That was good news.
“If this bastard figures out we’re onto him, he might bolt.”
“I expressed our concern to the State Department. They’ve reached out to our embassy in Slovakia. There’s not a lot you can do right now but wait.”
Darius wasn’t good at waiting. “If we get him, will someone from the US be permitted to be present during the interrogation?”
“Yes, and he…” Kelso’s words trailed off. “I just got a reply to the message you sent this morning.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, nice. He said, ‘Fuck off. Don’t contact me again!’ According to the data we’re getting back, the phone is in Bratislava.”
Darius brought his fist down on the steering wheel. “Ithasto be him. I’ll check in when I get to the office. I need to bring local law enforcement up to date.”
“Brief the locals, and get back to me.”
Marcs was waiting for Darius outside the building, pacing back and forth in front of the entrance. “Tell me everything.”
Darius walked with her to his makeshift office and showed her the images on his phone. “I was watching the sports climbing world championships with Sasha and the Team and saw this asshole on the screen.”
“Son of a bitch!”
“Kelso, my FBI contact, told me they traced the message I sent this morning to Bratislava, where the competition is happening, so there’s no doubt. This is our guy.”
“So this asshole isn’t a US citizen?”
“We don’t know that yet. We don’t know anything about him, not even his name. All we know is that he’s there at the world championships with what’s-her-face—Sasha’s friend, the one who looks like she’s going to win.”
Marcs gaped at him. “This asshole was talking to one of her friends? Do you think this friend knew about it?”
Darius reined in his rage, willed himself to lock down his emotions. “We don’t have any evidence one way or another yet.”
“If the suspect is in Slovakia and we’re in Scarlet, what can we do to help?”
“We get to work and build a case so that, if and when they arrest him, we’ve got what we need to request extradition and convict the bastard.”
While Marcs contacted TSA and asked for security footage for the day the text messages said the suspect had arrived, Darius called the office of the state’s attorney general and got subpoenas for the flight manifests of every plane that landed that day.
If only they had this bastard’s name…
When that was done, Darius found himself in unfamiliar territory. All he could do now was wait. Wait for the TSA footage. Wait for the flight manifests. Wait for Kelso to get back to him with a sitrep from Slovakia.
He stood in front of the whiteboard, his frustration rising. “Damn it.”
Hehatedfeeling helpless.
Marcs stood, walked over to him, touched her hand to his shoulder. “You’ve done everything you can, Silva. You can’t be everywhere at once. You can’t control the outcome of every situation. Think of it this way. While this loser is in Slovakia, we know he can’t hurt our girl.”
“True.” Darius could be grateful for that. “I should have thought of this. I told you the day we met that motive was the key. Sasha was hit the week before the world championships. It didn’t occur to me that someone might want to get her out of the way.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself.” Marcs motioned to the door with a jerk of her head. “Come on. Let’s get a cup of shitty coffee from the break room and maybe some kind of toxic snack food.”
Darius chuckled. “I can see why Darcangelo and Hunter like you.”
“It took you that long to figure it out?” Shaking her head, Marcs led the way to the small breakroom.
Darius took a clean mug from the dishwasher, poured coffee into his cup. “You should have seen the shock on Sasha’s face. She saw him on the TV screen talking with her friend, and I watched her heart break.”
