Though 525—Gavin Carter’s organization — had a good reputation, there were plenty of similar agencies becoming unintentionally entwined in something they shouldn’t have been involved with. Abraham had no proof that was the case here, but it sure felt like it. Then again, the girl could be messing him up. There was no question she had affected him. If the package had been inanimate as he’d expected, everything would have been fine. Hell, if Tessa had been an adult, he could have handled the situation without forming any emotional attachments.
But she was a little kid. A trusting, good little kid.
And he could no longer deny he was in it deep.
He checked to make sure Tessa was still okay and then dialed a number he had long ago memorized.
“Hello?” a familiar female voice said.
“It’s Abraham.”
“Abraham?” A short pause. “What are you doing in…South Korea?”
Of course Orlando would know that. She had been his best apprentice, and had turned out to be an even better tech specialist than he’d ever been.
“Well, I’m not on vacation,” he said.
“That thought never crossed my mind. Just checking in?”
He called her once or twice a month to see how she was doing, more often when things weren’t going well for her, like when Durrie had died. She was his special one, the closest he’d ever come to having a daughter.
“Actually, I need an assist,” he told her.
Her tone turned serious. “Problems?”
“No, just…well, I had to destroy my phone and haven’t had time to redownload my address book. Hoping you can connect a call for me.”
“Consider me your personal switchboard,” she said. “Who are we calling?”
“Langley.”
“You doing a job for the Agency?”
“There’s someone there I need to talk to.”
“I’ll need a name.”
“Actually hoping you can get me in the back door. I can find my way from there.”
“You do realize that it’s two a.m. in DC, right?”
“I do.”
“Okay. Hold on.”
The line sounded like it went dead but he knew better than to hang up. After several seconds of silence, there was a series of beeps. These were followed by another moment of dead air, and then a long tone.
As soon as the tone ended, Abraham punched in the number for the office he was trying to reach. The line rang three times, then—
“Becker,” a male voice said.
“Good morning, Eli. It’s Abraham.”
“You’re up late.”
“Where I am, the sun’s been up for some time.”
“And where would that be?”
Though Abraham had no doubt one of the CIA’s computers had already determined his location, Eli probably didn’t have access to that info yet.
“Asia,” Abraham said, not feeling the need to get too specific.
“You on something for us?”
“Not at the moment,” Abraham replied, though he had no idea who had hired 525.
“Then why—”
“I’m hoping you can do a little digging for me.”
“Depends, I guess.”
Abraham had met Eli a few years earlier during a briefing for an Agency job. Eli was one of those intelligence wonks who balanced a superior analytical ability with substandard social skills. In other words, a smart guy with few friends. Somehow he had developed the idea that one of those friends would be Abraham. Having an analyst contact inside the CIA was something Abraham could not pass up on, but as it turned out, he really liked Eli, and would get together with him whenever Abraham was in the DC area, whether or not he needed a favor.
“Looking for some information on a job.”
“So you are working for us.”
Abraham hesitated the appropriate amount of time before saying, “For 525.” Most of the work 525 did was subbed out from the Agency, though Abraham had no idea if this was one of those.
“Operation title?”
“Overtake.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
“There was a termination — a woman, I believe. In Japan. Probably in or near Osaka. Three, maybe four days ago. I want to know who she was and, if possible, why she was taken out.”
“If you were meant to know that, don’t you think you would have been told?” Leave it to Eli not to beat around the bush.
“Which is why I’m calling you and not my contact.”
“What are you going to use the information for?”
“Not important.”
“Yes, it is. I can’t give you something that you might use to cause problems.”
“I’m not going to cause any problems. I just…I just need to know.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
The line was delivered so close to monotone that Abraham nearly laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Can you help me?”
“Maybe. This number you’re using, is it the correct number for calling you back?”
“Will be for another few hours.”
The line clicked dead.
Abraham was tempted to figure out if there was anyone else he could ask for help, but decided it was probably best to limit his inquiries. If Eli came up empty, then Abraham could try a different route.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and returned to his seat.
“Whatcha you got there?” he asked Tessa.
“Candy!” she said excitedly, holding out a wrapper-covered treat. “For you.”
“For me? I don’t want to take your candy.”
“For you.” The look she gave him made him feel like her whole world would dissolve if he didn’t take it. He was fairly sure her world already had, though she wasn’t aware of it yet.
He lifted the candy out of her hand. “Thank you.”
In a way only kids seemed to do, she jumped up next to him and gave him a tight hug. Then, just as quickly, she returned to the old woman.
“Can I have another?” she asked, holding out her hand.
Eli called back as Abraham and Tessa were waiting at Incheon International Airport for a flight to Shanghai.
“There’s not much I can tell you,” he said. “Access to information on Overtake is tightly controlled. I assumed you wouldn’t want me setting off any red flags.”
Abraham couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “No. Of course not. It was worth a try, I guess.”
“I said there’s not much I can tell you. I didn’t say there was nothing.”
“I’ll happily take whatever you have.”
“There was indeed a termination in Osaka three days ago.”
“And it was part of Overtake?”
“Yes.”
Abraham’s shoulders sagged. While Eli’s news did not definitively mean it was Tessa’s mother who had been killed, who else could it be?
“Do you know the target’s name?”
“I do not. But the subject was a woman, apparently in her twenties.”
“Anything else?”
“The initial order was apparently for two targets, but was changed to one at the last minute.”
“Who was the other target?” he asked, knowing full well the answer was sitting next to him.
“No information on that.”
“Is that it?”
“That’s all I’ve found,” Eli said. “I could keep looking, I guess, but I do have other things I need to do.”
“No, it’s fine. You’ve done more than enough. Thanks, Eli. I’ll call you next time I’m in town.” This time, Abraham was the first to hang up.
He looked over at Tessa. She was curled up in a ball on the seat next to him, asleep. If her name had been on the termination list, why had it been removed?
The overhead speaker came to life, Korean first, then: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin pre-boarding for Korean Air Flight 895 to Shanghai. Please remain seated until your row is called. We now ask that those passengers needing extra time and those traveling with infants and small children to approach the gate. Thank you.”