The story of her brother’s kidnapping had opened her eyes, demonstrating that even the people she loved, her family, were capable of anything if pushed hard enough. In the field, she had killed to avoid being killed. Sometimes choices were taken away from you.
She turned off the lamp and crawled under the covers. She needed to shut off her mind, sleep for a few hours. Tomorrow the negotiations would begin, and she had to be sharp. Nothing could be taken at face value. Peter Kennedy’s murderer was still at large, and presumably whoever it was had had a hand in Christos’s kidnapping and everything else that had happened since. The general seemed smug, as if he knew something they didn’t. And the Chinese were driven to win the contract at any cost. She would also have to face Nikos, her understanding of her brother forever changed, now knowing he’d been a child soldier, a killer.
Chapter Forty-Nine
The bright African sun pierced the crack between the room-darkening drapes in Gabrielle’s room. She’d been up since well before dawn, communicating with the HRFC team, already cruising through her supply of Gitanes.
Her buddy and former CIA operative Rick Dennison had given her an off-the-books care package, including a SIG Sauer, a first-aid kit, GPS trackers, a few bugs, an M24, and a parabolic microphone, among other items. She smiled, surprised there wasn’t a flame-thrower in the mix. Who knew what might come in handy?
Someone knocked on her door. She looked through the peephole. Max. She crushed her cigarette into the crystal ashtray and let him in.
“Any news?” he asked.
“Not really. Come in.”
He glanced briefly at the mahogany bed in her suite. It hadn’t been easy to say no to his attempts to break her one-night rule, but not for the usual reasons. She might actually like him, and that was a whole lot more dangerous than sex.
He looked disheveled, strained. “I’ve been working with Interpol, combing through leads coming in to their hotline. I will meet my contact from the Harare office later today.”
She half smiled. “Our kind of work doesn’t exactly lend itself to regular hours.”
“Our kind of work does not leave much room for a life,” he said.
“And yet we still do it.” She took in his Cartier watch and signet ring. “Why even be an inspector for the Hellenic Police, when your family has more money than olives?”
“Justice. Everyone deserves it, rich or poor.”
“Agreed.” She wondered if his sister’s accident was part of what drove him so hard. She’d like to ask more about what had happened but didn’t want to pry.
“You understand me, Gabrielle.” He stepped closer, his right hand stroking her cheek.
Her cell phone beeped, disrupting the moment. Part of her was relieved.
Two messages arrived from her analyst, Ernest.
Max reached for the bright blue box of Gitanes. “You mind?”
“I thought you’d quit.”
“I just started again.” He lit a cigarette, breathed in a lungful of smoke, and reviewed the messages on his phone while she did the same on hers.
Her first message detailed an intercepted conversation between the prime minister of Kanzi and his brother-in-law, Bini Salam. According to the information, Salam wanted to oust General Ita Jemwa from his position as head of security, but Kimweri refused. African leaders often appointed family members to prominent positions. With the promise of great wealth on the horizon, the prime minister’s relatives would be jockeying for position. If Bini Salam went head-to-head with the general, she’d bet on the military man.
The second message kick-started her heart. The plane tail number Konstantin Philippoussis had given them had been traced back to a Belgian shell corporation, which had been the holder of an end-user certificate, or EUC—an internationally accepted document that allowed for the shipping of arms to legitimate recipients. And that EUC was linked to an Ares weapons deal in Syria.
It had taken several analysts to sift through many layers of ownership and link the shell corporation to an automotive manufacturing company, which had been sold two years ago to none other than Quan Chi, one of the lead negotiators in the Kanzi oil deal. Was this the link she’d been searching for?
She typed a brief response, pushing her team to follow the money trail to other shell corporations. Was it possible that the Quans had arranged an under-the-table arms deal with Ares? Had Ares kidnapped Christos Paris to help influence the negotiations?
It would make sense. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute stated that while data on Chinese arms deals were difficult to confirm, it was common knowledge that China was one of the top suppliers of arms to sub-Saharan African countries. It was buying up minerals, oil, and natural gas, offering military aid or other assistance in exchange for the resources.
Or was one of the Quans actually Ares, working both ends?