“It never got that far,” Landon said. “We found out the hard way that Abbott had been planning to blow up the warehouse so it would look like he was dead. After we cornered the man, he tried to use the bomb he’d rigged to get away from us and ended up collapsing half the building on his own head.”
Thorn’s eyes widened. “Are you talking about the building that burned to the ground down by the Anacostia River earlier?”
Ivy nodded.
“How’d you get the diamond back?” Thorn asked.
“That was all Ivy,” Landon said. “She ran into the building while it was still falling down and got Abbott’s backpack before the fire took it. If it weren’t for her, you never would have gotten your diamond back.”
Thorn regarded her thoughtfully, as if wondering whether this was all too good to be true.
“We barely got out before the cops and firefighters showed up,” Ivy added, trying to make it seem as if running into a burning building to retrieve a diamond had been no big deal.
“Did you find anything else in the backpack?” Thorn asked.
Ivy just knew Thorn was going to ask that. She made a show of looking at Landon with the proper amount of confusion. “You mean besides the diamond?”
“Yes. Besides the diamond.”
Standing next to Thorn, Frasier eyed them suspiciously.
“The pack was mostly full of clothes,” Landon said. “There was a black lockbox of some kind too, but it was badly damaged in the explosion. We pried it open some and found what looked like silver rocks in it. Ivy and I figured they were uncut stones of some kind from another job the guy had done. We thought we’d take them back to the DCO so they could figure out what kind of gems they are and who they belong to.”
“The box belongs to me,” Thorn said sharply. “Where is it?”
Landon frowned. “You never mentioned any other stones. If you had, it might have helped us find Abbott earlier.”
Thorn’s mouth tightened. “I was mostly concerned with the diamond and wanted you focused on that. Now, if you have the rest of my property, I’d like to have it back.”
Landon exchanged looks with Ivy. “It’s outside in the SUV. I’ll go get it.”
Thorn nodded to Frasier, indicating he should go, too.
While Landon went outside with Frasier, Ivy chatted with Thorn about Abbott and how they had tracked down the man. She kept all her answers vague, knowing that Thorn would verify every word she said later.
Landon came back a few moments later, Frasier in tow. “I wish you’d mentioned the thief had taken something else besides the diamond. We might have been able to get this thing back undamaged if we had known about it.”
Frasier walked over to Thorn and opened the outside pocket of the pack, showing the contents to his boss. Thorn glanced inside, then looked at her and Landon. Ivy held her breath. This was the moment of truth. If Lisa and Karl had done a poor job with their fake hard drive, Thorn would know it, despite how smashed up it was. Then who knew what the hell he’d do?
“I owe you two a very special thanks,” Thorn said. “The fact that you recovered my property is of far more importance to me than the damage to it. I have a certain reputation to uphold, and by getting these articles back, that reputation is still well intact, even if the man who took them is dead.”
She and Landon stayed for a few more minutes before Frasier showed them out. Landon didn’t say anything until they’d climbed in the SUV and he’d started the engine. “I think that actually worked.”
Ivy didn’t answer. She was too busy looking in the side mirror at Thorn and Frasier standing on the front porch watching them drive away. Something about the look on Thorn’s face suddenly had her feeling like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” she said.
Chapter 16
Layla felt like a zombie as she and Jayson walked into the main DCO building. They’d been going nonstop for nearly thirty-six hours, since leaving Zolnerov’s estate, and she was exhausted. She only prayed they wouldn’t have to go through a full mission debriefing because she’d probably fall asleep in the middle of it. All she wanted to do was check in with Kendra, deal with the minimal amount of paperwork necessary, then fall into bed and sleep for twelve hours straight with Jayson at her side.
If they didn’t run into John, of course. Their boss likely knew exactly what she’d done by now and he was going to be pissed. She should probably go see him and do some damage control before he came looking for her, but trying to talk to him when she was this tired was plain stupid. She’d end up doing more harm than good.
She glanced over at Jayson. He looked even more exhausted than she did. That wasn’t surprising. He’d been busting his butt for the last few days, and after getting into a close-quarters struggle with Powell, then taking care of all the loose ends over in Ukraine, it was all finally catching up to him.
After getting away from Zolnerov’s place, she and Jayson had slipped back into Donetsk to bring all the girls back to their respective families as well as to get Mikhail some much needed medical attention. No one wanted to take him to a hospital since that would have led to too many questions, but the two bullet wounds weren’t anything that could be handled with a few bandages and some hydrogen peroxide. The reality was, the kid had needed surgery.
Amazingly, Victor had managed to find someone willing to operate on Mikhail right in the middle of his quaint, little living room. Larissa had planted herself firmly at Mikhail’s side during the surgery and refused to move. Neither of her grandparents had been pleased with that, but it had quickly become obvious that no one told the young woman what to do. And when the doctor stated that Mikhail would need to stay flat on his back for at least two weeks, Larissa had announced the recovering teen would be staying on Victor’s living room couch the entire time, and that she would be the one watching over him. Victor hadn’t even tried to change her mind. Layla was glad. Mikhail was a good kid.
