Foreign Influence_ A Thriller - Brad Thor [83]
Reed Carlton was a master spy who had spent a lifetime in the espionage and counterterrorism arenas building a network of friends, contacts, and people who owed him favors, but there wasn’t anything he could do to satisfy Adda Sterk’s second and final request before she would cooperate.
Looking at Nicholas, she said, “I want his dogs.”
Before Harvath could even respond, Nicholas had told the woman to go perform an impossible sex act upon herself and had lunged once more for the wrench.
“Why do you need the dogs?” Harvath had demanded.
“Collateral. As long as I have them somewhere where he can’t get to them, I know he won’t allow anything to happen to me.”
“At this point,” cautioned Harvath, “you’ve got a lot more to worry about from me than you do from him.”
The woman looked at him. “If I have the dogs, it’s in his best interest to make sure I’m safe from everyone, including you. When I’m someplace safe, I’ll make sure the dogs are returned. Take it or leave it.”
It was a discussion Harvath hadn’t wanted to have in front of Sterk so he had called Peio in to keep an eye on her while he walked Nicholas outside to talk to him.
It wasn’t surprising that a dwarf would hit below the belt and Nicholas took the low road right from the minute they exited the warehouse. He said that because Harvath didn’t have children, he would never understand what is was that Sterk was asking. Nicholas not only ranted at him, he threatened to have Harvath killed if he caved to her demands. As far as he was concerned, they were going to have to go back inside and start torturing her again because there was no way he was going to hand over his dogs to her. They would not be used as an insurance policy. End of discussion.
The man’s love for his dogs was one of the things Harvath had long respected about him. He could have berated him for beating Sterk so badly with the wrench. He could have blamed him and told him that’s what he got for taking out his anger on her in such a way, but he didn’t. He had done the same and worse in his life. Sterk had tried to have Nicholas killed and Harvath would have expected anyone in that situation to want revenge.
“We’re not going to give her your dogs,” he said.
“Then what are we out here discussing?”
As Harvath explained his plan, a smile crept across the little man’s face. When they stepped back inside, Harvath watched as Nicholas said a convincing good-bye to his dogs and then turned to face Sterk.
“If anything happens to my animals,” he said, “I will make sure you die a death even you couldn’t imagine. Am I clear?”
Sterk grinned and Nicholas raised his hand to strike her, but Harvath stopped him. “Enough.”
The doctor arrived an hour later. She rang Harvath’s cell phone to tell him she was there.
He stepped outside the warehouse to find a very fit, very attractive woman in her early thirties. She was leaning against a van identical to the one that was parked inside. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had blue eyes, full lips, and a wide mouth.
“I’m Scot,” he said offering her his hand. When she took it, he felt a bolt of lightning pass between them.
“Riley,” she replied, breaking off the handshake when she realized it had gone on a few seconds too long. “I’m sorry it took me so long. That was quite a to-do list I was handed.”
“How’d it go?”
“You can see for yourself,” she replied, stepping away from the door.
Harvath slid it open and looked inside. There were two large crates with two large, white dogs inside. Stacked next to them were boxes filled with Adda Sterk’s personal belongings from her home and office as well as two laptops, three desktop computers, and stacks of portable drives. “That’s what I call a house call. You work fast. I’m impressed.”
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”
He stepped back and closed the door. “The Old Man said you do security too?”
“That’s also why they pay me the big bucks.”
Harvath was definitely intrigued, but he didn’t have time to ask the questions that were going through