Foreign Influence_ A Thriller - Brad Thor [32]
“I agree,” said Harvath. “Did you buy or purchase any information leading up to the bombing that could be connected?”
“As far as I can tell, no. There was nothing I was involved with that indicated this attack was coming. I don’t like when children are targeted. I never would have gone along with something like this.
“I might have taken money from animals who wanted to target children, but I would have found a way to either sell them incomplete intelligence, or leak their plans to the authorities so that I didn’t get implicated but the attack would have been stopped.”
Harvath was good at telling when he was being lied to. Right now, he wasn’t. “So you believe the woman who tried to kill you was placed at the Academy as bait?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Who knows that you’re a client?”
Nicholas thought for a moment. “It’s not something I advertise. There’s the women themselves and the director. Other than that, nobody.”
Harvath knew the list had to be longer than that. He was also certain Nicholas knew it as well. In the sex trade, everything was for sale, even the identity of valued customers. It all came down to how much someone was willing to pay.
“Whoever placed the woman there knew enough to build a profile that I would find irresistible. I should have known better.”
“You should have, but right now that’s not my problem. When Padre Peio called me, he said you believed there would be more attacks. I want to know when and where.”
The Troll began to shrug but abandoned the gesture due to the pain. “I’m only picking up bits and pieces. There has been chatter. The handful of sources I have communicated with are talking about attacks in multiple European cities against Americans.”
“Like the one in Rome or something different?”
“I don’t know.”
“C’mon, Nicholas,” said Harvath. “If we’re going to stop these attacks, I have to know more.”
“Nothing would make me happier than to give you more information, but everything has gone quiet. You know what that means.”
Harvath did know what that meant. Terror networks often went dark before a big attack.
“Our best hope for stopping these people is for you to uncover who placed my attacker at the Academy.”
He was right.
“The director’s name is Dominique Fournier. She’s based in Provence. Nothing happens at the Academy without her knowledge. She’s an absolute bitch, and I promise that she will not willingly cooperate with you.”
“We’ll see,” said Harvath. “What kind of security does she have?”
“Better than most. I’ve already discussed my plan with Peio.”
“He isn’t a priest, is he?”
Nicholas smiled. “Father Peio is definitely a priest, but it’s what he did before his calling that makes him so interesting.”
“I’m going to assume he didn’t run a petting zoo.”
“No,” said Nicholas with a laugh. “He didn’t run a petting zoo.”
“He was an ETA operative, wasn’t he? What happened? He got tired of planting bombs and found religion?”
“You’ve got Peio completely wrong. He wasn’t a terrorist. He was actually an intelligence agent.”
“Peio was a spook?”
Nicholas nodded. “With the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia.”
Harvath was familiar with Spain’s official intelligence agency, also known as the CNI. “How did he end up making that kind of career change?”
“You can ask him on the way.”
“On the way where?”
“France. He’s offered to make sure you get across the border. I just hope you can get to Fournier in time.”
CHAPTER 15
CHICAGO
FRIDAY
When John Vaughan met Paul Davidson at a health food restaurant under the “L” tracks in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, he thought he had the wrong guy. Davidson was a barrel-chested man in his late forties who looked more like a narcotics officer or a Hell’s Angel than a cop from Public Vehicles. He had long hair pulled back in a ponytail, a goatee, and even an earring.
Vaughan, who had dropped off his daughter at school and bypassed the Starbucks in order to get to this