“Well, anyway,” Gabby said in a too-perky voice, “I know you need a lot of caffeine for all of your missions, so…” Her sentence dissolved into thin air. She looked down at her feet, her hair falling into her eyes.
Tenderly, Markus brushed her hair out of her face. “Maybe we can get a coffee together and debrief after it’s over.”
In the corner, Valentina choked on her champagne, probably at the word “debrief.” Gabby almost choked on that one too.
As perfect as he was, she couldn’t get rid of one nagging thought. Now that the mission was over, Gabby might never know if Markus had been the mole or if he would have followed through on Smirnov’s threats. She could maybe trust him, but she wasn’t sure if she should. Nothing expired faster than trust, except for dairy.
Alice thankfully interrupted Gabby’s anxiety with more business. “Okay, everyone, while I have you all here, let’s talk about Saturday. Are we ready to go?” she asked, looking at Gabby.
Gabby said, “Yep. It’s going to be a great party.” Justin had spent the last forty-eight hours doing nothing but preparing. All she could hope was that there wouldn’t be fireworks and a live band. The only thing holding him back was the time limit.
Alice nodded. “Good. We have six agents posing as guests, including the three of us. Hopefully, you won’t need us before the arrest, but we will be there if anything goes down.”
Gabby nodded.
“Gabby, just act natural and focus on keeping the party running smoothly,” said Markus. “We don’t need any logistical problems throwing us off.”
Alice adjourned the meeting with a “That’s it. Everyone get some rest before Saturday. I’ll need you all on your toes.”
As Gabby was walking out, she heard Alice say, “The Oobleck report… what is that? Someone get me a dossier on Oobleck. I think we have another Mafia boss on our hands.”
Gabby snuck out before they started reading about the unpredictable behavior of slime. Kyle might have gotten a C, but she did some A plus work today.
Gabby had given out the end-of-the-year coffee gift card and toasted success with the crew, but it wasn’t over yet. She still needed to hand the other flash drive over to Smirnov. There would not be champagne and a promised coffee date after that one. He had given her a burner phone with only one number programmed in. Thank god she hadn’t lost it.
She texted the code 8675309 to the anonymous contact. Why was it so easy to remember? Then it hit her, the song—“Jenny, don’t change your number.” Like every other fifty-some-year-old guy, Smirnov loved eighties music.
He texted her the meeting location:3501 Montlake. North Gate Hollywood Reservoir. Above the dam.
Were they going to throw her in? Why couldn’t they have just met at Starbucks like civilized people? At this time of day, it was going to take forever to get there. Damn rush hour. At least Granny was making dinner.
After an hour in traffic, she pulled onto Montlake and found her way to the designated location. It wasn’t the kind of place Gabby would ever stop. Barbed wire fence. Tow-away zone with no stopping at any time. Based on the map, she was above the upper reservoir and dam, but she could see only an abandonedbuilding and scrubby trees. It might be scenic if she weren’t scared for her life. A sign on the fence read3501 MONTLAKE, RESTRICTED AREA. Was this where he’d taken her when he kidnapped her?
Gabby gripped the steering wheel and kept her eye on the rearview mirror. A few minutes later, the same van that had abducted her pulled up, her BFF in the driver’s seat and Smirnov riding shotgun.
Smirnov stepped out while his goon scrolled through TikTok. “You got it?” he asked.
With a nod, she slipped him the sleek black flash drive that Markus had given her.
When she made a move to leave, he said, “Where do you think you’re going? I have to make sure this works.” He opened up his laptop on the hood of her car and slid in the flash drive. A songbird trilled from a bush nearby, ignorant of the mob business going down in his territory.
“It’s all there,” Gabby said, impatient to get home.
“The codes?”
“Everything Kramer has is on there.” Markus had been one hundred percent sure.
“Dasividaniya, Agent Greene. Spasibo.” He slipped her an envelope.
Gabby opened it up, just to see what it was, and Smirnov said, “It’s all there.”
“Pozhaluysta,” she said, pulling out one of the six Russian words she knew. Please, thank you, whore, bitch, and shithead. Thank you, Granny, for the Russian language crash course.
“I keep liking you more, Gabby Greene. So many tricks up your sleeve.”
She returned a smile, unsure what to make of being complimented by a mob boss, but sure she was going to hang on to the moment forever. That time she had spent in the Russian Mafia—no one would ever believe her.
Smirnov’s van left in a plume of dust, leaving Gabby standing on an empty road in the middle of Hollywood. She watched the van get smaller and smaller until it disappeared. She had done what she needed to do, and they were out of her life forever.
