Once situated, Carmen looked at the screen. The signal was working. Tapping the menu, she sent a prompt to Dr. Alexander Ross. The device had the ability to videoconference, Delphi’s version of Skype.
Seconds later, the face of a man with salt-and-pepper hair and wire-rimmed glasses appeared. His countenance suggested he wasn’t happy. “Where the hell are you?”
Carmen knew they wouldn’t be happy about her decision to go off the grid, but she also hadn’t expected the fiery question to come so quickly.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking. Look, I know you’re probably not happy about—”
“Probably not happy that one of my senior operatives decided to go off the grid without telling me?”
“Actually, I did let you know what I was doing, and everything is going according to plan.”
“What plan? You’ve left us completely in the dark.”
“Ross, I had no choice but to accept their offer to meet with the man in person. If I had turned it down, I could have walked safely off the train, but the operation would be over. Instead, I’ve already been able to gather a few tidbits of information about Brehmer and his company.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Outside a little town called Aranno.”
“Aranno? Where is that? You’re supposed to be in Lugano.”
“It’s northwest of Lugano. I just turned on my GPS, so you should be able to pinpoint my location.”
Ross turned to someone off-screen. “Let me know when you’ve got her.”
“Roger that,” someone said in the background.
“Brett is here in my office. He’s working on it now.”
“Tell him to hurry. I only have a couple of minutes.”
“That being the case, let’s get down to business,” Ross said. “What does this Brehmer want from Victoria Lind?”
“It’s not what we expected,” Carmen replied. “They’re trying to find her uncle, a man named Dr. Noah Lind.”
“Her uncle?” Ross’s eyes narrowed. “So this doesn’t have anything to do with Victoria’s work at the NSA?”
“Not unless they’re bluffing, and at this point, they would have no reason to. It seems as though Victoria Lind’s employment with the NSA is just a coincidence.”
“Why are they looking for him? Ross asked.
“They need his help with a research project. He didn’t say precisely what it was, but it’s somehow related to genetic engineering.”
“So why not just call him?”
“Apparently, he’s gone off the grid.”
Carmen spent the next couple of minutes giving him the details of her conversation with Brehmer.
“So they’re going to pay you fifty thousand dollars for one man’s address?” Ross asked after she finished.
“They said they wanted his phone number as well, but I think that was just a ruse.”
Ross nodded. “The whole thing sounds like trouble. If this Noah Lind is in hiding, then there may be other things in play we don’t know about.”
“That crossed my mind too.”
“Hang on for a minute. Let me get Victoria Lind on the line.” He lifted a phone to his ear. A few seconds later, he said, “Miss Lind, this is Alexander Ross. I’m talking to our field operative Carmen Petrosino. Can I place you on speaker? Thanks.” He set the phone down then asked, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes, loud and clear,” Victoria replied.
“Carmen, can you hear her?”
“Yes, I can,” Carmen answered.
“Unfortunately, we’re pressed for time, so I’m going to skip the formalities,” Ross said. “Victoria, this whole thing has taken a very strange turn. If you’ll remember, we’ve been running on the assumption that this organization is looking for some piece of information you have access to through your work at the NSA.”
“Correct,” Victoria said.
“Well, they say they’re not looking for national secrets. They reached out to you because they’re trying to locate someone in your family.”
There was a long pause before Victoria answered. “Okay, now I’m really confused. I have an extremely small family. Who are they looking for?”
“They’re looking for your uncle, a man named Noah Lind.”
There was a long pause.
“Victoria, did you hear me?” Ross asked.
“They’re looking for Uncle Noah?”
“Yes,” Carmen said. “Is something wrong?”
“A while back, he retired and moved away. But he didn’t just move away. He cut himself off from his previous life. He never gave us a reason why. I assumed it was simply a matter of privacy because he’s always been extremely introverted. But even so, taking it to that extreme always struck me as odd. Now it makes me wonder if it was to get away from someone or something.” There was a short pause. “Do you know what they want from him?”
“They said they’re working on a project, and they need his help,” Carmen said. “It’s related to genetic engineering, but I don’t know anything else about it.”
“He’s a biophysicist, so that makes sense.”
“Do you know if he was working on something that might be of value to a third party?” Ross asked.
“I have no idea. I know he was a professor of biophysics at MIT before going into the private sector.”
“You said he was in hiding,” Carmen said. “Can you reach out to him?”
“I can try. I have a number, but he changes it every few months.”
“Does anyone in your family have a sure way of contacting him?”
“My dad’s family is really small. He had two brothers, Noah and Mark. My dad and Uncle Mark died in a small plane crash five years ago. My dad flew in his spare time. Anyway, when they died, that only left Uncle Noah and my cousin…”
There was a long pause.
Ross frowned. “Miss Lind?”
“Yes, sorry. I… I just remembered something about my cousin Devon. I left him a message a few days ago and haven’t heard back from him. It’s not like him to not return calls.”
“Have you tried his office?” Ross asked.
“He’s self-employed. The only way I have of contacting him is by cell phone.”
Carmen felt a pinch in her gut. If it was unlike him not to call back, then that wasn’t a good sign.
“Call the Nashville police right away,” Ross said. “If they can’t help you, let me know, and I’ll pull some strings to get someone over to his house.”
Aware of the time, Carmen tried to move things along. “Victoria, so you know where your uncle lives?”
“Yes, he lives in Israel. Tel Aviv.”
“Where specifically in Tel Aviv?” Ross asked. “We need an address. He’s going to need protection right away.”
“He lives on Rembrandt Street. That’s always been easy for me to remember. I don’t have the number with me, but I can get it for you when I get home.”
“Get us everything you have on him. Carmen, once we have that, I’ll send you further instructions later tonight.”
Carmen was about to ask Victoria another question when she heard a sharp rap on her door. She froze at the sound. The timing concerned her. Why would someone come to her room at this precise moment?
“Carmen?” Ross asked.
“Yes, I’m here. Look, I have to run. Did Brett find my GPS signal?”
Brett spoke in the background. “Yes, we have it.”
There was another knock at the door, this one louder.
“Let us know if—”
Carmen powered off the compact before Ross could finish. Stepping back into the room, she asked, “Yes, what do you want?”
“I’ve brought you some towels,” a man said.
Carmen frowned. “I already have towels.”
“We thought you might want some more.”
It was clearly just an excuse to come to her door, but Carmen played along. “Leave them at the door. I’ll get them in a minute. I’m not dressed.”