in fortune-telling nonsense of any kind, do you?” he asked, deciding to change the subject. “Or is this some new thing about you I don’t know?”
“How can you not believe in something . . . magic or mysticism, whatever you want to call it, after meeting Elaina?” he asked, his tone dead serious.
Of course, Liam and Emily’s adopted daughter was eerily prophetic. He had no intention of reading into her abilities because that was outside his wheelhouse.
But maybe after being in the woods near Shaw’s cabin and feeling as though he’d seen Marcus’s ghost, well, hell, he didn’t know what to believe anymore about anything.
“You letting Harper go to voicemail or what?” Chris pointed to A.J.’s cell, causing him to blink at the realization his phone was ringing.
Chris pressed the speaker button before A.J. had a chance to do so. “What’s up?” he answered. “Get a match on the picture I texted you?”
“Not yet,” Harper said. “But I do have other news.”
“You still in that basement?” A.J. asked her. “I thought there was no reception.”
“The place got a few upgrades, so I can operate from here,” she explained. “The section chief, Wilson Porter, is now MIA. Porter’s rental was found ditched thirty minutes south of Atlanta. Tire marks suggest he was forced off the road.”
“Shit.” Chris shook his head. “The source he went to check on missing, too?”
“No, the Iranian is in an FBI safe house. Porter had him placed there earlier today.”
“Some good news. But does that mean the hitman you told us about earlier had been in Atlanta and—”
“Ivan may have taken Porter so he could tell him where the Iranian is being held,” Harper finished A.J.’s thought.
“Great,” A.J. grumbled as Chris motioned toward Ana’s townhouse.
“I guess this news explains why Kyle Jeter is being booted from Ana’s place. She must have just learned about Porter’s disappearance,” Chris announced. “Want me to follow him?”
“Yeah.” A.J. peered at Kyle hurrying down the steps. He took a right, going the opposite direction from where they were parked.
Chris exited the car and started down the street toward Ana’s ex, and A.J. returned his focus to his cell phone.
“What else do we know?” he asked Harper. “Anything on Kyle Jeter, Anastasia’s ex-husband?”
“Yeah.” Harper was quiet for a moment. “Jeter’s now working the investigation on the missing sources. He’s the one who first intercepted news that a hit had been placed on Katya, the ballerina in New York. He has a lot of knowledge about Russian crime families, especially the Volkovs, given his work in Budapest, and he could be valuable if the Russian mob or Russian government is behind what’s going on.”
Kyle was Ana’s ex for a reason, and A.J. couldn’t help but assume that if the dude couldn’t hang on to Ana, he was most likely a dick and never deserved her. “Where are we at on placing Ivan in California when that source went MIA? And hell, in Georgia, now?”
“Working on it, believe me. He’s not known as one of the best out there for nothing,” Harper rushed out as if worried he was challenging her abilities. “And a news outlet in Atlanta broke the story that a high-ranking FBI agent is possibly missing. Only a matter of time before more of the story breaks,” Harper gave him the bad news. Whenever the media got involved, shit went sideways.
“Fingers will get pointed every which way.”
“And if an agent on the CI unit is guilty, they might spook and take off, and we lose who they’re working with,” Harper finished for him. “Luckily, though, we’re watching them all. But if it’s Quinn . . .” She let her words hang, not wanting to finish them as much as A.J. didn’t want to hear them.
Harper’s switch to using Ana’s last name bothered him more than it should have. She was trying to separate herself. Remain objective. Clearly, he was failing in that regard.
“It’s not her. She’s a solid agent. She helped us before. She’s not a traitor.” He knew it in his gut.
“Yeah, and I want to believe that, but we have to try and be—”
“Objective,” he said grimly. “I know, I know.”
“It’s just not going to look good for her, you know. She’s the newest on the task force. And after going through all the reports, I discovered the three missing sources were first developed by her when she joined Headquarters. Same with the other Volkov source in Miami, and the Iranian in Atlanta.”