Zoya. Sticking around till one of us gets schwacked is the dumbest thing imaginable.”
“So . . . you are leaving town?”
Court took a few slow breaths. “No. Hanley needs me to—”
“Right,” she interrupted. “I can’t handle it here. But you can.”
Court didn’t know what to say; he was trying to keep her safe, but she was taking it to mean he was trying to control her, to hold her to a different standard than he held himself to. He changed the subject. “What do you mean, something is about to happen?”
Zoya didn’t want to change the subject; this was clear from the expression on her face, even to Court. But after a moment she said, “Ennis said the company’s contract with their client will end. The Germans will be handed the intel they needed to put EU sanctions back on Iran.”
To this Court shrugged. “Okay. Great. So, Shrike are the good guys. Why do we need to get in the middle of that?”
Zoya shook her head. “But that’s not what this is all about. Shrike Group is running a scam. They’re trying to set the Iranian embassy up to take the fall for some sort of future terror attack by Quds Force. Ennis told me this morning before he died.”
Court nodded at this. “I have to talk to Hanley.”
“No. We have to talk to Hanley. And then we have to find Haz Mirza, the Quds Force cell commander here in Berlin.”
But Court wasn’t having it. “The Russians know you’re here, and if there aren’t more than the two we killed already looking for you, and the two you saw in the lobby of the Adlon, you can bet there will be a shit-ton more in town by nightfall. You know I’m right. You aren’t helping the Agency, you are jeopardizing this mission by staying here.”
She put her head in her hands, and Court saw that she understood.
Court said, “I’ll take over the op.”
“Do you have any sort of a plan?” Zoya asked.
Court shrugged. “Not really. I guess I’ll try to find this Mirza asshole.”
“Ennis said Dittenhofer is the one surveilling the Mirza operation. Remotely. She’s in one of his phones, she can hear his conversations.”
Court nodded. Resolute now. “Then I have a plan. I’m going to find Annika Dittenhofer, shake her down for the intel that Hanley needs about Shrike, and get her to lead me to Mirza.”
“And what are you going to do to Mirza?”
“I’m not going to throw a ham sandwich at him, I can promise you that.”
Zoya rolled her eyes.
Court said, “I’m going to kill him, and then I’m getting the fuck out of here myself before the dickheads from yesterday track me down again.”
She said, “That’s a big operation for a sick man with a wounded right arm and a fucked-up left shoulder.”
“I appreciate your confidence.”
Zoya smiled a little now. “You’ll need support in the field. If not me, you need to get Hanley to link you up with Berlin station.”
Court looked at her like she was crazy. “Why would I do that? The station is burned to Shrike Group.”
Zoya turned to face him. “What are you talking about?”
“PowerSlave.”
It was quiet in the empty apartment for several seconds. “I’m supposed to know what that means?”
“Jesus.” Court understood. “Brewer and Hanley didn’t tell you because they didn’t want you to know you were working without a net in Berlin.” When she shrugged, he said, “PowerSlave is a tool stolen from NSA. A biometric database containing all American intelligence personnel, linked to a program that can identify them on camera feeds. Sort of a master key to expose spooks and operators in the field. It was created by an NSA official named Clark Drummond, who worked directly for Dittenhofer, and it’s been up and running for most of a year for Shrike here in Berlin.”
Zoya looked up to the ceiling. “I knew nothing about this. They told me I’d have support if Moscow found me. And when I told Brewer that Moscow found me, they told me to sit tight.”
Court cocked his head. “You told Brewer that Moscow found you here? She didn’t say anything to me about that.”
Zoya put her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “That’s Brewer for you. You’re right. Even without what happened today, I’m burned here as an asset to Shrike Group.”
“You’d just make it more dangerous for me if you stayed, not less. The Russians aren’t targeting me.” He amended that. “Well, they aren’t targeting me like they’re targeting