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  Kelvin dared not ask her again. Not even for coffee. Or tea. Whatever her preference.

  Someone jumped off the last step. Dario de la Cruz, whose path Binary Systems had crossed many times. He was alone, which told Kelvin this wasn’t a CIA operation. The only time Dario wandered off the beaten path was to rescue Binary Systems hackers, of whom Kelvin used to be one before he took over the system administration of the network.

  “Everyone okay?” Dario asked, glancing back.

  Yona nodded before she let out a hiss. “My ankle.”

  “We’ll take a look later. We need to get out of here.” Dario turned on a small flashlight. Pointed to the front door.

  “Where’s your entourage?” Yona limped.

  Dario drew a deep breath. “We’ll talk later. Let’s get to the safe house.”

  As Dario talked on the phone, Kelvin avoided looking at Yona. He had nothing to give her now. And he had no dignity to keep for himself.

  His life was ruined. It might as well have been over.

  They stepped outside onto the sidewalk, with only a distant traffic light providing low visibility.

  “This way.” Dario pointed.

  They rounded a corner, and a black van pulled up to the curb. The door opened.

  Leland Yang-Joule yelled from the driver’s seat. “Get in!”

  Dario helped Yona, who continued to limp. Then he swept her up in her arms and carried her into the van.

  Kelvin’s heart fell through the floor. He knew he could never be Dario. Brave and buff.

  Dario put Yona in the front seat.

  Kelvin entered the van on his own strength. He tried not to make eye contact, but he knew he had to say something to Leland, the co-owner of Binary Systems, Inc., his employer. Technically, he answered to Cayson Yang, Leland’s cousin and Chief Operating Officer, but Leland could fire Kelvin at any time as well.

  Kelvin scooted to the other end of the bench seat, as Dario got in the van and closed the door.

  “Put on your safety belt.” Dario made Kelvin buckle in. “We don’t want you to die now that we’ve rescued you from Aspasia.”

  “What does Aspasia want?” Leland asked from the driver’s seat.

  Nobody answered her.

  “Let me see your wrists,” Dario said.

  “What?” Kelvin saw the large cable tie in Dario’s hand. “You don’t trust me?”

  “I don’t want anyone to accuse us of not taking a modicum of prevention.” Dario tied up Kelvin’s wrists.

  “Kel,” Leland said quietly as she drove in traffic.

  The way she said it sounded like she was disappointed.

  Kelvin didn’t reply. Too ashamed, he was.

  “He’s pouting,” Dario said. “Let him be.”

  Dario didn’t seem to show his feelings. Then again, his job at the CIA as a protector agent didn’t require a show of personal opinions. In this face, Kelvin figured Dario’s job was to keep him alive.

  That meant the CIA wanted something. Maybe Kelvin could use it as a leverage to get reduced sentencing. He was quite sure he was going to get court-martialed for what he had done. He wasn’t sure they’d pick and choose what they wanted to charge him with. And he couldn’t afford a great lawyer.

  Sitting in the back, Yona said not a word.

  It was better for her not to say anything than to go against him. He had plenty of enemies already, thank you.

  Then again, Kelvin hadn’t worked with Mossad in four years. Why was a Mossad agent here?

  Kelvin had so many questions. He leaned back on the headrest. If Yona wanted to slice his throat, this would be the time for her to do it.

  Kelvin waited.

  Nothing happened.

  “What does Aspasia want?” Leland asked again.

  Instead of answering, Dario scolded her. “I told you to stay in the safe house.”

  “The internet connection was bad. We took the van together closer to the building.”

  A realization struck Kelvin. “Why did you come for me?”

  “You were waiting to die, and we can’t let that happen to you.” Dario handed out handwipes.

  Handwipes? Kelvin had to laugh.

  “Who were those people who came with you?” Kelvin said. “Are they Dmitri’s men?”

  “Were. I’ll need to talk to Dmitri about that. I don’t think they work for him if they tried to kill you and Yona.” Dario turned to Yona. “Speaking of whom, why are you in Prague?”

  “Same reason you are.” Yona’s voice was even, giving nothing away.

  That was the thing with her. Kelvin could never read her feelings.

  “And what reason might that be?” Dario asked.

  “You tell me.” Yona stood her ground.

  “All I can say is that the CIA wants Kelvin alive, and apparently Aspasia wants him dead.”

  Kelvin shifted in his seat. “Aspasia doesn’t want me dead.”

  “Had a gun pointed at your head, didn’t she?”

  “It was only to scare me.”

  “Into doing what?”

  “She has been searching the world over for Ulysses.”

  “Isn’t that interesting?” Leland glanced at the rearview mirror. “We haven’t heard that name in a while.”

  Minutes later, Dario told Kelvin to stay still as he ran a portable scanner over him, head to toe.

  “What are you doing?” Kelvin asked.

  “Shhh.” Dario read the results on an iPad.

  Kelvin waited.

  “Okay. He’s clear,” Dario said. “No chips.”

  Kelvin flinched. “You thought maybe the FSB injected me with something before they let me go?”

  Dario shrugged. “Who knows.”

  “Then anyone could have found me.” Kelvin sagged into his seat. “How did you find me?”

  No one replied.

  “I guess one of you will tell me later.” Kelvin spent the rest of the drive staring out of the window. The city of Prague didn’t sleep. People were still walking about, sitting at outdoor restaurants, strolling by the river. The van went along the river, but Kelvin didn’t ask where they were taking him.

  Implicitly, he trusted Leland and her cousin, Cayson. They would do their best to make sure no harm came to him.

  “Leland?” Kelvin’s voice was low, but apparently Leland heard him. “I’m sorry.”

  “You better be,” Leland replied. “You’re going to get us all killed, and you’ll lose your job because Binary Systems will cease to exist. Then what? Do you have a twenty-year plan before you decide to work on MedusaNet behind our back?”

  That woman is blunt.

  “I’m sorry.” It was all Kelvin could say at this point, though there was nothing to hide from the CIA or Mossad. They had all read his story. “I know I’m going to jail.”

  “You’d rather die,” Dario added.

  Kelvin nodded. “Kill me now.”

  “Can’t. We need you to help us find the people behind MedusaNet.”

  “Is the network…”

  “We shut it down with the kill switch in Cayson’s head,” Leland said.

  Kelvin flinched. That must’ve been painful. “I had nothing to do with that.”

  “Fortunately for you, everyone wants you dead,” Dario said. “Which means you do have something they all want, and therefore it makes sense for us to keep you alive until we figure out what’s wrong. Maybe you can tell us what you know and save us all some time and sanity.”

  “I don’t know what they want.” Kelvin didn’t say that they meant many people. If he were to list his enemies, he would need to use all fingers and toes to count.

  “We’ll find out,” Dario said.

  It could only mean one thing. They wanted to use him as bait. Kelvin wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, although it wasn’t necessarily bad. After all, he had thought he was going to die, so if a short extension of his life could bring the criminals to justice, maybe it would be worth it.

  He had nothing lef
t to live for.

  Chapter 6

  “I’m worried about my cat,” Kelvin said as Dario ushered him into the safe house.

  Yona limped along. Her sprained ankle was still hurting a bit. She was sure she’d feel it in the morning.

  She watched the conversation with her jaw agape. Right now she wanted to shake Kelvin awake and make him smell the coffee of reality.

  His life—and that of everyone else affected by his error in judgment—were all at stake. The last thing he should be worried about was a cat.

  “He’s a stray, I know,” Kelvin added. “But Tereza and I both feed him.”

  “Tereza?” Yona asked.

  “She lives next door and sometimes gives me food and a place to shower.”

  Yona didn’t know what to think about that.

  “She’s a widow with grandkids.” Kelvin looked intently at Yona, as if he felt a need to explain the other woman in his life.

  Yona let it pass.

  “Mordecai was with me when nobody else was,” Kelvin continued. “God sent the cat to keep me company at the lowest point of my life.”

  “The lowest point of your life is when you’re dead.” Dario cut off the cable tie around Kelvin’s wrist. “Do not leave this house.”

  “And go where?” Kelvin asked.

  They were inside the foyer of the safe house somewhere in Malá Strana on this new town side of the Vltava River. Dario locked and bolted the door behind them.

  Leland had disappeared somewhere.

  Dario’s job was to take Kelvin and Yona to their rooms.

  In the morning they would regroup at breakfast and figure out everything, if that was even possible.

  “Tereza in the next building is pushing ninety. She’s been feeding Mordecai scraps of food, but she’s dirt poor herself,” Kelvin went on. “Her son had been paying her mortgage, but he has been late several times.”

  “That’s not your problem, is it?” Dario asked.

  “If she loses the house, the cat has nowhere to go.”

  “I’m assuming he had been fending for himself before you showed up.”

  Kelvin nodded. “He’s a street cat.”

  “Where do you plan to take him? With you to jail?” Dario’s sharp tongue sliced and diced the evening air.

  “I can ask someone to take care of him until I’m released.”

  “Like who?”

  “I don’t know.” Kelvin shrugged. His shoulders slacked. He looked defeated.

  Yona drew a deep breath. “When this is over I will check on the cat for you. What does he like to eat?”

  Kelvin stared at Yona for the longest time, making her uncomfortable.

  Yeah, she had just offered to check on the cat.

  “Mackerel,” Kelvin said. “If you can’t find that, tuna or shrimp will do.”

  “Does he eat out of a can?”

  “I put it in a bowl for him.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she turned to Dario. “I need to shower and rest. Please show me to my room.”

  “How’s your ankle?” Dario asked.

  “Still bad. Do you have some stretch gauze or something? I may need to wrap it up.”

  “I’ll see what I can find in the first-aid kit.” Dario pointed to the stairs as he climbed it. “You sure you can climb up?”

  “Yeah.” Yona limped up slowly. “Where’s Leland?”

  “Checking on something.”

  “What do you do for food?”

  “Thinking of breakfast already?” Dario smiled. “We’ll have to cook. The safe house is low budget and doesn’t come with a personal chef. Also, no swimming pools or hot jacuzzi. Lukewarm showers for everyone. Trust me, you want to be first in the shower or there will not be enough hot water to go around. And do your own laundry. No towel service.”

  “What kind of a hotel is this?” Yona laughed. Their small talk took her mind off her ankle.

  “The one-star kind.” Dario’s voice softened.

  Yona wondered if he was recalling the memories of his fellow CIA officers who had perished in the line of duty. All that was left of them was one star each on the Memorial Wall at Langley. Not a word would be spoken about their service to the country and the world.

  Yona also wondered how the tides would turn if it had been eight of Dario’s fellow CIA officers killed instead of Mossad agents. Would Dario feel more urgency?

  Here they were, getting rest and sleep, and breakfast.

  Meanwhile, the families of lost Mossad agents were still grieving back in Israel.

  And Yona was still grieving the death of her mentor. Issachar must not die in vain.

  Her eyes met Kelvin’s. For a femtosecond, she wanted to attack him and wring his neck.

  However, moments before, she had offered to rescue his cat.

  This was no way for an assassin to operate.

  Have I lost my edge?

  Upstairs, Yona’s bedroom was on the opposite end of the hallway from Kelvin.

  Just as well. Yona hoped and prayed that she would not decide to stop weighing all the pros and cons and avenge Issachar already.

  Still, the logical mind in her had begun to ask questions.

  The logical mind in her had been raising flags all day about Kelvin’s complicity in Issachar’s death. Yona found herself wondering about the extent of his crimes.

  Was Kelvin altogether guilty? Partially guilty?

  Trapped in a mess of his own doing? Caught in a mess not of his own doing?

  Or somewhere in between all the above?

  The doubt came when Dario’s men turned on him back at the building.

  Wait a minute.

  That was what Dario said. His only supporting fact was that people had shot at Yona and Kelvin as they came down the stairs. Who were those people? It was too dark to see.

  Yona replayed the entire scene in her mind.

  She and Kelvin had gone down the stairs first.

  Then shots were fired at them.

  After that, Dario came to their rescue.

  Somehow, coming down the stairs behind them, he hadn’t been shot at all. Well, that was because he came after the gunmen.

  At this point, Yona assumed they were all men because Dario had called them Dmitri’s men.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Dario said as he handed Yona the key outside her bedroom. “Leland’s going to bring you some spare clothes. She always overpacks.”

  “Who overpacks?” Leland came up the stairs.

  “Isn’t it a good thing? We have guests.” Dario chuckled, and left Yona with Leland while he and Kelvin walked to the other end of the hallway.

  “I don’t know if these fit you, but they’re my exercise sweatpants, and they have an elastic waist.” Leland handed Yona a pair of hot pink sweatpants, and a hot tangerine sweatshirt.

  “You wear these?”

  Leland nodded. “Well, I’m usually indoors in my home gym, so nobody sees. I don’t wear neon outside. I much prefer to blend in.”

  “Me too. Thank you.”

  “There’s a laundry room on the other side of the stairs if you want to wash your clothes tonight. The dryer works okay but you’ll probably need to go two rounds if you want your clothes to dry properly.”

  Yona wondered why they would need to do laundry if they would be here for only a few days. Unless this was Leland’s base of operation.

  “I didn’t realize Binary Systems works in Europe,” Yona said.

  “We don’t have an office here.”

  To Yona, Leland evaded her question. It told her that Binary Systems moved around in Europe.

  The safe house meant their current project was classified.

  “How long have you been in Prague?” Yona recalled Reuel telling her that Dario was in town two weeks before.

  “Long enough. I missed Cayson’s engagement party.” Leland had cleverly deflected her question yet again, and Yona noticed it.

  “Engagement?”

&nbs
p; “To Stella Evans.”

  “Oh. I thought they were only close friends in Project Pericarp. I had no idea…”

  All Yona remembered was that while the Mossad had sent her to observe the project, the FBI sent Agent Evans to keep an eye on the hackers as well. There were also a few people from NSA undercover, but Yona hadn’t paid much attention to them.

  “Suffice to say that in the year-long project, lots of relationships formed.” Leland drew a deep breath. She lowered her voice. “Look, I don’t know what your relationship is with Kelvin, but I wondered why you’re in town. Were you trying to protect him from someone? Maybe we can work together if our goals intersect.”

  Protect? It had been the opposite, but now wasn’t the time for a confession. Yona had to find out more about what was going on.

  “I came here to get some information on who might have wanted my mentor, Issachar, murdered.” It was the truth.

  Even though Yona had jumped to the conclusion that Kelvin was blood-thirsty guilty, she had done so due to the intel that Reuel had given her.

  Speaking of whom, she’d better call him. He’d want to know if she had dealt with her prey.

  She had a burner phone, untraceable. It wouldn’t lead anyone to their safe house if she called Reuel—at least text him.

  “Until we know more, let’s keep everything to ourselves,” Leland said. “We’ve already seen that Dmitri’s men can’t be trusted. We’ll not even contact him until we find out what’s going on.”

  “Is Dmitri in on this?”

  “I hope not.” Leland’s voice cracked. “Dmitri is my former mentor, back in my early hacker days.”

  “Is that why you’re a hands-on COO? Dmitri had always been on the field even though he would have done as much behind a desk. His style rubbed off on you?”

  “Once a hacker, always a hacker.” Leland chuckled.

  “Same for Kelvin, isn’t it?” Yona replied. “He started out a hacker. Why did Binary Systems make him a system administrator?”

  “He was burning out and needed a change of pace. I’m not saying that being a sys admin is easier, but Kel thought he could do it.” Leland started to leave, but she had more to say. “It was easier than having to interview and screen new employees.”