and the Chinese were such poor losers. Mi Ling was failing her mission and that made her scared, though she hid it well.
Mi Ling stared her down. “Money always talks.” She paused for a heartbeat. “We both know that.”
“Spare me the rhetoric and the lecture. The offer you can shove up your ass. I’m never going to sell out my country no matter what.” She gripped the gun and pressed harder, her tone soft and deadly. “Who is it?” It wasn’t a surprise to hear that she had been burned by one of her own colleagues, but the sensation of getting screwed was like that split second before a a fall when time slowed to a breath before the crash. It was coming and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Her eyes narrowed. “Mi Ling…so help me God…”
“I don’t know,” she said on a hard exhale, meeting Anna’s gaze, all pretense vanishing. “That’s information that wasn’t shared with me. But watch your back, Anna. Someone’s gunning for you.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Anna said.
She gave Anna a wolfish grin. “This is so much bigger than you know.” Mi Ling laughed. Every muscle in Anna locked instantly, hard and pumping her blood, yet she held Mi Ling’s gaze.
“What does that mean?”
Mi Ling shrugged. Her eyes were filled with a strange spark that left Anna more concerned about a big picture she was missing. Before she could ask any more questions, they heard voices.
“Anna, we’ve got to go,” Dodger said.
Anna was so torn. Mi Ling was taunting her with knowledge regarding more possible attacks. How could she go now? Sometimes, she hated this cloak and dagger shit.
Mi Ling tilted her head to the side, her expression condescending. “Do you think the CIA will welcome you back with open arms if you save the satellite system? Twenty million dollars, Anna.”
“I have a better chance than you do of impressing my superiors.” Anna’s superiors were the director, the National Security Advisor, and the president. It was Anna’s turn for a smug smile. “Our line of work doesn’t invite sharing, but I’ll make an exception. If I see you again, I’ll put a bullet in your head. Stay out of my way and enjoy eating dirt.” She slammed the gun into the woman’s temple and rose.
Anna ejected the magazine and quickly broke down the gun, throwing the pieces in different directions. Dodger watched her with a stunned look on his face. She reached out and closed his mouth with her index finger. Then she headed for the exit. They had some serious work to do.
Dodger was completely silent on the quick jog back to the car, and Anna had to wonder what was going through his mind. They had a large conversation ahead of them, maybe even more anger and argument, but right now, they had to track down the third iPad.
Once she settled into the passenger seat, she pulled up her browser. Dodger went to open his mouth and she held up her hand. “No, not now. We have bigger fish to fry. Mi Ling had the same thought we did. But she said something that gave me an idea.”
“We’re going to talk, Anna,” he said low and determined.
“Fine, later, but can we focus right now?”
“Bloody hell, you are relentless.”
“I made it my middle name.”
“What? You did?”
She looked at him with a come-on-really expression and he blew out a breath, his eyes narrowing at her tease. Then he chuckled. “After all that, I’m completely gobsmacked, so, I’m struggling to catch up.”
“We can play catch up later, Dodger. I have questions about the Darko team Mi Ling referred to and your reaction to that name. But for right now, please let me think.”
He leaned back in the driver’s seat. She pulled up all the monuments of note in Prague. Miller was a history buff, but he was also good at wording his clues. There was always some kind of curveball. Maybe this clue had that kind of construction. She closed her eyes. She was beginning to think that maybe she had it right the first time. Miller might have meant home and foundation to be abstract and not literal. Literal would have been easy.
So Prague Castle was too easy. Anyone could think of that, but Miller wanted his winner to be smarter, more cunning than that. Think outside the box.
Okay, she could do that. She took a breath and looked at all the possible places that could be considered home to royalty.