“Is that all, Mr. Ambassador?” Halston asked.
“Sit,” Bulgrov said.
Halston eased into a chair beside Natasha, tapped her eyeglasses twice to start the short video.
“Minka, you’ve worked hard, proven your loyalty to me, to our country,” Bulgrov began. “I am proud of you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Natasha speaks highly of you,” he continued. “She said you offered to help her.”
“Admirable,” Petrov added.
Natasha nodded along before sipping the strong coffee.
“We have chosen you for assignment that will forever shift global balance of power.” A sly smile from the ambassador.
As Halston leaned back in the conference room chair, her gaze slid from one to the other, her thoughts jumping to the map.
“You will have key role in making happen,” Natasha added.
“How can I be of service?” Minka asked.
“Yuri, event January fifteen is moved. January eight,” Petrov explained in somewhat broken English.
That’s days away.
The ambassador opened his laptop and placed his index finger on the fingerprint sensor to unlock it. “Let me add that?—”
“For fuck’s sake, not on calendar!” Dmitri Petrov barked. “Stupid man.”
The ambassador’s shoulders fell.
Here we go again.
Ignoring Dmitri Petrov, the ambassador slammed down his laptop, fixed his chilly stare on her. “Minka have go-bag ready. That is all.”
“Thank you, sir.”
With the carafe in hand, she topped off their coffees, then left, shutting the door behind her.
What the hell is going on?
She needed a copy of that map from Bulgrov’s laptop, and she needed itnow. But more than that, she needed to know whatthey were going to do on January eighth that would shift the global balance of power.
This is big… and this is bad. Very, very bad.
As she scrolled through emails, she ran through every scenario she could think of for fast access into his computer. In Russia, she had to do it alone, but here in the States, she had others to help her. For Halston, there was one person who jumped to the top of that list.
Wolfie.
He’ll help me.
Ambassador Bulgrov entered her office. “Minka, I heard from Bob Smith. He said you didn’t reply to his texts.”
“Not yet.”
His eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. “I’m not asking. I’m telling. This is official order.”
