Page 72 of Her Wicked Hero

“Solomon Jefferies, former Assistant Director of the NSA.” Zed studied the picture of the man Dex handed him. He wanted to see if this time he would discern something new if he looked at it.

“Kane finally found something interesting,” Dex said.

“Kane?” Gray said.

“Kane, me, who’s keeping score,” Dex scoffed. “Anyway, here’s the deal. Our man Jefferies’ new BFF, Vitoly Akulov, he’s a bastard.”

Everyone laughed, except for Zed.

“So, this isn’t about Jefferies’ friends in Turkey, is it? Who’s his father?”

Dex shook his head. “His father is the former head of the Republic of Crimea. The one who is currently in exile.”

“So, we could potentially have a Crimea with nuclear weapons?” Marcia asked aghast. Then she paused and slowly shook her head. “There’s no way Jefferies would allow that much instability to happen. Unless he’s a total warmonger. What’s his motivation? Money or instability?”

“Since I found out some former members of Thorp group have taken a commission to eliminate Vitoly, I’m going to have to say Jefferies was in it for the money, but now, he’s doing what he can to mitigate things. He would be looking for a new buyer, but I’m going to feed all the information to Brockman, so he can finally take back the materials. They’ve never been out of his men’s sights.”

Zed nodded his head slowly. Something still wasn’t sitting right with him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Okay, that takes care of Jefferies,” Gray said. “Any sightings of Raymond?”

“Nothing. None of his known aliases have been used at any airport,” Dex said.

Marcia’s phone rang. Zed saw Lesley’s picture come up on the display.

“Querida, put it on speaker.”

“Lesley, where are you, honey? Are you okay?”

“Marcia,” it was clear Lesley was crying. “I can’t reach Daddy on the phone. Nobody will tell me anything. Do you know where they are? I need to go see them.” She continued to say something, but Zed couldn’t understand her through her sobs.

“Lesley, calm down. Are you high?” Marcia’s tone was loving, patient, and firm.

“No. No. I promise―”

“Everybody’s fine,” Marcia cut through Lesley’s words. “Tell me where you are, and I’ll have someone come and pick you up and take you to the hospital.

Dex already had his phone out, Zed would bet money he was talking to Kane.

“I’m in Alexandria. My friend’s name is Margaret, just like Mom.”

“I need an address,” Marcia stayed on track.

Lesley gave it to her.

“Are you safe where you are?” Marcia asked. “Are you going to relapse being around Margaret and with what’s happened?”

The sound of Lesley blowing her nose came across clearly. “I already flushed the shit down the toilet. I just want to get to Daddy and the girls. I’m not going to use this as a crutch.”

Marcia slumped against him in relief.

Dex held up five fingers, three times. Marcia straightened and gripped her phone tighter.

“Lesley, someone will be picking you up in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Don’t hang up,” Lesley pleaded.

“I won’t hang up until your ride arrives.” Marcia picked up the phone and started talking to the girl who meant so much to her.