducted this girl and used her for bait to draw you into a trap, but you managed to turn the tables on it. He tried to use his Russian agents and assassins to take you all out, but that only led to him being exposed as a rogue factor, someone they could control. He was ousted, so to his mind he’s lost everything that was important to him. He can survive in the world just fine; I mean, he’s got God knows how much blackmail material on God knows how many powerful people, so he can make a lot of money trading in information, assassinations, whatever his market happens to be looking for.”
Noah was nodding as he looked into her eyes. “So, you’re saying that’s what he wants to do to me, take away everything that’s important to me.”
“Yep. You thought he was planning to kidnap me to use as bait, the way he used Sarah the last time, but that wouldn’t make sense. If he really got your files, he knows that you won’t be tricked into sacrificing yourself over some emotional attachment to your old friend Molly. That wouldn’t work, and he’d know it. What did work, though, is that he made you think that’s what he wants so that you’ll turn those tables again, and it worked: you didn’t come here to protect me as much as to use me to help you get to him.”
“That isn’t fair,” Sarah said suddenly. “As soon as I pointed out that Nicolaich was more likely to come after you than anybody else, Noah was all about getting here to make sure you were safe, even had surveillance put on you until we could arrive.”