Page 144 of To Catch a Sub

“No, they don’t,” Landon snarled.

“Thinking like that is why people don’t trust law enforcement,” Andrei added.

“I can make this simple.” Finally, there was some emotion in Novak’s words. “Ms. Beaumont can agree to this, or I will look long and hard at cases where she’s named as a person of interest. I’m sure I can find enough to arrest her.”

He wouldn’t find anything, he’d manufacture it. Landon had looked long and hard for evidence, and there wasn’t any to find.

“I do this, or you arrest me,” Colette said softly.

“Cooperation could be exchanged for immunity.”

“And what if I do cooperate, but tell Damien everything? Letting him know that Interpol is watching him would be a good bargaining ploy to protect myself.” Colette still wasn’t looking at the phone. All he could see was the side of her cheek.

“I’m not concerned about that,” Novak said.

What the fuck?

Landon stared at the phone.

“If I were to do what you wanted, act as your spy to get you information, what are you offering me in return?”

“Immunity,” Novak said immediately.

“And what good is that to me if I’m trapped with the Bratva?”

Finally, Colette looked back at the phone. He expected to see tears in her eyes, and he’d been dreading it. But she was dry-eyed and smiling slightly.

“At no point have you mentioned rescuing me,” she continued. “It sounds very much like this is a suicide mission.”

“It goes without saying that, once we had a solid case, we’d arrest all parties at which time you’d be rescued, with Interpol’s thanks.”

“And how long would that take?” Colette asked softly. “For you to build a case.”

“That depends on how long it takes you to get me the information I want.”

Colette’s smile seemed frozen on her face. “What if it takes months, or years?”

Landon was about to cut in, tell Novak to go fuck himself, and end the call, when his mobile beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out, quickly reading the email that had just come in. His shoulders sagged in relief.

“Check your email, Novak,” he said, passing his phone to Colette.

She took it, face going slack with relief as she read.

Landon had emailed Anu the moment Novak reiterated his plan at the start of this call. He’d given the other agent the benefit of the doubt yesterday, assuming that once someone pointed out to him how fucked his plan was, he’d back down. But he’d stuck to it this morning, and Landon had roped his boss into the conversation.

Though Anu wasn’t in Novak’s chain of command, she was a power player within Interpol. She knew people in every member country’s office.

She’d gone to Novak’s boss and cited internal policies, protocols, and even international court case law as she outlined all the ways what Novak was proposed was a terrible, almost unforgivable, idea.

“Excuse me,” Novak said after a moment.

Hold music came on.

“What the fuck is he thinking?” Landon said to no one in particular. “He doubled down on this.”

“He really wants Damien Tarasov,” Andrei added.

“There’s got to be more going on for him to even propose this.” Landon scrubbed his face with his hands. “And I bet he was planning on writing it up like this was Colette’s idea. She offered to go back in exchange for immunity.”