Suddenly, the Russian was clutching at his chest.
“What the hell is going on in there, Bennett?” Adam barked into his earwig.
“Hell if I know.”
He was just reaching over to help the other man when Ronoff began to convulse violently.
“Don’t touch him!” Griffin screamed in his ear. “It might be on his clothes!”
Ben didn’t have to wonder what “it” might be. He had seen enough nerve gas attacks during his days in Special Forces to know the seriousness—and the fatality—of them.
“Get this thing down!” he yelled, feeling a bit like he was trapped in a giant petri dish.
By the time they’d reached the dock, Ronoff was vomiting up blood. Ben perched himself on the back of his chair to avoid any contact. The Russian’s bodyguards tried to rush the gondola but Adam’s team was already in place.
“Get our man out of there,” the secretary commanded. “And get a hazmat team in here immediately.”
Ben didn’t have to be asked twice. He leaped from the glass deathtrap and scoured the dock.
“She’s safe,” the secretary assured him.
Quinn emerged from the crowd. “I’m here.”
He quickly pulled her into his arms and glanced around again.
“What is it?” both Quinn and the secretary asked at the same time.
“Have either of you seen a man with an umbrella?”
Chapter Eighteen
“Ronoff’s dead.”
Adam delivered the news to the group assembled on the back deck of the Seas the Day. Thirty minutes had passed since they’d pulled Ben from the gondola. He’d been checked by the EMTs and the military team summoned by the secretary, but thankfully there were no traces of whatever killed Alexi.
Quinn wasn’t sure how to feel about Adam’s announcement. She was glad the Russian could do no harm to her mother or anyone else on the list. But she was frustrated they had lost their only connection to the traitor. A traitor who could now sell out Ben to the many enemies he’d made throughout his tenure as the Mariner.
“Cause of death?” the secretary demanded.
“They’re running with cardiac arrest for now,” Adam replied.
“Did they check for puncture wounds?” Ben paused in his pacing of the deck where he was still looking for some mysterious man with an umbrella.
The secretary pulled her phone to her ear. “Have the body sent to the medical examiner at Walter Reed. I’ll let them know to suit up.” She nodded at Ben. “And to follow up on your theory, Agent Segar.”
“You’re certain this man poisoned Alexi?” she asked him.
“No.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “We can’t be sure until we figure out the exact cause of death. But it had all the earmarks of a poisonous chemical attack. And since no one else is affected, we have to assume he ingested it somehow. Or someone injected him with it.”
She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. The small act seemed to refocus him. He ceased his pacing and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured against her hair. “I honestly thought this would work. We’ll find the traitor. I promise.”
Leaning into his chest she took some solace in the strong heartbeat beneath her ear. They were both still alive and together. But for how long? Even if she spent the rest of her life pretending to be dead, Ben’s future was now in grave danger.
“I want to listen to that audio again,” the secretary insisted.
Ben stepped out of their embrace. “Me, too. I’m sure Ronoff used the word she when he referred to the traitor.”
“Dude, it was hard to understand anything he said those last few minutes.” Adam pulled up the audio on a tablet and handed the secretary a pair of earbuds.
Several minutes later, she shook her head and handed the earbuds to Ben. He swore as he listened.
“It’s all garbled because he was gasping for air.” His face was resolute, however, when he turned back to his boss. “I swear I heard what I heard.”
The secretary’s nod wasn’t exactly patronizing, but she didn’t give the impression she fully believed his account of what Ronoff said in the gondola. Or his fixation on a man carrying an umbrella.
“The president wants a briefing back at the White House,” she announced.
Ben groaned quietly.
“Relax, Agent Segar,” she said. “I’ll take the heat on this one. No one was injured. Property wasn’t damaged and we prevented a likely cryptocurrency attack. All in all, the night wasn’t a total loss.”
Since they hadn’t accomplished their primary goal of outing the traitor, Quinn was reluctant to agree with the other woman.
“I want to see you first thing tomorrow.” The secretary looked directly at her. “Both of you.”
Agent Caracas handed her on to the dock. He glanced back at Quinn. “Pleasure working with you, Agent Darby,” he said. “If Inspector Gadget here fails to treat you right, you let me know.”
Ben flipped the other agent off. Agent Caracas’s laugh rang out through the marina.
“What next?” Griffin asked once the secretary’s footsteps faded. “I know you’ve got something going on in that mastermind brain of yours.”
“I’m afraid this one has me stumped.” Ben sank down onto one of the bench seats.
Quinn sat beside him. “What about the Seas the Day? She can’t stay here.”
“I’ll sail her back to Alexandria first thing tomorrow.” He threaded his fingers through hers. “I want you to go back with Adam to the Crown.”
“Absolutely not.” She gripped his hand firmly. “We’re a team now, remember? If I’m not allowed to be out of your sight, then the same goes for you.”
“Good, then you’re both coming back to the Crown,” Griffin insisted.
Ben grinned before shaking his head. “I’m not leaving my boat.”
“And I’m not leaving you.” She leaned over and kissed him.
“You’re both insane,” Adam argued.
“Then we’re perfect for each other,” Ben said with a laugh.
“Bennett, you can’t stay out here all night.” Griffin looked as if he wanted to haul them both over his shoulder and carry them all the way back to the White House.
“I appreciate the concern, guys.” Ben stood up, pulling her along with him. “But the traitor won’t show now. Not with Ronoff dead. They’ll have to find another sucker to buy that list. The Mariner may have been burned, but I can still navigate the dark web using another alias.”
Adam and Griffin exchanged a look.
“You’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would,” Adam remarked.
Quinn was also a bit uneasy about Ben’s quick rebound, but she kept her feelings to herself.
“We’ll head back in the morning,” he told his friends. “Go home. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is a work day.”
“Okay.” Adam shrugged.
“If you say so.” Griffin looked at Ben like he wanted to say more.
“Yeah. I say so. Now get out of here.”