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A detail from their captivity jogged Tess’s memory. “While Yuri interrogated me, he was coughing and spitting up blood and mucous, and he wheezed a lot tonight, too.”
“Hmm. Yuri could have had terminal lung cancer.” Mark handed the vial back to Willis.
“If yer right, the bastard couldn’t bear to face the long, painful death he earned. Coward.”
Yuri could have easily killed her but didn’t, and she couldn’t explain why she survived. With Mark by her side, she stared as the EMTs wheeled Yuri’s stretcher down the trail and exited the woods. When the gurney disappeared out of view, she snuggled under Mark’s shoulder and relaxed, knowing all four gunmen from Cedarcliff were gone forever. She hoped the Raven had escaped the woods, both unseen and unscathed.
Inspector Willis marched over, shaking his head and grimacing. “Chief Inspector Michael Adams was dirty and played everyone at MPS. Mikhail Adamovich, his real identity, was born in Belarus to Russian parents who were both former KGB. They immigrated to England and raised him as an Englishman, and he hid his proficiency in Russian. Tess, if ye hadn’t reopened Kyle’s case, we wouldn’t have discovered his betrayal. He’s the mole who hacked Kyle’s accident report.”
“He’s part of Crimson Hammer?” Tess tilted her head, grateful she’d followed her intuition not to fully trust the police.
“Adams blocked my IT investigation of Kyle’s record breach, and a network log linked his log-in alias to 00-General.”
“You think someone planted him in MPS to run this months ago?” Tess wondered how long ago the conspiracy started.
Willis nodded. “When he didn’t show tonight, I sent detectives to search his flat in East Dulwich. No sign of him, but the officers found incriminating paperwork in his kitchen—big deposits from a Russian bank to a Swiss bank account in Adams’s name. Someone important had been paying him off for months.”
“Bastard’s a traitor. Hope you catch him.” Declan kicked at a pebble on the ground.
“We prosecute traitors to the full extent the law allows. He’ll face prosecution and a lengthy prison term once we catch him. Ye can count on it.” Willis set his jaw and planted his feet in a wide stance with his fists clenched.
“If Crimson Hammer directed Adams, maybe when you find him, you can dig for clues about where and how they’re hacking. Stop them before they grow any bigger.” Tess hoped for Adams’s arrest and answers to all the open questions.
A corner of Willis’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Odd. HQ just got flooded with e-mails from IP addresses located in Belarus, all identical. They claim the originating IP address belongs to hackers who are breaching banks to fund Crimson Hammer and should be prosecuted.”
“Wow, what a lucky break.” Tess exchanged a glance with Declan, who appeared nonchalant and more innocent than usual.
“More like a gift-wrapped present delivered on a silver platter. All the data we need to build an airtight case and prosecute the perpetrators. Damn lucky. Somebody did all our work for us. Brilliant.” Willis turned to Declan. “Chap, I’m afraid yer jeep got destroyed tonight. A car bomb exploded right before we arrived. Ye folks will need a ride home tonight.”
“Tess told me. Figures, given I paid the damn thing off last month. Shite.” Declan groaned and exhaled.
Tess felt her lungs deflate. Someone had been tracking her location, watching out for her. Someone who had access to more intelligence data than she did. She suspected the Raven, for he could’ve spotted the culprit planting the car bomb in the parking lot. She hadn’t yet processed the fact she was nearly vaporized in Declan’s jeep and gripped Mark’s arm to steady herself.
“With all the gunmen accounted for, I’ll sleep better at night.” Mark released his shoulders and stretched tall again.
Willis shifted his attention back to Tess. “Ms. Bennett, ye finally got justice for Kyle tonight, and I hope it brings ye peace.” He had softened his tone.
“Yes, but the damn coward took the easy way out. I wanted Yuri to rot in prison for the rest of his life.” Ambivalent, her feelings ricocheted between joy at surviving and anger at Yuri.
“Justice doesn’t always arrive in the package we expect or want, but it’s justice all the same. Ye both escaped with yer lives, and nothing beats that.” Willis zipped up his coat. “Ye folks should go home and get some rest. We’ll get a squad car to drive ye back to London.”
Inside a trench coat pocket, her mobile buzzed, and she extracted it to check for text messages. The unknown phone number from Turkey appeared again.
—Bennett, did you make it out? I broke a hundred rules to warn your sorry ass. Don’t make me wait.—
Beaming, Tess wore a happy grin and texted back.
—Consider this proof of life. I owe you one. How’d you know?—
The phone buzzed one last time.
—Because I know people who know things. See you in Paris soon, and you better show ‘cos you owe me, big time.—
Tess pocketed her phone and grabbed Mark’s hand. “Let’s go home. And if I recall, we’ve got a date to plan.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be, min kjære.” Mark pulled her into a long kiss.
Passionately returning his kiss, she relaxed into his arms and savored their reunion as well as the hard-earned safety they’d finally won.
