“Is someone at the Bureau selling names of our sources to the highest bidder? Is this an internal issue?” Griff lifted his dark eyes toward Winters, and Ana saw the look of worry crossing Winters’s face at the idea.
Did Winters not know how to answer? Did he think someone in the room was guilty?
“No one outside this unit accessed any case files related to all three sources. Not with their code, at least. We’ve already had the Bureau do an internal review. That doesn’t rule out the possibility someone went around the normal means of obtaining information, though,” Gray answered when Winters had refrained from doing so.
“Are you looking at us?” Halle asked what had to be on everyone’s mind.
“You work for CI. You’re already under one of the most closely monitored divisions in the Bureau.” Was Winters’s answer really an answer, though? “If someone in this room betrayed the FBI, we would’ve already known about it,” he added, and Dean’s shoulders slouched a touch with relief. “So, I’m counting on everyone here to come up with a how, why, and a way to stop any other sources from disappearing. I want answers.” Winters turned to the side, his gaze moving back and forth between Ana and Kyle. “Will working together be a problem? A conflict of interest?”
“Not for me,” Kyle answered immediately, smoothing a palm over his purple tie.
“Same, sir,” Ana managed the response.
“We won’t let you down.” Kyle offered a reaffirming nod toward Winters, then to Gray. But his body had remained tense ever since the two men had rejected any talk of the Daylight Ledger.
Winters left a moment later, then at the sound of a knock, Gray stood and opened the door.
“Sorry to interrupt,” one of the analysts who often worked for their unit announced, “but I have news.”
Ana flicked her finger in Kyle’s direction after Gray stepped outside to speak to the analyst. “Ex-husband.”
“Ah.” Dean slumped back down into his chair, but Ana kept her focus on the table, not sure what to make of this entire situation.
She startled when the door opened a minute later and Gray returned. “We have a possible hitman, and it’s not good.”
Ana’s eyes widened as she waited. “Who?” Who in the hell had actually gotten to her source before Ana’s plan had fallen into place as designed?
“Ivan Smirnoff,” Gray announced.
What? She blinked in surprise at the name.
“Dubbed The Huntsman because of his ability to track anyone anywhere,” Kyle added, clearly familiar with the name. “Famous for kidnapping and killing without leaving a trace behind. He’s Russian, but . . .” He smoothed a hand over the few weeks’ worth of beard he’d grown. In all their years of marriage, the man had never even tolerated a five o’clock shadow. “Well, shit.”
“What is it?” Ana asked, recognizing Kyle’s distressed look.
“The hit couldn’t have been ordered by the SVR as chatter suggested,” Kyle began, a look of confusion on his face that Ana felt down to her core, “because Ivan would never take the job. He hates the SVR.”
“Because?” Dean asked.
“Before Ivan left Russia in his twenties, the government had his brother killed,” Kyle explained. “The only way the Russian government is behind these hits is if Ivan’s either not responsible or they went through a middleman—had someone else hire Ivan for them.”
“Well, our people confirmed Ivan was in New York City last week. Got him on camera at the airport the day before Katya vanished.” Gray paused. “He was flagged in Boston as well. So, it’s looking like he’s our guy.”
“If someone is handing out source names and locations, what’s the need for a hitman like The Huntsman?” Griff asked.
Ana’s stomach lurched, and her hand dipped to her abdomen as she drew in a deep breath. Was the blame game amongst them about to start?
“Because no one gave up the names,” Halle defended the team. “So, they needed the best of the best to track down these people for reasons unknown to us. Yet.”
“If it’s The Huntsman, he won’t kill the sources right away. He’ll keep them hidden somewhere for whoever hired him,” Kyle said a moment later after some of the tension in the room had eased up.
“They have valuable information. Access to money, technology, and intelligence.” Halle nodded in agreement. “Whoever is after our sources may first extract them for information, then offer them to whoever would be most interested. SVR, China, the Albanians, or Hamas. If they find out their spies turned on them and worked for the FBI, they’ll want them back.”
“For a price,” Griff added, eyes moving around the table again, still suspecting that someone at the table may be a traitor.
This entire situation wasn’t going to end well.
There was too much on the line.
Too much her ex-husband clearly already knew.
And she needed to get Porter on the phone ASAP.
“There’s been a development. The team has a lead on who may have gotten to Katya and possibly the others. It’s all one big mess over here. We need to talk. Please call me as soon as you get this.” Ana’s voicemail to Porter was brief, not wanting to leave too many details over his work phone.
The meeting with her team had lasted another hour before Ana could escape and make the urgent call. The task force had pored over case files, including digging up everything they knew about the Volkovs since Kyle firmly believed it was no coincidence a Volkov source had been targeted amongst the others. He’d even suggested the disappearances of their missing sources in California and Massachusetts were just to confuse the FBI and hide the fact that the true target was Katya, Ana’s source.
“You okay?”
Ana flinched at the sound of Kyle’s voice and slowly whirled around, lowering her phone to her side. “Trying to get a hold of our section chief.”
“Porter hasn’t checked in yet. Is that surprising?” He positioned a palm flat against the wall, effectively trapping her in the hallway. Her only other choice was to scurry into the bathroom.
“Last I heard from him, he was in the field with a special agent, but when he got in last night, Porter warned me the area doesn’t have the best cell service,” she lied, and how could she not? She had her orders.
“You and Porter sound close.”
Was Kyle jealous? Of her boss? She couldn’t deal with this right now. “Porter helped get me this new promotion. He’s really taken me under his wing.” Porter changed my life, but how can I explain?
“We should do dinner. Tonight.”
“Huh?” she blurted, surprised by his question given what was going on. And he wasn’t going to give up on regaining a footing back in her life, was he?
“We can make it a work meal. Discuss the missing sources. We used to be a great team,” he added.
Maybe dinner wouldn’t be so bad. She could peel back more layers about his work in Hungary with the Volkovs. It might help her shed some light on everything since he clearly knew a lot. Plus, she wanted to know exactly how he’d stumbled upon chatter about the hit against Katya.